why do most people put you down

[assegayer]

Hi guys,

Recently when im studying at college and on my work days as a mate, i constantly hear the same old moaning from electricians saying 'if i could pick something else back in ur time it sure wouldnt be this' ..i always hear this from them and to be honest it really can discourage you...there nice blokes but when it comes to their job views they seem to look down on themselves... i like electrics, and would jsut like to ask is the trade really that bad, is there no future job prosepcts in it?....u have probably heard this so many times jsut really annyoing me...


but then what else is there to do?,, office jobs are just as **** and boring and offer no 100% job security..

 

[Guest125]

Stick with it mate. Make your own path. I love my job and always have done. Sure there will be bad days, weeks and months but all in all. I love it.

 

[assegayer]

u see this kind of comment can really just change the whole mood, how long you been sparking for?

 

[Sintra]

I tried to talk 2 of my sons out of being sparks but they didn't listen.

 

[assegayer]

I tried to talk 2 of my sons out of being sparks but they didn't listen.

why is that? do you really think its that bad? what else would u want them to do that is deemed good in your eyes

 

[Sintra]

I really just wanted something better for them as this job takes its toll on your body after a while. I've been in the game for 30 years and I must say I love it really but my knees and back are screwed. Saying that one of them has completed his apprenticeship and the other is in his 3rd year and both are doing well at it.

 

[Guest125]

I started straight from school in 1999. 4 year apprentiship. Left to be self employed then started my own firm in 2010.

 

[trev]

I love my job. I'm 52 now, one Friday when I was 16 my school closed it's doors to me and on the Monday I started my apprenticeship. In those days being an electrician was a goal few reached, it was a very well respected trade. Now it's not like that so much.
However, for someone who, as you appear to be, wants to work at it and learn then the world can still be your oyster, just don't give up on the studying and always reach for the next goal which might appear at the time to be unreachable but trust me, it isn't.
There is always a new situation waiting round the corner for you that you won't have experienced before, one which will make you stand back and scratch your head for a while until you figure it out.
Every day is a school day if you want it to be.
Good luck, it will be the ride that you want it to be if you're prepared to work for it.

 

[assegayer]

I really just wanted something better for them as this job takes its toll on your body after a while. I've been in the game for 30 years and I must say I love it really but my knees and back are screwed. Saying that one of them has completed his apprenticeship and the other is in his 3rd year and both are doing well at it.

i 100% agree with you about the toll on the body, but these days more ppe is worn (not in anyway saying it was bad back in your days) such as knee pads etc.. i really like the jobs

 

[assegayer]

I love my job. I'm 52 now, one Friday when I was 16 my school closed it's doors to me and on the Monday I started my apprenticeship. In those days being an electrician was a goal few reached, it was a very well respected trade. Now it's not like that so much.
However, for someone who, as you appear to be, wants to work at it and learn then the world can still be your oyster, just don't give up on the studying and always reach for the next goal which might appear at the time to be unreachable but trust me, it isn't.
There is always a new situation waiting round the corner for you that you won't have experienced before, one which will make you stand back and scratch your head for a while until you figure it out.
Every day is a school day if you want it to be.
Good luck, it will be the ride that you want it to be if you're prepared to work for it.

thanks for the words of wisdom, they really help

 

[assegayer]

I started straight from school in 1999. 4 year apprentiship. Left to be self employed then started my own firm in 2010.

thats the dream hopefully after gaining a good amount of experience, how is it going you working alone or have some lads

 

[Guest125]

thats the dream hopefully after gaining a good amount of experience, how is it going you working alone or have some lads

There is a team of 7 of us. All we do is railway work.

