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suburbanplumber
Now Then. The other VIY thread was a big help to me in deciding to do my training with VIY so I thought I’d do a new thread, as there have been a few changes to the course content and the teaching staff. I have no connection to VIY, other than being a customer.
Beforehand:
Online:
VIY’s website isn’t all that, in fact its pants.
Over the phone:
George who owns VIY is very charming and made me feel at ease about giving him seven grand. He can sort out a finance package with nothing to pay for the first year, but it aint cheap. I’ll be posting more information on the differences between what different students thought they were getting as this thread continues.
In the flesh: George is exactly as southerners imagine a jovial Yorkshire man to be. A very likeable chap, and a great salesman.
Week One
The class of Jan 09 from the south coast to the north east, age ranges from 19 to early 60’s, the most common reasons for attending are ‘just become a dad’ and ‘just been made redundant’. Experience varies from already working as a plumber to not even done much DIY.
The start to the week is shambolic, team VIY are not very organised. Joe Awkward tutored the first week (ok not his name but it should be, and he pronounces it that way). Joe took a whole week to teach two introductory chapters from the manual, really it was one days training at most, and what seemed like ten days of his interminable stories.
Joe has a very high option of his teaching ability, not one I share. When, after the first exam Joe was asked for feedback, it was health and safety, i.e workplace safety while handling hazardous materials, so it’s important to know what you don’t know, Joe told us that as a previous group had wanted to argue with him about the interpretation of the questions he would not give us any feedback and it wasn’t his job to do so.
NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Joe may have gotten away with his patronise-the-ladies & sneer-at-the-lads attitude when working in the public sector, but it’s not good enough for a commercial training organisation. We spent the weekend talking about how to broach the subject of his unprofessional attitude and poor delivery skills with George but on Monday morning Joe had left, and the learning began. Big time.
Week Two
Int t’Shop
Joe’s sudden departure seemed to have caught his colleagues on the hop and we were moved to the workshop where we spent the first two days of getting used to the materials and tools. Think of the sound of dropped spanners and the smell of solder and singed fingers! The workshop teachers are Mark, Simon, Steve and Brian. They spend a lot of time teasing each other, which soon put everyone at ease. Whenever there are asked a how to question they you always get 1,2,3, or even 4 different ways of solving the problem with them adding that there is no ‘right’ way to plumb a job. What they teach is the underlying principles, encouraging students to take a creative approach to problem solving. As we were to find out they are extremely knowledgeable and go out of their way to make sure no student is left behind. The house teaching style is to show you once, answer any questions, encourage you to get on with it, and then reappear as if by magic, standing at your shoulder, if you get stuck. Thumbs up.
On Wednesday we started to on our first assessment pieces, half the class fitting a bathroom and the other half doing a pair of cold and hot water tanks. Most of us finished the assignment Wednesday evening/Thursday morning.
Week Three
Mark took over the classroom training apologising for any lack a familiarity with the material, and claiming not to be as good a teacher as Joe. Disarmingly charming, hilariously blunt, and massively knowledgeable Mark certainly under promised and over delivered. He has really natural training style, always saying how little he cares, always demonstrating how much he cares. Thumbs up.
More soon
Suburban Plumber
Beforehand:
Online:
VIY’s website isn’t all that, in fact its pants.
Over the phone:
George who owns VIY is very charming and made me feel at ease about giving him seven grand. He can sort out a finance package with nothing to pay for the first year, but it aint cheap. I’ll be posting more information on the differences between what different students thought they were getting as this thread continues.
In the flesh: George is exactly as southerners imagine a jovial Yorkshire man to be. A very likeable chap, and a great salesman.
Week One
The class of Jan 09 from the south coast to the north east, age ranges from 19 to early 60’s, the most common reasons for attending are ‘just become a dad’ and ‘just been made redundant’. