Test Equipment Calibration Services Technician

Started by e@volt, 08-11-2005 -- 11:17:51

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bradley563

ET?  I am an AT.  I have ET's that work for me.   :-D

I have been to the Navy's basic and advanced calibration schools.  I have worked in Cal for 15 years, doing Phys/Mech, electronic, on-site's (Test Cells, etc...) I have run issue and receipt and production.  I am currently a Calibration Lab Manager for the USS Wasp LHD1. 

I think that qualifies for well rounded.  Or I hope so. :wink:
DEFINITION OF A VETERAN:

A veteran - whether on active duty, honorably discharged, retired, national guard, or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to The 'United States of America', for an amount of 'up to and including my life.'

That is Honor, and there are way too many people in

MIRCS

So you weren't an IM then????

Did you go throughPhys-D school???

Gator cal lab....that's gotta suck :-D

Yeah i would say pretty well rounded.

bradley563

Just the phys "D" that was with basic cal.  All the rest is OJT. 

And yes I would rather be back on carriers then on a gator.....
DEFINITION OF A VETERAN:

A veteran - whether on active duty, honorably discharged, retired, national guard, or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to The 'United States of America', for an amount of 'up to and including my life.'

That is Honor, and there are way too many people in

flew-da-coup

All us Sr. Techs here where I work are getting 27-29 dollors an hour. Volt services must be kidding. I won't work for less than 60K a year. I guess that really lets us know the quality of there techs...
You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume.Leviticus 19:35

skid

Well get ya some Ol' Dave! You have found a place that you can get in somebody's ass worse than the pressure room at Wright Patt!

Thumper

I make 43k as a GS-9 for the Patriot Missle Facility as one of two Metrologist.  They even sent me to NCSLi for the conferance as the rep.  Now I am taking a job in VA for NOAA working there as a GS-11.  I got out as an E-4 with 7 level skills done.  Not sure if that is a good basis but I like it.

Freezer

I'm new here, but my two cents is that 50K isn't pricing yourself out of the market.  At least not for contract PMELs (AF).  Most are in the high 40s for techs, at least.  There has been a move towards unionization, but not for the purposes of pay, more for the benefits.  I will say, though, that the pay raises have been more regular since we left the AWD behind.  Averaged 4%/yr.  All the techs I know are in the 28-29/hr range now.  That's just for techs, not for leads, QA or site managers.  Typically the tech IIIs are making 10% more than tech IIs and the site managers are another 8-10%+ from the tech IIIs.  If someone is offering less than 40K, they'll get what they deserve.

flew-da-coup

You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume.Leviticus 19:35

howiesatwork

Well, it would take a bit over $80k to interest me in moving...
Unless I could move where I wanted, then $60k would work.
It's okay to be ignorant, as you can always ask questions, but there is no cure for stupidity.

bradley563

OK, I am at 18 days until I start terminal leave.  I am still looking for something in the Orlando FL area.  I will draw full military pay until end of March.  But I would like to find something well before that time.
DEFINITION OF A VETERAN:

A veteran - whether on active duty, honorably discharged, retired, national guard, or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to The 'United States of America', for an amount of 'up to and including my life.'

That is Honor, and there are way too many people in

flew-da-coup

our mobile technicians get payed between $60K - $80K a year. E-volt is crazy. E-volt needs to keep in mind that you get what you pay for.  :? Is your customer really going to want to keep you E-volt? You and your customer need to wake up. I know of know tech that has to travel getting payed less than $60K a year and even that is low. With the salary you offer you might be able to get a pizza delivery guy who had taken a class on-line about fixing old VCRs to come work for you. You have just put a black mark on E-Volt Services in the PMEL world. Everyone knows who you are now and you have become a laughing stock in all the PMEL labs. We were just talking about you guys this morning. E-Volt = JOKE.....
You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume.Leviticus 19:35

clacoste

I can confirm that a can-stacker in Perth, Western Australia, makes $19.50hr AUD night-rate, which equals $28,360 USD annualized (38-hour week here).  The employer also provides 9% paid into a 401k Australian equivalent, and 4 weeks vacation leave, and two weeks sick leave cumulative, every year.  My daughter just looked into it, but decided overtime at the pathology lab she works at is a better option.  I agree with flew-da-coup and others, salaries like E-Volt is offering are an insult and a disgrace.

docbyers

I predict that E-Volt, and companies like them, will be out of business within the next 5 years.  As their clients get continually more and more disgruntled with their poor service and under-qualified technicians, they will take their money elsewhere.

Good labs take care of their customers, both military and civilian, and they do that with highly-qualified techs, QA, and scheduling- all people that care about the quality of their work, and have an understanding of how it fits in the big picture...

When I was at F.E. Warren, it was a big deal to have the ICBMs ready to fly 24-7.  In PMEL, we knew that our equipment was used to maintain those missles, and we played a key role in our 99%+ "green time" (ready-to-fly) rate, and I have an Outstanding Unit ribbon to attest to our hard work.

In Germany, our job was to keep the F4s and F16s ready to go.  Again, our equipment maintained the aircraft, and was mission-critical.  We do our job right, and the planes flew safely and effectively.  We do our job wrong, and people die.  That "big picture" view of the world provided a great deal of impetus to do the best work we could, and permeated down to our training and coaching of the younger techs...

Some of the civilian labs out there have one mission - to make money.  So they charge the market rate to calibrate a piece of gear, and pay bottom dollar wages to get it done, maximizing their profit margin.  That's fine capitalism, to be sure, but the quality of the work suffers, and soon the customers will go somewhere else.

Why do people buy Jaguars and Porsches, Mercedes and Acuras, when they can go get a decent Chevy for much less?  Some of it is prestige, of course, but I think if they're going to spend their hard-earned dollars, they're going to spend it on a quality product.  The same principle applies here...
If it works, it's a Fluke.

MIRCS

But then you have to take into account that most calibration is overhead. I know we are overhead here where I work, the people making the drugs are the only needed people. Also, the level of calibration is much lower than what it is in the military, these companies actually buy what they need......not what they think they need. We got a 70K capital budget this year and had to sign over newborns and sign in blood for that.

Until something gets done in changing the job description......the pay will always suck.....you can teach monkeys to calibrate.....look at K3/K4 as an example.

flamy78

http://www.sound-effect.com/sounds/animal/Treeanimals/monkey1.wav 

I may be a monkey but I'm a literate monkey. And I believe you can take a bum off the street and he can calibrate many a thing through the whole lab long as he can read the instructions. Though IMO if they are going to be specific on one page they should be specific the whole way through. Either they want you to interpret or not.

I meant to say there are less K3/K4 monkeys than K1/K8 but maybe on par with K6 grease monkeys and knuckle draggers.

THIS IS MY WIDGET.
I KNOW HOW TO TURN IT ON.
WHAT IS AN OSCILLOSCOPE?

Somebody write a litany on widgets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litany_against_fear