I like to fix things, but this work is really shit. You need to study all your life to earn the same salary as a janitor, concerns, problems, dissatisfied customers, no recognition ...
besides, itīs late at night and instead of beers ... I'm thinking of copiers
I am a asshole.
I came here for something else, but couldn't resist putting in my 2 cents on this one. When I was a printer tech, I really enjoyed it for the first few years, then, by the end of the 6th year (like you) it made me physically ill thinking about how much I hated my job. While I enjoyed the diagnostics and sense of accomplishment in a repair, I hated that my company would continually add more and more lines of printers for only a handful of techs to service, without any consideration for how diluted our experience pool was becoming as we had to work across more and more manufacturers, Rather than focusing on, making real partnerships, and truly understanding all the nuances of a couple brands.
Additional, I didn't like that the job was being dumbed down. I'd isolate the problem down to a fan with a low RPM, and rather than replace the fan, we'd have to replace a $400 board that the fan sat on. Rather than replace a $12 motor, we HAD to replace a $250 service station. I didn't like it at all.
These days I'm a sys admin instead, much less stressful, and much more rewarding.
Said it before, will say it again. This is the best job I have ever had.
Try working 14-18 hrs a day, 13 days a fortnight, 4-5am starts just to go shovel 20 ton of pilchards to the bloody tuna farms.
Or leaving for sea at the start of summer, which is today here as a matter of fact, not to return until the end of March. Being a diesel engineer, a diver, a deckhand, a kitchen bitch, a toilet scrubber, a yes man to the Captain and anything else in between. It gets better, no phone service in the Great Australian Bight, so you don't speak to the missus (can be a good thing sometimes) or anyone else at home. Weeks on end without even seeing fish, let alone catching them, bad weather, bad company.
Yeh I think I'll stay here, in the nice clean offices, with the ladies who offer coffee and smell sweet, not like a decky who hasn't had a shower for a week, home most nights of the month, paid what I deserve and even get a holiday thrown in once a year.
Yours truly,
One Proud land lubber
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. ~Thomas Edison
jonezy,
I agree, there's much worse work (and I used to say the same thing you're saying to my coworkers when they'd complain about the job), but to me, this isn't a question of job quality, it's job satisfaction. If you're just a guy, floating from job to job or career to career, working on printers ain't all that bad. Sadly, that seems to be the mentality of most of the people I'd met in the industry. Even the documentation, and the help that comes from the manufacturers "helpdesk" is geared towards a transient employee with little more knowledge about the print industry than their knowledge of the plumbing or landscaping industry. There are very few print Engineers anymore, without a doubt, it's a Technician field now, just like changing oil or doing brake jobs. There is little time or reason to think beyond the 10 steps in the service manual. If you're rating working on printers as a career, for a person who really loves doing technical work, and seeking out technical challenges - is it a good job? Heck no.
I didn't read every post but I read the majority. I'm surprised at how many dislike being a copier tech. Most of it seems to stem from the boss/employer. That can be hell.
As far as any job that I've ever had, it was always fun when I was learning a new job. Once I became proficient at the job, it became boring and monotonous. But I never hated being a copier tech. When I got our of high school, I did a lot of back-breaking manual labor out in the elements. Now, I HATED that.
Try doing some roofing or sand blasting and painting. You'll love being a copier tech.
Growth is found only in adversity.
Yup. Being warm, dry, and yelled at can be a major improvement over wet, stinky, and cold. One thing that you learn in this line of work, is how to isolate out that 'emotional' element of the problem, and focus on the part that you can fix. Don't get me wrong, I never loved being yelled at, but I learned the art of smiling, and letting that part slide right off my back.
There happens to be one thing better than both of those choices though: retirement. =^..^=
If you'd like a serious answer to your request:
1) demonstrate that you've read the manual
2) demonstrate that you made some attempt to fix it.
3) if you're going to ask about jams include the jam code.
4) if you're going to ask about an error code include the error code.
5) You are the person onsite. Only you can make observations.
blackcat: Master Of The Obvious =^..^=
I worked retail for many years before becoming a copier tech. It was awesome going from stupid shifts and working weekends to 8-5 and no weekends. It's also great working in a job where almost all the customers are happy to see you. In fact, the clients are the best part of the job in my opinion.
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