4 things needed to be a good technician in any field

[Homer J Simpson]

This guy is a plumber / HVAC tec. He has some good content on his channel.

I watched this one today and liked it. IMO .

Knowledge
Skill
Experience
Ability

[vk6zgo]

A good Technician needs a solid theoretical knowledge base.
Unfortunately,these days,that is extremely hard to come by,as much "Technical Training" is of the "Monkey see,monkey do" variety.

Experience is good,but without theory,it tends to become a "grab bag" of tricks,which once exhausted,leave the Tech in much the same situation as the King in  "The King's New Clothes"!

[rf+tech]

What vk6zgo said. ^^^

My one annoyance with EEVblog members highlights this monkey-see-monkey-do problem.

An OP makes a request for assistance with a repair and like clockwork, a handful of suggestions appear. Some of which show the respondent didn't read the OP closely, some completely miss obvious clues, some are only tangentially related and others just too broad.

The grab-bag of tricks referred to by vk6zgo, that reduces the signal to noise ratio to that of monkey-chatter.

Something I've seen on other boards is a per-post point-scoring system - two or three negatives result in a post becoming faded and difficult to read. This form of self-policing has its pros and cons.

Given the international aspect, for many, English is a second language and expressing detailed replies is a challenge. Google Translate can be a big help in conveying detailed replies. On the other hand, there are quite a few international members on EEVblog whose English is far superior to that of some native English speakers.

We're all here to help one another and to learn from one another. Writing stand-out replies benefits everyone and furthers this objective.

For anyone who feels they have something to contribute, please take a little extra time to put some thought - and theory - into your replies.

RF+ Tech

[hendorog]

Knowledge
Skill
Experience
Ability

What about tenacity? That is the most important attribute for mine. Someone that will stick with that problem until it is solved.

[bitslice]

My one annoyance with EEVblog members highlights this monkey-see-monkey-do problem.

An OP makes a request for assistance with a repair and like clockwork, a handful of suggestions appear. Some of which show the respondent didn't read the OP closely, some completely miss obvious clues, some are only tangentially related and others just too broad.

That's a bit elitist?
You've made 145 posts, I'm sure every single one of those is a beacon of helpfulness.
meanwhile there are over 600 posts in the beginners section where up to 3749 members have looked at the post and nobody has bothered to reply.

Personally I'd take monkey chatter over being ignored any day.

And for those posts which do get a reply, the main issue in getting the problem solved has been the OPs can't string three words together and it devolves into 20 animal/mineral/vegetable questions, not that the members here are lacking in theoretical ability.

For the most part, if the OP has posited their question clearly, has bothered to mention what they are doing and why, then their problem is generally solved, with or without the help of monkeys.

[Cerebus]

My one annoyance with EEVblog members highlights this monkey-see-monkey-do problem.

An OP makes a request for assistance with a repair and like clockwork, a handful of suggestions appear. Some of which show the respondent didn't read the OP closely, some completely miss obvious clues, some are only tangentially related and others just too broad.

That's a bit elitist?
You've made 145 posts, I'm sure every single one of those is a beacon of helpfulness.
meanwhile there are over 600 posts in the beginners section where up to 3749 members have looked at the post and nobody has bothered to reply.

Personally I'd take monkey chatter over being ignored any day.

And for those posts which do get a reply, the main issue in getting the problem solved has been the OPs can't string three words together and it devolves into 20 animal/mineral/vegetable questions, not that the members here are lacking in theoretical ability.

For the most part, if the OP has posited their question clearly, has bothered to mention what they are doing and why, then their problem is generally solved, with or without the help of monkeys.

You're kind of making his case for him there, your reply evidences that you clearly didn't read what he wrote.

He says his "one annoyance with EEVblog members highlights this monkey-see-monkey-do problem". Annoyance is an emotion, a feeling. He goes on to make a reasoned case for why he feels that and makes a reasonable and politely phrased request for people to, perhaps, take a bit more care.

You then launch into a baseless accusation of elitism and a sarcastic ad-hominem attack. And in the process you bring up the size of his *ahem* message count. Hardly a helpful contribution. Your message count may be bigger but from what I've seen he knows how to use his better.

[bitslice]

You're kind of making his case for him there, your reply evidences that you clearly didn't read what he wrote.

He says his "one annoyance with EEVblog members highlights this monkey-see-monkey-do problem".

Neither did you, he said "My one annoyance", and that has a different meaning.

Annoyance is an emotion, a feeling. He goes on to make a reasoned case for why he feels that and makes a reasonable and politely phrased request for people to, perhaps, take a bit more care.

You then launch into a baseless accusation of elitism and a sarcastic ad-hominem attack.

So his was a reasoned case and mine was baseless, sarcastic and impolite... m'kay 
he's basically called us all monkeys, and you think that's "polite" do you?

note my suggestion of elitism was ended with a question mark, not as a statement - yet you go into full on rage anyway

he knows how to use his better.

