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[-] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 137 points 3 weeks ago

Am electrician, can confirm.

To be fair, I don't get called out to fix good work. If something's fucked, it's usually because some "handyman" who "totally knows what he's doing" was there before.

Between that, and the fact that most of the people involved in wiring up houses are just laborers under an electrician's supervision (ostensibly), yeah, I get plenty to complain about.

It also makes it easier, I feel, for customers to stomach the bill if I can adequately explain how much better off they are now that I've done my job.

[-] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 18 points 3 weeks ago

Can I ask a question: do repair electricians often cross paths with install electricians? I don’t know much about the business of the trade, but my feeling was that the folks doing installs in new houses / buildings rarely crossed paths with the ones going around repairing everything. In my mind these are like two separate worlds.

[-] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 15 points 3 weeks ago

Kinda depends? But yeah they're mostly separate.

When I worked for a shop (self-employed now), they had us divided into Construction and Service, and the two pretty much kept to themselves. Service guys looked down on Construction guys because they didn't know much about troubleshooting; Construction guys looked down on Service guys because most of them couldn't build their way out of a wet paper bag.

Most of my experience as an apprentice was construction. I did some service calls now and then when jobsites slowed down in the winter. Now I mostly do service calls, and, frankly, it's a HELL of a lot easier.

[-] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago

Okay! That matches with my impression! I have a friend who works in construction (drywall taper) and the guy works insanely hard, always comes home from work covered head to toe in mud or dust, and is pretty much always sore. Great guy, very friendly beer drinking buddy! But that’s a kind of work I could never do, at least working for someone else.

The troubleshooting nature of repair/service electrical seems vastly more appealing to me, though I imagine with enough experience 90% of the faults become routine!

[-] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah I don't envy drywallers. That is exhausting work, especially since a lot of them get paid by the sheet. There's a running joke in construction about them constantly leaving soda bottles full of piss because they can't take the time to go to the john.

Electrical construction (I mostly did commercial fwiw, but dabbled in residential and industrial as well) can be pretty rough too. Other than the brief time I worked with the union, you're pretty much expected to bust ass all day every day, forever. It was... not fun, most of the time.

But you're right on the last point too - once you really understand the system, most faults can be tracked down and figured out pretty quickly. After all, electricity is basically binary - either the circuit works, or it doesn't, in which case you just keep following it back to the part where it does work, and now you can find the problem.

It's not always that simple, like if multiple circuits are sharing a neutral, or you've just got a loose neutral connection... but as you may guess, if you've got power where you're supposed to but the thing still won't work, the problem is the neutral. So... it's still kinda simple lol. There's only so many parts to a circuit after all.

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[-] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 5 points 3 weeks ago

Repair electricians definitely run into the work of install electricians, but my experience is they're mostly two different groups. Install electricians may come back to do repairs on their own work, or if there's a lull in new construction jobs they can pick up they might fill in the hours with some smaller repair jobs.

There are some some more specialized electricians that do a mix of both, for example my company is mostly generator focused. We're involved in both new construction and repairs for things that are generator/transfer switch/solar related.

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[-] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 6 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, there's a lot of questionable work out there. Many homeowners underestimate the difficulty involved in some repairs too, so there's definitely a need to justify why it took as long as it did.

[-] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 8 points 3 weeks ago

Even if it doesn’t take long, it’s helpful for some if they get an explanation that shows your expertise. Which is lots of what they’re paying for usually.

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[-] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 94 points 3 weeks ago

My previous house was a new build. I had some weird electrical problems. I called the builder and they sent someone out.

The guy looked at my panel and said, "Oh yeah, I remember this house. We had to fire the electrician who wired your house because he was always showing up high."

[-] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 52 points 3 weeks ago

I had a new storm door installed through Lowe’s and the contractor they contracted to do it showed up real nice, we talked, then he went off and smoked meth and did the best fucking job I’ve ever seen.

50/50 I guess.

[-] NielsBohron@lemmy.world 27 points 3 weeks ago

There's high and then there's high on meth.

[-] MrShankles@reddthat.com 17 points 3 weeks ago

I had a gas stove installed by Lowe's. The guys that installed it couldn't figure out how to get the gas to stop leaking, but wouldn't admit they had no idea what they were doing. They told me I would have to turn the gas valve off at the connection when I wasn't using the stove

I stopped trying to explain and let them leave, because I was over it. Installed the connection myself, I was just happy I didn't have to move it or the old one

I did call Lowe's and let them know about it though, so that those guys wouldn't inadvertently kill someone with their installations

50/50 for sure lol

[-] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago

Just install a barbeque lighter near the leak and set a timer to regularly light it and just flare off anything that has leaked since the previous flare. Then, when rebuilding after the fire, add a pressure sensor to the new setup that reduces the interval if the pressure increases beyond what it was when the interval was first calibrated.

[-] LostXOR@fedia.io 4 points 3 weeks ago

Then, when rebuilding after the fire

Caught me off guard, lmao.

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[-] roguetrick@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

Listen if all you're doing is storm door build outs you get pretty good at it even when you're smoking meth.

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[-] surph_ninja@lemmy.world 70 points 3 weeks ago

What’s fun is criticizing someone’s code and lack of proper comments/documentation, and then realizing you wrote it 3+ years ago.

[-] sum_yung_gai@lemm.ee 32 points 3 weeks ago

My main project is in a private repo with me as the sole dev but I swear there is some dumbass pushing shitty code.

