# Sea v Shore qualifications



## Manchester

In 1986 I took voluntary redundancy from Shell as they were reflagging to the IOM hence all contracts would be changed.

I decided to find a shoreside job. 

However, this is where I hit a big snag - no employer would recognise my sea going qualifications (PMG, BOT Radar, Dip Marine Electronics). In the end I had to go back to college to get an HNC and then no problem. Anyone else hit the same brick wall? It's ironic in a way that you had to have sea going qualifications to go to sea but thrown back in your face when you come ashore.


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## sparkie2182

We had a thread on these lines some time ago.
For myself, years of study and sea time were about as much use as a used bus ticket.


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## ChasD

Did the same, same time, same reason. Not a lot of call for sparkies on the beach.
Recognised the problem would not be soluble by trying to chase the non-existent.
So – now for something completely different, as they say. 
Used my management/negotiating experience to acquire back-up from a bank (after repeated refusals) Bought out a semi bankrupt business with potential, re-structured, bought a second, sold the first, built up a good solid staff (all female – that’s when you realise - they are a completely different species - after an all male environment, an all female environment of 25+ is more than a shock – talk about herding cats ! But- Fun!)
Gained experience, built, structured, expanded – then got too old and retired – Knackered me - but don’t regret a minute !!!!


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## John Dryden

Get out you sparkies..I know what you did to pass your exams and it gave me headache..try walking into a job with the Norries tables under your arm!!


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## Troppo

I remained in the maritime industry, so I was OK. 

But it was a real travesty how our tickets were simply unknown outside our industry....


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## Varley

Troppo, as one who started in 1980 I am very surprised you were allowed to take MRGC without C&G Telecomms.

Even in 1970 it was the norm in state run colleges although I missed out having started at Colwyn Bay before moving to Riversdale. 

David V


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## sparkie2182

"I remained in the maritime industry, so I was OK."

I also.......... just as well.

I often wondered just how many trades in the RN were covered by our training.


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## Barrie Youde

At the start of my own second career it was necessary to acquire a law degree.

I was aged 42, with no A levels whatsoever.

I had a fistful of O levels, a Mate's Home Trade Ticket and a pilot's licence. I felt lamentably unqualified. On applying to the law department at Liverpool Polytechnic it was necessary to be interviewed before acceptance into the course. The interviewer held a Doctorate in Law. I was greatly relieved (and astonished!) when he said "I have no doubt that you are capable of doing it."

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!


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## alan ward

Barrie Youde said:


> At the start of my own second career it was necessary to acquire a law degree.
> 
> I was aged 42, with no A levels whatsoever.
> 
> I had a fistful of O levels, a Mate's Home Trade Ticket and a pilot's licence. I felt lamentably unqualified. On applying to the law department at Liverpool Polytechnic it was necessary to be interviewed before acceptance into the course. The interviewer held a Doctorate in Law. I was greatly relieved (and astonished!) when he said "I have no doubt that you are capable of doing it."
> 
> Nothing ventured, nothing gained!


I don`t why you were surprised,most applicants would have the requisite A levels but your qualifications showed you were capable of much more than they,the holders,ever would be.A Pilot`s licence for heavens sake? it showed great ability to reason and think on your feet you underestimate yourself.


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## NoR

When doing Master(FG) at Cass in 1973 there were a load of young students with OND (ONC ?) doing 2nd Mates. There was an HND (HNC?) course going through as well. We asked what the syllabus for this was. "Just what you've all done" we were told. "Can we have an HNC if we pass Masters" we asked. The answer was a resounding Niet! 
I have since pondered this and concluded that the reason was that the pass mark for Master was much higher than for HND (HNC?) and also that the examining authority was different. 
In the evenings some of us stayed behind to study and we were allocated a classroom for this so as not to upset the cleaners. We occasionally shared this with the lads doing 2nd Mates who already had an OND (ONC?) and were exempt much of the exam. Without being too rude it did seem to us that they didn't know much, they certainly had very little sea time.


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## Barrie Youde

#9

That is very kind of you, Alan, and I thank you!

All contributors to this thread, however, seem to be conscious of just how little value their maritime qualifications might yield when ashore. For sure, I was no exception!


