What value experience?
In a recent televised football game – when my team lost because the young fullback was ball-watching and left his man unmarked and the ball went over his head to the attacker, who therefore had time to control it, pick his spot and put it past the goalkeeper – I was quite calm. Having had the experience of losing innumerable times, I am finally able to accept that losing isn’t the end of the world! So I didn’t react and shout at the TV as I may have done not so long ago.
However, my calmness was brief on this occasion and only lasted until the expert pundit in the commentary box excused the young fullback’s actions as being due to a lack of experience! To my mind, the fullback’s error was just that: an error of not applying a fundamental aspect of football defence. Based on the realistic assumption that most children start playing football at about the age of seven, the nineteen-year-old fullback would have had approximately 12 years of experience in the game. How much experience do you need before the pundit no longer assigns errors to lack of experience?
In the normal course of events, I would now go on to present my own views about the importance of experience and the value that society puts on it. Then I would ask you for your views. Unfortunately, my experience is that you will not provide your views. So, learning from my experience, I propose to put some arguments both for and against the value of experience and hopefully you will discuss these amongst your colleagues and arrive at your own view. Maybe if you attend a Branch meeting then you could raise it under ‘AOB’ and the discussion could be reported along with the meeting report.
A dictionary definition of experience is: ‘knowledge or practical wisdom gained from what one has observed, encountered or undergone’. The Latin origins of the word are ‘knowledge gained by repeated trials’, and ‘to test, try’ and ‘feel, undergo’. So, experience is about learning by doing; the emphasis is on practical applications and involves feelings and sensations. Generally, we put great store by experience. When you apply for a job, the first thing those assessing the application look for, or even demand, is that you have had experience of doing the job before. When looking at assessing people’s competence for undertaking a task we talk about SQEP (Suitably Qualified and Experienced Personnel) or ATE (Appropriately Trained and Experienced). Many companies pay people more money based on their length of experience. When marketing companies and their capability, the text often refers to the number of years of experience they have in a discipline: the combined years of individuals is often quoted: “Over one hundred and fifty years’ experience of…”.
Experience is important for NDT. The requirements to obtain PCN certification are given in PCN GEN Issue 6 Rev B and state that 12 months’ industrial experience is required for Level 1 and 2 combined for the more advanced NDT methods and four months for the methods such as MT and PT. Industrial NDT experience is defined as the experience needed to acquire the skill and knowledge to fulfil the provisions of qualification in the appropriate sector, and which is gained under the supervision of Appropriately Qualified Personnel, in the application of the NDT method in the sector concerned.
The flipside of the experience coin can be glimpsed in this definition. What is the actual experience needed to acquire the skill and knowledge to fulfil the provisions? One person’s experience will be different to another’s based on the fact that individuals perceive differently. Experience is about practically acquiring skill and knowledge, but one will only gain that skill and knowledge if there is feedback on performance either in comparing what you did against what you should have done or in feedback from ‘Appropriately Qualified Personnel’. If you spend 12 months performing inspections but never come across a defect, is that sufficient experience?
Military history provides material for the discussion of experience. The British had years of counter insurgency experience from Northern Ireland, and Malaya before that, but were unable to counter the insurgency in Iraq and initially in Afghanistan. As Richard North says in his book: “Experience counts for very little when a concept has never been tried before or when it is not underpinned by a sound intellectual base”. General Erwin Rommel said: “The Americans, it is fair to say, profited far more than the British from their experience in Africa, thus confirming that education is easier than re-education”. If experience lacks the feedback, or the individuals learn the incorrect lessons, then experience can lead to bad habits, poor skills and misplaced confidence in the application of inappropriate knowledge.
So, over to you: how should we value experience in a changing world? Discuss.
Please note that the views expressed in this column are the author’s own personal ramblings for the purpose of encouraging discussion within the NDT Newspaper. They do not represent the views of the IVC, Serco Assurance or the HSE who funded the PANI projects.
