Just some info. I worked for a GE pc board factory for 15 years. When I first started, we were expected to do a bit of troubleshooting. Within a couple of years, we stopped doing that. The boards were tested and troubleshot on a GenRad and a simulator (I was a simulator tech). You would never do signal injection and tracing; the test apparatus did that for you. Most of what I learned in school was pretty useless except for being able to read a schematic and knowing in a general way what was going on in the circuit. After a few years, the company got wise. They told me, you have 20 to 30 mins to figure out what's wrong with the board and repair it. Otherwise, just scrap it; it's not worth spending half a day working on one board. Reality was, I could tell --- by experience --- from the printout, what the problem was with the board, and I could repair it quickly. How did I learn that in the first place? Looking at the error printout, narrowing down what area of the board was involved, and replacing the part that looked to be the problem. After a while, you just know ... after you've seen the same problem a dozen times you just know. Today, they don't want any troubleshooting done. If it is an obvious problem like insufficient solder, then fix it. Otherwise, scrap it and move on. If there is a problem you can't fix and boards are failing left and right, get Engineering involved. (Engineers hate coming out on the floor to deal with issues. If you call in engineering, you will be hated.) I even had engineers come out on the floor, tell me they had no idea what the problem was, and inform me I should be able to figure it out myself. Then they would walk away. So i ended up just filling up totes with failed boards and letting them sit there. If management asked why that big stack was sitting there, I would tell them I turned to problem over to engineering and I'm waiting for them to do something. I actually only had that happen twice in the 15 yrs I was there. Eventually, engineering HAS to fix the problem if the tech can't. There were huge issues working at GE as a tech. The company was eventually sold to Siemens. In terms of management, GE was the worst company I ever worked for. Pay was good though. Stress level was really bad. Salary at GE: With OT, I made about $65k/yr. I don't know if those jobs are even available anymore.
This comment brought back some memories. I started off as a technician as well then went over to test instrumentation where I fixed and maintained the actual test jigs. I have since moved on from the electronics manufacturering field and quite glad about that 😅
I have owned my own consumer audio/video electronics business for 17 years and I make very, very, very little money. I remember when all of the independent electronics repair shops went out of business in the 1990s. I have been looking for an electronics technician job with companies that desire my skill. So, my knowledge and schooling on electronics makes me valuable in factories that build electronics. Good luck to you. Frank Frank Reiser Video/Audio Service.
Hey Frank. Have you ever thought about getting into smartphone and iPad repair? There’s a lot of money in that. Also, if you choose to buy broken items online, troubleshoot and repair them yourself then resell, there’s potentially very large profits to be made. Add to that, there’s few people in the industry who know how to do these repairs and do them well. The people who can, are highly coveted. I recommend buying some broken iPhones on Craigslist or Ebay and trying your hand at diagnosing and repairing them. Avoid iCloud locked or blacklisted phones by checking the IMEI number first. You can easily resell repaired for a profit. You can also visit phone shops and ask them if they need board repairs done or post your own ads on Craigslist. People who know component level repair make the rules in the world of mobile phones as far as I’m concerned. But you can make a lot of money just by simply fixing broken screens if you market yourself correctly.
@@raylafleur6616 🎯 I feel like you’re talking to me! I’m about to do the exact thing you just said and know ZERO about this but I am damn sure gonna try!
The pay for this career field is mostly not great, in spite of the sheer amount of material that one must learn just to be competent. It's because of this that I don't recommend pursuing electronics technology.
