"GB" wrote in message
...
On 08/09/2013 14:33, Mr Pounder wrote:

Hmmmm, when I got my first job as an apprentice I would probably have
floundered if asked why I wanted to become a heating engineer.
Who interviews them Adam? Somebody hands on or somebody sat all day in
the
office?

It's a daft question, really. Some jobs are a vocation - missionary,
teacher, doctor, etc. But nobody has a vocation to be an electrician. It's
just a way to earn a living that's quite interesting and involves a
mixture of mental and manual skills.


I thought I had a vocation to be an electrician when I was about five or
six, or possibly a plumber.
Used to ask anyone we visited to see their fusebox and/or main stopcock, and
still have a fascination with
Wylex and foreign plugs and sockets, 45 years later.
Had Mum make me a birthday cake with a decoration in the form of a 5-amp
bakelite MK plug,
candles as the pins, liquorice as the flex.
Grandad made me a switchboard to fit in my baby walker that went everywhere
with me.
Became interested in electronics at 11 or 12, did radio amateur's exam, A
levels and then HND.
Worked in industrial electronics production test and customer repairs ever
since.
Collect and restore valve radios as a hobby.
It's a bit more than just a way to earn a living, but I'd certainly agree
that it's quite interesting and involves a
mixture of mental and manual skills.
The pay isn't as good as people with similar skill and educational levels
get in different fields, though.

It used to be that nursing and teaching were vocations, but are now often
careers at worst and professions at best.
This sentence may well not be understood by anyone under about 30.

Martin.