Any Nicet guys on here?

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

I assume you are asking about this

National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies: Home Page



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Yes

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

Yes.

I really do not like NICET. They create a program for certifying techs, and then get governments to require only certified techs. So they create both the need, and the demand, and profit from it. Their Certification does not translate into knowledgeable/ proficient techs, IMO.
I have several level 3 certs, but can't get level 4 because none of my job assignments meet the requirements. Some people play the game, and "arrange" their resume' to get certs they don't deserve. Some people can pass the cert tests and know nothing when in the field. Part of my job was training technicians, and I spent 1000 hours a year visiting jobsites and working with techs to improve their skills, and NICET wanted a detailed breakdown of each "session"- timesheets showing what I did were insufficient. I was too busy to take the many hours that documentation would have required, so I let my certs expire. I do not need them in my present assignment.
I like WACEL better--metro DC area. Similar concept, but better managed program, IMO,.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

I have to agree with you, it is a joke. However, as you said, its become a requirement. Im all registered for my level 1, and im hoping somone has used the new cbt format and can answer a few questions for me. Nicet themselves have been less than helpful.

Its nice to see more $ an hour as well with certafication.

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

NICET is rather a joke, the Techs I work with who "brag" about being a NICET- 4 are the guys who slither into Public Sector jobs and then do their best to either do nothing and get paid for it or lord it over others who actually know what they are doing.

Not much different than ICC Certification. I have certs and experience far beyond the requirements of ICC but still find that I must carry their certs to work in NYC. Between AISC and AWS certification I am qualified to teach ICC Classes but refuse to "kick back" to them for the "honor".

Most of the folks I work with who are ICC certified are "book smart" but not "field smart" in that all they look for is a reason to squalk about percieved problems rather than knowing the code and applying it correctly.

NICET and ICC are a legal form of extortion, plain and simple.

I have held NICET 4 and ICC Master level certs in the past and maintain ICC Master certs presently.

Thanks for the collaboration.
Another example... I had a new tech working for me. He claimed to have a Master degree in Engineering, but couldn't get hired as an Engr, so worked as a Construction Material Tech. Must have "earned" his NICET certs in college. The job was a Fill placement job and his assignment was to test the density of the fill for compliance with specs. Part of the job that I am anal about is doing "one-point" testing. A "one point" is a field test that approximates a lab test to aid the field tech in choosing the correct maximum density. When I visited the "engr's" site, he was doing a one point on the bare ground. I told him that he needed to run the test on a minimum 200 pound mass for a base. ( The test uses a drop hammer to compact soil in a mold. We used a slab of concrete and stood on it while using the drop hammer to make a mass >200#.) I leave and return a few hours later and find him doing his one point using 3 pieces of stone as the base. I again reminded him that his base was insufficient--he was fully clueless. The irony was that he was at the base of a, maybe 10-20 ton boulder with a flat top which would have been perfect.
Classroom smart--maybe--useless in the field. I'd prefer any of a number of uneducated people that I had trained to him.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Aah yes, the old One Point Proctor test. When I started as a Field Tech I had to do these at least 5 times a day. Easy Peezy Japaneezi!

I used a 3/4" steel plate beneath the 6" soil mold and ran the slide hammer on that. I had the stove on my truck tailgate and used a Ecko baking pan (122 gram weight) to cook off the moisture.

Did they teach you how to quickly judge if the soil/sand was dry? Use a short strip of newspaper across the top of the soil/sand and when it curls up the stuff is dry.

Now did he know how to program the Troxler/Humboldt gauge correctly to do a Trench Offset? I still have a tube of the Moly Lube in my toolbox from doing Field Repairs on jammed spikes...

Funny thing is I was recertifing for my ACI 1 last year (you would think after being ACI 1 for 15 years they would just give it to me) and 3/4 of the folks in the class were NYC Dept of Buildings Inspectors who were required under ICC to be minimally certified. Almost all of them failed because they could not do the math!!! We are talking Basic Algebra here! Not Calculus, just basic stuff....but every one was NICET 3!!! I wonder who took their tests for them?

Now the ICC Structural steel Inspectors Cert is my idea of slightly difficult...I find the layout of the AISC 13th Edition a PITA as compared to the 9th Ed AISC "Green Book".

Ever have to do the test for Asphalt? i mean all the lab tests to establish the base line for compaction? I had to do this for a couple of months and found that almost NO ONE did the tests for real. They would just look up the previous tests and fudge the numbers. The plant I worked at was an old Duo Drum system and the lab was old school. they still used the centrifuge to separate the asphalt from the aggregate (the new ovens do all the work for you).

Sheesh! You just took me back 15 years in one minute...

took my level 1 test this am. i passed! time to start studying and saving my $ for level 2.

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

A lot of pro certifications are designed like that- create the demand, charge for cert, then take profits for their own market created product. Slick business model

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

Many employers will foot the cost for the testing, some even pay your time while you test. All this because it benefits them to advertise certified techs. And you should get a bump in pay for every cert.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

my employer wouldnt foot the bill due to too many guys taking it and failing over and over. i did however get a raise in pay.

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

Nice. Anything that get's you a little more in the paycheck is a good move.

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

The way for the employer to solve that AND keep the incentive is for the employer to pay ONCE for any level exam. After a failure, the employee is on his own. Maybe, in some cases a second chance would be OK, but after that, the employee pays. Too many people will sign up for tests if it costs them nothing--they need to invest the study time required, after all, its their future.
One of the problems with teching is that (like car salesmen) very few are looking long term. Its simply a job until my REAL career gets going--whatever that might be.
What area of tech work are you in?

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

yea, ive thought that as well, but the owner is very stuck in his ways. thats ok though, theyre a great company to work for.

im a low voltage tech. primarily fire alarm and intercom, but i do security, cctv, networking, master clock , ect...

im doing nicet for fire alarm.

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it