You know that little voice in the back of your head...

[Mtech]

I figured he will hang himself eventually. Just can't stand watching someone throw away all our hard work. Also this guy prior to training for my fillin position applied for a electro/mechanic job which reports to me or those in my position and failed both sides of the test. AND LANDED A EVEN BETTER JOB!!!! But hey your right he will have to prove himself sooner or later. It will happen then.

 

[silva.foxx]

For me, I had rather work around dangerous equipmet with the first seat-of-the pants type of engineer, even if he can't quote the electrical codes verbatim.

I find, as an ET, that I tend to be "gung-ho" and take the "suck it and see" approach to trying things, perhaps a little dangerous in theory buy it's great when it does go wrong.

[Disclaimer: I don't take risks with other people's safety]

It's fun when things go wrong but I do get a little excited when the risk pays off. You know the feeling; when you just have to dance a jig, smile and get all giggly. And when you get something working that was written of as u/s! Magic

My motto is "I go to work to tinker with technology".
I'm forever fiddling with bits when it's quiet in work, especially weekends and nights - no eyes or questions - I'm forever borrowing stuff from stores (it's like ToysRus to me) and trying to fathom things out. And I love watching programs like How Its Made, How Stuff Works, Mythbusters and Massive Machines, there are others on Discovery I like to tune into also.

Recently I had the brainwave of removing a goosed inverter from the scrap bin to diassemble so fiddle with the guts. I ended up in hospital having a gash at the base of a finger glued - remember never cut towards yourself with a sharp blade!!! I was told to leave it in the skip next time.

I've gone completely OT, sorry... the thread's about Genius's who can't do the fundamental competencies.
I don't think I've worked with anyone with a degree.
Does it mean that you are a very good reader?

.

 

[Mtech]

Must be the same guy you worked with. No way god created more than one.

 

[silva.foxx]

I figured he will hang himself eventually. Just can't stand watching someone throw away all our hard work. Also this guy prior to training for my fillin position applied for a electro/mechanic job which reports to me or those in my position and failed both sides of the test. AND LANDED A EVEN BETTER JOB!!!! But hey your right he will have to prove himself sooner or later. It will happen then.

This is one thing that winds me up. Someone who talks the talk tends to get liked by managers, typically cos they like to bull---- their way through their careers... take credit for other people's work and progress on up. They tend to be 'yes' people, with very brown beaks and will always deflect technical questions by veering off on a tangent ("oh yeah, had a similar situation at a previous company years ago that turned out to be the fault of the technician not knowing what he was doing...") before disappearing off for a coffee!

Been told recently about a bully-boy, an interim "manager" we're having, who went on a course, a very hands-on technical course, yet sat at the back of the class for the five day duration. He stated that as he was a "manager" he just wanted to see what the course entails so he can tell "his guys" how to do their job!

 

[Duranthas]

While not a PhD type, a coworker borrowed my Fluke and brought it back saying something was wrong because it arced really big when he used it. I asked him to show me exactly what he did and am now very impressed with how tough a Fluke is considering mine still works. He ohmed the exiting side of a 40 amp fuse on leg 3 480v to ground with it hot. I admit that at first I honestly couldn't talk because the magnitude of what just happened was still crashing down on me but then probably became a bit more vocal than I should have and it's now clear between us that he isn't to touch my equipment. As to why he checked the fuse the way he did I'll never know

 

[Ken Roach]

What a couple of PhD's with a Fluke meter might look like:

 

[Tom@Pton]

Never have connected my Fluke quite like that...may have to read the manual.

First digital meter I had I forgot to move leads from current to voltage. Worked for years with a piece of wire soldered across the circuit board. Lead tips were a bit shorter.

 

[TimothyMoulder]

1. Basic knowledge is no substitute for experience
2. Experience is hard to get without basic knowledge.

Both of these things can be obtained in a huge variety of manners.

What cannot be obtained - what must be innate in a person - is the ability to learn from their own screw-ups, or even better, the screw-ups of others. That is what translates basic knowledge into experience. And it's something that can't be taught.

TM

 

[Clay B.]

Seeing the light

I have seen the results of meters blowing up twice in my career and neither meter was a fluke. I have blown the fuses on my fluke twice (both times I did not have an amp clamp handy and figured the fuses would be a small price to pay to go home).

My favorite "electrical genius" decided to check the volts on a secondary side of UV power supply. What made this so funny is he was warned not to do this. Secondaries on UV power supplies generate voltages in the 1000 of volts. This is something I wouldn't touch with my fluke much less a cheapy radio shack special. Well since he was smarter than the rest of us he decided to go ahead with the test. Thankfully I was there to see him standing with 2 test leads and a "I just soiled my pants look". The meter was scattered in about a 20 foot radious around the power supply. After that I think he was convinced of 2 things. One, do not buy cheap meters. Two, never ever plug a meter into the secondary side of UV power supply.

But my favorite part: I explained to him prior to his meter going balistic that to test the secondary the first thing we did was change the bulb. While Super Sparky tried to get his hands to stop shaking another tech got a bulb and swapped it and UV problem was fixxed.

To me someone making a mistake in the learning process is not a problem. When they make a mistake because of arogance... I call that Karma... and entertainment...

 

[OZEE]

To me someone making a mistake in the learning process is not a problem. When they make a mistake because of arogance... I call that Karma... and entertainment...

That might just become my sig! Well said, Clay!!

 

[bernie_carlton]

To me someone making a mistake in the learning process is not a problem. When they make a mistake because of arogance... I call that Karma... and entertainment...

And if, because of inadequate training, they make a serious enough mistake that's called death.

 

[Tom Jenkins]

And if, because of inadequate training, they make a serious enough mistake that's called death.

No kidding - in our business there are some mistakes you only get to make once!

 

[Paul B]

What a couple of PhD's with a Fluke meter might look like:

Ken, that is wild.
That has to be real - it does not look staged, or maybe it is. Any info on what it is?

Great thread. I have enjoyed all of the comments. Many hit home. I have some to contribute but it has not hit me yet what to write about. In time, all in good time.

 

[Paul B]

1. Basic knowledge is no substitute for experience
2. Experience is hard to get without basic knowledge.

Both of these things can be obtained in a huge variety of manners.

What cannot be obtained - what must be innate in a person - is the ability to learn from their own screw-ups, or even better, the screw-ups of others. That is what translates basic knowledge into experience. And it's something that can't be taught.

TM

Excellent thought! I agree completely.

It made me think of the comedian Ron White's observation: You can't fix stupid.

And I don't think you can teach attention to detail. You either have it or you don't. A healthy dose of paranoia never hurt either - I say a healthy dose because I mean you need enough to be worried but not so much you are afraid to do anything. Because the only people that don't make mistakes are the people that don't do anything. I never had that problem!!!

 

[TheStarr]

Never miss a chance to learn, one of the sayings that has stuck with me:

"You can learn just as much from seeing someone do something the right way as you can from someone doing it the wrong way"