You're completely right and the reason for this is because electronic texts have not unionized because they're afraid to unionize because they think their jobs are going to be going overseas so this is the mindset the companies are put in our heads that we will send the jobs overseas and what's got to be done is our Congressman I got to put a stop to it any company leaving the United States tomorrow and once the market in the United States again will not be allowed if they leave our shores. We have to protect our way of life we can't compete with countries that pay $2 an hour or $1 an hour so we have to protect ourselves and our political system has got to protect us and our way of life
@@gabriel4838 It's not so much that as it is that it seldom makes complete sense to hire an Electronics Technician to repair a circuit board. Suppose a circuit board costs $100 to purchase. Would it make more financial sense to hire an electronics technician for $16 an hour (typical of an entry-level ET) to repair a circuit board, when they can potentially spend hours searching for the defect? What's more, there's also the overhead costs of running a business (utilities, rent, taxes, the cost of the equipment you'd be using which by itself adds up in a hurry). How much harder would it be for our employers if they were to pay us what we'd prefer to make? Considering this, it usually makes more sense just to buy a new circuit board and have it right away rather than hire a company to have it's technicians attempt to repair it. Outside of that, there are testing and production jobs, which seldom require the use of an ET's deep education, and these jobs seldom pay well considering that they're so easy that a high-school grad could be reasonably expected to perform their duties. We really shouldn't be making assumptions as to our respective company's overhead costs. When you understand how businesses are run, you'd understand that forming a union and trying to shake our employers down for more money doesn't actually increase the amount of money that they'd have to pay us. And in any case, we really don't need another form of government attempting to garnish more of our paychecks. At this point, the most practical choice that an aspiring ET can make if their goal is to make as much money as other tradesmen such as architects, auto-repair techs, or even plumbers is to pursue a career as either an architect, auto-repair tech, or plumber. If you're smart enough to pull off an ET degree, you'd definitely be smart enough to pull off nearly anything else.
That is exactly right! It is a field whereby people have to considerably smart & technically inclined. Especially the few technicians who are still involved in component level debug. Yet, the pay is nowhere close to great. Technicians earn at most $25 per hour on average. Hence pursuing electronics technology is a waste of time.
Yeah...but tbh it's not something you should be doing as a job for someone else, but your own buisness (with the added benefit of fighting E-waste problem)... literally EVERYTHING is electronic, the info alone is invaluable... but I get what you're saying 😅 working for someone else sucks
I'm a mechanic we're getting away from it too. We used to rebuild starters and carburetors now you just replace the whole thing eventually. We are already no longer rebuilding engines. If you need a camshaft get a new engine! It happened in less than a few years. I'm not mad because it is easier work for me but I sure have to make my money now! So I can save, chill, and try to predict where the future is going or I will be broke I'm the coming years...
The flip on being a mechanic is you can do brake jobs, cam or crankshaft sensor swaps, 100k spark plug jobs under the table. There's basically none of that doing this BS. Trust me. All the people that need carb work done these days actually have money! LOL
Hi, in the last few seconds of the video you mentioned that next jobs in relations to electronics were: biomed and avionics and something else… correct?
There's still jobs for Electronic Technicians in the casino industry, When a slot machine brakes the casino wants it back up and running asap so we do a lot of repairs to component level. The coffee machine industry is a good one to find work as a technician with most good coffee machines range from $1000 to $3000.
And the electronic tech that fixed that slot machine is probably only making 20 bucks an hour when it should be making 34.35 $30 an hour why aren't companies paying electronic techs what they're worth either we have to get out of the business or we have to get paid
And none of them get paid there are no good paying electronic tech jobs most electronic tech jobs are paying between $18 to $22 an hour go anywhere companies will not pay electronic techs
I know you might be right on there is few pcb electronic jobs, but if you ever want to work on a ship on the seas, the employer requires a maritime license or General Radiotelephone Operator License which deals with communications( shortwave,vhs or satillite), radar and distress signals and 5 years experience in pcb electronic technicians job or related.Those jobs make 80- to 100k a year,but you are never home because you live on the ocean on the ship.
Would be cool to work on the Alaska maritime ship from Seattle to Anchorage. They wee hiring for this kind of job plus diesel mechanic abilities recently
Warren Buffet in an interview once said he would interview his employee prospects and if they mentioned anything about being in it "for the money" he wouldn't hire them. Money is a TERRIBLE reason to work! For that matter, why does Warren Buffet work? I CAN'T be the money. He's 93 and has no shortage of money. It's amazing how when your focus is money, how little of it you get! It's kind of (exactly) like when you like a girl in high school and you buy her lots of stuff, say you'll love her and treat her like a queen and "Do anything" for her, she'll NEVER want you back. If she says "I'd like to go to a movie with you" DON'T just say "lets go tonight", you have to say "I've got plans, but MAYBE a couple weeks from now I'll be available". You CAN'T worry some other guy's going to take her from you. News flash, she'll leave you for that guy anyway if you even appear a LITTLE bit desperate, she'll pick up on it and you're all done. NEVER SELL YOURSELF SHORT!
