Are you a hands on person or an academic ?

me im a hands on person , show me and i can usually fix most things 🙂 … come from mechanical back ground, currently work for maintenance at a uni, but have agreed to do a electrical course as home study !!
Boring health and safety stuff…. im really not one for reading and so having problems actually getting through this !
so which side of the fence do u lie, academic or hands on ?

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,

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.

“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.”

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.