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## Bob Murdoch

I went ashore in 1962 in NZ with a 1st Class PMG and MOT Radar. I joined the NZPO as a radio inspector but could have selected from coast station r.o. or radio tech with those tickets. Also the NZBC and Civil Aviation Administration were recruiting guys with PMG. Guess the important thing in NZ back then was to be able to handle the job.
Eventually left the post office and was recruited into the computer company set up by the then, five trading banks as a communications analyst. Again, still with only my above tickets. That was in 1968 after a year as ionosphericist in the Antarctic. 
I guess things only got harder in later years.
Cheers Bob


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## Pilot mac

Years ago I applied for a job within a government department, the job asked for A levels plus a degree or equivalent. I don't have either. Anyway I submitted my qualifications (Master FG) which completely stumped them. My application was refered to another government department and they eventually informed me that they would accept Master FG as the equivalent of a good degree.

regards
Dave


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## Troppo

Varley said:


> Troppo, as one who started in 1980 I am very surprised you were allowed to take MRGC without C&G Telecomms.
> 
> Even in 1970 it was the norm in state run colleges although I missed out having started at Colwyn Bay before moving to Riversdale.
> 
> David V



I'm an Aussie, mate.

I have a BOCP (broadcast station licence) as well as other stuff.


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## Troppo

sparkie2182 said:


> "I remained in the maritime industry, so I was OK."
> 
> I also.......... just as well.
> 
> I often wondered just how many trades in the RN were covered by our training.


I can tell you exactly, as I hold a commission in the navy reserve - Merchant navy R/O's are a combination of R/O, ETC, ETP and ETS.

Ops and techs, basically.


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## Leratty

Barrie, I have never understood why anyone would see a maritime qualification as not at same level as shore? I hired a few old sea dogs in my time never ever regretted it. Great you went back & did law & qualified, it is all in the will to succeed as well as of course the ability to study retain & in your case be given the break. I went back & did a 3rd degree in my early 40's in US I was not the only elderly party in attendance. We all passed above mid way, for me I seemed to pass OK even if stressed with exams. When going to London university in late 60's I was older than many in the first year though it did not present a problem. It was in gaining my civil engineering degree after first degree (which I had only to do two years instead of four) that I was much older & also of course wiser from work & sea experience.
I had a scholarship to do law though changed to mining civil engineering considered not wise in those days, however it proved the best thing for me.
Shore people do not in the main realise how a seaman is a resourceful, self disciplined person capable of utilising his initiative to get the job done a rarity for an employee & a Godsend for an employer.


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## Graham P Powell

I left the sea and managed to get a job with a local electronics company where I realised how little I knew about the subject. 
They had never heard of valves.....!
Then I got a job as Post Office phone engineer working on installing exchanges. I met another R/O on a PO training course so I wasn't the only one. To get any further with the PO you needed C and G. Management made out they had never heard of the PMG cert. I was turned down for promotion twice ( different excuses each time) so I applied for a transfer to GKA. Best move I ever made. Judging by the turnover of staff, GKA did not suit everybody but I loved it. I would be down there now if it was still the same as 1975. I was told once that PMG cert was worth 2 A Levels. Anybody know if this is right?.
rgds
Graham Powell(Thumb)


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## jaydeeare

Close to leaving the RAF (1982), I went for an Interview. When I was asked what type of equipment I was currently working on, I answered "Mainly valve." Once he picked himself up off the floor (not literally), he began winding down the interview, especially as I had little knowledge of specific IC's!

It was only getting a job System Testing a Radar system that was replacing the system I used to install that I finally accepted my RAF knowledge and experience had finally paid off.


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## Manchester

For myself, years of study and sea time were about as much use as a used bus ticket.

Having got my mickey mouse HNC in "Mechatronics" which was so easy compared to my seagoing qualifications, not one employer asked to see it!! Just checked my original discharge book and all qualifications are listed in it, so no fiddling there! 

So what's wrong with shoreside. Life is too easy.


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## jaydeeare

Manchester said:


> ......., not one employer asked to see it!!


After an Interview some years ago, when the Interviewer ended the Interview, I was surprised that he did not ask to see my Certificates and Qualifications that I had brought.

His response was something like, "Would you be doing the job you're doing now if you did not have the necessary Qualifications and experience?"

My obvious answer was, "No. Of course not."

When I asked him if he needed a list of Referees, he declined saying, "Would you give me a list of people who would say you were rubbish at your job?"

Again, I said "No."

He replied, "So why give them to me?"

A few days later, a big fat envelope fell through the letterbox. I'd got the job. Much to my surprise.

The problems came soon after starting, but that's another story!


