Peter Simpson
For the past 29 Years I have worked in the engineering department at a television station, Channel Seven in Melbourne.
From a very young age I had a keen interest in radio and electronics and from the age of 12 I had made up my mind that I would one day work in this industry.
I left school at the age of 17 and had several jobs, some working in electronics and for a time working as a freight handler for an airline.
My real break came in 1974 when I secured a position as an installation technician for Channel Seven. I was employed to install new equipment, which was to be used for the conversion to colour transmission, which commenced in Australia in 1975.
After 3 years of installation work I transferred to a maintenance area, where I was involved in the repair of television cameras, monitors, communications equipment. This role saw me maintaining almost everything in the electronics side of television used for broadcasting both in the studio and for outside broadcasts.
These were exciting years as I was doing the work that I had always planned to do and at the same time was involved in some very big productions such as AFL grand finals, golf tournaments, concerts and many game shows.
I continued in this role until 1988 when I was offered a senior position as a project engineer to design and manage the construction of various control rooms and a new outside broadcast unit to be used for major sporting events such as AFL, tennis and golf. At the time this was the largest and most sophisticated outside broadcast van in Australia and I am proud to say is still being used for major productions.
In 1999 I was promoted to the position of engineering manager for Channel Seven Melbourne and was responsible for the overall running of the engineering department with a staff of 40 technicians and engineers.
This was a wonderful opportunity and presented me with many new challenges. I now had a management position where I was responsible for all engineering matters, had to make regular reports to the managing director and cope with the many challenges of a large and varied department.
During my time as engineering manager, the Seven Network centralised its operation out of a brand new building at the Melbourne Docklands. This also presented me with a variety of new challenges as the new building uses state of the art digital technology.
It was also necessary to re-locate all departments, including News and Current Affairs, to the new building without any interruptions to on air production.
In July 2003 my position at Seven was made redundant and now after a long rest and some holidays I am once again looking for work.
In my case I am legally blind with 8% usable vision in my right eye and almost nothing in the left. As you can imagine an engineering position at a major television station has presented me with many challenges, but with lots of determination and a great deal of support from many people I can feel proud of my achievements at Seven and I am happy to say that I departed very satisfied with my career and with the knowledge that my work and efforts at Seven were greatly respected and appreciated.
So, what were the hurdles and how did I get over them or in many cases around them.
Certainly the greatest challenge was getting a position at a television station in the 1st instance. My initial employer was a kind and understanding man who was willing to give me a try, but made it very obvious that it was a trial and that I must be able to perform the work asked of me at a high standard and with definite time limits.
This was an extremely difficult period as I was very keen, but had very little experience and a lack of confidence in my own ability. I also did not have the visual aids, which are available now and struggled to see and work with fine wiring and components.
Some of my work colleagues at this time were very helpful, but others could not understand why I had been employed and why I would want to take on such a position.
As you can imagine an engineering position also requires many years of study. I carried out a technician's course at the RMIT in Melbourne and later an Associate Diploma of Engineering at Box Hill TAFE. This also presented many challenges as I could not read the black board and had to continually request a copy of the notes from the lecturers. There were also practical projects to be completed and fortunately the lecturers did give me extra time to hand in assignments.
Although I enjoyed the hands on work as an installation technician and later as a maintenance technician, I was happy to put my tools away and take on an administrative position where my sight limitation did not present the same difficulties.
By this stage my screwdrivers and pliers were replaced with a computer. My days were then spent writing reports, creating budgets and resolving staff and engineering issues,
Like most blind and vision impaired people, the introduction of computers into the work force was a real blessing. In my case I was required to create many systems drawings and diagrams. In the old days with a drawing board, pencils and pen, I found this very difficult, but the introduction of modern computers and many drawing packages certainly simplified this process and it wasn't long before I was creating complex drawings in less time than fully sighted people with many years experience.
I have often been asked would I recommend this line of work to other vision impaired people and my answer is still a definite Yes. There are certainly many challenges in this industry, but that applies to every industry, but for every challenge there is usually a solution.
However, I would certainly recommend that any vision impaired person look more towards a design role more in the software side of electronics rather than struggling to see fine wiring and components. As we all know the size of electronic equipment is reducing all the time, but the systems are getting more complicated. The simple fact is that the components are much smaller now than they were when I started some 40 years ago. Even fully sighted people do most of their assembly and maintenance work under bright lighting with powerful magnifying equipment.
I would also emphasise the need for extensive education in the electronics field if someone desires to follow this path. It is no longer a case of find the work and then gain the training. Employers are becoming very selective in this area and the level of qualification is becoming extremely important to gain employment in the electronics industry.
So, do I have any regrets, no not one. I achieved my goal in fulfilling my desire to work in electronics and certainly enjoyed my 29 years at Channel Seven Melbourne. It certainly saddened me when it came to an end, but I am sure I will be back in a related industry one day soon.
Contact Details
Peter M Simpson
Home: 03 59416604
Mobile: 0407921900
Email: psim48@bigpond.net.au