Tired of rushing ready for maintainance

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

brother

Senior Member
Location
"I have learned, in whatsoever STATE I am, therewi
Ok , i know im going to probably cause a debate :D :shock: . But ive been doing the rush, run , git er done, construction projects for a while now, and now im ready for a nice steady, not so rushed maintenance job.

Dont get me wrong, Ive loved the construction jobs, running conduit, and other things, Ive learned a WHOLE lot, But now im ready to settle down.

I have to travel at least 35 to 40 miles one way to a jobsite most of the time. Sometimes its farther. I would like to find a close maintenance job, only thing is i know it wont pay me as much, but i figure i would save on gas in the long run.

Ok im done just wanted to vent a little and say im 'TIRED' . :!: :) Im sure there going to be some opinions. :wink:
 
The electrical trade is a very tiresome Job either you install do service maintain.After a while they all get old.Do what you feel is best right now tomorrow or 100 tomorrows that will change. :wink:
 
I worked on new condos when I first got into this business...a few job changes later, and I'm doing maint. work - I absolutely hated it.
I couldn't stand the "waiting for something to break" mentality and the "busy work" inbetween failures.
I couldn't stand going to the same dam place every dam day and seeing the same dam faces in the same dam space (it was a rather huge maint. facility for a railroad - and it got "small" after a year).
How many times can 1 man change the same dam fixture because some bozo doesn't notice the fixture when driving a fork lift through a tight hallway that he walked everyday for the last 30 years ?

I decided that punching a time clock wasn't for me.

Back out into the field I went - with 1 regret: I should have done it sooner or never got involved in maint. I like getting the job done and moving onto the next location - preferably in the other direction from the last job.

But that's me....some people enjoy the thing I hate. I think it takes a special person to be a maint. elec. - just like it takes a special person to say "Let ME get in that ditch with the 4" RMC".
 
celtic said:
How many times can 1 man change the same dam fixture because some bozo doesn't notice the fixture when driving a fork lift through a tight hallway that he walked everyday for the last 30 years ?
Click to expand...

What's even worse than that, is in maintenance in that situation it's also your fault that he ran into it. Sooner or later they will yell and I mean yell at you because you should of been smart enough to move said light so that the dummy couldn't hit it.

And even better than even that is once you move it they still hit it and you get jumped on for moving it.

In maintenance I have learned there is absolutely nothing you can do right. If you fix something and it works the way it's supposed to, you did a poor job because you were supposed to fix it to be better than it was. If the machine breaks because of improper usage it's your fault because you were supposed to see that and prepare the machine to work harder or prevent some dummy from doing a stupid thing like shove his hand in between two roller's once he opened the pad locked gate that had a safety limit switch he overrode by sticking a piece of something in it to make it sense the gate still closed, so he could get in there and do something he absolutely knew and had been "trained" not to do.

OK so there's my position on maintenance, and well I must Love the abuse because I still do it. :lol:

EDIT:
Half to add also that when something is down the production people or whomever needs such item stands over the top of you and blames you because they can't get their quota done and pick up their incentive pay.
 
69boss302

We must work at the same place.
Why didn't you know this was going to break today and fix it.
What do you mean they only make the part when you order it.
We live in the biggest city in the south and you have to ship it in from where?


I hear it all the time!
 
Maintenance can call for challenging troubleshooting skills, innovation, and critical thinking. Sometimes the company you work for will pay for further education and training. I have seen electricians get a Bachelors degree in engineering for example and have it paid for by the company. You can ?sharpen your saw? on their dime. If you like working under pressure and a emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows this type of job is good.
 
What always amazes me is that they don't have any money to spend for a few tools that are needed, but when a xfrmr goes in a substation, they can spend literally 100s of thounsand dollars.

I have no idea what caused xfmr to go, but it is possible if they had been doing infrared camera work the way we should be doing it; we would have been able to prevent it. :)
 
I'll bet you could find a few dozen git'er'done maintenance guys that are tired of rushing and ready for the realxing carefree life of an electrical contractor. :)

In today's global world I think alot of people need the rush-rush mentality to survive.

I'm and engineer, and although my job isn't physically demanding (except for pushing the mouse around :D ), I still have to have the rush-rush attitude.

How else would I get any time to post on the MHCF :D

Steve
 
I worked doing building & machine mainteiance for years for a printing company. Try to get a pm program going, no way can't shut down production, then when it brakes they are saying why didn't you have this serviced ahead of time.


Then you have to deal with the slackers who just hide around the plant or just rig stuff up so it will work. Had one idiot putting bolts in a fuses to keep equipment running. After he was fired had to go through every pice of equipment to make sure it was safe for the rest of use. He thought he was a hero.

Know I am the bad guy doing the safety end and facility inspections which I love. out to different buildings, properties.

I would think twice about a cush job at one place.


