A Career In Cctv!

[hpotter]

You didn't make the Chelsea flower show this year then?

[y-i-out-of-bed]

lol nope but that fence was covered in 4years worth of fast growing bush weed thing, one bank hols later just whats left in the corner

[ilkie]

Sadly I'd have to agree with the spirit of what's just been said, but the problem with CCTV, and in particular the wonderful idea that you can become an expert after a few courses, is that the correct application of video surveillance isn't simply about plugging together bits of kit to make a working system.

The country is covered in very expensive systems that look breathtakingly impressive in their structure, but are embarrassingly inefficient in operation, simply because the expert that designed it, probably didn't have as good a grasp of the subject as they thought they had.

I don't want to offer any false hopes here, but if I was going to do a wee bit of crystal ball gazing, I would predict that there will be a move towards 'standards' based surveillance in the not too distant future. The use of poor quality equipment that is inappropriate, badly installed, and generally poorly maintained (if maintained at all), will gradually be excluded from what will in time become accepted as required "best practice".

There is now a gradual realisation in some quarters, that the quality and consistency of material being presented for evidential use, is so variable ( aka more often than not total crepe), that steps need to be taken to design out bad technology and bad practice, and concentrate more on achieving defined results in terms of acceptable picture quality.

It's not going to happen overnight, but I believe things are slowly starting to move in the right direction.

With regards to CCTV as a career, the simple answer is if somebody wants to take the trouble to learn their trade, and dare I suggest demonstrate professionalism in their approach to achieving solutions, then longterm it will be a worthwhile investment.

A word of warning though; if you find yourself still working in the industry after thirty years, don't be surprised if you start arguing with some manufacturers over the stupid things they do, and getting seriously grumpy every time you see yet another 'state of the art' camera, which isn't really in a fit state for anything in particular

Agree 100% with the Doc.

But to put a different slant on it, is it possible to over train (ie over qualify)?

Ilkie

[james.wilson]

ilkie

No i dont think so, while your recent training may encourage you to design to suit that, overall I think the more you train on, the better. But training alone is pretty useless without real world experience of seeing a design through etc

[ilkie]

ilkie

No i dont think so, while your recent training may encourage you to design to suit that, overall I think the more you train on, the better. But training alone is pretty useless without real world experience of seeing a design through etc

Agreed, but the more you train your engineers the more valuable they become, the higher hourly rate they command and less competitve is the result!

Ilkie

[Doktor Jon]

Agreed, but the more you train your engineers the more valuable they become, the higher hourly rate they command and less competitve is the result!

Ilkie

Sad but true ....

Such are the practical difficulties created by a less than level playing field.

On a positive note, the better trained and more experienced engineers should be able to work more efficiently, simply because they know what they are doing, so in theory less time wasted on site.

Where a potential client is aware of a contractors level of professionalism, that can be a significant ace up the sleeve, but unfortunately, where clients don't really understand what they're buying in to, the lure of the lowest price can often be irresistible. I suppose that comes back to my pet subject at the moment, which is looking at ways to educate the clients, so at least they have a better understanding of what's involved, and the implications of cutting costs.

I have a suspicion that unless the manufacturers decide to unilaterally move towards raising standards, we won't actually see any significant improvements unless and until some form of statutory regulation is introduced for CCTV systems.

[ilkie]

Sad but true ....

Such are the practical difficulties created by a less than level playing field.

On a positive note, the better trained and more experienced engineers should be able to work more efficiently, simply because they know what they are doing, so in theory less time wasted on site.

Where a potential client is aware of a contractors level of professionalism, that can be a significant ace up the sleeve, but unfortunately, where clients don't really understand what they're buying in to, the lure of the lowest price can often be irresistible. I suppose that comes back to my pet subject at the moment, which is looking at ways to educate the clients, so at least they have a better understanding of what's involved, and the implications of cutting costs.

I have a suspicion that unless the manufacturers decide to unilaterally move towards raising standards, we won't actually see any significant improvements unless and until some form of statutory regulation is introduced for CCTV systems.

I tend to agree; regulation is the way forward, I will not hold my breath though.

Guess I am a bit sore at the momement after losing a (highly complex) tender to a contractor that we all (including the client's CCTV manager) know has not a hope of installing correctly.

But the tender was awarded on price only with no quality criteria.

Of course it goes without saying it is public money being spent.

Ilkie

[james.wilson]

yep been in a sorted a few of these out after install. Cost a lot more than doing it properly first time around. Hopefully you will get that call, and the support.

Becoming a trend ie awarding on price only, but over 2 yrs costs more than getting the right people in.

shame, but with budget cuts that are inevitable with central government masivly over spent

[Doktor Jon]

I tend to agree; regulation is the way forward, I will not hold my breath though.

Guess I am a bit sore at the momement after losing a (highly complex) tender to a contractor that we all (including the client's CCTV manager) know has not a hope of installing correctly.

But the tender was awarded on price only with no quality criteria.

Of course it goes without saying it is public money being spent.

Ilkie

Sorry to hear that Ilkie

Years ago I lost out on a very complex consultancy project, when the manager delighted in letting me down by saying that "bulls**t beats brains". Flattering perhaps, but it really doesn't help to pay the bills

.... and yes, the winning consultancy did manage to c*ck it up magnificently, over the following twelve months.

I think with the current state of play, the path to statutory regulation may well be bumpy in the short term, but whilst there is almost an inevitability that something will come of it, my concerns are more in terms of how effective any planned regulation will be, and perhaps equally importantly, which agency is eventually given the task