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Engineer For 5 Years - Trying To Build A Solid Knowledge Base


totoro

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I'm a C&G qualified electrician but i've been doing almost exclusively alarms work for the last 5 years but with no formal training in the field.  I've installed and maintained fire panels from various manufacturers, my intruder experience is mostly with Menvier, Galaxy and more recently Texecom. 

 

A 'senior' position has become available at a rival firm, i don't think i'll be applying, however the thought of doing so has made me realise something - i feel like i know nothing!

 

I think maybe what i am looking for is some way of convincing myself and potential future employers that i do indeed know what i'm doing.

 

What's the most widely recognised qualification in this field, does such a thing even exist?  I feel like that might be a dumb question but i know very little about this side of the business.

 

Thanks in advance guys.
 

 

 

 

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I had similar start to my career. Started as a sparks then moved into the alarm side for a company that only did alarms (within the security industry anyway)

 

I think the biggest thing IMHO would be to show confidence when talking about your work. Don't pretend like you know everything. You won't. But be confident in what you do know. I have only installed about 10 different panels in the last 15 years but have worked on dozens and I honestly think that because I know the terminology and the 'language' of the industry, things like FSL, EOL, ATS ratings, etc etc. (again not everything but feel like I know enough) that you could put me in front of any intruder panel with a manual and I would be able to get it up and running. Its just about knowing where the menus are for what you allready know you need to program.

 

Of course anyone can blag it as such in an interview but to be honest I think the manufacturers training only goes so far anyway. Experience (again only in my opinion) counts for way more. 

 

I would say have a good think about the last year and the installs you have done. Are you happy with how they have been done? Have you had any callbacks on them that you can put down to your work? I would say if you are proud and confident in the work you have done over say the last year then thats a pretty good indicator to yourself of your abilities. 

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I can blag

 

I can usually do this with customers but i'm not sure how i'd manage in an interview situation.

 

Can any of you think of any 'essential reading' for an alarms engineer?  Something that's more general and not product specific.  What are the things we should really know?  I mean things like regs, system grading etc.

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Gerard Honey Intruder Alarms was like our holy bible in college

I can usually do this with customers but i'm not sure how i'd manage in an interview situation.

Can any of you think of any 'essential reading' for an alarms engineer? Something that's more general and not product specific. What are the things we should really know? I mean things like regs, system grading etc.

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Agreed they still build C&G framework on it but just throw the European Regs in for good measure. You want to see some of the hand outs from 2013 soundpac sounder made it in there lol we did have a proper old school teacher though, ive never heard of GPO untill that day he used to teach guys from AFA,White Group, ADT cant remember the rest shame i cant post pics via mobile

It's getting pretty long in the tooth now though, I don't think it's been updated in a long time, even the one I bought was still talking about tone carrier signalling!

Edited by Joe Doherty
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I can usually do this with customers but i'm not sure how i'd manage in an interview situation.

Can any of you think of any 'essential reading' for an alarms engineer? Something that's more general and not product specific. What are the things we should really know? I mean things like regs, system grading etc.

No point trying to blag regs just say you don't know, and blag everything else

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Bloggers always get caught out, I prefer someone who's upfront and honest from the start.

 

I wouln't really call what i do 'blagging'.  I usually know what i'm doing, i just tend to make the customer think i absolutely know what i'm doing at all times. 

 

However I did openly tell a customer today that i didn't know how to do something and that the only person on the firm who could help me is on holiday.  They praised me for my honesty and i came out the other side smelling of roses haha. 

 

 

 

I'm definitely interested in these, i don't quite understand the difference between the foundation course and practical course though, the content seems very similar.

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Worst thing for me is we was given the regs in college in bundles of photocopies intruder fire and cctv i had two big folders full of them, threw them out when i got my certs and now i wish i hadn't now I've gone on my own. Got me thinking how often do company owners on here pay for the new regs? expensive stuff if you have to buy them every update.

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What was it you couldn't do , let's test these house bashers

Program a Texecom comWIFI. Never done it before and the first thing I saw when I opened the manual was "consult an IT professional". Coupled with the fact I didn't have a laptop to use. I put the software on my personal laptop but couldn't get the cable drivers (if anyone has a link to the drivers it would be much appreciated).

The job's been a pain in the **** from the start, my manager 'designed' it, gave me a rough idea of what was going where and then decided to bugger off on holiday for a week. Lots of stuff was agreed verbally with the customer and the information was either relayed to me incorrectly or not at all.

Also, I thought at the very least I could give the customer a bells only system for the weekend but then realised the new Odyssey siren I have seems to be faulty, it wouldn't power up at all.

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I would think most approved firms use the option via SSAIB or NSI were you can pay i think its about £100 a year and you can access secure copies of all regs on there website. You can download them but they expire after 3 months i thinkk then you have to re-download. Also you cant copy or print them if i recall. Protected PDF's

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Interestingly what are the benefits of going NSI/ SSAIB, did an install for some police officers recently and they wouldnt opt for a police response because they dont believe the police are likely to respond?

Many don't , but many still do want it

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I would say the police response is pretty good with PA signals though from my experience anyway. I damaged a PA cable once about 3 years ago when doing some electrics and they were there in less then ten minutes and it was a relatively out of the way property aswell. 

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