If you're going to be a Electronic Technician you BETTER BE good enough to work for QualCOMM or someone like that in the Engineering Department. Through Hole Tech is DEAD! You might be able to teach yourself how to work on Vacuum Tube Amplifiers and get some work. I'm 56 now and I'm glad my career is ending. It sucked (but I did make pretty good money).
Agreed, through hole is dead. In my local area there are some big factory places, but after 17 years of repairing electronics, I make more money doing biomed than I ever did troubleshooting components. Might less challenging, but I’ll be able to retire at this pay scale
@@MTXSHO9732vV8SHO Not good. The jobs in my area either pay poorly or the employers have unrealistic standards. My experience might say more about me than the industry though. I ended up finding an unrelated job for the time being.
Stay away they're not going to pay electronic techs if you think you're ever going to make $25.30 or $35 an hour you're selling mistaken maybe engineers or you can do some PLC programming which I do you never going to see probably 25 bucks an hour this field you should stay away until this field unionizes and ask for a decent wage we shouldn't be going to school to become electronic techs what you have to go through to get your AAS is ridiculous the amount of math you have to have the amount of physics you have to have and the troubleshooting there's a wealth of knowledge and these companies aren't paying for it at all stay away do not become an electronic
If you can learn electronics PLUS mechanical abilities you can make a lot of money as a millwright or Heavy equipment tech. Those are actually cool jobs.
Was any of it fun to learn? I took an Electronics course at a community college before withdrawing (I changed jobs so I had to quit). I feel like the most fun thing was soldering which was okay. It seems like the kind of thing assembly line workers in China would do.
Just some info. I worked for a GE pc board factory for 15 years. When I first started, we were expected to do a bit of troubleshooting. Within a couple of years, we stopped doing that. The boards were tested and troubleshot on a GenRad and a simulator (I was a simulator tech). You would never do signal injection and tracing; the test apparatus did that for you. Most of what I learned in school was pretty useless except for being able to read a schematic and knowing in a general way what was going on in the circuit.
After a few years, the company got wise. They told me, you have 20 to 30 mins to figure out what's wrong with the board and repair it. Otherwise, just scrap it; it's not worth spending half a day working on one board.
Reality was, I could tell --- by experience --- from the printout, what the problem was with the board, and I could repair it quickly. How did I learn that in the first place? Looking at the error printout, narrowing down what area of the board was involved, and replacing the part that looked to be the problem. After a while, you just know ... after you've seen the same problem a dozen times you just know.
Today, they don't want any troubleshooting done. If it is an obvious problem like insufficient solder, then fix it. Otherwise, scrap it and move on. If there is a problem you can't fix and boards are failing left and right, get Engineering involved. (Engineers hate coming out on the floor to deal with issues. If you call in engineering, you will be hated.) I even had engineers come out on the floor, tell me they had no idea what the problem was, and inform me I should be able to figure it out myself. Then they would walk away. So i ended up just filling up totes with failed boards and letting them sit there. If management asked why that big stack was sitting there, I would tell them I turned to problem over to engineering and I'm waiting for them to do something. I actually only had that happen twice in the 15 yrs I was there. Eventually, engineering HAS to fix the problem if the tech can't.
There were huge issues working at GE as a tech. The company was eventually sold to Siemens. In terms of management, GE was the worst company I ever worked for. Pay was good though. Stress level was really bad.
Salary at GE: With OT, I made about $65k/yr. I don't know if those jobs are even available anymore.
This comment brought back some memories. I started off as a technician as well then went over to test instrumentation where I fixed and maintained the actual test jigs. I have since moved on from the electronics manufacturering field and quite glad about that 😅
I have owned my own consumer audio/video electronics business for 17 years and I make very, very, very little money. I remember when all of the independent electronics repair shops went out of business in the 1990s. I have been looking for an electronics technician job with companies that desire my skill. So, my knowledge and schooling on electronics makes me valuable in factories that build electronics. Good luck to you.
Frank
Frank Reiser Video/Audio Service.