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## Leratty

Jaydeeare, interesting comments. I too always had the same opinion when interviewing, certainly in regards written references. Why would anyone proffer a reference if it said he was useless of dodgy after all? Should I be seriously looking at the candidate for the position I would ask at a 2nd interview if he had contact No's for references? Should he then appear reticent I would be concerned if he gave them to me 50-50 I would make contact as I feel you can with judicious questions gain more from a short conversation than ever from some blarney in writing.
Love to hear "but that's another story!" as reckon we all have some hilarious or not so ones as to jobs we took then regretted doing so. One I sat for a whole year with a small team on a remote site where literally nothing was done almost like a caretaker though we were meant to be installing some equipment which never arrived. The Co were surprised when I put in my resignation.


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## sparkie2182

I was part of an interview board years ago........we were looking for a pilot boat/survey boat deck hand who would be expected to eventually become coxwain.

Almost all the received C.V.'s seemed to be written by the same solicitor.

................The personnel dept seemed to lap them up.


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## trotterdotpom

I had an interview a few years ago. I knew I'd blown it when the boss of the panel squeezed my knuckle - I wasn't fit to wash his pinny.

John T


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## Nova Scotian

During my employ with the Nova Scotia Community College a majority of the instructors held Masters or Chiefs qualifications. Following a review of educational requirements for faculty, navigation and engineering instructors were designated as trades instructors. As a result pay scales for these people took quite a drop and it became obvious that it would be difficult to acquire faculty down the road. As a result, the personnel department conducted a review of marine faculty qualifications and how they related to their non-marine colleagues.

They concluded that masters or chiefs certificates lay somewhere between an undergraduate degree and a post secondary degree. Pay scales and professional status were then amended to reflect the review. Although it was never officially conceded, it was recognized that marine faculty possessed good organizational, teamwork and management management skills. 

It has been my experience that, when coming ashore, mariners bring with them a number of essential skills and a solid work ethic that is often missed by the interview panel.


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## David Fyfe

*Sea v Shore Qualifications*

Like Johnny(Jay Deeare), I too am ex RAF. After leaving the RAF in 1975 became a shore based coastal diver. But soon was asked to work with marine electronics, part-time, aboard fishing & coastal vessels. I found the transition not too difficult.
However, it was true back then & is certainly a fact of life now, marine & off-shore wise, "Its not what you know, but who you know".
Incidently Johnny, what entry were you at Cosford ? Whilst there as an Instructor between 1970 & 72, I tought several entries of Apprentices & Fitters Courses.
I think that the encouragement of both teamwork & positive descision making attitudes in the Services has long been a welcome atribute for prospective civilian employers. Mind you, back in '75 & even now, I still come across "civs" who could prevaricate for Britain !

Regards, David


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## jaydeeare

David, I was Ground Radar. Did my Basic at Swinderby in 1970, Mechanics and later Fitters Course at Locking.

Left in 82.

Never went to Cosford.


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## chadburn

jaydeeare said:


> David, I was Ground Radar. Did my Basic at Swinderby in 1970, Mechanics and later Fitters Course at Locking.
> 
> Left in 82.
> 
> Never went to Cosford.


Having been in the Citadel at Boulmer I can understand why one of the "qualifications" is a working knowledge of computer gaming for those who sit in front of the screens.


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## hawkey01

Jaydeeare,

Ah! Locking - just a few miles from us here in Burnham on Sea/Highbridge. The old camp is now a housing estate having been closed for many years. When I was still golfing the seniors Secretary was an ex instructor from Locking by the name of Geoff Lunt. Do not recall what he taught.

Hawkey01


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## jaydeeare

I had a practical part of a Course at Boulmer, plus spending time on trials there whilst working at a Research Centre.

I have been saddened at seeing photos of Locking after all the buildings had been pulled down. That Station played a large part of my life. Even had girlfriend there. Can't recall a Mr Lunt, though.

I have spent quite a bit of time at Burnham. Lovely big beach!


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## 5TT

I think that the C&G certificates did me no harm at all when it came to seeking employment shoreside, if only for the fact that there were so many of them. There were 9 issued in the first year and I think 7 in the second year? Bung a wad like that down on the desk, plus the MRGC, DOT radar and a scattering of 'O' levels and they're going to take a closer look at you. That was my experience anyway ...

