[Closed] Are you a hands on person or an academic ?

Hands on here. Did OK at aschool but wanted to learn a trade so did a mechanical engineering apprenticeship. Still on the shop-floor as a CNC programmer and don't see that changing any time soon.
I do love my job though and get to make some nice bits for myself (and a few others on here)

You can be an academic and a hands-on type
Did you even consider this possible outcome?

I'd consider myself hands on, but I'm doing a PhD.

I am as academic as a,

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And me Ton it seems 🙂 ..... gotta give these things a go though ! .. it isnt over yet but not pretty at the moment ! 😀

I'm neither. Truly hopeless with anything 'handy' and whilst I have a good standard of education, I drive a cab, which says it all really...

I'm a hands on person though I did manage to pass an HNC a couple of years ago. I'm currently an engineering manager at a private hospital.

@ loddrik .. Black cab by any chance ? .. used to make the things for 12 years 🙂

so which side of the fence do u lie, academic or hands on ?

my best mate spends much of his day performing surgery on rats brains, hoping to get a little closer to finding a cure for schizophrenia...which side of the fence is he on? 🙂

Both.
Have a HND in Engineering/Design + BSc in Design Technology/Engineering (got a first as well)

However I can also - pitch a tent, build a man-shed to my own design, re-build a Landrover, fit kitchens, do wood turning/general woodwork, repair bikes, do general mechanical/fabrication work, and have a good understanding of domestic/industrial electrical systems.

I also saved my friends finger by hack-sawing his wedding ring off after it got caught under a bolt and partially de-gloved his finger. We were 5 hours drive from the nearest Doctor, on the edge of the Sahara desert.

I can't weld very well though.. 😳

Swoon away boys (and girls) 8)

I'm an idiot.

happily in the middle.

I'm actually an academic by career (I teach in a university) and love nothing better than fettling with my bike or doing a spot of DIY.

Life is never black and white. 8)

yes

I thought I was an academic sort, then I started doing my PhD and now I realise that I miss the hands-on experience of my actual job and I can't wait to get back to it. I'm struggling to see the relevance of my particular little corner of academia to real life situations.

Both. I can fix something by prodding around with it, or I can sit and think about it from a scientific point of view all day (whilst at work, for instance) then come home and fix it straight away.

It makes me good at my (software engineering) job - sometimes I am plonked infront of a PC and given access to logs and code; sometimes I don't have access to anything and have to deduce it.

Hands on but consigned to a life of emails and spreadsheets

There are lovers of clouds (academics) and lovers of prostitutes (hands-on).

I'm a creative dahrling

Both.
Got lots of IT qualifications inc a bsc and work in IT.
But I am no geek. Spent many years working with my hands.
Even rebuilt my car after it got stolen and smashed. It was the cheapest option.
And come the end of the world I will be the one living in a mud hut, well feed with a warm fire

If hands on means trial and error then yes I like that.

If academic means thinking before action then yes I like that too but I rather not dwell on it for too long.

Whichever can get the job done satisfactorily (as long as I am happy) and in the shortest time that's good enough for me hands on or academic.

😛

edit: I learn most things nowadays myself from interweb ...

I'm pretty useless with my hands, but never had the training, practice or confidence to really try much.

Not terribly academic either, research and referencing is dull as ditchwater.

I appear to therefore serve no useful purpose.

[i]“A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist.”[/i]

ElShalimo - Member
You can be an academic and a hands-on type
Did you even consider this possible outcome?

Exactly. This is one of the biggest problems with education today that is pushed by politicians that if you are hands on you are not academic and visa versa. Complete bullshit.

Neither, I'm a lazy bastard.

I'm an academic (PhD) who works in applied research area and as a technician. So firmly in both - the two don't have to be independent.

More 10/10, the other 80% is easily distracted

hands on academic with an attitude problem.

Hands on academic here. I am a researcher/product developer so I do a bit of academic stuff to understand principles, concepts and analyse data. But there is no way better to tell if our stuff works than to use it so I also spend time in the lab.

I'm more creative than meticulous which means I often hide during ISO9001 audits.

I've always been more hands on but have and HND in civil engineering and work for a consultancy.

I'm jack of all trades but master of none... true story 😐

Bit of both but I'm not good at abstract/unapplied, I can understand most things as long as I can see exactly how it applies to something I can hit with a hammer

To answer the OP's binary question: academic.

Or put another way (using the context of the question): I'm clever enough to know that I'm both.

Got a degree in sculpture- the academy of hands on.

I'm kind of both, but lack application, I think.

