Earlier this morning, I posted off to the the Institute of Engineers an application for membership as an "Engineering Associate":
- Today being just over 40 years since the congregation's retards elders made me abandon my apprenticeship.
(In this part of the world, the pre-1975 hype was taken to that level. Not being content to prevent young persons attending university, they went one step further and treated with hostility any youngster who would "tie up five years of their lives" by entering into an apprenticeship.)
Engineering Associate is about the highest level a busted-@$$ electrician like me can now aspire to achieve.
Even then, I don't actually have the minimum academic qualifications (an Advanced Diploma) to gaurantee automatic entry at that level.
However, the Institute of Engineers does make provision for the likes of myself:
- i.e. persons who can demonstrate from their employment record that they have acquired the necessary level of skills and knowledge to match those provided by the Advanced Diploma course. (They are, though, rather particular about how you obtained that knowledge - looking for evidence of a systematic program of study, rather than haphazard "on the job" type training).
I am hopeful that they will accept how I obtained my engineering knowledge - Electrical Trade , Advanced Trade Studies, followed by Specialist employer provided Technical Training, plus that provided by the various manufacturers of electrical plant - to be proof of a systematic study program.
Here goes anyway! Does anybody want to wish me luck?
Bill.
PS: To any young JWs lurking here, don't repeat what I did. Go for the degree course, and enter into it straight from high school. It is, of course, possible to pick it up later on - but, putting it very mildly, a bloody sight harder to do! You will save yourselves a huge amount of grief by entering the degree course directly from high school. More and more, the emphasis is on academic qualifications - and less on those like me, who have much industry experience, but lack those formal qualifications.