 

[jase]

As with any job or even any trade, some people excell an go on to run their own successful businesses, some just plod along working for someone else, it's upto you what you do with what you learn, I used to think that "the game" wasn't as it was and that the golden age of a sparky being an elite trade was long gone and that my training had been for nothing and maybe I shoulve just become a plasterer, but then I lost my driving licence through my own stupidity and took a job in a local factory on a production line working a 40 hr week for minimum wage doing the same thing day in day out. And I realised just how much freedom, variation and downright job satisfaction being a sparky is. And sometimes it's not even about that latest re-wire on a 5 bed townhouse with intelligent lighting and home automation that has tested all your skill. It's the little old lady who has called you out because her cooker doesn't work and she's worried about how shes gonna make dinner, and all it takes to put her at ease and make her day and put her out of her worry is just to change a 13A fuse.

 

[Knobhead]

The only words I’ll offer are,
Try your best to get in to the industrial side of the trade. Domestic electricians are ten a penny.
The number of industrial electricians is falling. Due, like me, to retirement. Someone is going to have to replace us. It won’t be easy and its bloody hard work but it kept me interested for forty years.

 

[andyelectric]

First time I think I've ever agreed with Tony. In my view the new Domestic Installer category is here to stay and therefore the domestic market will remain flooded. Therefore the way to go is industrial.

My personal view is that users of this forum are likely to be further disappointed and that there will be a future deskilling of industrial also(due to lacknof apprenticeships and guys like Tony retiring) , but not to the same extent as has happened domestically so still the safest option.

 

[Darkwood]

Ill second Tony's post forget domestic and aim for industrial - even if you have to do 5 yrs in basic electrics thn go for the big one, the old stock are retiring daily and there is a 25yr pot hole of people to replace them, I'm turning down work weekly now because of this and cannot find anyone to help me with similar skill level.

 

[Knobhead]

The industrial sector can’t risk having ill trained wanabe’s let loose and this is where the big crunch is going to come.

As DW said there’s a 25 year hole to be filled. I’m sorry but the “bolt on” 5 day additional course “introduction to 3Ph” isn’t going to fill it.
You have to have a good grasp of maths, logic, physics, chemistry and be able to learn an industrial processes to be safe not just for yourself but for others.

Years ago I nearly killed three people and I’m the one that’s supposed to know what he’s doing. That’s stuck with me ever since.

It’s never been easy to get in to. Now I’m going to be honest, I don’t know how you break through that barrier now. All the training seems to be aimed at the domestic market.
I’ll help anyone that really wants to aim for that goal. Believe it or not Andy, I’ll go out of my way to help. For the simple reason this country is heading for disaster due to short sighted training policies of 30 years ago. Policies I fought tooth and nail against. I’m no mystic but I foretold this impending crunch all those years ago.

 

[Essexboy7]

Hi guys,

Recently when im studying at college and on my work days as a mate, i constantly hear the same old moaning from electricians saying 'if i could pick something else back in ur time it sure wouldnt be this' ..i always hear this from them and to be honest it really can discourage you...there nice blokes but when it comes to their job views they seem to look down on themselves... i like electrics, and would jsut like to ask is the trade really that bad, is there no future job prosepcts in it?....u have probably heard this so many times jsut really annyoing me...


but then what else is there to do?,, office jobs are just as **** and boring and offer no 100% job security..

i have been in the game for 34 years and hate it

I have seen every aspect of it go steadily downhill

The pay,the conditions,the standard of work,a once respected trade now flooded with unskilled/semi skilled cheap labour,building sites that used to be a great crack turned into miserable prison camps,health and safety gone mad,agencies,payroll companies and if you are looking for 100% job security then this DEFINETLY aint the game to be in

At the moment i am doing substation work on the railway and pay and conditions are better then anywhere else but there are so many wretches who can put you out of work in an instant

 

[Knobhead]

i have been in the game for 34 years and hate it
I have seen every aspect of it go steadily downhill

The pay,the conditions,the standard of work,a once respected trade now flooded with unskilled/semi skilled cheap labour,building sites that used to be a great crack turned into miserable prison camps,health and safety gone mad,agencies,payroll companies and if you are looking for 100% job security then this DEFINETLY aint the game to be in

At the moment i am doing substation work on the railway and pay and conditions are better then anywhere else but there are so many wretches who can put you out of work in an instant

Why do you think I advise against the domestic sector? New builds or modifications it’s the same day in day out. I’d rather watch paint dry.

