Tech Training

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  • Morlock49
    Trusted Tech
    100+ Posts
    • Mar 2009
    • 166

    Tech Training

    reading some of the technical posts, I sometimes wonder if the state of technical training is as good as the old days.
    When I first started as a technician I remember having to study and pass a precourse test before I was even allowed access to the class room course. this was in the days before internet training. and the first training class I took was for a 12 cpm. the course lasted for a week, with a closed book written ( not multiple choice) test and a practicle fault finding test. My first color course was over 2 weeks, the first week was color theory and then the machine service course.

    Now techs have on-line training with multiple choice test at the end. I have seen some techs do the whole course online in under 2 hours. So just because some techs have the certificate, does that make them a good experienced tech? Some techs can do these courses easily but when it comes to common sense in fault finding are clueless?

    my personal view is the tech today has it easier where training is concerned and the industry is poorer for it.

    What' s your opinion?
    Sorry folks, reputation removed by Just Manuals, because he's a sad little wanker
  • SCREWTAPE
    East Coast Imaging

    Site Contributor
    2,500+ Posts
    • Jan 2009
    • 3396

    #2
    These days not much as change except online courses. You still must take a placement course (online course) to get into class. The courses got a little more harder thru the years. But then again I'm speaking on the vendor that I'm trained for.

    Comment

    • blackcat4866
      Master Of The Obvious

      Site Contributor
      10,000+ Posts
      • Jul 2007
      • 22771

      #3
      Over the years my pespective on training has changed. Having worked for one of the largest international dealers, and gotten a total of 5 training courses in 10 years, I really appreciate the chance to get classroom training. To my own surprise, I actually spend the evenings after class reading ahead in the manual and thinking of questions to ask for the next class. I get a preverse delight in getting this response: "I'll have to get an answer to that question...". This is the last real chance to get a manufacturers instructor face to face. =^..^=
      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 =^..^=

      Comment

      • duct tape
        Technician

        50+ Posts
        • Jun 2009
        • 87

        #4
        Today's training sucks ! online you don't learn hardly anything about the machine, the best info always came from the other people in the class.
        Almost all I know now came from machines long ago, and from the school of hard knocks, Which is all I seem to get now.

        Comment

        • OMD-227

          #5
          I started out in a small country town, miles from anywhere, which had the biggest multi-brand copier dealership in the entire area. When the opportunities came up to attend Melbourne or Sydney for a training course at a certain manufacturer, it was always for the several day courses. The bosses didnt see the point in any one day-long training courses, which made sense. It was a really big deal for us. One of the techs is going to the city!!!!

          On the courses I did go on, I honestly hardly got anything from them. Most of the days were spent talking, numerous coffee breaks, start late & finish early sort of affairs. I really saw them as a waste of time. I was quite disappointed each time.

          I can really say that almost all of what I learnt in the early years was from my service manager & the senior techs. The rest was learning from the machine in front of you. I got the impression early on that if you see a certain fault today, remember how it was fixed, because you will be sure to see it again sometime in the future.

          I see the country techs now come into the office, doing their training courses, and wonder if they are learning anything at all, like I sort-of-didnt back then.

          Comment

          • fixthecopier
            ALIEN OVERLORD

            2,500+ Posts
            • Apr 2008
            • 4714

            #6
            I worked my contract for 2 years before I went to school. In 11 years I have only been twice, because the factory made them send me. I have learned what I know in the field. On line training is a joke. Tape a string over a laser lens and see how long it takes someone fresh out of school to find the cause of void streaks.
            The greatest enemy of knowledge isn't ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. Stephen Hawking

            Comment

            • Jules Winfield
              Senior Tech

              500+ Posts
              • Jul 2009
              • 823

              #7
              Wow, you guys are lucky to get training at all. Last copier dealership I worked for didn't believe in training for the techs. They thought money was better spent on a new projector for the showroom which somehow always ended up at one of the salesman's houses over the weekend being used to watch DVDs. The only time a tech got any training was when the manufacturer wouldn't sell machines or supplies for a particular model until someone at least did the online course.
              But I'm trying, Ringo. I'm trying real hard... to be the Shepherd.

              Comment

              • OMD-227

                #8
                I remembered something else on this topic last night......


                Back when I was at the country dealership, about once per year we would get a random phone call from our Panasonic dealer manager, who was driving up to see us with a machine in the back of the car for some in-house training. He always arrived with a slab of beer, a great attitude and it was great fun. All techs were brought back in to the workshop for some one-on-one with a senior tech from the city.
                He often shouted us out to dinner afterwards before he drove back to Melbourne.

                Now that is a training course! No other manufacturer came close in training courses that I can remember.... and I attended quite a few of them.

                Comment

                • KEVIN900
                  Copier Ninja

                  100+ Posts
                  • Oct 2009
                  • 200

                  #9
                  I've found formal training to be a time waste. You learn a product, and come back to the office all fired up to take on these babies. Only, they don't show up in your territory, needing work for months, or more. By the time your expertise is needed, you've lost it all, due to lack of practice with your schooling. What works for me, is doing a few set-ups in the shop, to familurise myself. Then I can fall back on my experience.
                  Kevin900

                  Comment

                  • Stirton.M
                    All things Konica Minolta

                    1,000+ Posts
                    • Oct 2009
                    • 1804

                    #10
                    Training at KM here in Canada happens pretty regularly. I might do a course or two a year for every new colour model that comes along. If you are not trained on a model series, you do not work on them. Always something new to learn and we spend a week on many machines. 9 days on the 6500. The added bonus is that I do not have to pay for my lunch on these courses.

