[BC] State Licensing...

[Burt I. Weiner]

I've been following this thread with interest.  I certainly do not disagree 
with Mario but I look at it from a slightly different perspective; one of 
over fifty years in this business.  I don't know that state licensing is a 
real answer to better pay or even better status.  Think back to when the 
First Phone was a hard requirement for broadcasting and obtaining one 
required not only a test that weeded out the experienced from the 
un-experienced but required apprenticeship to obtain and then actually 
working to maintain it.  Where did it go and why?

I've seen many "state licensed" people that are not craftsmen and have no 
real world experience.  Unless an apprenticeship is required to obtain a 
state license I believe you will eventually run into the same situation 
that befell the First Phone - quickie schools and NAB type organizations 
working to relax the requirements/rules to reduce expenses "in order to 
stay in business".

I too was a broadcast engineer earning low pay and being looked at by most 
managements as an expense rather than an asset.  I look around at qualified 
engineers today and it is no different.

When I had finally had enough and went out on my own, about twenty years 
ago, things changed dramatically.  All of a sudden I found myself on the 
outside with people asking for my help because of what I could 
accomplish.  Some of the same managers that looked at me as an expense were 
now happy to pay me ten fold or more for what they were getting for almost 
nothing before.  I find myself treated with much more respect in general 
and in a much better financial place than I was as an employee and I have 
the ability to turn down a request if it will open me to liability or for 
any other reason that I deem proper.  I am also MUCH HAPPIER!!!

If I were to have a state license would it make me more money?  I don't 
know.  If I had a P.E. would it make me more money?  I don't know about 
that either.  I know many very qualified antenna people that make a great 
deal of money that are not a P.E.  Again, if a state license were a 
requirement would organizations such as the NAB successfully lobby to get 
the requirements loosened or even dropped as they did with the First 
Phone?  Would the quickie schools take away the value and meaning of such a 
license as they did for the First Phone?

If you are a competent technical person and the goal is to raise the level 
of respect that you are met with then I suggest getting on the other side 
of the fence and not being an employee.  Yes, it's scary at first but if 
you have any business and professional sense you can do it.  If you are 
looking for revenge then I would remind you that the best form of revenge 
is success.

Burt


At 06:31 AM 5/22/2005 -0400, you wrote:
>Subject: [BC] State licensing: Pro's and Con's
>To: broadcast at radiolists.net
>Message-ID: <6.2.1.2.0.20050521111024.03ea42c0 at mail.xmission.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
>Yes, there are negatives to state licensing, but there might be positives
>too, such as:
>
>1. Keep unqualified individuals out of the profession.
>2. An increase in perceived status by employers/clients.
>3. Employers/clients would have to hire licensed engineers.
>4. If the engineer is asked to do something stupid or illegal, he/she can
>say, "sorry, but I could lose my license if I did that."
>5. Engineers would regulate their own profession.
>6. Licensed professionals make more money than unlicensed ones.
>
>
>I was a typical broadcast engineer (earning squat) for many years, and then
>I got my P.E. license; a state license. Since then, I earn significantly
>more money because I now do work that requires a license.
>
>Mario

Burt I. Weiner Associates
Broadcast Technical Services
Glendale, California  U.S.A.
biwa at earthlink.net
K6OQK