[Hallicrafters] Nobody wants to be a "technician" anymore

[Jim Brannigan]

Gerry,
Well written, you are exactly on point.

Jim

>I offer a different perspective.  I have held positions of electrical
> engineer, operations manager, vice-president of Operations and now Manager
> of Electric Operations in four different electric utilities.  Yes, I was
> downsized once.  I did change, I moved.  I am currently Chair of the 
> Project
> management Committee of a 450 million dollar electric transmission line
> project.  This project is one of three such projects totaling 1.4 billion
> dollars in investment being done by a consortium of eleven companies
> comprised of investor owned, rural electric cooperative and municipal
> utilities in Minnesota.  The number of first class linemen, truck drivers,
> engineers, accountants and the like required for such an effort is in the
> high hundreds.  We don't know where to find them.  Most all of these jobs
> START in the range of $55,000 to $70,000.  These projects are just 
> starting
> but will go on until about 2015 or so.  Then the next round hits.
>
> My son (the blonde, blue-eyed, Polish/Norwegian boy) is trained in
> engineering technology and computer science.  He graduated about 5 years
> ago.  He now is a computer systems administrator and troubleshooter for 
> one
> of the largest property insurers in this country.  Most of the people in 
> his
> classes were not of western European extraction.  His view is that 
> generally
> the parties he knows just don't want to work hard enough to study these
> topics (this is either in college/university and/or tech school).  The US
> previously turned out 70,000 to 90,000 engineers per year.  Now the 
> numbers
> are in the range of the high teens or low 20 thousands.  Much of the job
> transitions are necessitated by not having the skills available.  Everyone
> can't be a lawyer or professional entertainer (sports or otherwise).
>
> I recently hired a tech school grad to be an electric system operator.
> After hire he had to study almost 9 months to get the necessary
> certification to do the job.  He started at $72,000 annually.
>
> My examples are not the only ones out there, I could quote many others. 
> The
> point is that the skills needed are constantly changing.  One must
> constantly learn/change.  Many folks (young & old) refuse to do so.
>
> I am 63 and have about two or three different offers coming to me monthly.
> But, folks must be willing to do the time first, get the reputation, the
> skills, etc.
>
> We don't have any more nasty conspiracy out there than in times past.
>
> Older guys like us need to recognize that just like the hoo-haa about 
> young
> folks (like gen-Xers) needing to be treated differently because of 
> culture,
> we need to be instructed in what the job to be done is and how it must be
> done today, not how it was done yesterday.
>
> I was a tube type aerospace engineer out of school.  If I had not changed, 
> I
> would be in the minimum wage situation Duane describes.  I always ask 
> those
> who complain, "How have you changed or modernized?
>
> Sorry for the chapter & verse diatribe.  I know there are some cases where
> the jobs have moved off-shore and more.  But, one of my system operators 
> was
> a baker in his earlier life (that person now is dragging home over $82,000
> annually).  Now that's change.
>
> I haven't really proofed this, I even made myself tired.  Hope my point is
> salient.
>
> Cheers from Minnesota,
>
> Gerry
>
>
>
>
>
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