                    We do have online CBT courses that we must complete before any training in class can be done. Much of that is done when you are a new tech and covers basic theories on copy reproduction, network and even customer care. The last time I had to do any mandatory stuff was perhaps about 10 years ago. Since then however, I have been periodically going into the CBT courses to cover other things offered through this access. If I am bored one evening, I'll do a course or two. Mostly just reading and paying attention to what is said for the online exams. Much of it pretty easy, but also informative.
                    "Many years ago I chased a woman for almost two years, only to discover that her tastes were exactly like mine: we both were crazy about girls."
                    ---Groucho Marx


                    Please do not PM me for questions related to Konica Minolta hardware.
                    I will not answer requests or questions there.
                    Please ask in the KM forum for the benefit of others to see the question and give their input.

                    Comment

                    • fixthecopier
                      ALIEN OVERLORD

                      2,500+ Posts
                      • Apr 2008
                      • 4714

                      #11
                      Wow, all that training must take the fun out of it. I can not imagine what it would be like to show up at a machine I have never seen before, wonder how it comes apart, all the while looking so confident like you designed it yourself. Hiding the look of surprise as toner pours down your pants from the end of the waste toner bottle that does not have a shuttered cover. Muttering cuss words under your breath about who the crackhead was that designed this piece of shit. Maintaining that look on your face as though you are thinking hard about the solution to their problem, when in reality you are thinking about how to open it up. And not having a mild stroke from holding it all in,when the customer says as you leave, "isn't that funny, the other tech said that would need to be taken care of soon, and he was just here yesterday".
                      The greatest enemy of knowledge isn't ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. Stephen Hawking

                      Comment

                      • blackcat4866
                        Master Of The Obvious

                        Site Contributor
                        10,000+ Posts
                        • Jul 2007
                        • 22771

                        #12
                        Originally posted by fixthecopier
                        Wow, all that training must take the fun out of it. I can not imagine what it would be like to show up at a machine I have never seen before, wonder how it comes apart, all the while looking so confident like you designed it yourself. Hiding the look of surprise as toner pours down your pants from the end of the waste toner bottle that does not have a shuttered cover. Muttering cuss words under your breath about who the crackhead was that designed this piece of shit. Maintaining that look on your face as though you are thinking hard about the solution to their problem, when in reality you are thinking about how to open it up. And not having a mild stroke from holding it all in,when the customer says as you leave, "isn't that funny, the other tech said that would need to be taken care of soon, and he was just here yesterday".
                        I've spent most of my professional life in that place you just described. I just keep quietly repeating my little mantra "It sure would be nice if I knew what I was doing....". I must say that it keeps it interesting. Sometimes far too interesting. =^..^=
                        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 =^..^=

                        Comment

                        • KEVIN900
                          Copier Ninja

                          100+ Posts
                          • Oct 2009
                          • 200

                          #13
                          guess at heart, all us copier guys are just tinkerers. We see something new, roll up our sleeves, and get cracking. Repitition is the enemy. A new day, a new challenge. Sort of like "the oppisite of good, is not bad. The opposite of good... is perfection."
                          Kevin900

                          Comment

                          • Stirton.M
                            All things Konica Minolta

                            1,000+ Posts
                            • Oct 2009
                            • 1804

                            #14
                            Originally posted by fixthecopier
                            Wow, all that training must take the fun out of it....and he was just here yesterday".
                            LOL

                            When you put it that way, its not a job, its an adventure!

                            Actually, I really dislike being observed by customers, even when I know what I am doing fluently on some thing or other. The odd time I have a customer hanging over my shoulder watching me work, I always come up with some kind of excuse to leave...like, oh, I need that special tool from the car....sometimes this works quite well, but I have one customer I have this insane urge to squirt in the eye with some methyl alcohol because he JUST DOES NOT GET THE HINT!!!!
                            "Many years ago I chased a woman for almost two years, only to discover that her tastes were exactly like mine: we both were crazy about girls."
                            ---Groucho Marx


                            Please do not PM me for questions related to Konica Minolta hardware.
                            I will not answer requests or questions there.
                            Please ask in the KM forum for the benefit of others to see the question and give their input.

                            Comment

                            • vincent64
                              Trusted Tech

                              250+ Posts
                              • Feb 2008
                              • 382

                              #15
                              Originally posted by Stirton.M
                              LOL

                              When you put it that way, its not a job, its an adventure!

                              Actually, I really dislike being observed by customers, even when I know what I am doing fluently on some thing or other. The odd time I have a customer hanging over my shoulder watching me work, I always come up with some kind of excuse to leave...like, oh, I need that special tool from the car....sometimes this works quite well, but I have one customer I have this insane urge to squirt in the eye with some methyl alcohol because he JUST DOES NOT GET THE HINT!!!!
                              Sometimes I think ripping a good smelly one would give the hint, or fire up the toner vac.
                              And depending on where lunch was, beef and broccoli, salad with chopped hard boilled egg works wonders.

                              Comment

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