Ricoh training

[fixthecopier]

I spent most of my career avoiding Ricoh training and doing Konica and Xerox, mainly because I came in contact with few Ricoh's. Times have changed and now my hand has been forced. A few things I noted...


Ricoh training sucks...

Making you review every slide or the test doesn't count sucks.

389 slides in one course, is this really necessary?

Not telling you what questions you missed sucks.

Locking the test out so you can't retake it after a quick review sucks.

And, Ricoh training sucks.

For those of you who have never worked on other brands, you have no idea how easy their courses are compared to Ricoh.

[Tonerbomb]

first off are you doing online or live taught class?? Ricoh training has changed, improved and relaxed alot over the years. Yes it is still one of the tougher brands for training. As a ricoh spire trainer I have seen the changes and alot depends on the trainer you have for live class. They still word somethings a little tricky, and they look for the best right answer. Pm me if you like fix.........................

[fixthecopier]

This was online. Calls are lite and I am supposed to be productive. The first one I took was OK. Then I went to the M401 I think. I have a short attention span and flipping through 389 slides to answer 20 questions was silly. By comparison, I get just as much out of Xerox or Konica courses and the course is shorter but the test are about the same. I don't understand the logic in not telling me which questions I got wrong. I have done some Xerox by taking the test first. Then I would take the course and things would pop out that I needed to retain.

After 16 years of this, I understand how a separation point works and how the paper moves through the machine. If there are specific things I need to know like new changes to what the machine does or how the usb should be formatted, they shouldn't pad it down with all the other crap. After a couple of hours of my life gone, I missed by 1 question. Ifound the answers to at least 3 that I missed, was ready to retake and then told it was locked out. That is what really pissed me off. I will have calls tomorrow and will lose interest.

The real reason I am ranting is I only had 1 call today. Replaced the switchback unit on a Bizhub. Then it was a very long day.

[slimslob]

Try the following:
You can always have the course open in one window and the test in another. You can also have all reference material open.

Many but not all courses do have a means of checking your answers. I think it is on the status page and will say display results or just results. It will show which questions, by question number you got wrong. While taking the test, print or save each page of the test and you can then see by number what each question was. Frequently, there are more than one version of the test. You may have to take it 3 or 4 times to get all the possible questions. Even when there is only one version, the order of the questions will be different as will be the order of multi guess answers. Even if the course does not have results available, you can use the printouts of the questions as a study guide.

[fixthecopier]

I take the test with the material open. As far as the answers being wrong, unless someone who has taken this stuff recently can point it out, none of the other techs could find a list of wrong answers. You answer the questions, click summary, it just shows that you gave an answer for each, then submit and you get a score. It would be helpful to know what I missed. For example when it ask how many speeds this model can have, are they including the quiet mode that slows it down to 15ppm? I may never know.

[Tonerbomb]

yes the online training leaves something to be desired! I usually cheat a bit, like slimslob suggested, also I'll do screen captures of the questions. use the search function of acrobat reader for the pdf's of the Sm,Pm and have the product support guide handy. I don't do that much online stuff for myself as I help the new guy's with the training more.

[subaro]

I have a short attention span and flipping through 389 slides to answer 20 questions was silly


I don't understand the logic in not telling me which questions I got wrong



I usually cheat a bit, like slimslob suggested.


The last statement says it all. There is usually one smart guy who does the exam first and gets all the tricky answers pat down by any means. then the rest of the flock hovers around him for the answers and get the pass. All the manufactures are making their exams similar. I guess it's their way of making sure you learn to search their manuals and be familiar with their procedures. If you take your car to a dealership you would be thinking these guys are factory trained techs. some contracts requires the techs to be dealer certified in the products they would be servicing.

[subaro]

I have a short attention span and flipping through 389 slides to answer 20 questions was silly


I don't understand the logic in not telling me which questions I got wrong



I usually cheat a bit, like slimslob suggested.


The last statement says it all. There is usually one smart guy who does the exam first and gets all the tricky answers pat down by any means. then the rest of the flock hovers around him for the answers and get the pass. All the manufactures are making their exams similar. I guess it's their way of making sure you learn to search their manuals and be familiar with their procedures. If you take your car to a dealership you would be thinking these guys are factory trained techs. some contracts requires the techs to be dealer certified in the products they would be servicing.




I hope i did not offend tonerbomb or anyone out there with the above. I guess what i was trying to say really, was that most techs are really instrested in getting the pass rather than going through the hassle and watching the videos and or reading the materials like service manuals, bulletins ect. So what i have seen in the past is one or two guys will go through the grind of doing all that and comes out with the pass and if you have 50 techs or so in a company, word gets around. Also, the way some of those courses are designed, you almost have to come up with strategy of cut and paste screens like the guys was describing in trying to get fixthecopier some help.

