Why have some of your fellow copy techs been fired?

[leo34staffs]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by banginbishop
	The problem is good engineers are in short supply - lets face it, was you directed to your current job when you left school? i wasn't i had never even heard of a photocopier engineer i wanted to be a mechanic with cars. We put up with sub standard "engineers" because we struggle to find good engineers in the first place.

I guess all the good engineers leave for better paid IT style of jobs after becoming disillusioned with the copier industry. You learn to fix the machines (mostly without formal training) learn the IT side of the job and read bulletins/copytechnet in your spare time and the rewards are.......not much!!!

So the "good" engineers have had the sense to get out of the industry and apply there skills to a different job. Someone said this was a career, but wheres the progression? You can learn every machine made and all the IT that goes with it but it does not seem to benefit you financially.

To the previous posts mentioning techs that were rubbish and smelly, i guess this would not be the case if there were barriers to entry to the job. But, if there were i guess there would be very few engineers to hire.

Perhaps going off on a tangent there, BTW i have never been fired!!!

[Titan1969]

I was a tech for 10 years then promoted to manager. I turned a blind eye to what other techs did when I was a tech in the field...minded my own business and did my job. Ive seen techs drunk on the job, stealing parts, not working at all and closing calls anyway, doing 5 calls by noon and then fudging paperwork to go home for the day...on and on.

Then I got offered to be in management. I had to think long and hard about "would I be able to clean up my team I was about to inherit?" I accepted the challenge. Fired 3 techs the first month, after I had written them up and they continued to do the same inappropriate actions. The remaining techs thanked me for getting rid of them, since the former manager just didnt want to deal with it.

[banginbishop]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by leo34staffs
	I guess all the good engineers leave for better paid IT style of jobs after becoming disillusioned with the copier industry. So the "good" engineers have had the sense to get out of the industry and apply there skills to a different job. Someone said this was a career, but wheres the progression? You can learn every machine made and all the IT that goes with it but it does not seem to benefit you financially.

Unfortunatly for some IT people, the first people out of the big companies are the IT staff - look at the banks loads of job cuts and big cuts on IT. Not long ago it was "not enough people are doing IT you can earn 80k" i'm happy doing what i do. 2 positions came round at my company looking for field supervisors but i said no because i didin't want the added responsibilities or pressure of the job - i'm relaxed and stress free and thats what i like - others love it but it's not for me.

[RRodgers]

Because they make more work for other techs. Ever fire a tech and have the call load DROP!??!

[blackcat4866]

I remember a particular tech (let's call him John). He had certain favorite customers that had weekly calls for what you might consider to be questionable issues. John created far more work than he actually finished.

Do you remember the straw-man from the Wizard Of Oz? He sang "...if I only had a brain." The lyrics of this song would play in my ears as I reviewed John's service calls.

[fixthecopier]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by RRodgers
	Because they make more work for other techs. Ever fire a tech and have the call load DROP!??!

Wow I was just commenting this morning about how since someone at the shop has not been there for 3 weeks, the calls have gone down. Everyone agreed including the service manager who was doing his clean up.

[Jules Winfield]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by leo34staffs
	I guess all the good engineers leave for better paid IT style of jobs after becoming disillusioned with the copier industry. You learn to fix the machines (mostly without formal training) learn the IT side of the job and read bulletins/copytechnet in your spare time and the rewards are.......not much!!! So the "good" engineers have had the sense to get out of the industry and apply there skills to a different job. Someone said this was a career, but wheres the progression? You can learn every machine made and all the IT that goes with it but it does not seem to benefit you financially. To the previous posts mentioning techs that were rubbish and smelly, i guess this would not be the case if there were barriers to entry to the job. But, if there were i guess there would be very few engineers to hire. Perhaps going off on a tangent there, BTW i have never been fired!!!

Amen, reverend. After a lot of "atta boys" with no financial rewards, IT is the next logical step. That's what I ended up doing, thank God. In fact ,the last few years I was a field tech I actually made less money (even with the pitiful "raises" they were giving) due to policy changes with regards to vehicle expenses and benefits packages.

[mjarbar]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by fixthecopier
	Wow I was just commenting this morning about how since someone at the shop has not been there for 3 weeks, the calls have gone down. Everyone agreed including the service manager who was doing his clean up.

The way things are going at our place at the moment I may get empirical evidence of this in the near future.