Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 53 total)
  • An engineer will be with you shortly….
  • LHS
    Free Member

    "Hello Mr LHS"

    "Yes an engineer will be right with you"

    NO!

    A technician will. Did he spend 4 years at university to get a professional qualification?

    NO! Therefore he is not an Engineer.

    Vent over. 🙄

    DaveyBoyWonder
    Free Member

    A very weak effort… 1/10

    bruneep
    Full Member

    A technician will. Did he spend 4 years at university to get a professional qualification?

    NO! Therefore he is not an Engineer

    Do you know this for a fact?

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    bristolbiker
    Free Member

    I feel your pain 🙁

    For sport, I'll sometimes quiz plumbers on the relevant theromdynamic drivers on the design of heat exchangers in boliers if they have 'engineer' on the side of their van……

    LHS
    Free Member

    relevant theromdynamic drivers on the design of heat exchangers in boliers if they have 'engineer' on the side of their van

    😆

    Onzadog
    Free Member

    Pet hate of mine. Especially as I went to the trouble of getting an engineering degree and these daysd I find it to not be worth the paper it's written on. Even when I was working in my field, the "technicians" were making more money!

    tracknicko
    Free Member

    and yet on a similar note half the people on here call themselves cyclists.

    coffeeking
    Free Member

    http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Engineer-Status/

    Closed 2 years ago, and as per usual with the e-petitions, no response.

    mastiles_fanylion
    Free Member

    Did he spend 4 years at university to get a professional qualification

    He might have done.

    Equally he might have been a Doctor – that would screw with your head even more.

    'The Doctor will come to fix your boiler soon'.

    TijuanaTaxi
    Free Member

    Can I call myself a Telephone Engineer having studied and obtained an HNC in that very subject
    To be honest not bothered whether you think its right or not and daresay the chap who called didn't either

    If you got so shitty about it I would be tempted to say fine, fix it yourself then you clever git

    backhander
    Free Member

    A technician will. Did he spend 4 years at university to get a professional qualification?

    NO! Therefore he is not an Engineer.

    Utter utter bollocks. I've met some very very poor uni educated engineers, and someone with a good understanding of systems coming from a hands on background will run rings around them every time. I've also done uni and my opinion hasn't changed.

    Even when I was working in my field, the "technicians" were making more money!

    that's because they're more valuable and knowledgable.

    Obi_Twa
    Free Member

    Strangest thing just happened there – Your post made the following song lyric spring into my head. "I'm a loser baby, so why dont you kill me"

    backhander
    Free Member

    Maybe you should do what it says.
    Are you a loser?

    owenfackrell
    Free Member

    backhander – Member

    A technician will. Did he spend 4 years at university to get a professional qualification?

    NO! Therefore he is not an Engineer.

    Utter utter bollocks. I've met some very very poor uni educated engineers, and someone with a good understanding of systems coming from a hands on background will run rings around them every time. I've also done uni and my opinion hasn't changed.

    Even when I was working in my field, the "technicians" were making more money!

    that's because they're more valuable and knowledgable.

    I agree with this and whilst the person who went to uni may have 4 years of theory training the person who did a 4 year apprenticeship has 4 years of actualy working on the things where the theory goes out of the window.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    We spent all day today having BT "engineers" phone us up to "test our lines" (that's how you test a line apparently, just phone it) and saying "There's nothing wrong with it, obviously, as I just called you", and then listening uncomprehendingly as we explain what that word "intermittent" on the fault report means. And then, saying "How often is it that people can't get through" "Hard to say really, they can't get through"

    smell_it
    Free Member

    For sport, I'll sometimes quiz plumbers on the relevant theromdynamic drivers on the design of heat exchangers in boliers if they have 'engineer' on the side of their van……

    You must be a real hoot at parties 😯

    jumping_flea
    Free Member

    Im working towards my "engineer" status through the IET. Just to meet personal goals

    So technically i'm only a technician – but i have to agree with the above comments, some of the worst people in my trade (power distribution) are "engineers" that think they know what they are talking about, but don't know FA.

    It's just letters after your name – oh and technicians at my place earn more than the engineers.

    edit – fyi, I did an apprenticeship and went on from there – invaluble

    Onzadog
    Free Member

    I just like to add, that if I had my time again, I'd have gone in via the practical route. I also think that the technicians are worth more, do know more and have had more practical training. However, they still shouldn't be called engineers. Surely, techs should be called techs and engineers called engineers and if the people who count, really know the difference then they'd be happy to be dealing with the techs. If techs know the truth, do thy really want to be called engineers?

    footflaps
    Full Member

    Your salary petty much tells you how valuable you are – who cares what the job title says…..

    backhander
    Free Member

    en·gi·neer

    1.
    a person trained and skilled in the design, construction, and use of engines or machines, or in any of various branches of engineering: a mechanical engineer; a civil engineer.
    2.
    a person who operates or is in charge of an engine.
    3.
    Also called locomotive engineer. Railroads. a person who operates or is in charge of a locomotive.
    4.
    a member of an army, navy, or air force specially trained in engineering work.
    5.
    a skillful manager: a political engineer.

    fatsimonmk2
    Free Member

    have a saying at work fitters fit things engineers make things and techies talk sh*t me iam an old school engineer 4 years apprenticship city and guilds btec and 15 years in trade

    p.s also got a degree in engineering never been any help work wise

    dave_aber
    Free Member

    IMO companies / industry in general will call their staff whatever they want to in order to impress potential / existing clients / customers etc.

