Advice on a job, they are after a VSAT field engineer.??

[grandfortune]

Hi all,

after a job as the domestic market is just to damn competitive and no money in it for me anymore.

Basically im a sparky and been in the trade since 16 (im 43 now) and have had my own business for the past 10 years in mainly domestic and some Commercial/ office work.


so ive seen a job in my local paper for a Satellite Field Engineer providing installation in VSAT antennas and associated networking equipment.

Candidates would have some of the following experience or qualifications in
17th Ed
Microwave communications
locking off
Permit to work
working at height


just wondering if i had a chance at it as basically im a domestic sparky and have no experience in VSAT

surly there cant be many people out there with 17th, VSAT and microwave communications can there?

i am quite good on the satellite/aerial and networking side of things but no qualifications in it

is there anyone out there who does this sort of work??


Cheers
Grand

 

[JamieK]

Hi

I've worked in the satellite/tv industry for years and can say with certainty there are very few people I have met who blend electrical experience with satellite ability. as long as you are comfortable working at height you will be perfect.

That said one thing to be aware of since the digital switchover completed in 2012 the aerial/sat industry has fell off a cliff and is still declining, ask anyone in the trade they will tell you the same and a lot of people from the digital tv arena moved into renewables, solar pv.

i know you said Vsat which is a slightly different animal but I'd be cautious about the job security, other than that though I think you would be a unique asset to their company once you had the chance to get a few installs under your belt.

hope this helped and good luck!

 

[UNG]

It's not to difficult just need to know your way round a spectrum analyser and point the dish at the right satellite a few miles away in the sky. Did a 1 day course with a company I did some work for many years ago and was out doing installs after that all depends how quickly you grasp the info at the time I was installing microwave data radios so a lot of the job was much the same

 

[grandfortune]

Thanks for the replays guys,

the he job requires going to Africa and the Far East sometimes, I think I'll also grasp the technology pretty quick and quite frankly would look forward to the change

 

[Mike Cronnie]

I would fall into the opposite side of the situation as you Grand, I have VSAT experience from when I served in the Royal Signals, but I am only now (as a civilian) going for my electrical quals. I just wish at the moment that the course was more than 2 days a week, or that I could find some work in the field to do along side the training, as the training isn't fast paced enough for me yet...

 

[grandfortune]

they phoned me , said could be upto 9-10 months away, around the 30k mark, seems very low to me working abroad all that long and wanting a qualified spark for 30k, thought it would be around the 40 45k mark or am i being silly, as i did say i was on 30k at the moment mabe i should have said a higher figure?

cheers
Grand