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What do I expect from IET – Community - France & Paris.

Former Community Member
Former Community Member
Firstly who are the IET Fr MIET members?

I joined this PEI in 1980 from Grenoble. I was on substantive leave from MoD. I decided to stay for a longer period and got married here. At that time we were the first to come over with the EU agreements of that period.

There were already ex-patriot UK people with huge benefits living here, there were the UK EU adventurers with no objectives but work was abundant, there were the first student exchanges, and some had married into French families. I did not meet any UK people who simply came here to live and work at that time.

 

Most of us found the difference between the UK and France as difficult as between the UK and China. They just did not live, eat or drink like us.

 

I was advised by the first UK settlers to just join in and enjoy myself, which I did.

I first met French culture when I organised the “entente cordiale” between the Concorde R&D groups of UK RAE and French ONERA. It was unbelievable, when the opportunity to have a job and career change came, I took up nuclear engineering in France.

 

I returned to the UK which had drastically changed – Thatcher, strikes, riots. My name  was plagiarised in my work. I had to leave the UK after my employers failed to protect me. I returned to France.

The first time every one talked of the quality of life in France, the second time it was the Iraqi wars and crisis.

 

So what do you need to work and survive in France now and how can the IET French Community help.

France is huge; it is not realistic to travel from SE or SW France for a meeting in Paris.

Maybe we need a newcomers guide such as most French towns give to new arrivals.

France is still totally different from the UK.

We have different categories of IET members who are at least engineering & technology related.

 -Ex-patriot, UK enterprise sales & marketing staff, Erasmus students, Enterprises from the UK that have delocalised with their staff, those that have married into families, entrepreneurs and SMEs in IT technology and those that now just want to work and live in France etc.

What would you advise
  • Should we have a MIET arrivals’ guide

  • Should we have guides to French language courses

  • Should we have guides to CPD in France

  • Should we give advice on French administration

  • What about the dos and don’ts of French culture.


Or should we just mind our own business and keep it to ourselves?

 

I recommend reading : Stephen Clarke – 1000 years of annoying the French and other titles and most of his references. French English history is not as taught in schools.
  •  Out of season hotels in France are cheap, maybe one or two visits with IET families or friends to E&T venues could be affordable.


And the French Community AGM & voting should be on line and at distance.

I’m retiring from E&T have fun in France

 

Give Rob McCann some help

 

John Gowman MIET (ex ITEME Grenobl 1980)

 

Parents
  • 0
    Reply to John Gowman,

    When the IEE French Centre had to change to become the IET French Local Network we were promised legal help from London. This, unsurprisingly, never materialised but the process was closed out with an EGM which lasted 16 minutes under my chairmanship entirely in French since we were talking about a French legal entity. Two members of IET staff had their travel expenses paid to attend this meeting but they were not allowed to sign the attendance sheet since they did not qualify for membership of the French legal entity and they probably didn't understand very much of what was said and what decisions we took. I can only hope that they were satisfied that they were spending IET money advisedly.


    The Loi 1901 has all sorts of interpretations as I have seen in my capacity as Président of too many. And, since one of my passports is British, some of these were populated with Brits who thought fit to try and teach me how the law works, even though they were unable to do this in French. Fortunately, "Plan B" has always worked to achieve our objectives.


    I hope that I have set the record straight. On the other hand, much of what you write in your personal blogs is pretty common knowledge and the IET French LN has tried to do its best to kowtow to instructions from galactic HQ with the results that you have seen personally. But it is disingenuous to suggest that the IET French LN volunteers do not go out of their way to welcome participants at their meetings (quote the Paris crowd kept to themselves as usual.). This has always been a priority ever since our "gang of four" set up the IEE in France in 1988 in total ignorance of the Loi 1901.


    And... my Czech registered Diesel car has a macaron to enter Paris on bleak days!
Reply
  • 0
    Reply to John Gowman,

    When the IEE French Centre had to change to become the IET French Local Network we were promised legal help from London. This, unsurprisingly, never materialised but the process was closed out with an EGM which lasted 16 minutes under my chairmanship entirely in French since we were talking about a French legal entity. Two members of IET staff had their travel expenses paid to attend this meeting but they were not allowed to sign the attendance sheet since they did not qualify for membership of the French legal entity and they probably didn't understand very much of what was said and what decisions we took. I can only hope that they were satisfied that they were spending IET money advisedly.


    The Loi 1901 has all sorts of interpretations as I have seen in my capacity as Président of too many. And, since one of my passports is British, some of these were populated with Brits who thought fit to try and teach me how the law works, even though they were unable to do this in French. Fortunately, "Plan B" has always worked to achieve our objectives.


    I hope that I have set the record straight. On the other hand, much of what you write in your personal blogs is pretty common knowledge and the IET French LN has tried to do its best to kowtow to instructions from galactic HQ with the results that you have seen personally. But it is disingenuous to suggest that the IET French LN volunteers do not go out of their way to welcome participants at their meetings (quote the Paris crowd kept to themselves as usual.). This has always been a priority ever since our "gang of four" set up the IEE in France in 1988 in total ignorance of the Loi 1901.


    And... my Czech registered Diesel car has a macaron to enter Paris on bleak days!
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