As dad always said"you just change A-holes when you go somewhere else"
 
muskiedog said:
As dad always said"you just change A-holes when you go somewhere else"
Click to expand...

Exactly: No matter where you go your still in the same place. The same people are there, they just happen to look a little different and have different names. You always run into problems.

Every place I've been you can always sware by the motto "There's always enough time and money to do it right the second time around."
 
instead of maintenance why not try service work

you get to go to many differant jobs through out the week

the company you work for supplies the truck and gas you use getting to and from work

you see all sorts of stupid installations and code violations.

the pay is a little better then the same guy working a construction site

service work is a lot like maintenance work at many different places. but it is all electrical in maintenance you may end up doing plumbing,hvac,carpentry,landscaping,or who knows what.

I still get to do some construction work but it is mostly hang a light or fan, add a recept. fix this or that some jobs take hours some days and some weeks some jobs I go to I do not even use any tools except a pen and paper. like the one I will go to on saturday morning for 2 or 3 hours at time and a half plus 10 percent from the time I leave my driveway to the time I return home I am going to go watch a generator start.
 
Have also been on both ends of the spectrum. Although the factory I worked at spent money like crazy (10 million in equipment improvements 2 years in a row), there was always the pressure of down time, and they knew how many dollars per second downtime cost. There were always the times we did not have the right part, and had to think creatively to regain operation, but there were also backup operations for almost anything that went down. The maintenance down time was spent doing improvement and reducing failure rates on machines, or PM's.

I also like the construction world. I am different in the fact that I like the pressure. If we are caught up on a job, and looking for things to do to occupy time, I get stir crazy.
 
I too was free like a bird rushing from place to place doing contracting jobs and working many hours on estimate and schedule, got tired, then went fannie may candies as electrical supervisor "master electrician" chicago. well they went bankrupt! sold two times since I left . now I work at a hospital as a supervising electrician, stationary enginer, now I want to get colorado license to move there, hospital are good to work, do my 8 hours and go home and relax on this forum and learn......
 
Which job is the best?

Which job is the best?

I too have worked both sides of the coin .......... they both have good and bad points. Although I do hate working for the "MAN" in a factory it is steady work, good pay and normally busy enough to keep me challenged. I have to say that I miss the construction and service work from high voltage pole work to fire alarm circuits in schools but I don't miss pulling that big damn wire all day. :D I went from factory work, to construction, on to service work and then back to factory work over the past 14 years. Did I make the right decision? Well that answer changes each week. Some days I wish I was a contractor with my own business and other days Im glad to be working for someone else who has to deal with all the headaches when I walk out of the door and go home to enjoy some R&R. Other times I wish I was still working service for another company. But, without trying all of the other things I wouldn't have the respect for each area independently - they are all demanding in some way and rewarding in others. I personally have gone from industrial/commercial installation and service to industrial controls and PLC programming for automation including vision, motion and robotics. It was a huge change - a lot of hard work and extra education beyond the journeymans/masters license but I love the challenge of building machines, writing programs, installing controls and getting it all working together. I am not an engineer - just a regular electrician/maintenance guy who found a nitch that worked for me, educated myself in it - and now love it. Yes, I work all week in a factory with a bunch of adults who act like kids when things break or machines dont run - Ive dealt with managment breathing down my neck and continually asking "when will you be done?" - Right? But, I've also leaned how to deal with those things on a professional level and the fact that those things come with the territory. But, I've also had to deal with bounced checks, customers who dont pay and you are forced to drag them into court - or theft of tools and equipment on a jobsite. I don't have to deal with those things anymore. I punch in at 6 AM and out at 4 PM. Day over ............. go home and have "Happy Hour" with my wife. I used to work every weekend that I could, and now I try hard to not work any......... and spend more time with my kids. Is it the right decision?? I still don't know ........... But, now I have the choice to work construction or remodeling on the side for other companies when I have time or need the extra pay - But, that is just me........ and I still think about leaving it almost every day because of the little headaches that come with the job - the wife says I will never be happy! I think shes finally caught on......... LOL............

Anyway, If theres one good thing I can tell you about trying other realms of this trade it would be the fact that I really have gained a lot of respect for the entire electrical industry no matter what hat you wear at this moment, in this hour, on this day - we have all worked hard to get where we are and that alone is something to be proud of, especially those with their own business/company and all of the headaches that go on behind the scenes that the rest of us don't have to deal with - to them I tip my hardhat. (see me, I'm tipping it right now)

I would add that if you are thinking of trying something else - dont forget that you can always go back to doing what it is that you do now - its hard to leave a comfort zone (I did many times) but, if you never try the "something else" you will never know the difference. (just my 2 cents)
 
At the moment I'm a little irked at new construction. At the school today we discover that the sheetrockers were unscrewing boxes from the studs whenever they felt like it and shooting screws through the single gang 4-square mud rings to "reinstall" the boxs when they were done.

Bit of a go-round over that. Someone is getting smacked upside the head.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top