Originally Posted By: SonofJoe
There's another way to look at this...
Typically a formulator is a self-worshipping, over ambitious, PhD educated chemist who sees the act of 'blending' anything as beneath him. In his eyes, blending is for The Oicks (lab technicians, the guys in the Blend Shop) who's job is basically to do everything he or she tells them to do, however ridiculous or inefficient, without question.
Often a formulator will even look down on the job of formulating, regarding it as just slightly more technical Oick's Work. What they really want to be is be a Vice President where you get paid tonnes of money but where anything that goes wrong can easily be blamed on someone else. You can easily spot these people because they're usually a Jock & a complete tosser
Very, very rarely you will find an oil formulator who is prepared to don a lab coat & some latex gloves and do their own blends, both in the lab and the blend shop. Such practices are frowned upon and considered to be Bad Form as they involve mixing with The Lower Classes. However the direct connect between blending and complex data analysis tends to foster a logical, fact driven approach to formulation, as opposed to the fairy story, make-it-up-as-you-go-along narrative based approach which is far more common than you would imagine. They also get a feel for practical problems that tosser-formulators are completely oblivious too.
SOJ, tell us how you really feel.
I can say the environment here must be much different than it is in the EU.
My experience is, it doesn't matter what the letters, or lack thereof, behind your name, each person has their responsibilities, works as a team, respect each other, and carry out their defined jobs.
I.E., I don't think your experience is typical.