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..

 

[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.