At my current job, I saw a lab technician work manually with Excel sheets entering sample IDs and then using a website where he'd copy/paste the sample ID into to get a bar code, and then print it out to stick on the box.
I wrote a Python script that uses openpyxl module to read His Excel docs, and report lab module to generate bar codes in a PDF document with appropriate spacers so that he can simply print it out, and stick them in boxes.
He is happy and so am I that I could save his time.
It only took me 20 mins to write this script.
There genuinely needs to be more of this sort of thing.
The overall 'productionisation' of our industry has led us into a cookie cutter style of work and away from genuine problem solving like that. Ironically that sort of productivity boosting work has been wrapped up in a nonsense 'process automation consultant' role that is inflated beyond sense and often dismissed by the receiving company as an unnecessary expense.
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At my current job, I saw a lab technician work manually with Excel sheets entering sample IDs and then using a website where he'd copy/paste the sample ID into to get a bar code, and then print it out to stick on the box.
I wrote a Python script that uses openpyxl module to read His Excel docs, and report lab module to generate bar codes in a PDF document with appropriate spacers so that he can simply print it out, and stick them in boxes.
He is happy and so am I that I could save his time. It only took me 20 mins to write this script.
There genuinely needs to be more of this sort of thing.
The overall 'productionisation' of our industry has led us into a cookie cutter style of work and away from genuine problem solving like that. Ironically that sort of productivity boosting work has been wrapped up in a nonsense 'process automation consultant' role that is inflated beyond sense and often dismissed by the receiving company as an unnecessary expense.