Lack of training

[Telecaster]

For the past 10 months or so I've been asked to try and help out in the other side of our firm - one side is new installations, the other service/repair/maintenance - I'm on the install side of things and in the position where I know what I'm on with and can be left to my own devices.

Someone put in their notice from the service side of things earlier this year and I was asked if I wanted to fill the role and accepted, then the guy changed his mind and decided to stay. Since then I've had sporadic training on the service side of things (not helped by the guy I have been shadowing isn't 100% sure what he's doing anyway) and only when my side of the job isn't busy, so basically some time spent on it earlier this year and then a big break all through the summer as that is when installs are flat out, then back to some sporadic training these past few weeks.

The boss seems to think I should know what I'm doing by now and keeps sending me out on service jobs by myself with barely any electrical training to my name and I'm expected to diagnose and trace electrical faults on hundreds of completely different pieces of equipment without any form of manufacturers drawings etc.

This is starting to get me down and I wish I'd never said yes to it earlier in the year, we are a tiny firm and the boss has zero time to train anybody or can afford to take people out of their job to do it.

I don't want to rock the boat by telling him I want to go back to how I was, because the other reason he wanted me to do it was for holiday cover because when we have people off we're really pushed for manpower.

How can I sort this out without it getting ugly? I'm covering call out this weekend and I've got to go to a job this afternoon and I've got no idea what I'm doing, totally demoralised and it's me that has to face the customer and explain the situation when I walk out having not fixed something and left them with a still broken unit they were expecting to be back in service.

 

[Telecaster]

Like I say, it's a tiny firm, 4 of us on the tools and that includes the boss, we all came to work for him via knowing him first so formal stuff like emails etc would seem a bit odd. He is ok as bosses go but he does seem to think that things happen by magic sometimes.

It's a weird set up how he can get away with sending out staff not 100% trained, it doesn't always come back on him and he usually gets around it if it's an issue where one of us is unlikely to have the experience/training to deal with a certain job.

I really regret offering to step up, the role is easily within my capabilities but only if the correct time and training is put into it, just having me shadow someone barely more experienced than me for a few weeks and then kicking me out on my own isn't how I operate best, I'm the sort of person that needs to know everything about everything before I'm happy doing something, I'm the complete opposite of someone able to 'wing it'.

The problem I see is that if I sit down and tell him the training I've had from the other guy is pretty rubbish because he's not that good then this is going to reflect bad on this other guy and can only come back to me, the boss thinks this chap is trained and knowledgeable but in reality he is winging it just as much as me only he is happier to work like that.

Edit: Plus there's no pay increase from it, it's just basically a job swap from install to service.

 

[Telecaster]

What is it that you do? I'd be surprised if your insurers would cover any issues caused by somebody without adequate training for the task.

We only need to be deemed "competent" hence none of us are actually qualified for anything. I think the old fashioned term for it is 'time served'.

 

[Telecaster]

I don't think having "no idea what you're doing", to the point it is starting to depress you means you're competent. That's not having a go at you, but you need to watch out in case there's a chance of whatever it is you work on causing injury to people.

The worst part is going to fit parts that someone else has ordered on a previous visit, only for said parts not to cure the problem and then having to try and bluff my way out of leaving site without having fixed it.

Think I should start job searching because I can't really see it changing, then I've got the problem of finding something that pays what I earn now for unqualified work.

 

[Telecaster]

I have no idea how your company copes to be honest. Would you expect to get written up for destroying an expensive part that you had no idea how to fit? It seems like it's impossible for you to succeed/progress, so maybe a job search isn't a bad idea.

No. We get tons of parts that are crib deaths so no problem with writing off something if it's a fault of my own as we haven't paid for it. It's mainly warranty repairs we are doing so the parts come from the manufacturer, and they're pretty crap quality.