I don't know what is going on here lately, but we have lost 4 aircraft techs in the Dallas area this year. All between 45-55 years old. 3 to health, one to traffic. Lost another one yesterday morning to a heart attack. I've known him for 15 years. Getting kinda crazy. No talented new faces showing up to speak of either. Our average age on the shop floor is in the mid 40's. There are worthless flunkies to be had all day long, but younger guys motivated to learn with a good head on their shoulders and a decent skill base are in short supply.
I do everything I can to assure our success, and my personal success in my chosen trade, and it's very rewarding. It's not an easy job many days, but we make stuff happen, and keep the wheels turning and fires burning. It's not wasted on me that all of the guys that have passed this year have all moved out of the toolbox and into an office. Think I'll just keep the drawers unlocked and stay on the floor. I've had several opportunities to take desk jobs, but my personal satisfaction comes from the hands on side of the job. Sure,,I CAN do the desk work, but do I want to?

In my trade here is a shortage of tecs also. No one wants to get their hands dirty and work after hours and weekends. I find the on call 24/7 getting me stressed after 37 years of doing it. Getting more demanding as time unfolds but the bike acts as a therapy keeping me from going nuts. My wife is wondering why I am not drinking beer this summer. The workload has got me really stressed but putting more miles on the bike. Gas is cheaper than beer. A few young guys tried to do the service work but quit within a year. I spoke with some other tradesmen and same story. Dudes that are useless other than texting skills.

jd750ace wrote:
I don't know what is going on here lately, but we have lost 4 aircraft techs in the Dallas area this year. All between 45-55 years old. 3 to health, one to traffic. Lost another one yesterday morning to a heart attack. I've known him for 15 years. Getting kinda crazy. No talented new faces showing up to speak of either. Our average age on the shop floor is in the mid 40's. There are worthless flunkies to be had all day long, but younger guys motivated to learn with a good head on their shoulders and a decent skill base are in short supply.
I do everything I can to assure our success, and my personal success in my chosen trade, and it's very rewarding. It's not an easy job many days, but we make stuff happen, and keep the wheels turning and fires burning. It's not wasted on me that all of the guys that have passed this year have all moved out of the toolbox and into an office. Think I'll just keep the drawers unlocked and stay on the floor. I've had several opportunities to take desk jobs, but my personal satisfaction comes from the hands on side of the job. Sure,,I CAN do the desk work, but do I want to?

Welcome to the new age of digital laziness! I've seen the same thing in a number of MC shops. The good wrenches are all over 45-50 and are becoming rarer by the day. I was offered a part-time job at a local shop, but turned it down for a number of reasons, mostly being too busy with everything else.

But the good news is that you'll soon be out of that 45-55 bracket!

I was a welder, same problem. No techs applying.

The boeing 787 had a problems with (rivets and the fit up).

Read what caused that.

I feel it too in the machining business. In quite a few skilled trades jobs for that matter. We as a company have been working closely with the technical schools to make sure they're still training the basics and not just poking the cycle start button on a CNC machine. It does seem the next generation isn't as eager to get hands-on as we and the previous generations were. Manufacturing is already in trouble with the cheap labor overseas, and an upcoming low initiative workforce sure isn't helping.

Seams no one gives a crap anymore no matter where you are...

Hiring any old Joe as an "assembler" for 19 bucks an hour versus paying a tradesman in the mid 30s to do the work is causing a LOT of initial quality issues with aircraft these days. Boeing screwed the pooch on the SC plant, thinking that just because they were out from under the union, they could pay shit wages. I know several people that worked there through development, and simply could not deal with the culture of stupidity they built into the project. Guys with 30 years of heavy structure experience being under-cut by "professional managers" with degrees and no skills dictating quality issues is a recipe for disaster. A couple of manufacturers are doing it correctly, but others are suffering from their own stupidity. If you hire skilled workers for more money, you save in the end by not having re-work. At one time, the re-work line had twice as many airframes as the assembly line.

we have the same problem with the sikorsky guys, a few of their senior tech reps for us have moved on to better things and got replaced by guys that have zero clue of whats going on, we call them from support (i work in a mid level depot facility) and sadly enough we have to teach the "pros" about their own bird more often then not... kinda sad really

Similar problems here in the HVAC world. Not as life or death as what you do, but you still need to be able to know what the hell is going on mechanically and electrically, and we've gone thru countless young worthless guys in the last 5-10 years. We've got a young guy who is really good though. He's about 29. I'm decent most days and I'm 32. We get a lot of business from other local companies because their techs are ruining the reputation of the place they work for.