[fixthecopier]

I hope i did not offend tonerbomb or anyone out there with the above. I guess what i was trying to say really, was that most techs are really instrested in getting the pass rather than going through the hassle and watching the videos and or reading the materials like service manuals, bulletins ect. So what i have seen in the past is one or two guys will go through the grind of doing all that and comes out with the pass and if you have 50 techs or so in a company, word gets around. Also, the way some of those courses are designed, you almost have to come up with strategy of cut and paste screens like the guys was describing in trying to get fixthecopier some help.


Tech testing is the same everywhere. We do the same thing. My problem is that all the other techs did their Ricoh way back when I was doing Konica. Kind of on my own but I will get through it. As I stated, I had one free day, now I am busy. May be weeks before I get back to it. Usually the quickest way to get a service call is to start training.

[skynet]

Not telling you what questions you missed sucks.



I agree, on a proper course you remember the ones you got wrong and why and I seem to remember these easier than the ones I got right.

[Iowatech]

One thing I've seen with many training courses is that they can be geared to train the newest of the new. This can be a problem if you've been working on machines for a while, or occasionally it is for me anyway. Because of that, I find it is better for me to channel my inner noob when at least taking online courses, I tend to do better that way.

[fixthecopier]

The last time I went to classroom training for Konica, I was amazed that the instructor had to take up part of the first class teaching future copy techs how to copy a file from a thumb drive. I feel like I got on the instructors nerves when I would do things like tell the class to take printheads apart and oil the polygon mirror if you had to, to get a machine running, after he told the class not to take printheads apart because they should be changed when needed.

I think one thing they should do is separate people who are new to the industry from seasoned techs. When I did Xerox training, there were only 6 or 7 people and that was spread out into 5 different classes. Everyone had been in the industry at least 10 years. Instructor did an excellent job. Pretty much gave me a machine, showed me how to use the Xerox manuals and said "I'll be over there if you have questions.

[blackcat4866]

The last time I was in Konica Minolta classroom training I was paired up with the 18yr old kid with 3 weeks experience, and the aroma of booze escaping his pores. I think the idea was that the newbie would get a little additional assistance. As it turned out, when we had a lab exercise to do, he took the whole hour to take his turn, and I spent the remaining time trying to get the machine functional for the next exercise.

I did not have the worst partner though. One gentleman fried three digital meters in one day. =^..^=

[ZOOTECH]

I did not have the worst partner though. One gentleman fried three digital meters in one day. =^..^=
He was probably a salesman for Fluke. ;)

[fixthecopier]

The last time I was in Konica Minolta classroom training I was paired up with the 18yr old kid with 3 weeks experience, and the aroma of booze escaping his pores. I think the idea was that the newbie would get a little additional assistance. As it turned out, when we had a lab exercise to do, he took the whole hour to take his turn, and I spent the remaining time trying to get the machine functional for the next exercise.

I did not have the worst partner though. One gentleman fried three digital meters in one day. =^..^=


Years ago when my contract on base grew, the shop hired an idiot to help out. He had one of those online degrees in electronic maintence. The first classroom training they sent him to was for Ricoh color printers. He fried the classroom machine and Ricoh ask that he not be sent back.

[subaro]

He fried the classroom machine and Ricoh ask that he not be sent back.

I think that ricoh trainer himself needed some discipline. This is expected in classroom training as even seasoned techs i see are nervous and most does not even want to attend. why, because the fear of failing the cousres. Classroom training in my opinion is more of an introduction to a new series of machines and for tech new or old to get familar with the product before they are put into service. the training session is not to teach a tech the basics of general troubleshooting, and it is the responsibility of the company sending the individuals for certification to be confident that the tech is able to listen and follow instructions. Even if you are a seasoned tech, you still does not know a new product better than the newibee. You have to have a bit of patience for the younger ones to grow and be that father figure , so to speak. I know it can be frustrating, but as it is now, this industry needs a lot of young people to continue where you left off and guess what , you are an important part in training them too.

[slimslob]

He fried the classroom machine and Ricoh ask that he not be sent back.

I think that ricoh trainer himself needed some discipline. This is expected in classroom training as even seasoned techs i see are nervous and most does not even want to attend. why, because the fear of failing the cousres. Classroom training in my opinion is more of an introduction to a new series of machines and for tech new or old to get familar with the product before they are put into service. the training session is not to teach a tech the basics of general troubleshooting, and it is the responsibility of the company sending the individuals for certification to be confident that the tech is able to listen and follow instructions. Even if you are a seasoned tech, you still does not know a new product better than the newibee. You have to have a bit of patience for the younger ones to grow and be that father figure , so to speak. I know it can be frustrating, but as it is now, this industry needs a lot of young people to continue where you left off and guess what , you are an important part in training them too.


I have seen seasoned tech, myself included, snap a fusing unit lamp during class room training. The instructor merely went and got another lamp. It takes more than one incident in the class room for an instructor to kick a student out.