A web site advocating women in trade giving questionable advice?

Zs said:

Hello, long time no post.

Yes . . . its been wee while! Where have you been hiding?

- Ross

Chris, try again! Lovely to see you tried to respond...

A quick answer to where I have been Ross... 10 years in nuclear defence, which means working very slowly, getting not much done, and dealing with some shocking military type behaviours.  I saw the tritium light at the end of February, and now find myself in business start up, for which I think you would say I'm too old, but I don't ;) .  My knowledge has only remained standing by dint of private study and I have had my nose in books getting back up to speed.  Been through the dreaded NVQ3 and AM2E process, allegedly I am a competent person again, and hopefully next week I will complete the trio of Solar, Battery and EV charging badges.  Fortunately I kept my BS7671 going  on the QT and am, to be honest, a nerdier nerd than ever I was.  The difference is that this time it is going to be creative and I do not plan on wiring up sheds.

On the subject of that website - I made contact with them.  Their appreciative reply tells me that they are a group of three who write their own copy from 'reputable sources'. 

What worries me is that once this stuff gets out there it is fodder for AI.  You're right, It probably did come from AI in the first place but now it is there for him.  I personify, but I think he is a he, called AL, and I always thank him profusely for his help with such things as resignation letters... he sends me high fives and smiley faces.  So that's me OK when AL takes over the world?!

I saw the draft of my own rather beautiful web site today.  I was most specific that absolutely no electrical advice or opinion will feature in the words.  I am absolutely not going to feed AL.

Map,  I too was dismayed by the 'silly'.  Dismayed that my own Dad, with whom I discuss power factor correction etc. over walks in the park, was taken in by it and thought of suggesting I join, and also a little insulted by the tone.  But. Allow me a sweeping statement... Until the ladies get themselves to the calibre of the men in our industry... There are so few and I'm not sure that matters. In ten years it seems nothing has moved on.

Oh well, mine has moved on.  I think that the concerns expressed in those blogs are the concerns of the inexperienced tradeswoman, or indeed you might agree man. If you don't know what you are doing, then it is fine for you to recognise that.  My personal experience gave birth to a new word - I think the industry suffers from 'Competence-ism' not sexism. Brave enough to challenge?

Good to be back. 

Zs (ooh, haven't signed off like that for so long)

Competence is a strange thing.
I'm not sure what competence-ism would look like, as if we mean selecting someone for a given task on their ability  too do it, then unashamedly, I'm all for that.

It is very rare that as we gather to look at the smoking remains of the big experiment that anyone says, " what we really need at this point is an incompetent engineer to fix this".  They are far more likely to suggest they already have one..

For "continual professional development" as the under 40s call experience, it is important to know your limits, and to only go a little bit beyond them each time, and have a rescue plan for getting back behind that red line before anyone notices, if things start to go wrong. As you get better at it, you may become aware that you are now someone else's rescue plan.

The phone rings ' Mike have you got a mo' for an interesting problem?' For an interesting problem, always. Learning from the mistakes of others is of course much cheaper, but the positive buzz of bailing someone out is priceless.

Struggling on your own ensures you are the least competent person in the room, and at the same time the most, but it's not often helpful and a poor way to learn.

The other effect, in my case at least, is that with more experience,  while the cockups do become rarer, they also get more expensive and spectacular so the rate of breaking stuff and apologising for it never really improves.

And the male/female thing, for me at least is not that relevant, but folk slot themselves into roles and levels that they want to belong - and in my area it is fair to say that there are more females in software, and more males in things that involve big trucks, but so long as the opportunity is equal, then the fact the take up is not, is less serious I think. (*)It is as above the self confidence/ ability to do the job that should be paramount.

Is that competentism?

Mike.

* care here. It is possible to not see stuff if you are looking from within it.  I recall being very amused some years ago, when I visited an integrated factory in South Africa making armoured trucks, where everyone worked together they told me. 
Except, the design office was entirely to a man white and English speaking, the assembly floor was entirely Afrikaans, and out in the yard spray paint, tyres and greasing things that needed you to crawl under things. was entirely staffed by blacks. They had a female telephonist and a human factors lady.,, fully integrated, in their eyes only; not mine.

Zs said:

Chris, try again! Lovely to see you tried to respond

Here goes!

I find the whole sex/gender thing very puzzling. We now have, "batters" 'cos women cannot be, "batsmen", but that brings to mind fish and chips and Yorkshire puddings. In Britain, women want to be, "actors"; but in France, women insist on feminine nouns for trades which were traditionally all male. So, we have, "électricien" and, "électricienne".

I can see that there would be good grounds for complaint if a customer called up, "Zs electrical" and then sent away Zs because she is female.

At risk of appearing to be political, I think that Dianne Abbott (whose politics I mostly do not share, but whom I greatly admire) missed a point. Just as people of colour are readily identifiable, so are women (and men). So, your Zs electrician can be male or female, black or white. The web-site will reveal neither.

At one time, I had a mother, a wife, a daughter, and two granddaughters. I could hardly be sexist!

mapj1 said:

Competence is a strange thing.

My conservatory renovations are ongoing. The joiners are excellent; the carpenters are rough as a badger's bottom. Mrs P does not know how bad the carpenters are, but walloping in screws, breaking them, and just leaving them is a sure sign of incompetence.

When they go, I have to follow them and rectify what I can.

I know that they are incompetent because I am competent. Mrs P does not know that they are incompetent, but she is very much a lay-person, so could not be competent.

Mrs P's gardener (who is doubtlessly competent at gardening) summed it up: "What you need is craftsmen, not carpenters."

Zs said:

A quick answer to where I have been Ross...

Good to see you back!

Can't remember how long ago it was that we last spoke, but I do remember I sent you a photo of a cable spiking gun, as you were wondering what one looked like!

- Ross

Zs said:

A quick answer to where I have been Ross...

Good to see you back!

Can't remember how long ago it was that we last spoke, but I do remember I sent you a photo of a cable spiking gun, as you were wondering what one looked like!

- Ross