"Giluxis" wrote in message
...
You are right here Jim at some level. It has been slowly happening for
years. A lot of the consumer items we used to take to the shop we now
take
to the dump. It became cheaper to head for Costco or Circuit City than to
the repair shop. It was the reason that I made the decision 25 years ago
to
get into industrial automation electronics. They tend to keep it longer
and
continue to repair them. Most of the vendors have help lines and full
schematic packages. Some of them will even give you a few phone tips.
While
even that side of the industry is suffering from some of the same problem
as
the consumer side it is much less pronounced. We used to do a lot of
board
level work, but now they toss em and replace em on some equipment. When
things were really poppin back in 98' and 99' I could easily rob
employees
from consumer electronics because they didn't make as much money (most
anyway!). I could offer a guy, back then, 40 to 50K a year and he would
jump. If I hired from withing the industry it would have been 60 or 70K.
Of
course these are inflated California wages and not the norm in many
states!
Also, the consumer guys understood the electronics where many of the the
industrial guys were module jockeys with barely the ability to twist a
pot!
You might find that it would be a could career move for you if things
don't
pan out for you. The best techs I ever hired were from the consumer
electronics business. A lot of this stuff takes a lot of determination
and
experience to repair!........Best of Luck, Ross


I believe that the consumer service side has been one of the last
vestiges of component level troubleshooting. The industry has tried to
move everyone to "Black Box" level service as far back as the 60's.
But when they gave us boards, we fixed the boards. That wasn't what
they had in mind.

The technical aptitude needed to earn a decent living has always been
quite high. As manufacturers have gone from tube to board to the
unitized chassis back to board and so on it has been incumbent on all
techs to stay abreast of the changes and adapt accordingly.

Any "schmo" could get a job as a tube/board jockey at the local shop
or as an outside guy installing antennas and holding old lady's hands.
But to earn a good living took a combination of experience, ongoing
education and business sense. Good, production minded, bench techs are
hard to come by.

I have been in the service industry for 25 years and have another 20
to go, I was raised in a TV shop. I feel as though the manufacturers
have locked me out of the schoolhouse.

As it has been said here, circuits are circuits. Thanks for the heads
up on the industrial side. I was blind to that possibility.

Well said ! I have always been impressed with the caliber of the bench level
techs in the consumer electronics industry. I always wondered why they
stayed there because they could OWN the industrial side anytime they wanted
to! Best of luck to you!....Ross