 

[Besoeker]

The industrial sector can’t risk having ill trained wanabe’s let loose and this is where the big crunch is going to come.

As DW said there’s a 25 year hole to be filled. I’m sorry but the “bolt on” 5 day additional course “introduction to 3Ph” isn’t going to fill it.
You have to have a good grasp of maths, logic, physics, chemistry and be able to learn an industrial processes to be safe not just for yourself but for others.

Years ago I nearly killed three people and I’m the one that’s supposed to know what he’s doing. That’s stuck with me ever since.

It’s never been easy to get in to. Now I’m going to be honest, I don’t know how you break through that barrier now. All the training seems to be aimed at the domestic market.
I’ll help anyone that really wants to aim for that goal. Believe it or not Andy, I’ll go out of my way to help. For the simple reason this country is heading for disaster due to short sighted training policies of 30 years ago. Policies I fought tooth and nail against. I’m no mystic but I foretold this impending crunch all those years ago.

I agree. It's the same thing I've been saying for years about my field - mainly power electronics.
No new blood. I'm beyond retirement age, and both my chief project engineer are in their fifties.
My very able assistant recently retired - she is also in her fifties.

I'm dealing with the same people on many sites that I've dealt with for decades. A bit saddening really.

 

[assegayer]

What is industrial exactly. Like what does it involve]

 

[Guest125]

Anything that is not donedtic.

 

[assegayer]

How do u get into that sort of thing after level 3 and 2391

 

[Welchyboy1]

To be honest my experience of industrial work was horrible!

i done my appreticeship and two years afterwards as an electrician, in industrial and heavy commercial work, all ladder rack, trunking, tray, swa, scissor lifts, pyro, permits to work, hi viz jackets, safety officers, clock in, clock out, hard hats and lunch hours

got my app gold card then left

it was good to learn the skills but its really hard work, most of this was in large,hot, dirty, smelly factories or site work, in london or miles from my home, walking miles accross the huge factory floors back to the store room to get half a dozen nuts or bolts then back again, cetainly not something to be doing after your about 40

and the pay was only really standard day rate wages

unless you specialise then i would never like to have stayed, but i never got to that point to be fair

i then went self employed in 2004

i now do about 60/40% domestic and light commercial, have some nice local maintenece contracts and never work more than 15 miles from my house, home by 4 pm most of the time and have my alarm set for 7:30am

ther are loads of domestic chancers out there....loads! Dont get me wrong!

but there is also a MASSIVE shortage of decent, reliable electricians who undertake domestic and light commercial works because of this

i have been manic busy more or less 6 months from when i started

Would never work as an employee for someone else and wouldnt change it for the world!

its not for everyone though and you need a whole lot of different skills to make it work well, a very good buisiness acumen for starters, which disqualifies about 85% of electricians immediately

but once you have a decent client base who pay well, trust and recommend you, its hard to beat

 

[assegayer]

To be honest my experience of industrial work was horrible!

i done my appreticeship and two years afterwards as an electrician, in industrial and heavy commercial work, all ladder rack, trunking, tray, swa, scissor lifts, pyro, permits to work, hi viz jackets, safety officers, clock in, clock out, hard hats and lunch hours

got my app gold card then left

it was good to learn the skills but its really hard work, most of this was in large,hot, dirty, smelly factories or site work, in london or miles from my home, walking miles accross the huge factory floors back to the store room to get half a dozen nuts or bolts then back again, cetainly not something to be doing after your about 40

and the pay was only really standard day rate wages

unless you specialise then i would never like to have stayed, but i never got to that point to be fair

i then went self employed in 2004

i now do about 60/40% domestic and light commercial, have some nice local maintenece contracts and never work more than 15 miles from my house, home by 4 pm most of the time and have my alarm set for 7:30am

ther are loads of domestic chancers out there....loads! Dont get me wrong!

