A Day in the life of a Baydale Control Systems Engineer.

When I started with Baydale Control Systems I couldn’t tell you the difference
between a door closer and a maglock, the connection between door fobs and sim
cards and thought a DES was a 1990’s games console.

I walked in blind but was thankfully provided absolute first-class training but there
were certain blanks that simply couldn’t be filled no matter how much training I
received, and those blanks were caused by a lack of actual hands-on experience and
understanding what the engineers do on a day to day basis.

Now don’t get me wrong I’m not a hands-on guy, the extent of my manual labour
experience was that one time I put a shelf up and that came out looking like
something from an MC Escher painting. However, an opportunity to see, to
experience, to witness and live these things up close I knew would be invaluable. And
I was given this opportunity to have a ride along with one of our engineers, Terry.
Terry is one of the best in the industry I’m told, a work ethic like no other,
knowledgeable beyond comprehension and with a memory we’d all be jealous of.

I had no idea what to expect but I was excited. Sat in my shiny Baydale Control
Systems matching shirt and fleece clutching my much needed first coffee of the day I
bright eyed and bushy tailed climbed into the seat of the engineers van ready for my
adventure. On the agenda was Thornaby, Northallerton, Hartlepool and Billingham
and the job themes were to be a failing intercom, a CCTV not showing images inside
peoples flats and a couple of wonky doors. Wonky may or may not be a technical
term, I’m still learning.

Being talked through everything he was doing, being shown the inner workings of
these systems, being given behind the scenes insight on the intricacies of an
engineer’s day was invaluable and really gave me a much-needed insight that drew
contract with my own role within the organisation. I don’t think I truly appreciated how
their days are constructed, how much of their days are woven with intuition, route
planning and years of experience to make sure their hours are used as constructively
and productively as possible.

Terry was the consummate gentleman to the broad spectrum of tenants we came
across during our mini road trip and had determination to solve each challenge before
him, I gained new respect and appreciation for the daily plight of the engineers and
walked away from the experience enlightened and renewed.