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Of all the electronics-related jobs, this is very boring...

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Zero999:

--- Quote from: fourfathom on December 05, 2021, 10:12:32 pm ---
--- Quote from: fourfathom on December 05, 2021, 01:48:54 am ---I call them technicians.  It's what I used to do.  Not as boring when you get to fix a wide variety of gear, and if you pay attention you can learn a bit.  After a few years I worked my way into engineering jobs (much less boring).
--- End quote ---

Not meaning to diminish tech, repair, etc.  Not at all.  And now that I think about it, it wasn't boring, at least no more boring than any other job can be.  At that stage in my career, what I was doing as a tech was actually pretty fascinating, and as I mentioned, I learned a lot.  I've always found that virtually any job can be boring or it can be interesting -- it all depends on how you approach it.  But with some jobs it was easier for me to find the interesting aspects.  For me, design engineering is one of those jobs.

--- End quote ---
Whether repair is a technician or engineering job, depends on the nature of the work.

If all you're doing is working on things made by one company, who designed it and you have full access to the schematics and diagnostic procedures, then it's firmly a technician role, but this isn't always the case. Repairing something, with no information i.e. schematics or even data sheets for the parts, can often be more challenging than designing something new. A level of reverse engineering is often required, to understand how it works and cause and effect.

DavidAlfa:
I worked doing this for 7 years.
I didn't do just iphone screens, I repaired everything coming into the store, it was interesting because it was a different job every day.
Yeah you will do the same repair a lot of times, but also never-seen-before failures that keeps the job fresh and diving into the schematics, datasheets...

Then I moved to a huge electronics production fab.
They have almost everything for production, except pcb production (We order them to 3rd party): Pick&place machines for smd/bga/th parts, reflow ovens, wave soldering, x-ray view, tons of technical equipment...
Most people do the same thing everyday day, ex. putting the same screws, the same wires, the same plastic bezel... I'd shoot myself between the eyes!

I got the most interesting job in their fab: Testing, which is actually extremely boring compared to my old job.
- Hey, take this 40-page testing protocol and apply it to 400 boards. I get happy when something is not working as it should, because it's also my job to fix them.
So first we test all the boards, keep one or two fromt he working ones to compare signals/measurements against the ones failing.
Then the chaos starts. Sometimes we don't even have schematics. Some military boards are like that. "Put this parts, run this tests, and send us the batch. Oh, and fix the failing ones, but we won't provide any details". Simply ridiculous.
And when the production run is over, the only good part on my job starts. I can spend a whole day with a board if there's no hurry, taking my time to find the problems and fix them.
But the fact that only 2 years later I'm searching a new job, says it all. It's *** boring.

CatalinaWOW:
Throughout my working life I heard complaints like this about many jobs.  And have drawn two widely different conclusions.  First, there are a great many people suited to repetitive tasks.  If they want a fancy job title it is fine with me.  The jobs need doing and whatever it takes is good be it titles, money or free beer.  Second, there are very few jobs that get assigned to engineers that don't have room for creativity.  Being bored is as much a comment on the worker as it is on the job.

fourfathom:

--- Quote from: Zero999 on December 06, 2021, 10:45:04 am ---Repairing something, with no information i.e. schematics or even data sheets for the parts, can often be more challenging than designing something new. A level of reverse engineering is often required, to understand how it works and cause and effect.
--- End quote ---

Yes, this type of repair is certainly more challenging, and generally more interesting.  And this is exactly what I did in my second "technician" job, fixing consumer and marine electronics at a repair shop (I had my FCC 2nd class radiotelephone ticket, back when they still issued those).  There is obviously a big overlap of skills when you consider technician and engineering work, and I suppose it can be a matter of custom what one is called (ignoring any legal requirements).

james_s:

--- Quote from: dunkemhigh on December 05, 2021, 09:01:10 pm ---I think the job is what you make of it. Repairing cars might be much more unpleasant as a job and just as tedious, and yet we think quite highly of mechanics.

--- End quote ---

We do? I've never used a mechanic but I thought they were typically lumped in with a lot of the other blue collar stuff, with a reputation for being dishonest too.

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