PAT testing?!

[NigelJK]

There's one born every minute

That may be true, but in my experience most gravy trains start with Government legislation. My tester paid for itself when I refused to pay a £200 bill for PAT testing a microwave on my boat. £50 of that was a 'call out'. Did it myself with the said tester. Have since done it for one client (nice little earner, paid for some xmas goodies) and in negotiation with another. Nice and cheap for me as I'm on site anyway.

[MrMarkyMark]

That may be true, but in my experience most gravy trains start with Government legislation. My tester paid for itself when I refused to pay a £200 bill for PAT testing a microwave on my boat. £50 of that was a 'call out'. Did it myself with the said tester. Have since done it for one client (nice little earner, paid for some xmas goodies) and in negotiation with another. Nice and cheap for me as I'm on site anyway.

Sorry Nigel, I was being a bit sarky (for a change). Surely, they insist on approved equipment being used, anyway?
I work in banking regs, so know all about government related gravy trains....

[northernladuk]

Don't you have to be approved to do PAT testing and have all the proper insurances etc? I'm very surprised clients are happy for just a contractor to rock up and test. Happy days if they are I guess.

[FarmerPalmer]

The law says that it needs to be done by a "competent person", probably the easiest way to "prove" it, is by doing one or more of these reasonably priced online courses.

Seaward Training Portal: All courses

Then its a case of getting public liability insurance to cover the work, either upgrade your existing policy, or take out a separate specialist policy.

I thought about doing it myself as client sites require PAT testing and I like to use my own computer and test equipment, as my kit tends to be better than what my clients provide (in the embedded development world with the exception of maybe one client).

[Support Monkey]

Pat testing is a Monkey Job, any Competent person can do it and you don't need a ticket for it, most sparky's run a mile from it because it is beyond boring, just look under any desk do you really want to test all those power cables

[NibblyPig]

Bad workman always blames his tools.

People have been managing fine on old kit and out if date software forever. I don't think that's the problem that needs changing.

Nice troll post, perhaps if you're not a professional...

I did a gig on a pc that took 14 minutes to boot, and I had to disable half of the windows services to get any speed. Opening visual studio took about 2 minutes, building the solution took 5 minutes. It was an ancient device.

I have the urge to be professional and productive as that's what they're paying me for. Very frustrating to be hindered when you're billing so much and a new machine would pay for itself in lost productivity in a few days!

I guess if you're just watching the clock and don't give a crap about doing good work then it might not bother you...


Pat testing you don't need any qualifications at all, you just have to be competent. Pretty sure anyone could buy the kit and do it, as it mostly involves plugging in the device and pressing a button, which is not difficult...

[SueEllen]

Pat testing you don't need any qualifications at all, you just have to be competent. Pretty sure anyone could buy the kit and do it, as it mostly involves plugging in the device and pressing a button, which is not difficult...

You need to have indemnity and liability insurance in case you test something and it burns down the office a day later.

It's a bit like if your car has an MOT. If it passes the MOT, you immediately drive down the road and the brakes fail due to worn pads the tester has some liability. If it happens a month later then the tester isn't liable.

[northernladuk]

Nice troll post, perhaps if you're not a professional...

Not a troll post really. Just a comment that this has been and always will be a frustration for all of us until clients get BYOD. Instead of preaching to the converted he might just grin and bear it as he can't change it an states it's happened on every client. Frustrating yes but part and parcel sadly.

[SlipTheJab]

Not a troll post really. Just a comment that this has been and always will be a frustration for all of us until clients get BYOD. Instead of preaching to the converted he might just grin and bear it as he can't change it an states it's happened on every client. Frustrating yes but part and parcel sadly.

I find it funny the amount of time that clients lose by giving contractors crap kit, pay a dev £500 a day and give him a 300 quid laptop so he's only working at half speed at best, waste of money no?

[northernladuk]

I find it funny the amount of time that clients lose by giving contractors crap kit, pay a dev £500 a day and give him a 300 quid laptop so he's only working at half speed at best, waste of money no?

Lol indeed. Then they have a laptop refresh and and slowly from the senior management down this new kit arrives and the developers get the hand-me-downs as an upgrade. It affects the permie devs as well but they've just given up and make do.