but there is also a MASSIVE shortage of decent, reliable electricians who undertake domestic and light commercial works because of this

i have been manic busy more or less 6 months from when i started

Would never work as an employee for someone else and wouldnt change it for the world!

its not for everyone though and you need a whole lot of different skills to make it work well, a very good buisiness acumen for starters, which disqualifies about 85% of electricians immediately

but once you have a decent client base who pay well, trust and recommend you, its hard to beat

Good on you mate for taking that step, it seems to have paid off a lot i just wanted to ask what do they mean when they say reactive maintenance

 

[Guest125]

How do u get into that sort of thing after level 3 and 2391

If you have not done your NVQ3 then I would recommend cold calling companies to see if you can get a start. Apply for jobs and sell yourself as someone who is confident in their current ability but just needs some assistance moving forward in the industrial sector. Start your NVQ3 as soon as you get a start in this industry and get through it a as quickly as possible.

 

[Welchyboy1]

Reactive maintenance is, when it breakes you get called out to fix it

proactive maintenance is, keeping everything ship shape so it doesnt break as often

 

[Guest125]

To be honest my experience of industrial work was horrible!

i done my appreticeship and two years afterwards as an electrician, in industrial and heavy commercial work, all ladder rack, trunking, tray, swa, scissor lifts, pyro, permits to work, hi viz jackets, safety officers, clock in, clock out, hard hats and lunch hours

got my app gold card then left

it was good to learn the skills but its really hard work, most of this was in large,hot, dirty, smelly factories or site work, in london or miles from my home, walking miles accross the huge factory floors back to the store room to get half a dozen nuts or bolts then back again, cetainly not something to be doing after your about 40

and the pay was only really standard day rate wages

unless you specialise then i would never like to have stayed, but i never got to that point to be fair

i then went self employed in 2004

i now do about 60/40% domestic and light commercial, have some nice local maintenece contracts and never work more than 15 miles from my house, home by 4 pm most of the time and have my alarm set for 7:30am

ther are loads of domestic chancers out there....loads! Dont get me wrong!

but there is also a MASSIVE shortage of decent, reliable electricians who undertake domestic and light commercial works because of this

i have been manic busy more or less 6 months from when i started

Would never work as an employee for someone else and wouldnt change it for the world!

its not for everyone though and you need a whole lot of different skills to make it work well, a very good buisiness acumen for starters, which disqualifies about 85% of electricians immediately

but once you have a decent client base who pay well, trust and recommend you, its hard to beat

I hear you but working for someone else has it's advantages. You get to turn your phone off at 5pm. You get paid 28 days holiday a year. We give out company vans and phones. Fuel cards. Constant training and development. A great workplace atmosphere.

What I would say to anyone who is nervous about working flat out after 40. Stay SE and that will happen. Be the best spark in the comapany you work for and you woukd more likely than not end up in the office managing the new era of electricians.

 

[assegayer]

Reactive maintenance is, when it breakes you get called out to fix it

proactive maintenance is, keeping everything ship shape so it doesnt break as often

ohhh that makes sense now...say a client asked you to put up spotlights how would u even run the cables when the josits get in the way and ceiling is up?

 

[Guest125]

I am getting the feeling we are on the end of a wind up.

 

[assegayer]

I am getting the feeling we are on the end of a wind up.

lool sorry sorry never meant to drag on ill leave that question for another time

 

[andyelectric]

Reactive maintenance is, when it breakes you get called out to fix it

proactive maintenance is, keeping everything ship shape so it doesnt break as often

More commonly the terms used are:

Preventative maintenance : Routine to keep everything shipshape.
Corrective maintenance: Fixing faults.

 

[Darkwood]

Regarding getting into Industrial-
Here's the problem now; the system you train under is so dumbed down due to falling education standards over decades that anyone coming through that route simply doesn't cut the mustard anymore.

