What kind of technician/engineer are you?

I remember lots of years ago (19 to be exact) I was given the reigns of the sound system of the church I had just recently started to attend. This felt great and I was sure I had arrived to the big time. Of course by this point I had at least 6 years or so of playing with sound gear and the likes so “I knew everything.” Well thankfully for me the church was very understanding as I made my mistakes along the way and used my time with them as a learning experience.

On the other hand there was this man, we will call him John, who was appointed to the position of head of media and his qualifications were that he was a professional plumber, oh and he was willing to take the position. He did alright as far as the ministry was concerned but he found himself falling short.

I bring these two examples to light to show the contrast of how they would deal with the musicians and staff when problems would arise. In my early days I would here the complaints of the people and would make up excuses as to why it was that way and say if you don’t like it then you do this job. John on the other hand would take every comment to heart and just take the attitude of “I am doing the best that I can” and wish he had never offered to serve in the first place.

This is where I ask the question “which type of Technician/Engineer are you?” I hope that I don’t still present to people as a young know it all who most of the time is just faking it at the client’s expense. As well, to the guys like John that the only way to gain the confidence necessary to handle the task is that we both need to continue to learn and grow over time.

After over 20 years of this profession I am heading off to a seminar to learn about more technology that I may already know all about but I look forward most to hearing the questions asked to better understand the hurdles others may have in understanding.