= Adrian +


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## gwzm

I quickly realised that 1st Class PMG and MOT Radar Maintenance certificates counted for nothing ashore. I had started a City & Guilds Telecommunications correspondence course whilst at sea which, to be honest, seemed to be at a lower level than PMG but came to a dead end when C&G wanted three months notice of where I would be to sit the exams - a bit difficult when you're en-route to India! When I did come ashore I immediately enrolled for HNC Electrical Engineering at night school.
In retrospect, the PMG practical and theory skills plus the HNC did me no harm and led to a moderately successful 30+ years career in the computer industry.
Would I do it all again? Of course I would. 
Happy days,
gwzm


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## SparksG1714

Whilst we're on the remberences curve and the "irrelevence" of PMGs for shoreside employment: 

Yes it was a girl reason, applied as a roving techie at Pye Telecom Southampton. Had my 2nd then +radar + C&G to B level. Personnel manager at interview just laughed in front of others at selection panel and said: "But that's just morse isn't it?" Others there guffawed in sycophancy... Shows just how pig ignorant "personnel" managers were/are. 
Anyways, got sent to the Cambridge factory to "learn about radio". Test bench foreman was ex-RAF called Ron Trimmer (I kid you not. He went to Dymar Watford eventually)

Pye Cambridge had forged their market with the Vanguard then Cambridge private mobile radios, then the Bantam, the first personal radios for police

Worked on the tune-up and final test benches for 10 months before realising I wasn't gonna get offered a post in Soton (despite promises) and left back to sea. (Cloud)

Latterly Storno and others swamped the PMR market, and the rest is history.. no more Pye Telecom. Well if you do stay with a QQ0V-10 in the final and Ledex switching for boot mounts in the 70's they deserved to be overtaken by technical advances...


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## ART6

I guess I got lucky when I came ashore. I applied for a job as deputy chief engineer in a power station in London, but had no expectation of getting it since all applications I had made until then had been rejected. However, the station manager said that he preferred to hire ex-marine engineers. They had, he said, a depth of practical experience and they never gave up. I got the job and never looked back. 

Later, based on that track record, I was head hunted to become the chief mechanical engineer of a large regional authority, then left after some years to become the engineering director of a PLC, then onto another one as technical and operations director. Finally I with three others formed our own company twenty years ago with major American investment and me as MD, designing and building large biofuels plants. Looking back the absence of shore-accepted qualifications never held me back significantly.


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## Varley

Art, I understand that there have been several failures recently of off-line steam plant to deliver to the grid at their contracted time due to failed attempts to start-up. With the number plants in which technicians can gain and maintain steam plant both ashore and afloat shrinking I wonder if this may be due to a shortage people with your background.


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## ART6

Varley said:


> Art, I understand that there have been several failures recently of off-line steam plant to deliver to the grid at their contracted time due to failed attempts to start-up. With the number plants in which technicians can gain and maintain steam plant both ashore and afloat shrinking I wonder if this may be due to a shortage people with your background.


I wouldn't be at all surprised Varley. My tickets were steam, and the C/E for whom I was the deputy also possessed steam tickets. We knew about boilers (Babcock in that plant) and turbines, and the generators were bread an butter to us. I was very familiar with such exercises as pressure tests on the boilers (five of them) and setting up the turbine Woodward governors. 

In fact, in the case of the latter, we had an interesting experience. No-one but me was permitted to touch the governors -- ever! However, one fine day a shift charge engineer, one of those guys who knew everything, decided that the governor on one of the turbines was not set correctly, and he decided to deal with it. He did so very effectively -- he fiddled with the several knobs, and the turbine started to grab load. The others responded by dropping load, as they were supposed to do, but then as he fiddled the machine began to exceed its load capacity, and it tripped. The others didn't have time to react to the sudden load shed, and one after the other they dropped out. The station went off line in a most spectacular fashion!

Needless to say the National Grid control room was not best pleased since it caused a frequency drop in the region as the other stations struggled to catch up. Our station was fined (as far as I recall) something like £75,000 for every hour we were off line plus another £75,000 for dropping off line without permission. To say that I was under some pressure would be putting it mildly, since initially I had no idea what had happened and which turbine had caused the problem. Fixing it took time, trying to reconcile five Woodward governors and balance them, with a very agitated station manager demanding action.

Once I had found the problem and had got the station back on line (and believe me, persuading the grid control room that we would stay there this time wasn't easy), the shift charge engineer was called to the boss's office and summarily dismissed!

