Job satisfaction?

[willf650]

Do you guys get any satisfaction out of doing control work?


Back when I worked as an electrician I could look at a wall of panels and say that looked great and got a feeling of pride.

When I used to work as an HVAC mechanic I got some satisfaction, although minimal, fixing stuff. I would get more satisfaction when running refrig piping.

Programing/working with controls I get no real feeling of satisfation or pride. I feel as though I run from putting out one fire to the next without any tangable proof of workmanship. I don't think I ever hear anything positve. Stuff either works and you hear nothing or something doesn't(generally stops working) and you hear complaints. I used to have fun figuring stuff out but those feelings have past a couple years ago.


What work would you guys do if you could start over again?

[viceman]

waterways conservation officer.

[azzad]

Bus driver

[printer2]

Was in the teaching end of things before this. Last week I had dinner with some college instructors that I worked with. One asked me if I ever would consider going back to teach at the college (He was not impressed with some of the younger instructors lined up to take over from the old guys.)

Trying to decide if I want to go back, There might be an opening in the fall for me.

[DeltaT]

You need to put all three together. That's really the way this field works. I've been doing controls most of my life except when the presonal computer showed up in our field and a new type of being started showing up on job sites that pretty much knew nothing aobut HVAC or controls but lots about computers and programming.

Put all three fields together and life will get very interesting again. You will be challenged by the pure electrical side, enlightened by the refrigertion side and frustrated almost on a continued basis by the new types of control side folks and all their self justifying gadgets.

One of the first things I do as a trouble shooted of all types of systems is attempt to issolate any type of software/computer system away from the HVAC hardware side of the system just to see which side has the problem.

I spend a lot of time in an attempt to communicate with "control" guys of this generation while they attempt to avoid me.

Get back to the basics of this field and you will be forever proud and challenged...and frustrated in that you now can not simply turn on/off a system without someone who has hooked up their own brand of controls that they sell needing to make an appointment, show up on the job site on time maybe, not notify you, hook up something electronic to their stuff, satisfy their mind that everything is honk doory and leave without even contacting you.

[miller_elex]

Wiring up controls is pretty satisfying.

Doing up all the EMT and devices in a central plant is cool.

Terminating and doing it slick, like waterfalls of cable, is satisfying, and profitible because it is done organized.

This has got to be the one corner of the trades where organization and proper planning pays big divedends. Sloppy wire jammers belong in hell IMO, and they tank the job every time they are put in charge.

Put down the computer, go back to the field.

[tuncos]

Wildlife Manager.

Maybe wild creatures would listen to my opinion better than the engineers, mechanics and installers.

[kontrolphreak]

I went to college for a year in Australia majoring in Natural Systems and Wilderness Management. My dream was to become a park ranger on the Great Barrier Reef.

Nowadays I keep people happy by tweaking parameters and/or cleaning up from the last guy. I do get satisfaction from tuning a PID real nice or saving the customer some $$$ by implementing a new strategy or just getting their system working right. But as the OP mentioned most of the time our toils go unnoticed.

I do find being in the field is more rewarding then the office and/or being a third party commissioning agent (4 years in an office and 18 months doing DDC Cx). While I was in the office (after 10+ years in the field as an electrician and DDC tech) I was always itching to get back in the field and I took every unanswered service calls when our service guys were to busy in the middle of summer in Las Vegas. The commissioning thing was a good learning experience, it taught me that I would rather do the job rather then do the paperwork about the job being done.

But if I could do it all over again, I would be cruising the GBR checking peoples fishing licenses and looking for the occasional missing tourist.

kontrol out

[DavyB]

plumber.

[orion242]

What work would you guys do if you could start over again?

Video store VHS rewind boy.


Oh wait, that's gone the way of the 8 track, guess I would stick with controls.

Retro jobs, PLC & industrial applications, multimillion dollar homes, OEM arrangements, all perk my interest and keep me moving forward. Granted praise from occupants is far and few in-between, but refrig piping will not pat your back with praise either.

[freddy-b]

A manwhore.

[381engineer]

Lately its been web development.

Next week I may want to be an astronaut again.

Or a flying tomato. I here they make good change,

[smokeout]

Someone with a beard, sunglasses, fully automatic rifle, and an undisclosed identity. Somewhere in the world in an operational status.:eek2: I couldn't pass the psych so I started in controls coz I was already crazy. hehehe.


or freddy's pimp.

[digo]

Or a flying tomato. I here they make good change,

Flying tomato is a local celeb here in Carlsbad, CA - I swear I've seen his Lambo down hwy 101 before. I guess most of his money comes from all the endorsements.

