BBC ENGINEER QUALIFIED

[mackie]

How does one achieve the BBC ENGINEER qualified status. What are the courses required to achieve this status.

 

I do have work experience in broadcast and a Bachelors degree. What other courses are required from BBC to acheive this.

 

Please advise.

[paulears]

I wasn't sure of the answer, so I asked a friend, recently retired from the BBC and very well respected for his technical work in the Corporation.

 

His reply which I've not edited, is below - but in essence it says that despite anything you get, qualification wise, you can't say you are a qualified BBC Engineer, in the sense you mean, unless you were.

 

the status of 'BBC engineer' really doesn't exist any more, since the BBC dropped engineering quite a lot of years ago. When I joined the BBC, 1967, I joined Engineering Division, as one of about 7,000. There was a 3 month training course at Wood Norton, then straight into it. No significant further training as such, just experience on the job, much of which could easily have been as a Uni lecturer.

 

Then, Engineering Division had a boss on the BBC Board. But Black Spot, and the later trimming exercises abolished Engineering Division. The logic was that the manufacturers all knew how to make stuff by then, so BBC engineers weren't needed. What actually happened is that most of the 'redundant' engineers were immediately adopted by the programme departments, still doing the same thing. But, they were/are called 'technicians' which isn't quite the same. Even Research Dept amalgamated with Designs to become R&D, and then we we all called 'technologists' which doesn't even remotely describe what I did.

 

Most of my old contacts who're still there still call themselves engineers, because that's what they actually do, despite the dogma.

 

So, the only way to acquire the status is to be one, and that's pretty hard to do these days.

[Ynot]

You could always ask Frank Wood......

:** laughs out loud **:

:huh:

[grizzly]

What actually happened is that most of the 'redundant' engineers were immediately adopted by the programme departments, still doing the same thing. But, they were/are called 'technicians' which isn't quite the same.

 

This isn't quite true.

There are still plenty of people in various departments and divisions all over the BBC, called Broadcast Engineers, and doing Broadcast Engineery stuff.

[Stan Hope-Streeter]

You could always ask Frank Wood......

 

eh? Non capisco ...

 

That's a bit oblique, even for me.

 

Or is it a veiled reference to how Business Accountants have destroyed most of what was good about the BBC ?

[boswell]

Google "frank wood" bbc

[Ynot]

Google "frank wood" bbc

Or even Frank Wood Stagecraft....

 

Learn your trade, my boy...!!

 

:D :D :D

[Brian]

How does one achieve the BBC ENGINEER qualified status.

It's not a qualification in the usual sense of the word.

 

A proper qualification is one accredited by an (external) educational establishment.

[Maddison]

How does one achieve the BBC ENGINEER qualified status. What are the courses required to achieve this status.

 

I do have work experience in broadcast and a Bachelors degree. What other courses are required from BBC to acheive this.

 

Please advise.

 

Currently you need to do two things:

 

Go on the BBC run Wood Norton Courses - BEF1, 2 and IT, then a year later the BEC core, IT and specialist, then another year later be BEA.

 

Successful completion of those, with sign off of 2 years relevant BBC work and you will be awarded BBC Engineer status by BBC Learning and Development.

 

That was the case 3 months ago anyway.

 

If you don't work for Auntie, or a department that used to be owned by the Beeb, you'll not be able to get it.

[KevinS]

BBC broadcast technology courses open to non-BBC staff are available here

 

(Though most will cost you a few license fees)

 

K

[paulears]

Yep - I think he knows that bit. What the OP is after just cannot be gained unless you work for the BBC itself, or one of their divisions that were sold off to the private sector, but carry on doing what they did before. The courses are great, but won't make you a 'BBC Engineer'.

[Brian]

..., but won't make you a 'BBC Engineer'.

Some people might regard that as a good thing.

[stagemanagement]

..., but won't make you a 'BBC Engineer'.

Some people might regard that as a good thing.

 

 

Yep, I don't think I could handle wearing shorts as tiny as the standard "BBC Issue". :)

They look like Thomas Magnum on heat, with their cub sized beige numbers and their hiking boots!!

[MarkPAman]

It was a BBC Engineer who cut a 48 Chanel star-quad multi about a meter too short on one of the first install jobs I ever did. Twice :) .

Come to think of it, it was a different BBC engineer who spec'ed that multi, then connected it to the cheapest desk, amps & speakers he could find

[Rax]

How does one achieve the BBC ENGINEER qualified status. What are the courses required to achieve this status.

 

I do have work experience in broadcast and a Bachelors degree. What other courses are required from BBC to acheive this.

 

Is it OK to ask what your degree is in? That may have a bearing on the courses you would be expected to do at Wood Norton. Traditionally, on-station training within the BBC is/was part of the engineering qualification but since the engineering elements of the BBC have been flogged off to Red Bee / Siemens / SiS Live etc. employment within these organisations may be viewed as being equivalant.

 

Strictly speaking, who is 'BBC Engineer qualified' is/was defined in the BBC's "Engineering Training Standing Instructions Chapter Two" It would be interesting to know if you can find a copy - maybe a call to Wood Norton is in order?

 

Rax - who is BBC Engineer Qualified by virtue of passing the 'C' Course examination at Wood Norton