Patently obvious,
Fantastic if RF has the time to write a detailed analysis, but not every RF related post is being answered by him, leaving others to throw buns and muddle through. Hence my tongue in cheek prod at his post count.
I see no reason for all us lessor mortals to sit on our bare arses eating nuts, while only the great and the good get to pick and choose which questions get answered and which get ignored.

[Cerebus]

You're kind of making his case for him there, your reply evidences that you clearly didn't read what he wrote.

He says his "one annoyance with EEVblog members highlights this monkey-see-monkey-do problem".

Neither did you, he said "My one annoyance", and that has a different meaning.

I said "his" one annoyance, he said "my" one annoyance. In my book those two are semantically equivalent. Your attempt to split hairs by claiming a misquote on precise syntax rather than actual meaning kind of shows that you know you're loosing the argument.

So his was a reasoned case and mine was baseless, sarcastic and impolite... m'kay 
he's basically called us all monkeys, and you think that's "polite" do you?

You added the "impolite" but I'm not going to disagree with you. If he'd called you a monkey you'd have grounds for being upset, possibly even if he'd said "all eevblog users" but he didn't. He described a class of users who he called monkeys only on the context of the well known phrase "monkey see, monkey do" and you decided he must mean you and went off the handle. I certainly didn't think he was talking about me, or Tim, or the other Tim, or dozens of other users who do appear to think before they post.

note my suggestion of elitism was ended with a question mark, not as a statement - yet you go into full on rage anyway

So if someone says "Aren't you a bit of a c***?" the question mark somehow turns that from a full-on fighting insult into a reasonable question does it? No. I think we all know what a rhetorical question is and to claim that your rhetorical question is just a question when you're called out on it is, to put it mildly, weak.

You think this is "full on rage"? If you genuinely do then you're too thin skinned to have a conversation with anybody but an aged maiden aunt out of a mid-victorian novel. I thought my tone was more "C'mon old chap" than "Oi! You! Outside now! You've got a hospital appointment!". The latter is more what I, and I suspect most reasonable people, think of as "full on rage".

he knows how to use his better.

Patently obvious,
Fantastic if RF has the time to write a detailed analysis, but not every RF related post is being answered by him, leaving others to throw buns and muddle through. Hence my tongue in cheek prod at his post count.
I see no reason for all us lessor mortals to sit on our bare arses eating nuts, while only the great and the good get to pick and choose which questions get answered and which get ignored.

You didn't get the joke then? Never mind.

You can't claim your comment was tongue-in-cheek when it's in a sentence that is clearly meant to be sarcastic. I can claim mine was humour because men comparing the size of their *ahem* message counts is a well know topic of humour, as is innuendo.

Again, you're ascribing sentiments to the post ("lesser mortals", "bare arses eating nuts") that are, frankly, just in your mind and no one else's. Calm down, go and have a banana. (<- that is tongue-in-cheek and I wouldn't normally bother pointing it out but I suspect you'll accuse me of homicidal rage and insulting your whole family tree if I don't.)

Before it becomes pointless and endless, that's my last word on this particular matter.

[bitslice]

Before it becomes pointless and endless, that's my last word on this particular matter.

 

So happy you've recognised the pointlessness of your interjection, because you are white knighting for someone who probably doesn't care.
Throw the fedora in the bin and shave the neckbeard m'kay, he's not going to fall in love with you.

[timb]

Before it becomes pointless and endless, that's my last word on this particular matter.

 

So happy you've recognised the pointlessness of your interjection, because you are white knighting for someone who probably doesn't care.
Throw the fedora in the bin and shave the neckbeard m'kay, he's not going to fall in love with you.

A++++++++++ FANTASTIC POST WOULD READ AGAIN!!1one

[KE5FX]

5) Thick skin

[VK3DRB]

The three A's in equal proportion as in a peace sign is all that is required: Aptitude, Attitude and Ability. Nothing else matters. If any one of these elements are lacking, you have a problem. If you have all three, you have a winner.

[DimitriP]

All you you need is information, parts, access and torque.
In the case of HVAC, a cart and a ladder helps too

[Joule Thief]

All you you need is information, parts, access and torque.
In the case of HVAC, a cart and a ladder helps too

Exactly.

And for more pointers on HVAC repair, no need to go any further than YouTube and Google.




 

On a more serious note, having trained many field service technicians in my 40 years in the medical field, the ones who were the most successful were those who put a great emphasis on "fixing the customer" too.

As outrageous as some of the comments are in the video, I heard most of them from 10+ females I trained as field reps.

[AntiProtonBoy]

A good Technician needs a solid theoretical knowledge base.
Unfortunately,these days,that is extremely hard to come by,as much "Technical Training" is of the "Monkey see,monkey do" variety.

Experience is good,but without theory,it tends to become a "grab bag" of tricks,which once exhausted,leave the Tech in much the same situation as the King in  "The King's New Clothes"!

I would argue that "knowing how to learn" is more important. Encyclopaedic knowledge of things will take only so far. But knowing how to approach problem solving in a practical way, and the ability of learning new concepts as you go along, is far more useful.