DailyPost 1914
THE CUTTING-EDGE TECHNICIAN
The cutting-edge technician is the ground zero of technology. Whatever he delivers is finally the technology for the customer. Have we empowered him with the expertise and knowledge of the ecosystem? Or does he go the way he deems fit on the basis of his training, apprenticeship and self-learning. He is both the creator and also the one who maintains it, two different persons for sure but of the same ilk. What is the winning thread between the person who plans and the way it is planned and this person’s capability to deliver? Delivering technology is more difficult than the technology itself, more so if there is a physical element involved and it is being done in the public domain.
How many times have you been satisfied with the cutting-edge technician who has come to attend to your work? Or you can call him the service engineer? How many times have you been satisfied when your problem has been not so normal? How many instances do you remember in your life, where the technician has come again and again and the problem does not get sorted out? How many times running around them becomes a full-time job? Where do the main loose ends of the project come from? Mostly, they are left at the customers mercy and they need to deliver, completion is the name of the game. Anything less does not count. Quality of work rendered is a non-issue. Operations and maintenance remain in shambles on a perpetual basis.
Making things run in this country remains an ongoing challenge. The plan, the project, knowing other connected systems related to his work, that can be impacted, is nobody’s concern. A technician is supposed to be a low end work, with a very frugal salary, high volume of work and no one to supervise. There is no effort to improve their skills as there is a cost element to everything. Wafer thin margins and literally having no physical bandwidth, is the way these services operate. That is the reason why quality is only meant for websites, ppts and customer engagements. In general, it would not be difficult to find a technician, which includes lowest end engineers, being ignorant of the technical configuration of gadgets and systems they are to handle as part of their business.
Many would have even not read the user manuals and installation details, they manage by practice and gut feeling. Many of them cannot even read and understand, given the language and expertise barriers plaguing the nation. Where is the hands on creation support? Time on learning is supposed to be time lost; both for the organization and also for the individual. These are technical works which make things happen, that are not done by our white collar professionals. We live in queer world, where vast majority of engineers have become unemployables and simultaneously we are faced with no choice but to manage with whatever skills are available. Who would provide the right skills, create a congenial ecosystem with reasonable job prospects, and continue to upgrade their skills as desired by the trade. Attitude towards cutting edge jobs also has to change.
HIGHLY SKILLED TECHNICIANS CAN TAKE OUT DRUDGERY AND FRICTION FROM OUR DAY TO DAY TECH SYSTEMS.
Sanjay Sahay