Since you can dream of being an athlete, I'd rather be a professional soccer player playing in Europe along side Kaka, Ronaldinho and the like. Too bad that requires an insane amount of talent.

[kiwicontroller]

F1 pilot that would be awsom. But I guess I'm in controls for the money............
YE RIGHT

[crab master]

A gigalo with access to viagra before it was available to the public, then I could be picky and still get paid very well. Had to step it up for Freddy! :D

I'd stick to controls work. I agree, you've got to mix it up. You've got to get out from behind the computer. The other day I got satisfaction by simply cleaning out a clogged condensate drain and doing a quick check on the unit to find a couple of other problems that needed addressed.

This past year has been one of the most frustrating yet rewarding years. Lots of integration but then the damn 'operators' that expect the controls to do everything for them! "Why didn't I get an alarm about that?!?" "You did, you got a supply air temp alarm." "Well it didn't tell me the compressors weren't running." "No it didn't, as we are not monitoring the compressor amps/pressures" - Change order, only after time and time again of getting blamed for things not working right only to have to prove 99% of the time it did. Those of us that try to do a good quality job are definitely unsung heroes.

Another thing that can be satisfying is looking at others control programs. I like to pick them apart and see who did the better overall job. Take out what is good and add it to my library.

The other thing is if you keep having to put out fires then possibly you need to put your foot down and let your boss/customer know that it's time to fix it right. I put out a number of fires just to have something come up again because it was a bailing wire type fix. Fix the issue at hand and move on, only to look at the programming and tell myself the whole thing needs re-written. Re-wrote a few only to create other problems that were disguised by the poor programming. Boilers were supposed to be lead/lag but ran together. Make them lead/lag only to find out the next day when they didn't run that boiler 1's recirc pump was pump 2 and boiler 2's recirc was pump 1. Luckily it was 'warmer' weather so it wasn't critical.

[Cagey57]

I haven't figured out what I want to do when I grow up yet.

If it wasn't controls I would probably be a Car Wash service tech in So Cal.

I get immense satisifaction from what I do. Nothing better than taking a mess of wires and equipment and making it all work together. I no one complains I did my job correctly. What keeps us busy is the people that "Know everything" and decide to FIX the controls. That means we get to go back and do it all over again and charge more money to do it.

The 85% of this industry I love allow me to tollerate the 15% I hate.

Besides, I is already a plumber anyway

[Under_Control]

You have to admit, there is great pride in having customers ask for you by name, solving problems that others miss, and even writing a program that actually does what the overpaid inexperiance engineer asked you to do, before you change it cuz its never gonna do what the CUSTOMER wants it to do! I like the customer interaction, I get much more kudos from them then from my own company, generally speaking, immediate supervisors not included.

[osiyo]

Do you guys get any satisfaction out of doing control work?

Yep


...I could look at a wall of panels and say that looked great and got a feeling of pride.

...I would get more satisfaction when running refrig piping.

...I feel as though I run from putting out one fire to the next without any tangable proof of workmanship.


Understood. There is something to be said for the feeling one gets when looking at something real, and material that one has carefully crafted and put together with your own two hands.

I used to work with a guy in controls who got into the field and stayed with it a couple years but who then sighed one day and said he really missed working with something he could see, touch, feel, and shape into something good that worked well. A couple weeks later he put in for a transfer to go back to pipe fitting.

As concerns my own feelings in that regard.

I like to get "hands on". To shape something, make something, create something ... with my own two hands.

I pretty much get to do plenty of that during off work hours. My home resides on a few acres.

I'm an avid vegetable gardener. I not only very much enjoy the results of my labor at the dinner table, it also just gives me a sense of accomplishment when I look over a neat, healthy, lush vegetable garden. Plus I do much of the harder labor involved with flower gardening (my wife's thing) since while she has a much better aesthetic/artistic sense than I do, she is handicapped. So she comes up with the ideas ... and I make em happen.

I also do all the home repairs, changes, and so forth. So I get to see plenty of real, physical, results of my labors and craftsmanship.

On the job, I've purposely remained as a field guy. A testing and commissioning tech. Tho I do also oversee the installers (we have our own in-house installation crews). And, from time to time, with small jobs, do complete projects; the engineering and layout, programming, etc.

I've no particular interest in becoming a full time programmer, project engineer, front end guy, etc.

Sitting in the office in front of a keyboard and screen 8 to 10 hours a day, every working day, is just not what I want to do. At this time. Not as long as I'm physically able to do what I do.