Lets go back to how it used to be, you had to have high achievement in maths and physics just to do a bog standard Electrical course and Pass rates were low too, think only 40% of our class made it through. It was tough and because of this the industry knew it and it was reflected in good wages and respect. What you did in them days because you were better educated is work direct into Industrial as an apprentice or join a firm that spanned the different sectors.

Now I started college and was already an A grade in maths and Physics, I left college with some of the highest results you could acheive, my passes in on papers were with distinctions where possible, I suppose I was a bit of a swat at school and did enjoy Maths and Physics hence it wasn't a hard migration for me but don't get me wrong; it was still tough.

In them days when you did college and the advanced C module I think it was for design etc you could virtually walk into any key area of the Industry and just be watched over for a few yrs until experience took over.

As for the system nowadays - well I would love to take on an Apprentice in the near future but education level are at an all time low and the system is so broken up and dumbed down that taking anyone on would be a liability and a waste of my time and effort - trust me I've had about 12 apprentices over the years and witnessed first hand the slow return to neanderthal thinking.

As for answers - well I don't know their is no quick fix for this one, you can't even ship skilled immigration in as this sector has a shortage even outsourcing it, but if you are a cut above the rest in your mental skills best get with a firm that bridges both domestic and industrial and spend the first 5years just picking up experience and any spare time you have at home you cram the internet reviewing old and new technology because for the last 20yrs that what I have to do and to this day I'm still getting home looking for solutions to problems and products to repair old technology, it not a job its a commitment that will eat into a lot of your own time but if you have drive, the balls and consider yourself hungry for knowledge then the Industrial sector will make you a wich wich man.

Just to remind the modern day school leaver the difference here in our education and yours, by the age of 12 we had to be able to recite upto our 15times table without the aid of a calculator and when we left for break the teacher would ask a random sum within that area and if you get it using just your head you got your break, if not you spent your break writing out that particular set of tables.
Just to reflect, we had an apprentice who couldn't even do his 3 times table as an adult who had left school without a calculator, he passed his college and this is when I know the Industry was heading for a disaster and that was 15yrs ago.

 

[plugsandsparks]

Don't be put off, skills of an electrician (and they do vary massively depending on where you are and what you are doing) will always be in demand. I came back into the sector full time 5 years ago, I could either have set up a business managing IT or my first love commercial / industrial electrics. I have since added FGAS (air con) and Gassafe (non domestic) to the companies capability. Some would say its a stretch to do all these but boredom is my biggest fear. I am self employed and have subbed out in my earlier years, even charging £25/hr to build panels, but I don't need to do that anymore and am always busy. Its a great life and ticks all my boxes. My advice would be: Be ambitious, see where demand is, now in my area, its industrial power distribution and plant installations, always have a book at the side of the bed, could be a installation manual for an inverter or commissioning manual for a warm air heater. Keep learning and do not be afraid to take on something for the first time, do lots of research first, talk to manufacturers, they always have a tech line and always do an fantastic job, even if it costs you on that particular job. It all pays off in the long run. As for the body, I,m 52 , back was never any good, knees are OK as there's not much kneeling down on my work but anyway that's what help is for. Good Luck

 

[Guest125]

Here's the problem now; the system you train under is so dumbed down due to falling education standards over decades that anyone coming through that route simply doesn't cut the mustard anymore.

Lets go back to how it used to be, you had to have high achievement in maths and physics just to do a bog standard Electrical course and Pass rates were low too, think only 40% of our class made it through. It was tough and because of this the industry knew it and it was reflected in good wages and respect. What you did in them days because you were better educated is work direct into Industrial as an apprentice or join a firm that spanned the different sectors.

Now I started college and was already an A grade in maths and Physics, I left college with some of the highest results you could acheive, my passes in on papers were with distinctions where possible, I suppose I was a bit of a swat at school and did enjoy Maths and Physics hence it wasn't a hard migration for me but don't get me wrong; it was still tough.

In them days when you did college and the advanced C module I think it was for design etc you could virtually walk into any key area of the Industry and just be watched over for a few yrs until experience took over.