Hello sir my name is imaran khan I am from India I am a electronics technician.is there any requirement
Hey Frank. Have you ever thought about getting into smartphone and iPad repair? There’s a lot of money in that. Also, if you choose to buy broken items online, troubleshoot and repair them yourself then resell, there’s potentially very large profits to be made. Add to that, there’s few people in the industry who know how to do these repairs and do them well. The people who can, are highly coveted. I recommend buying some broken iPhones on Craigslist or Ebay and trying your hand at diagnosing and repairing them. Avoid iCloud locked or blacklisted phones by checking the IMEI number first. You can easily resell repaired for a profit.
You can also visit phone shops and ask them if they need board repairs done or post your own ads on Craigslist. People who know component level repair make the rules in the world of mobile phones as far as I’m concerned. But you can make a lot of money just by simply fixing broken screens if you market yourself correctly.
@@raylafleur6616 🎯 I feel like you’re talking to me! I’m about to do the exact thing you just said and know ZERO about this but I am damn sure gonna try!
The pay for this career field is mostly not great, in spite of the sheer amount of material that one must learn just to be competent. It's because of this that I don't recommend pursuing electronics technology.
You're completely right and the reason for this is because electronic texts have not unionized because they're afraid to unionize because they think their jobs are going to be going overseas so this is the mindset the companies are put in our heads that we will send the jobs overseas and what's got to be done is our Congressman I got to put a stop to it any company leaving the United States tomorrow and once the market in the United States again will not be allowed if they leave our shores. We have to protect our way of life we can't compete with countries that pay $2 an hour or $1 an hour so we have to protect ourselves and our political system has got to protect us and our way of life
@@gabriel4838 It's not so much that as it is that it seldom makes complete sense to hire an Electronics Technician to repair a circuit board.
Suppose a circuit board costs $100 to purchase. Would it make more financial sense to hire an electronics technician for $16 an hour (typical of an entry-level ET) to repair a circuit board, when they can potentially spend hours searching for the defect? What's more, there's also the overhead costs of running a business (utilities, rent, taxes, the cost of the equipment you'd be using which by itself adds up in a hurry). How much harder would it be for our employers if they were to pay us what we'd prefer to make? Considering this, it usually makes more sense just to buy a new circuit board and have it right away rather than hire a company to have it's technicians attempt to repair it.
Outside of that, there are testing and production jobs, which seldom require the use of an ET's deep education, and these jobs seldom pay well considering that they're so easy that a high-school grad could be reasonably expected to perform their duties.
We really shouldn't be making assumptions as to our respective company's overhead costs. When you understand how businesses are run, you'd understand that forming a union and trying to shake our employers down for more money doesn't actually increase the amount of money that they'd have to pay us. And in any case, we really don't need another form of government attempting to garnish more of our paychecks.
At this point, the most practical choice that an aspiring ET can make if their goal is to make as much money as other tradesmen such as architects, auto-repair techs, or even plumbers is to pursue a career as either an architect, auto-repair tech, or plumber. If you're smart enough to pull off an ET degree, you'd definitely be smart enough to pull off nearly anything else.
That is exactly right! It is a field whereby people have to considerably smart & technically inclined. Especially the few technicians who are still involved in component level debug. Yet, the pay is nowhere close to great. Technicians earn at most $25 per hour on average. Hence pursuing electronics technology is a waste of time.
There are quite a few tech jobs in my area with starting pay of 30/hr and up but I refuse to work in a plant
Yeah...but tbh it's not something you should be doing as a job for someone else, but your own buisness (with the added benefit of fighting E-waste problem)... literally EVERYTHING is electronic, the info alone is invaluable... but I get what you're saying 😅 working for someone else sucks
I'm a mechanic we're getting away from it too. We used to rebuild starters and carburetors now you just replace the whole thing eventually. We are already no longer rebuilding engines. If you need a camshaft get a new engine! It happened in less than a few years. I'm not mad because it is easier work for me but I sure have to make my money now! So I can save, chill, and try to predict where the future is going or I will be broke I'm the coming years...
The flip on being a mechanic is you can do brake jobs, cam or crankshaft sensor swaps, 100k spark plug jobs under the table. There's basically none of that doing this BS. Trust me. All the people that need carb work done these days actually have money! LOL
Hi, in the last few seconds of the video you mentioned that next jobs in relations to electronics were: biomed and avionics and something else… correct?