The moral of this story, perhaps, is that we ex-seafarers can actually get the job done because we know what we're doing, whereas the highly qualified products of the shore educational system only believe that they do. We were all, also, forced to consider that if we couldn't fix it we might all die, and that does tend to concentrate the mind.


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## chadburn

Over the years there must have been a fair number of Steam Chiefs and in particular those with an S.T. backgrounds usually on Tankers ending up in Power Station's. I was offered a Chief Engineers job by an Agent (who fortunatly was ex-seagoing) on the re-fit of an Egyptian Power Station which had been run into the ground. I wish I could remember his name now as he may have offered it to others on this Site. Needless to say I did not go.


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## Varley

Art, I hear what YOU are saying but then whence does the usual marine practice come of bringing a machine on line by frantic manipulation of all connected machines as well as the incoming and then trying to keep the bus at spot on 60 regardless of the load and spinning reserve? I could name at least one Director of Engineering that asked me what I meant by spinning reserve.

I have only been rebuffed by two - one a BS Chief who proved in conversation anything I doubted of him by saying the right way was with one hand behind the back and one an unusually admirable result of the trade based 'qualification' (mines and gas board excused) who reminded me that the disconnected machine should be restored to 61.5 (or whatever, according to speed droop) in preparation for selection as blackout start machine. 

What is even more mystifying is why power management systems also behave as the ignorant operator - it is (certainly now) all silicon and there is no cost difference in doing it right rather than wrong except when it is doen wrong and your governor parameters or the lost motion in the fuel-rack/or link to the 'manoeuvring valve become so off limit that this 'Secondary speed Regulation' - a term I think invented to excuse and cloak bad practice - can no longer respond appropriately after a load change and the whole plant becomes unstable.

I am not sure that a clever person could not prove that at some measure of lost motion the sign of the feedback will change. If I remember correctly this happens if the phase difference on an Op Amp error becomes too different from the process (as it will if the gain is too great/proportional band too small).


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## sparkie2182

"But that's just morse isn't it?" 

I was once handed a resistor and was asked if i knew what it was.


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## Paul Braxton

I was lucky. Came ashore in '82 and emigrated to NZ on the strength of a year's working visa, when I got a job with Pye in the old Coromandel town of Waihi. A very busy electronics factory, churning out consumer audio stuff mainly, my 'interview' was simply an on the job practical exam, put to work trying to find out the cause of some instability problem which nobody had had the time or patience to do. Luckily? I passed that and spent the next 4 yrs doing repairs and faultfinding there, till I moved back to UK for a while.

Decided that I'd better get some more updates to my tired old PMG2 and BOT Radar quals, so went for a six month microprocessor course and then for an interview at Bournemouth Airport. (Figured that working with the comms/radar stuff would be nice, a sort of shoreside R/O in some ways). At the interview there, the Tels boss ushered me into his office with a wide grin and plied me with tea and biscuits. He couldn't wait to get me onboard. Told me straight away that "as a Kiwi" my practical abilities and innovativeness was far more important than any papers I might have. It turned out he had once worked with a Kiwi bloke in Oman, and had an extremely high regard for the legendary Kiwi 'can do' attitude! 

He sent me over to see the boss of the Airwork company that ran the electronics/ground radio side of things at that airport, and I was soon being given more tea and biscuits. Good old Lou, there was no interview beyond a few pleasantries and yarns. "We don't want any whizzkids here" he laughingly informed me. Then he asked a tech question: "Could you draw a block diagram of a typical radar?" There was a long pause. I of course had immediately and with disgusting eagerness, answered in the affirmative, having been expecting and well up for just this sort of thing; all eager to demonstrate just how useful and invaluable I was going to be to their organisation.

The pause became a bit too long for comfort. "...If you give me a pad and pencil I'll get to it", I prompted, feeling a bit odd there.

"Oh it's not necessary, but you can if you like" he said, whereupon a pad was brought in by his secretary and I proceeded to do the block diagram while he went out for more tea and cakes. When he came back in, I'd done the whole thing and was quite proud of it. My memory had served me well after all those years. He just glanced at it and put it aside. "Congratulations", he beamed, shaking my hand vigorously, "welcome aboard!"

I went back over to the Tels office and started work right away, getting stuck into the build of a new approach suite and tower electronics, etc. Brian had a laugh when I told him about Lou's interview: "You could have done him a diagram of a toaster and he wouldn't have known any better". Lou wasn't a technical man at all, it seemed.