As for the system nowadays - well I would love to take on an Apprentice in the near future but education level are at an all time low and the system is so broken up and dumbed down that taking anyone on would be a liability and a waste of my time and effort - trust me I've had about 12 apprentices over the years and witnessed first hand the slow return to neanderthal thinking.

As for answers - well I don't know their is no quick fix for this one, you can't even ship skilled immigration in as this sector has a shortage even outsourcing it, but if you are a cut above the rest in your mental skills best get with a firm that bridges both domestic and industrial and spend the first 5years just picking up experience and any spare time you have at home you cram the internet reviewing old and new technology because for the last 20yrs that what I have to do and to this day I'm still getting home looking for solutions to problems and products to repair old technology, it not a job its a commitment that will eat into a lot of your own time but if you have drive, the balls and consider yourself hungry for knowledge then the Industrial sector will make you a wich wich man.

Just to remind the modern day school leaver the difference here in our education and yours, by the age of 12 we had to be able to recite upto our 15times table without the aid of a calculator and when we left for break the teacher would ask a random sum within that area and if you get it using just your head you got your break, if not you spent your break writing out that particular set of tables.
Just to reflect, we had an apprentice who couldn't even do his 3 times table as an adult who had left school without a calculator, he passed his college and this is when I know the Industry was heading for a disaster and that was 15yrs ago.

But things have changed. You no longer need to know the answer. You are taught nowadayson how to find the answer. Information is now at the click of a button on your phone so vast knowledge is not always required to be in your head these days.

 

[Silly Sausage]

But things have changed. You no longer need to know the answer. You are taught nowadayson how to find the answer. Information is now at the click of a button on your phone so vast knowledge is not always required to be in your head these days.

So, everytime you want to do something, you have to waste time researching the method/answer?
What a load of bollox. We're talking about basic knowledge here!!!!

 

[Slowhand]

But things have changed. You no longer need to know the answer. You are taught nowadayson how to find the answer. Information is now at the click of a button on your phone so vast knowledge is not always required to be in your head these days.

What happens if your phone has a flat battery or you have no internet access?
You should have the ability to work things out with a pencil and some paper.

 

[Guest125]

What happens if your phone has a flat battery or you have no internet access?
You should have the ability to work things out with a pencil and some paper.

Slightly exxagerating my point a bit but this is reality.

 

[Darkwood]

But things have changed. You no longer need to know the answer. You are taught nowadayson how to find the answer. Information is now at the click of a button on your phone so vast knowledge is not always required to be in your head these days.

Think you are living in a dream world if you think that modern technology is the lazy mans ticket to success, you still have to talk the talk, show the customer your understanding of the problem, give him solutions off the cuff and yes technology has speeded up things in some respect but you still need a core understanding of what your doing, how things work etc
If you think you can ride the wave off the back of technology then your in for a shock, what do you tell customer when a machine is down and he's hovering over your back, turning around and saying I need to surf the Internet to see what this part does will not win you any contracts, you should be turning around and giving him a briefing or whats wrong and your intent to a solution be it temp' or permanent. You won't give any good impressions if he walks up and see's you spending more time on your phone that actually addressing the problem.
I've seen this technology sparks myself after I've had to bail many out of the quagmire, they have a heavy reliance on the internet, don't fully understand what they are doing and any work they do if say repairing a machine is all most certainly illegal and sometimes unsafe... when questioned about the European LV directive or the BS60204 they just open their mouth and say they don't know what I'm on about - they are a dangerous trend that have entered the sector through sheer desperation of companies needing an Engineer but I bet a pound to a penny their PL won't cover them for what they are doing, the work they do is not to regulation and is probably dangerous at that, they are a trend of 'replace it and see' boys who just pick suspect parts, replace them and see if it works without a clue as to what they are doing.

 

[Guest125]

I am not saying it is right or wrong. It has it's place but of course it is also not the answer. It is how things are done now. Like it or not we need to accept that things move on.