There's still jobs for Electronic Technicians in the casino industry, When a slot machine brakes the casino wants it back up and running asap so we do a lot of repairs to component level. The coffee machine industry is a good one to find work as a technician with most good coffee machines range from $1000 to $3000.
And the electronic tech that fixed that slot machine is probably only making 20 bucks an hour when it should be making 34.35 $30 an hour why aren't companies paying electronic techs what they're worth either we have to get out of the business or we have to get paid
And none of them get paid there are no good paying electronic tech jobs most electronic tech jobs are paying between $18 to $22 an hour go anywhere companies will not pay electronic techs
You make shit money
I know you might be right on there is few pcb electronic jobs, but if you ever want to work on a ship on the seas, the employer requires a maritime license or General Radiotelephone Operator License which deals with communications( shortwave,vhs or satillite), radar and distress signals and 5 years experience in pcb electronic technicians job or related.Those jobs make 80- to 100k a year,but you are never home because you live on the ocean on the ship.
Would be cool to work on the Alaska maritime ship from Seattle to Anchorage. They wee hiring for this kind of job plus diesel mechanic abilities recently
Warren Buffet in an interview once said he would interview his employee prospects and if they mentioned anything about being in it "for the money" he wouldn't hire them. Money is a TERRIBLE reason to work! For that matter, why does Warren Buffet work? I CAN'T be the money. He's 93 and has no shortage of money. It's amazing how when your focus is money, how little of it you get! It's kind of (exactly) like when you like a girl in high school and you buy her lots of stuff, say you'll love her and treat her like a queen and "Do anything" for her, she'll NEVER want you back. If she says "I'd like to go to a movie with you" DON'T just say "lets go tonight", you have to say "I've got plans, but MAYBE a couple weeks from now I'll be available". You CAN'T worry some other guy's going to take her from you. News flash, she'll leave you for that guy anyway if you even appear a LITTLE bit desperate, she'll pick up on it and you're all done. NEVER SELL YOURSELF SHORT!
If you're going to be a Electronic Technician you BETTER BE good enough to work for QualCOMM or someone like that in the Engineering Department. Through Hole Tech is DEAD! You might be able to teach yourself how to work on Vacuum Tube Amplifiers and get some work. I'm 56 now and I'm glad my career is ending. It sucked (but I did make pretty good money).
Agreed, through hole is dead. In my local area there are some big factory places, but after 17 years of repairing electronics, I make more money doing biomed than I ever did troubleshooting components. Might less challenging, but I’ll be able to retire at this pay scale
4:45AM this man is dedicated to the grind
I'm graduating in the fall. Thanks for the bad news.
Be careful, you'll become what you think about!
GET IN SALES
How have things gone so far?
@@MTXSHO9732vV8SHO Not good. The jobs in my area either pay poorly or the employers have unrealistic standards. My experience might say more about me than the industry though. I ended up finding an unrelated job for the time being.
Good stuff. Thanks for the video.
i was just about to start learning this. lol so to hear that the e jobs are going away. that sucks. lol
Stay away they're not going to pay electronic techs if you think you're ever going to make $25.30 or $35 an hour you're selling mistaken maybe engineers or you can do some PLC programming which I do you never going to see probably 25 bucks an hour this field you should stay away until this field unionizes and ask for a decent wage we shouldn't be going to school to become electronic techs what you have to go through to get your AAS is ridiculous the amount of math you have to have the amount of physics you have to have and the troubleshooting there's a wealth of knowledge and these companies aren't paying for it at all stay away do not become an electronic
If you can learn electronics PLUS mechanical abilities you can make a lot of money as a millwright or Heavy equipment tech. Those are actually cool jobs.
thanks for the video
Watching...new friend here
Thanks for stopping by! Just subscribed so I can learn from your videos
@@electronicscareerquestions thanks. I'm learning from your videos too.
Sir I know power pcb sarvising. And I know electrical and electronics works.
Good content
How costly is it to recycle electronics boards and product?
Very to keep them in service paying for a tech. They throw stuff away now
Sir ...are you hiring electronic technician? I need a job..
No I’m not hiring anyone
Electronic is shit, there is no jobs in market
Was any of it fun to learn? I took an Electronics course at a community college before withdrawing (I changed jobs so I had to quit). I feel like the most fun thing was soldering which was okay. It seems like the kind of thing assembly line workers in China would do.