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04-30-2009, 01:29 PM
|  | (((o))) Moderator | | Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Antwerp, Belgium | | | Any altitude workers / steeplejacks here?
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Hi all,
I'm finishing university this year (either june or august, we'll see) so the future ahead of me is kinda vague and undefined.
One of the things I've been pondering about is becoming an altitude worker. There's a training centre close to where I live. The course takes one year and is a class week/work week configuration. So you take the course but also work half time (roughly 700 E/month).
This is completely unrelated to what I study (linguistics) but if there's one thing I've learned in the last couple of years of uni, it's that I resent sitting behind a desk and a computer screen all day.
I want to do something active, something outside, something with my hands. And since this course offers the opportunity to start from scratch I'm really considering it.
Any experience anyone?
Last edited by Vorago : 05-01-2009 at 07:39 AM.
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04-30-2009, 02:36 PM
|  | Online | | Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Sunapee, New Hampshire | | | What is an altitude worker? Someone who works high up in the air? Like an airplane pilot or person who drives the elevator up and down the Eiffel Tower?
-Mike |
04-30-2009, 02:42 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Newark, NJ | | | Those guys who repair TV antennas thousands of feet in the air?
Sounds awesome. |
04-30-2009, 04:38 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Los Angeles | | | Try not to make decisions if your tired and over worked. I'd rest up after graduation. Maybe there some non-desk jobs available in your field. |
05-01-2009, 07:01 AM
| | (((o))) Moderator | | Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Antwerp, Belgium | | Quote:
Originally Posted by MJ5150  What is an altitude worker? Someone who works high up in the air? Like an airplane pilot or person who drives the elevator up and down the Eiffel Tower?
-Mike | Someone who works on towers, antennas, etc. |
05-01-2009, 07:19 AM
|  | Unprofessional TalkBass Contributor | | Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Brighton, England, UK, Europe | | Over here we would call them a "SteepleJack" !! 
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05-01-2009, 10:52 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: danville, CA | | | in the us they are called line men.
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05-01-2009, 10:56 AM
| | (((o))) Moderator | | Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Antwerp, Belgium | | Arg...anything but altitude workers...  |
05-01-2009, 11:36 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Newark, NJ | | | There is a discovery channel show "Biggest Fixes" I believe that has guys like this on all time. Watched the TV antenna episode and considered a career change. |
05-01-2009, 12:42 PM
|  | The Lowdown Diggler | | Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Huntington Beach, CA | | | I don't know man. That can't be good for your balls. All those radio frequencies flying through the pole you've got your legs wrapped around. There's gotta be a better way to make a buck. |
05-01-2009, 12:59 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Canterbury, United Kingdom. | | Quote:
Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar I don't know man. That can't be good for your balls. All those radio frequencies flying through the pole you've got your legs wrapped around. There's gotta be a better way to make a buck. |
I don't know... Sounds to me like you'd be getting your balls tingled by electricity all day long. That can only be a good thing.
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05-01-2009, 01:08 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Eh? | | Quote:
Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar I don't know man. That can't be good for your balls. All those radio frequencies flying through the pole you've got your legs wrapped around. There's gotta be a better way to make a buck. | And this, gentlemen, has a 50% chance of coming from Maki on the toilet using the cell phone network from his iPhone.
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05-07-2009, 04:16 AM
| | Unprofessional TalkBass Contributor | | Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Brighton, England, UK, Europe | | Quote:
Originally Posted by fenderthrupeave in the us they are called line men. |
I finally made sense of the song ...
"I am a lineman for the County...."
I can see that steeplejack would be a poor fit!
Actually I can see two different things here - so a steeplejack is somebody who gets up on tall buildings - whereas a lineman sounds like somebody who deals with electrical cables ...not necessarily the same person...?
A steeplejack comes from people who worked on high Church steeples - long before electricity etc.
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“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.”
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05-08-2009, 02:47 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Ape God, MA | | | Unlike in the U.K., where they had the good sense to run a lot of the utility cabling underground, saving the beauty of the countryside, we have "utility poles" every 100 feet in populated areas. Since these are 25 feet high and under quite a bit of tension, not to mention "live", working on them is a somewhat specialized skill. Most linemen here have two years of training (offered and paid for by the company) after apprenticing on a crew. They are also called upon to work high voltage transmission lines ("power lines") that usually snake through rights of way on 40+ foot towers. Dangerous work. It sounds like this may be the kind of thing you would be training for, especially with the class/work week alternation you describe. Are you strong? Good attention to detail? Good nerves? When the wind kicks up and the 20 meter tower you're working on starts to shake- how will you react? In the U.S., these guys make excellent money (for good reason). If you think you can hack it, I say go for it! |
05-08-2009, 03:24 AM
| | Unprofessional TalkBass Contributor | | Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Brighton, England, UK, Europe | | Actually - running many electrical cables underground , as well as all the other stuff - means that in most British cities, they always seem to be digging up the road, causing traffic congestion and ugly sites.... 
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“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.”
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05-08-2009, 07:35 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Ape God, MA | | | touche'! |
05-08-2009, 07:51 PM
|  | no really, smokemeth&hailsatan | | Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Pueblo, CO | | Quote:
Originally Posted by L-A And this, gentlemen, has a 50% chance of coming from Maki on the toilet using the cell phone network from his iPhone. | LOL | | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | 
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