Letters can be mailed to The Editor, NDT News, Newton Building, St George’s Avenue, Northampton NN2 6JB. Fax: 01604 89 3861; Email: ndtnews@bindt.org or email Bernard McGrath direct at Bernard.McGrath@sercoassurance.com
However, my calmness was brief on this occasion and only lasted until the expert pundit in the commentary box excused the young fullback’s actions as being due to a lack of experience! To my mind, the fullback’s error was just that: an error of not applying a fundamental aspect of football defence. Based on the realistic assumption that most children start playing football at about the age of seven, the nineteen-year-old fullback would have had approximately 12 years of experience in the game. How much experience do you need before the pundit no longer assigns errors to lack of experience?
In the normal course of events, I would now go on to present my own views about the importance of experience and the value that society puts on it. Then I would ask you for your views. Unfortunately, my experience is that you will not provide your views. So, learning from my experience, I propose to put some arguments both for and against the value of experience and hopefully you will discuss these amongst your colleagues and arrive at your own view. Maybe if you attend a Branch meeting then you could raise it under ‘AOB’ and the discussion could be reported along with the meeting report.
A dictionary definition of experience is: ‘knowledge or practical wisdom gained from what one has observed, encountered or undergone’. The Latin origins of the word are ‘knowledge gained by repeated trials’, and ‘to test, try’ and ‘feel, undergo’. So, experience is about learning by doing; the emphasis is on practical applications and involves feelings and sensations. Generally, we put great store by experience. When you apply for a job, the first thing those assessing the application look for, or even demand, is that you have had experience of doing the job before. When looking at assessing people’s competence for undertaking a task we talk about SQEP (Suitably Qualified and Experienced Personnel) or ATE (Appropriately Trained and Experienced). Many companies pay people more money based on their length of experience. When marketing companies and their capability, the text often refers to the number of years of experience they have in a discipline: the combined years of individuals is often quoted: “Over one hundred and fifty years’ experience of…”.
Experience is important for NDT. The requirements to obtain PCN certification are given in PCN GEN Issue 6 Rev B and state that 12 months’ industrial experience is required for Level 1 and 2 combined for the more advanced NDT methods and four months for the methods such as MT and PT. Industrial NDT experience is defined as the experience needed to acquire the skill and knowledge to fulfil the provisions of qualification in the appropriate sector, and which is gained under the supervision of Appropriately Qualified Personnel, in the application of the NDT method in the sector concerned.
The flipside of the experience coin can be glimpsed in this definition. What is the actual experience needed to acquire the skill and knowledge to fulfil the provisions? One person’s experience will be different to another’s based on the fact that individuals perceive differently. Experience is about practically acquiring skill and knowledge, but one will only gain that skill and knowledge if there is feedback on performance either in comparing what you did against what you should have done or in feedback from ‘Appropriately Qualified Personnel’. If you spend 12 months performing inspections but never come across a defect, is that sufficient experience?
Military history provides material for the discussion of experience. The British had years of counter insurgency experience from Northern Ireland, and Malaya before that, but were unable to counter the insurgency in Iraq and initially in Afghanistan. As Richard North says in his book: “Experience counts for very little when a concept has never been tried before or when it is not underpinned by a sound intellectual base”. General Erwin Rommel said: “The Americans, it is fair to say, profited far more than the British from their experience in Africa, thus confirming that education is easier than re-education”. If experience lacks the feedback, or the individuals learn the incorrect lessons, then experience can lead to bad habits, poor skills and misplaced confidence in the application of inappropriate knowledge.
So, over to you: how should we value experience in a changing world? Discuss.
Please note that the views expressed in this column are the author’s own personal ramblings for the purpose of encouraging discussion within the NDT Newspaper. They do not represent the views of the IVC, Serco Assurance or the HSE who funded the PANI projects.
Letters can be mailed to The Editor, NDT News, Newton Building, St George’s Avenue, Northampton NN2 6JB. Fax: 01604 89 3861; Email: ndtnews@bindt.org or email Bernard McGrath direct at Bernard.McGrath@sercoassurance.com
