<p>Some of the training required for various “skilled” vocations seem fairly easy when they are basically applications of your coursework – the only thing you’re lacking is some cramming material, a manual and some practice.</p>
<p>How would say, a premed student be able to get certified in medical coding or billing or whatever. I mean medical coding needs a year’s training? Really? It seems like something you could cram for (and then retain on the job), especially since the code for every disease documented is available on Wikipedia. How would you say, turn years of credit for labwork and coursework in genetics, microbiology and human biology into the equivalent of years of medical billing experience in an employers’ eyes? I mean, you could pull it off, right? (Just toss some advanced math and abstract algebra coursework in?)</p>
<p>On the e-school side, how would you turn fluid dynamics, thermodynamics and heat dissipation and electrical engineering coursework, into say, HVAC and electrical technician experience?</p>
<p>Are there exam-only certifications? I guess, how would you convince employers or schools to start you on “accelerated vocational training” programs. Some of these exams seem very crammable (i.e. easier than AP).</p>
<p>Admittedly I am dissatisfied with my current salaries and would like summer positions where I could actually use my brain and my knowledge base. (I’m in a research lab, but it doesn’t pay. It’s actually better that way as not being paid allows you to get more hours and it’s better for experience and your resume in the long run.)</p>
<p>Some of the benefits of those research positions is that you don’t have to pay taxes on food, housing and travel and that they pay keeps your taxes low overall. You can probably make more money doing web or application programming that in doing computer science research but you need to know the ropes and this takes time and tinkering in addition to learning the material.</p>
<p>For your HVAC situation, what would you do if you find a beehive near an HVAC installation that you had to work on? You might run into all kinds of different building environments for HVAC work which is why I see the advantages of an apprentice approach for training.</p>
<p>Is the concern the safety of the equipment from insects, or my safety? I mean, I could just don a suit and do the whole smoke-emission thing? </p>
<p>I’m not against apprentice training. I just don’t want it to be a 1-year program – i.e. it would be something that would be accelerated. I suppose it’s quite late into the summer anyway. I mean I’d have the feeling that 50% of it would be relearning stuff I already know.</p>
<p>“Is the concern the safety of the equipment from insects, or my safety? I mean, I could just don a suit and do the whole smoke-emission thing?”</p>
<p>With an apprenticeship, you’d run into many situations that aren’t in the book and could see how someone with experience handles the situations.</p>
<p>Donning a suit implies that you have one in your vehicle. How would you know to carry one or even if you should carry one?</p>
<p>Use a laptop-mobile connection (always present with me!) to google the species of bee, find out their aggressiveness, what are easy ways to calm their activity, etc. </p>
<p>I suppose if they were Africanized bees I’d postpone the installation for a few hours or a day, maybe to move the hive. But otherwise I’d just bite the bullet, spray something on and not worry about a few stings.</p>
<p>30 years ago, an AT&T guy came to install a second line at our house. He opened up the boot on the line and ran into a bunch of bees. He asked me to go into his van and toss him up a can of something. I did. He pushed the top of the can and a stream of stuff went out and a bunch of bees dropped to the ground. I don’t know if they can do that today but it’s probably something that he didn’t learn in a book.</p>
<p>Kinda hard to self-study vocational stuff from a book actually … but I imagine that a good portion of vocational training is bookwork. </p>
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<p>I think it’s something you could google.</p>
<p>Bees are quite affected by alcohol actually. A mechanism of mass death that I propose is taking some rubbing alcohol (methanol is even better), a spraybottle and just kill them that way. </p>
<p>Possibly what I think he sprayed is toluene(?). Aerosols in general would be toxic to bees.</p>
<p>Well there are all sorts of creative ways to kill bees. I mean, I was trying to think of ecologically responsible ways to carry out your work, since HVAC has that sort of kill-the-planet reputation already with haloalkanes. But sure, I mean even if I didn’t already have a vested interest in homemade pesticides (I am growing a rose) it would take 5 minutes to google max.</p>
<p>Also in an evolutionary bio lab where we experiment with plant genetics and occasionally deal with herbivory defences as a measure of plant fitness, we have developed all sorts of cool ways to instantly knock out insects without killing them.</p>
<p>I think intellectual knowledge is easily applicable to anything, whereas it’s hard to regeneralise if you are using vocational knowledge as a starting point.</p>
<p>It doesn’t really matter what the science is. What matters is that you have the right thing to take care of the problem in your truck, that you know where it is and that you know how to use it. You don’t know what you will run into in the wild but you have to be prepared for the common things.</p>
<p>Well wildlife. Good to know. Rubbing alcohol is such a common cleaner anyway that it would probably always be in my inventory. And the utility of fillable spraybottles?</p>
<p>I think it’s part of the art of hacking. (MIT’s forte, though I’m not from there.)</p>
<p>Anyway since I possibly can’t learn an entire trade through a prep book, do you know how I would get a business to take me in and what would be the most effective way to convince that my college coursework would give me an edge in training?</p>
<p>Sorry, but I think that’s a bit naive. My father has worked in various “practical” trade. The intellectual aspect of the job may be easy to master quickly, but the work will usually demand a lot of knowledge and practice. There is a lot to be said about the value of experience.</p>