 

[Darkwood]

I am not saying it is right or wrong. It has it's place but of course it is also not the answer. It is how things are done now. Like it or not we need to accept that things move on.

Modern technology has made life simpler that I will agree. You can quickly source any instructions for a particular item, get better prices and even keep up with new tech' without the need for a library or magazines... but its created a very worrying kind of Electrician/Engineer - when a high demand for a type of Industrial Electrician exists and no one to fill these gaps then it breeds a dangerous solution where your average joe bloggs Electrician keeps getting asked if he does this work - well he's not got a lot coming in and thus he steps over the Industrial threshold as he see it as an opportunity for income but ends up doing work he is not competent to do putting his hands into machinery and leaving it in a very dangerous state and all along totally unaware how dangerous he his, he's still patting himself on the back by adding an E-stop to a machine that is directly in series with the main contactor coil thinking he now the bees knees. Very worrying indeed - see it almost weekly now.

 

[Guest125]

Modern technology has made life simpler that I will agree. You can quickly source any instructions for a particular item, get better prices and even keep up with new tech' without the need for a library or magazines... but its created a very worrying kind of Electrician/Engineer - when a high demand for a type of Industrial Electrician exists and no one to fill these gaps then it breeds a dangerous solution where your average joe bloggs Electrician keeps getting asked if he does this work - well he's not got a lot coming in and thus he steps over the Industrial threshold as he see it as an opportunity for income but ends up doing work he is not competent to do putting his hands into machinery and leaving it in a very dangerous state and all along totally unaware how dangerous he his, he's still patting himself on the back by adding an E-stop to a machine that is directly in series with the main contactor coil thinking he now the bees knees. Very worrying indeed - see it almost weekly now.

I see things very differently to you. When I do not know the answer I admit it. I am confident of my ability to navigate the book and find the right answer. I don't produce spill for the client in a vain attempt to dig myself out of a hole. Furthermore my clients respect this. Yes I have a fundamental knowledge of the industry and can answer many questions from memory but this comes from experience not a classroom. Many times I have proved an old school sparky wrong with their "that is how it is done" approach to work and vice-versa I might add. Anyone who these days does not use technology is either lying or useless.

 

[Darkwood]

I see things very differently to you. When I do not know the answer I admit it. I am confident of my ability to navigate the book and find the right answer. I don't produce spill for the client in a vain attempt to dig myself out of a hole. Furthermore my clients respect this. Yes I have a fundamental knowledge of the industry and can answer many questions from memory but this comes from experience not a classroom. Many times I have proved an old school sparky wrong with their "that is how it is done" approach to work and vice-versa I might add. Anyone who these days does not use technology is either lying or useless.

Yes agree with the old hat side - met loads of mainly 'In House Electricians' who have had so mainy coffee breaks and isolation from the real world they are dated and living in the past... they have always existed but have good knowledge of the old gear and its maintenance so still useful as a resource if im looking for info.

 

[Adam W]

I agree the internet can be a useful tool, but there seem to be a lot of people relying on it. You see them on here saying they thought the whole point of this forum was to tell clueless people how to do the job so they can save on training and experience.

People are entering the trade hoping the existing sales and marketing skills they used in a completely unrelated job will put them ahead in driving around in a van doing electrics, assuming what the 'fault code reader' (MFT) doesn't tell them, the internet will. Then when the internet doesn't immediately give them a straightforward non-technical answer they get abusive.

Take the example of the guy whose friend or friend of friend had had a rewire and was looking for someone to tell them they'd been ripped off. The guy came on here wanting to know which form would tell him if the installation wasn't up to standard.
In reality there was probably nothing wrong with the installation apart from a couple of bits of sleeving missing, and maybe the electrician turned up late or had an old van, but it isn't and shouldn't be the place of some former IT worker to question the work of an experienced professional, especially via the internet.

 

[ronalsparks]

Hi stick with it, the job is always different which keeps it interesting and you can never be replaced by a machine to do what we do, I have run my own company for the last 20 years and it has been very rewarding.