Had a hectic four or so years there, learning about CAA things on the job and eventually getting some CAA qualifications so that I could stand a long shift on my own. Boy that job was hard graft! But a lot of fun as well, and I did get to drive around a busy airfield with a flashing light and a radio and do really useful things, like harvesting the wonderful mushrooms that grew so profusely out along the taxiway edges... (The electronics was quite interesting, too).

So the PMG et al never really got me through any doors either, apart from of course Mimco's, which is the one that mattered.

Whoever first intoned that old mantra: "It's not what you know, it's who you know" sure knew a thing or two.

Still sneak a look, sometimes, at that black, shiny PMG2 cert, with the carefully folded linen BOT Radar ticket inside. Get the old discharge books out and have a wistful few minutes going through the entries, wondering why I was so hasty about leaving when I did...


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## Farmer John

sparkie2182 said:


> "But that's just morse isn't it?"
> 
> I was once handed a resistor and was asked if i knew what it was.


Not quite the same thing, but I applied for a job on a hill farm. The only question I was asked was "Can you nose a bullock?".

I said I could, maybe I should have demonstrated on him.

The operation means grasping an animal by putting your thumb and forefinger into the beasts nostrils and squeezing, and if you can lifting the head as high as you can. Used with intelligence, it can restrain an animal.

Two months later I was "nosing" a rather cheerful Aberdeen Angus bull in the middle of a field, whilst my interviewer was creeping up behind it wit a 50cc syringe of anti-biotic to hit it in the bum. Many anti-biotics can be very painful when injected into the muscle (and, thank God, aren't doshed out so easily). The injection took about 5 seconds, the bulls nose got higher and higher, John took the needle out, I released the bull, and we gave each other respect then I left. A month later he trashed our Landrover ( bent bits of it), don't know why.


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## jaydeeare

Paul Braxton said:


> .......(The electronics was quite interesting, too).
> ...


Did you work on the Cossor 950 Monopulse SSR? One of my jobs working at Cossor was setting up the Receivers returned by the CAA. It was a very long job that meant stripping them down, re-tuning the Filters and Log Amps and worst of all resetting the the line phases.

I was on that job for a number of months with unlimited overtime.

Each one that left me and later a colleague was set up spot on due to a new setting up process I assisted in developing. Better than Production did!


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## mariniero

Seeking shore employment following several years in command was a dilemma confronted by many former shipmasters. Fortunately, the legal profession offered a route which utilized many of the skills natural to the Shipmaster and valued by specialist firms and clients alike who insist on the Solicitor handling their case having a comprehensive ‘hands on’ experience in the field under consideration (wet or dry).


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## sandhopper

Paul Braxton said:


> "He sent me over to see the boss of the Airwork company that ran the electronics/ground radio side of things at that airport".
> 
> I remember Airworks back in 1988. They were offering me £4000 below my UK basic to go out to Oman. I very rarely ever earned just my UK basic.
> 
> We techies were always of the opinion that anyone with a pulse could get a job at airworks. Most of us gave them a wide berth.


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## sandhopper

SparksG1714 said:


> Whilst we're on the remberences curve and the "irrelevence" of PMGs for shoreside employment:
> Yes it was a girl reason, applied as a roving techie at Pye Telecom Southampton. Had my 2nd then +radar + C&G to B level. Personnel manager at interview just laughed in front of others at selection panel and said: "But that's just morse isn't it?" Others there guffawed in sycophancy...


I had a similar experience. Three of us new starts were interviewed by our line manager. He asked the first two what they had, namely MRGC and DOT radar. He then looked at me and asked if I had similar.

His following words to our little group were somewhat dis-heartening... I didn't ask for you, you are no use to me, I don't want you here.
Three years later I was made redundant and my then manager tried to get it rescinded. He explained that my bad mark from that first manger was what had scuppered his efforts.


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## Paul Braxton

Hi Johnny.

It was, if I recall rightly, a Plessey SSR, which was set up in about 1990, not all that long before I left Bournemouth Airport. I didn't have anything to do with it; we had a new man join whose job it was to install and take care of it. I did fit a new tube to the secondary AR15 display once, but managed to crack the neck when I was inserting it! They had solid state displays eventually, which did the job quite well.

I worked on the old ACR430, what they said was an ex marine type radar. Not a bad set, but always a poor relation to the 'big boys'. Hard work removing the onfield TX units and bringing back to base.


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