[-] Notorious_handholder@lemmy.world 14 points 3 weeks ago

At first I get embarrassed when that happens. But then I take a little pride in knowing that means I've grown in knowledge in my field... Then I get mad at how past me was so dumb and now I have to fix HIS stuff! Screw that guy

[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 5 points 3 weeks ago

Some days ago, I was complaining about some asinine decision on one of the systems I have to take care of with a programmer. The programmer then remembered that the thing I was complaining about was something that I asked to be added in the first place. He also reminded me of the why, but that knowledge simply made me wonder what the fucking fuck I was thinking back then.

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[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 39 points 3 weeks ago

I work in municipal development. I was driving by and saw a hellscape development starting up and blocking traffic in the middle of Rush hour. So I pulled over, put on my City reflective vest, and went out to see who the hell authorized them for this bullshit.

They pulled out a permit with my signature on it.

[-] HaveYouPaidYourDues@lemmy.world 31 points 3 weeks ago

I always tell every apprentice i work with that they need to make sure they weren't the last guy to touch ut when they start bitching about the dumbass that came before them

[-] elbucho@lemmy.world 31 points 3 weeks ago

I was doing some construction work this past weekend, and encountered some wiring that I did about 20 years ago. I spent the first 5 minutes complaining about the crazy asshole who wired it up, knowing full well that it was me. I am in this picture and I do not like it.

[-] Ookami38@sh.itjust.works 16 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I feel like this is just a sign of good growth. I'd be AMAZED if any single person looks at work they did 20 years prior, and said "yep. That's my best work." Maybe arts, where there's no objectivity, but anything you can actually quantify?

[-] Dasus@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

Middle-aged professional athletes, perhaps?

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[-] ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 weeks ago

I did elder care facility maintenance work 20 years ago and am confident/hope all of my work has been rightfully undone and replaced by someone who gave more of a damn.

I still remember my sprinkler system wiring giving me a warm buzz every time I had to manually switch zones because my wiring was such ass.

God I hope they've fixed that.

[-] OwlPaste@lemmy.world 29 points 3 weeks ago

That is part of my job description (SW Engineer)

[-] CameronDev@programming.dev 38 points 3 weeks ago

The best part is, the previous person is usually yourself.

[-] webadict@lemmy.world 44 points 3 weeks ago

That guy is the worst fucking developer I've ever known.

[-] Crazyslinkz@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago

Give em a break at least they are learning and getting better. They notice thier previous mistakes!

[-] OwlPaste@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

And mark them with a TODO... Git blame is telling me it's only 5 years old... Sure it would get resolved any day now...

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[-] MadBob@feddit.nl 18 points 3 weeks ago

I have a couple of colleagues in the kitchen where I work who stand babbling, as if in a daze, if they see a mistake's been made, sometiems for up to a minute. Very frustrating for me, as I prefer to just solve the problem. I remember one time holding my hand out to ask for the pan as my colleague stood with it, stirring it with a pair of tongs, repeatedly muttering that there weren't enough peas in the linguine, and I was saying, fine, then give me the pan and I'll chuck more peas in, but she just kept yammering away. Really fucks me off, haha.

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[-] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 17 points 3 weeks ago

Turns out that if you were doing software development but using wires instead, it's even more cumbersome, difficult and open to shitty solutions that other idiots before you tried out, and will also be fixed by idiots after you.

Because you know, solutions to problems are hard. And we all suck.

[-] saltesc@lemmy.world 14 points 3 weeks ago

So instead... You look at the situation in disbelief, cursing, complaining, scoffing. Then you see a comment line and realise it's your code from two years ago and you had the audacity to put your name to it like it might be a legacy worth preserving one day.

[-] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago

I worked on one project that was essentially one main app and then a plugin architecture where other companies could write modules that would be run inside the main app. My explicit instructions were to make it very difficult to actually write one of these modules (so that our competitors could not actually be competitive) and boy did I deliver! If my company had really wanted to deliver something like this that actually worked (in the sense of other companies being able to make real contributions) it would have been trivial to make everything HTML-based web apps.

I had to endure a roasting session where some junior developers laid into "grampa" for his absurdly bad design decisions. I suppose I deserved it, though, for my poor ethical choices.

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[-] HuntressHimbo@lemm.ee 12 points 3 weeks ago

As a software developer and sometimes home electrician, I am so glad that house wiring doesn't support git blame, but it would be nice to know who not to hire because the work in my house when I purchased it was appalling

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[-] dragonfucker@lemmy.nz 11 points 3 weeks ago

This right here is the proof that programmers are engineers.

[-] i_stole_ur_taco@lemmy.ca 11 points 3 weeks ago
[-] ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 11 points 3 weeks ago

Nope doesn't count. Me from a month ago is a whole different person. Fuck that guy.

[-] SapientLasagna@lemmy.ca 7 points 3 weeks ago

And future me? What has that guy ever done for me? Fuck that guy too.

[-] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

I was about to say "Yeah, but electricians are pissed off because if they fuck up, fire happens."

But then I remembered THERAC-25.

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[-] Eyedust@sh.itjust.works 8 points 3 weeks ago

My dad was a carpenter who did some electrician work. Can confirm. Living in any house not built by him was worth two years of complaining and a year of fixing it. Other than that, it was hard to frustrate him with anything else. Cool as a cucumber. Did beautiful work, too.

[-] AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

The worst is when you're also the previous engineer

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 weeks ago

Yup. I had the furnace guy over and he complained about a surge protector the previous guy put on (apparently put in on wrong). It guess it comes w/ the territory.

[-] affiliate@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

i feel like Lua just exacerbates this problem so much. you have to reinvent the wheel so often in that language, and i often see people reinvent the wheel differently than i would have.

not to mention the nesting…. i don’t know why, but just about every lua file i read has so many nested loops and conditional statements. it’s scary.

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this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2024
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