It was an electrician/technician that got me started in electronics, back when I was a child. He was kind enough to explain and let me operate the dials on his Simpson VOM, looking at vacuum tubes, wires, showed how to wire electrical sockets, described the rules and the code and others. In college, after class I would work with the lab technicians in the physics lab who taught me a lot about safety, work arounds to the exercises, shortcuts, and how to repair and modify gear; although we had optics and mechanics to deal with too, electronics and the fledging computer was very hot, so we did more work on that than others.
Recently I had a pair of HVAC technicians do work on my climate system. We had a good chat talking about the changes in the industry, efficiencies, recalls, specs, regulations, everything that was not in my field, but we had a common language and we both learned from each other. They were chest thumbing blue collar workers, and they were surprised when I pointed out that their Fluke 116 DMMs, which they taught were USA made, were Chinese
One thing I learned is that equipment purchases are based entirely on trade, union recommendations or word of mouth. There is comfort in being with the herd, and very few choose or buy gear outside what their competition has or what is recommended by others. They treat their gear as rough as a hammer, so durability is far more important than higher accuracy [ 1% accuracy is enough etc.,]
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