We have techs who are loath to the idea of doing anything that can't be done from a keyboard and mouse. They will if necessary (or they tend to go bye-bye), but would rather not.

Fine with me, more work for me, of the sort I prefer doing.

For instance, most often I work larger jobs. Ones that require more than 1 tech. Typically I'll work these with one of two other techs. And we'll divide the labor in such a way that I do the point to point checks, calibrations and adjustments to sensors and such, make sure actuators are installed and set up correctly and work properly. Setup and test VFDs if any. Test run pumps and motors to ensure they operate right.

Yep, even if the sparkies and mechanical types have already done this as I won't take their word for it. Two reasons. I tend to be more careful and thorough, end result ... they're mistaken more often than I am. And the fact is that as the "controls guy", if it doesn't work right later the customer ALWAYS blames me first. Every time ... it just goes with the job.

At the end of jobs, as the building goes on line and everything is operating, its common for me to end up spending as much or more time troubleshooting others people's stuff than my own. Always happens. I'm there, most of the other guys aren't. Something doesn't work right ... MUST be the fault of the controls guys ... right? Even if the customer or the general calls the mechanical or electrical guys first ... nearly 100% of the time he'll get an answer similar to, "Hey, it worked when we tested it, must be something the controls people did."

ROFLMAO !!! They're wrong probably 95% of the time or better. I'm pretty thorough and have been doing this stuff for a while. Have been a computer/electronics type, a mechanic, and an electrician. So I pretty much know how everyone's stuff works, or is supposed to work.

In any event, when this happens, I look at whatever ... again ... and do a complete troubleshoot. And tell the customer or general EXACTLY what is wrong, and provide the proof.

After checking all the physical stuff, then I link to the controller and run the program through its paces. (or if an ASC I make sure the configuration and setup is correct). And determine if all is working as expected. The program, most of the time, is originally created by someone else. Like one of those guys I work with. Since that's the sort of thing they'd rather be doing.

If I find errors there, I fix em. I do know how to write custom programs, just prefer not to be doing that full time.

The guys I work with, are just as happy to handle original program creation for the programmable controllers, creating any programs needed within the front end, doing the graphics, creating and editing the BOMs, etc.

And I'm just as happy to let em.

Getting the feeling of satisfaction?

It's like a recent job. HVAC design engineer for the building had a certain set of specs and SOO he demanded for a couple large AHUs. Our controls engineer engineered a controls design he thought would satisfactorily implement those. Another guy created the controlling program. But the end result didn't work all that well.

Enter ... from stage right ... myself. Assigned the task of "figure out what's wrong and fix it." Yeppers, just my cup of tea. After a few wiring changes, program modification, re-configuring and changing the setup of a couple VFDs (bought and setup by someone else), and tuning some PID loops ... those units were running smooth as silk, as per spec.

You bet I get satisfaction from such things.

It's the kind of thing that's given me a sense of satisfaction for many years. Way back when, in a time and place far away, I was an engineman on a Navy PBR (Patrol Boat, Riverine). And as a young River Rat I discovered that while simply fixing an engine (for instance) okay. I was far more enthralled with the controls, adjustments, etc. In short, tweaking things so that the engine not only ran well but ran smoother, better, than anyone else's and exceeded original specs and expectations.

Over the years (I spent a career in the Navy) this carried on. Working with main steam engines and auxilliaries I was always tweaking and adjusting controls of various types. And continuously learning more about them. My gear not only ran well, it ran better, smoother, and more reliably than that tended to by other folks. That was a point of pride with me.

Didn't matter what. Mechanical centrifugal speed governors, hydraulic horse power limiters, pressure or flow regulators, Hagen or Baily pneumatic automatic combustion controls, ... whatever. I'd tweak em, and learn how to tweak em, so that whatever ran SMOOOOOTH and worked fine .... lasted a long time.

For me a comment recently made by one of our customers to me is music to my ears (it was a controls retrofit job). "Da*n, you guys do good work. These systems have never worked so well or so smoothly. Space temperature SP is holding better than it ever did. And I hardly ever hear a complaint. And those are from people who're never happy, anyway."

Its not that everything went flawlessly right from startup. There were issues. But few. And we corrected those right away. The right way. We don't do hack fixes.


What work would you guys do if you could start over again?

Not sure, I still haven't made up my mind what I'm gonna do when I grow up. Didn't know when I was 16. Still don't know at 60.

[IRONHILL24]

If you got out of S---Trane you would feel better. GOOD LUCK

[qtip]

If you got out of S---Trane you would feel better. GOOD LUCK


This guy is a genius.

[IRONHILL24]

Thank you. He is someone I know.