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

[Roger (K8RI)]

Jim Brannigan wrote:
>
> Gerry,
> Well written, you are exactly on point.
>
My experiences echo Gerry's and I've worked this from the technician, 
professional, and management levels.

After 26 years of working as a tech I took an educational leave although 
that's pretty much the same as quitting.  The leave only says you can 
have a shot at your old job if it's available.  As I said when I went 
out the door, "If I wanted my old job back I wouldn't be planning on 4 
years of college at my age".
I started into Electrical Engineering,  but could not get the math 
concurrently so I changed to Computer Science which is almost as heavy 
in math as the EE. That's why so many students choose CIS instead of 
CS.  BTW, I have minors in Math and Art.

I hear about these hundreds of thousands of highly skilled workers that 
can't find jobs, then I see the big companies lobbying for Visas so they 
can get skilled workers and they aren't importing minimum wage earners 
either.  These people are starting out  for as much as many of the so 
called "old timers", like me were  making and I was doing quite well.  I 
graduated in 90, started on my Masters working as a graduate assistant 
(full ride), but received a call offering a job half way through the 
first term.  I started as a Sys Admin and because of my background in 
industry did not have to come in any where near entry level, I then 
became a Developmental Analyst (fancy sounding name for programmer)  in 
about a year.  Two years later I became a project manager at the 
corporate level where I remained for about another 4 years and 
retired.   Six months after I retired I received another call ( I was 
not seeking employment at all) with an offer as  a consultant doing 
exactly what I did as a project manager, but out of Toledo with pay the 
same as we paid consulting firms.  They really wanted me on a 3 year 
contract, not as a consultant.   IIRC they had 4 sites around the 
country.  It would have been a minimum of 3 days pay any time I went to 
a site so If I visited all 4 sites in one week  that would have been 12 
days pay.  The kicker was I'd have been working long hours and long 
weeks just like those from which I retired.  It paid well enough I was 
looking into a new single engine turboprop to fly back and fourth on 
week ends as well as hopping from site to site. However I was reluctant 
to go back to working those hours so there were a few brief consulting 
sessions and they found someone willing to work those hours. 

If the person has the qualifications the jobs are there.  When I say 
qualifications I do mean a bit more than just education though and I 
don't mean people who just spend 8 hours on the job and go home.

I could have used the money as I'd have never had to think about costs 
again,  but I'm glad I retired when I did.  I really had fun, but 10 
years later I had a stroke.   Two more days and it'll be my anniversary 
(April 3rd) of the start of learning how to walk again.  Today I only 
have a slight limp in my left leg and I can again, touch type over 60 wpm.

April 4th 2007 I couldn't even keep a pencil on a sheet of paper with 
my  left hand.  Now that hand is pretty much normal and I'm doing over 
300# on a leg press, half hour nearly every day on the bike, and weight 
training so I can get back up the tower and stay long enough to get some 
work done.

However, my personal experience aside, there are *lucrative* jobs for 
the highly skilled, hard working tech and professional out there going 
begging.  The most common reason people with the training are out of 
work is not lack of jobs, but an unwillingness to go where the jobs are. 
The next most common is an unwillingness to retrain, or they just 
maintain high enough skills to "get by".  As I've already said, I quit 
and went back to college full time (age 47) after 26 years to learn a 
new profession.

And finally I again I agree with Gerry about todays grad's not being 
willing to study the difficult subjects to get the good paying jobs that 
may be half way round the country, or world.  I have little sympathy for 
those who expect to coast through high school and then find the world 
offering them a job that takes little effort to earn a wage that allows 
them to live in a half million dollar plus home.  High school only 
prepares the individual to go to school to learn a trade or profession.  
It's not like it was 50 years ago when I graduated.

Michigan,  hopefully is learning from the auto industry's painful 
mistakes, you can easily price yourself out of business

End of Soapbox.

73

Roger (K8RI)




> Jim