    Since completing my further education (RAF Apprenticeship) I've been labelled Junior Technician, Installation & Communication technician, commissioning engineer, project engineer, project manager, support engineer, operations manager, telecomms technician. Each with more pay than the last (in that order) and with no additional qualifications.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    Is there perhaps a difference between an "engineer" and an "Engineer"?

    fisha
    Free Member

    well, i'm proud to say i have an electrical and electronic engineering degree.

    do I use it?

    nope.

    CaptJon
    Free Member

    You need a four year degree before they'll leave you in charge of an engine? How long do boiler engineers train for? 6-7 years?

    benji_allen
    Free Member

    I'vr also got:

    • a person qualified in a branch of engineering, esp. as a professional.

    in my dictionary.

    That's me, and I haven't got a degree, nearly all of mine's hands on training.

    paulosoxo
    Free Member

    Fitter, engineer, technician, that's the progression in the gas industry, by the way, where did Brunel do his degree?

    Carbis
    Full Member

    The status of Engineer is protected in France in the same way that Doctor is in this country. To be a real Engineer capable of designing the stuff technicians repair takes a 4 year degree course then at least 10 years of training and work to achieve chartered engineer status. At that point you'll merely be competent. Most of the problems we have are due to technicians failing to follow basic procedures or work instructions. Fitters are notorious for failing to understand basic metal fatigue. This leads to us engineers designing in multiple interlocks and increasing reserve factors on designs to account for misuse.

    That said I would say engineering has become a victim of what I call B*ll S*it Britain, many undergrads come to interview and when you ask them what they want to do they answer "manage", not understanding that if you don't understand how to do a job, you won't be able to manage it.

    Why do you think all manufacturing and design has gone abroad? The French, Germans, Americans, Chinese and Japanese all value real engineers and hence have more manufacturing. I could go into history of how there was an exodus of engineers to the US from the UK in the 1800's that lead to standardisation of production techniques etc.

    Could you as an engineer design the following, 2 tonne liquid sodium pumps, a mechanical log splitter, a 40 tonne reactor access house including the negative pressure air system, then switch to thermodynamic modelling and design of cooling systems, HP compressor design for gas turbines and do safety case assessment with fault tree analysis and a bit of human factors assessment, you might be there.

    Oh and I do know the basics of mechanical repair and electronics as well….

    Inbred456
    Free Member

    I don't have a beef with what qualification's somebody has, I know plenty of graduates who will never be an Engineer as long as they have a hole in their ars3. Conversely I know plenty of good time served guys who are superb at what they do. What I object to is everybody calling themselves Engineers when they work in IT FF's. Technician or Programmer yes maybe but Engineer. NO WAY.

    CaptJon
    Free Member

    Why do you think all manufacturing and design has gone abroad?

    I thought engineers valued precision. I hope your 2 tonne liquid log splitter with integral cooling and access house isn't as slap dash as your proclamations about industrial employment structures.

    jumping_flea
    Free Member

    Most of the problems we have are due to technicians failing to follow basic procedures or work instructions

    Guess as a technician, I will need to tell the "engineer" to go and refer to his/her vast knowledge and experience and not to bother asking me for the answers to questions they paid to understand

    backhander
    Free Member

    Most of the time, the reasons things fail is due to poor design. All too often designers give specs to manufacturers and ask what they need and if it's just too difficult, the job goes out as design and build to the contractors who understand the systems and maintenance requirements far better than the designers ever will. The contractors will invariably be time served engineers who have at least will have got dirt under their fingernails at some point in their careers.

    design the following, 2 tonne liquid sodium pumps, a mechanical log splitter, a 40 tonne reactor access house including the negative pressure air system, then switch to thermodynamic modelling and design of cooling systems, HP compressor design for gas turbines and do safety case assessment with fault tree analysis and a bit of human factors assessment

    If I were a client, I would be very concerned if the same person was designing all of these systems. Jack of all trades?

    bigeyedbeans
    Free Member

    the more "Engineers" i meet the more i hate having the 'e' word in my current job title
    i trained as a gas fitter – city and guilds- and 30 years experience
    and when it comes to getting a job that's well worth the paper it's written on

    DavidB
    Free Member

    I'm a Chartered Information Technology Practitioner

    It makes me mad discussing this sort of stuff online with the rest of you who know nothing. You should all bow to my status and respect my posts as one who truely understands the make-up of the underlying technology that delivers them.

    backhander
    Free Member

    Sorry Dave.

    DavidB
    Free Member

    That's ok backhander I will strike you from my list of ips to own

    flatfish
    Free Member

    hope you got charged more for being an arse. 🙄

    SammySammSamm
    Free Member

    The majority of people who ask what my degree is expect me to be fitting boilers.
    I tell them I'm an applied aerothermodynamicist instead. And that only covers a third of it…

    Jack of all trades?

    No, someone who understands the physics behind all of them, as well as having an understanding of design.

    igm
    Full Member

    Chartered engineer here. This is hilarious – standard swapping of chips on shoulders.

    There are time served types out there who know things I never will (unless I listen to them – I'm bright enough to listen).

    And the bright time served types know that the good lads fresh out of uni know stuff they never will (unless they listen – which they do).

    These days I manage around 80 "engineers" – degree types and time served. They pay me very reasonably.

    Next

    jumping_flea
    Free Member

    Igm

    Good comments. I work for a fellow dno, and have seen some bright graduate engineers and some vary intelligent craftsmen who have gone on to do engineering roles as well as anyone with the letters after their name.

    I think they key is having a good mix in a team who work together to get the job done. Without support from other areas one group – engineers or techs, wouldn't get anything done

    Tom (CN)

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 53 total)

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