There are no limitations really. Our industry can't find enough people to get all the work done. I think the worker shortage is due mostly to unawareness of the trade.
It's because it is a thankless job competing with Mexicans. I did fire alarms for awhile. Not saying you're an asshole, but every FAL tech I worked for was real big piece of shit scum bag. The people I worked for, and with, doing Fire Alarms were DUI-ists, druggies, illegal Mexicans, methheads, felons, and retards. Every company treated me like shit, promised me the world, then fired me as soon as the project was over. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how much I stuck my neck out, no matter how much I tried to be humble and learn, every company treated me like shit. Plus fire alarm is the same shit over and over and over, eventually it gets super boring. Kudos for you for being a good FAL tech. If you're on this website, that's probably a good sign.
I don't do fire alarms, I do water based suppression systems like fire sprinklers. There are some Hispanics in the industry but it is by far a field dominated by white men. Lot's of drunks and druggies in all trades for the simple reasons that there is such a high demand for labor and trade work doesn't require a college degree.
Now, more specifically, what I do is design fire systems. Designers are typically a completely different type of person from field labor. Fire Alarm designers are also in very high demand.
Right on.
What kind of training or qualification is required?
Training is almost exclusively through a contractor. There are a few community colleges that have programs but not many. Most contractors do apprenticeships for training field and design personnel
There are no qualifications except have some common sense. A high school diploma helps too.
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