Got a HND, the content was easy, but as through all my educational career, I was shit at getting it done on time/at all, and really hated it. I think I'm probably more intelligent than a few friends and colleagues with honours degrees, and in the long term my prospects will suffer for not having one, but the thought of it fills me with dread. My problem has always been that I'm capable, but I don't enjoy academic study so just procrastinate and put things off, make excuses and eventually scrape through.

I can spend hours reading up and building knowledge on things that genuinely interest me though, and retain a lot of (some would say pointless) information about the most peculiar subjects.

Luckily, I'm also very practical, my Dad's a builder, a lot of my family and friends are tradesmen or farmers etc, so it comes naturally. So, I can do most things, from rewiring a plug, to tiling a bathroom, building a wall, looking after livestock, mending machinery, putting up fences, you name it......

I think the combination of the above works well for me, as it helps me understand most people's view points, what we're all trying to achieve, and how best to get there, and certainly in my current job has helped a lot (it's office & site based, but most of our customers are practical types). BUT ultimately, I think I need to end up doing one or the other in the long term for my own sanity.

Trouble is the 'neck down jobs' as my Dad would say, don't pay what my current line of work does.........

EDIT: what Northwind and Bigbutslimmerbloke said.........

Trouble is the 'neck down jobs' as my Dad would say, don't pay what my current line of work does.........

I don't know how much you earn but there are plenty of well paying hands on jobs but they are just harder to get into IMO. Also it depends what country you are in. I'm over in Canada atm (only for a work trip) and there are loads of trades type jobs that pay very well. Plus with workshop space generally being cheaper it can be easier to start a business. Welders are the one that get trotted out in Canada. GEt the right tickets and be prepared to work hard and you can earn a years money in a few months and do easy work for the other 9.

If you're good with your hands, fixing things etc then some portion of your brain is thinking academically - very much so, actually, as it's the same sort of observational and diagnostic ability that characterises scientific discovery. Being able to spot the unexpected is massively important in research - no skill is more important.

Garry_Lager - Member
If you're good with your hands, fixing things etc then some portion of your brain is thinking academically - very much so, actually, as it's the same sort of observational and diagnostic ability that characterises scientific discovery. Being able to spot the unexpected is massively important in research - no skill is more important.

That's me that is, I always think I'm just hands on but often find myself having thought out issues and devolved a strategy to deal with it while doing something else!
I fair wears me out though.

@ loddrik .. Black cab by any chance ? .. used to make the things for 12 years

Sure is. Only job I've ever enjoyed too.

I'm a thinker not a doer

Most definitely a foot in both camps.

Born and bred on a Welsh Hill farm gave me a firm footing in all things practical, but did well in school and ended up with a PhD in Structural Geology followed by several years as a research co-ordinator in Stuttgart University. However, a hankering for a simpler more fulfilling existence saw me return to my roots in Wales where I have built a house from scratch, done a nut and bolt rebuild of a 30 year old Land Rover, erected several barns, fixed fences, gates, stone walls, machinery, tractors etc. and all the day to day things you need to do to run a business in a remote place where help and spare parts are not always readily available.

So definitely possible to be both I would say.

I've got my hands on an academic.

Good story welsh farmer. Very similar story to yours but farm was unsustainable and only ever rented. Trying to find something to do that does not make me hate every minute of being at work now and in back to being hands on.

I think the OP's definition of an academic is wrong.

I'm an academic (PhD) and if I wasn't hands on nothing would get done. The issue with higher ups is the paper work goes up while lab time goes down.

I'm an academic who is practical sometimes. I've egot a degree in civil engineering, just about to start a psychology and counselling degree.
I used to muck about with old cars, am ok with my bike but never built a wheel, but if I'm in a manic phase I tend to lose my temper and smash things up that I can't get to work. I now try and keep away from the hands on because of this slight problem.

Both, educated to degree level. Can perform complex manual tasks too like surgical procedures. Orthopaedics is a bit like meccano really.

Mind you we always say you could train a chimp to be a surgeon but the really brainy nerds are the internal medics and neurologists.

Grew up on a farm
Studied
Uni for a bit
Practical Thinking jobs followed
Now I'm a thinker for work but need the practical skill/knowledge I have accumulated to do it well. Also hands on with other stuff.
If you think it's either or then you will never get it.

and honestly one of the most terrifying lines I ever hear is

Boring health and safety stuff

Both. PhD in Theoretical Physics and a career in academia and research.
Reasonably practical and hands on for most things not work related.

Where would a surgeon fit? 😉

welshfarmer - Member
PhD in Structural Geology