I think its a shame that we live in a world where experience counts for very little anymore. Unless you have hundreds of qualifications and letters after your name you are a supposed dumb ass.
Well, truth be told if you are a prospective employer and you are judging your future staff on the amount of qualifications they have and just that then you are missing the wider picture.
Take myself for instance as I have seen this first hand because although I am able to strip a truck down to the last wheel nut and place all the parts on the floor and then rebuild it piece by piece then paint it and drive it i am only actually qualified to drive it on paper. So that says to an employer I can drive a forty four tonne truck but not work on it, how wrong could he be?. On top of that I can fault find on hydraulic systems and have written hydraulic schematics for some of the biggest companies in the world, I can fault find with every kind of electronic diagnostic equipment currently available and have a background in automotive electronics that reaches from grass cutting machines to the latest commercial vehicles, I wired my own house and buildings in years gone by and installed my own computerised central heating system, i am a National B scrutineer for the British Motor Sports Association and own an Operators licence for three vehicles and nine trailers, I am a school governor and I have just written and published my first novel on Kindle as well as having penned two poetry books. I can set up a golf greens mower to cut down to a quarter of an inch or set the injectors on a 4 series Scania truck, I can drive a 360 degree machine and if it falls over i know how to use the equipment to recover it, repair it and drive it again...
The problem with all this and believe me it's a small amount of what I am actually able to do, is without a piece of paper to say you have done it you are just a face in the crowd and I wonder if those bits of paper are perhaps relied upon a little too much?. I was given a level three exam sheet and asked to answer the questions on a subject i know inside out. I got half the questions right. Why only half?.
The truth is i knew what the items were in the test but i didnt know the correct names for them, so although I could do the repair with my eyes shut and tell you what the fault was i couldnt tell you the exact names of every component, I recognised them and could do the job required but was unable to write it down on the paper.
Now that really should be a lesson to all of us time served mechanics, the facts are that a rookie who doesn't know the front from the back of an engine will be higher up the tree than you because he has revised and knows the names of the items he is working with its as simple as that.
To that aim I am heading to college and taking a course at the end of August even though I have been asked by one college to tutor, I feel I need to do this for myself as i feel a little short changed having trained five apprentices in the past and at least two of whom are now master technicians I am having to stand up to the plate and be questioned as to my ability. So be warned, do the paperwork as the devil is in the detail !!
Well, truth be told if you are a prospective employer and you are judging your future staff on the amount of qualifications they have and just that then you are missing the wider picture.
Take myself for instance as I have seen this first hand because although I am able to strip a truck down to the last wheel nut and place all the parts on the floor and then rebuild it piece by piece then paint it and drive it i am only actually qualified to drive it on paper. So that says to an employer I can drive a forty four tonne truck but not work on it, how wrong could he be?. On top of that I can fault find on hydraulic systems and have written hydraulic schematics for some of the biggest companies in the world, I can fault find with every kind of electronic diagnostic equipment currently available and have a background in automotive electronics that reaches from grass cutting machines to the latest commercial vehicles, I wired my own house and buildings in years gone by and installed my own computerised central heating system, i am a National B scrutineer for the British Motor Sports Association and own an Operators licence for three vehicles and nine trailers, I am a school governor and I have just written and published my first novel on Kindle as well as having penned two poetry books. I can set up a golf greens mower to cut down to a quarter of an inch or set the injectors on a 4 series Scania truck, I can drive a 360 degree machine and if it falls over i know how to use the equipment to recover it, repair it and drive it again...
The problem with all this and believe me it's a small amount of what I am actually able to do, is without a piece of paper to say you have done it you are just a face in the crowd and I wonder if those bits of paper are perhaps relied upon a little too much?. I was given a level three exam sheet and asked to answer the questions on a subject i know inside out. I got half the questions right. Why only half?.
The truth is i knew what the items were in the test but i didnt know the correct names for them, so although I could do the repair with my eyes shut and tell you what the fault was i couldnt tell you the exact names of every component, I recognised them and could do the job required but was unable to write it down on the paper.
Now that really should be a lesson to all of us time served mechanics, the facts are that a rookie who doesn't know the front from the back of an engine will be higher up the tree than you because he has revised and knows the names of the items he is working with its as simple as that.
To that aim I am heading to college and taking a course at the end of August even though I have been asked by one college to tutor, I feel I need to do this for myself as i feel a little short changed having trained five apprentices in the past and at least two of whom are now master technicians I am having to stand up to the plate and be questioned as to my ability. So be warned, do the paperwork as the devil is in the detail !!
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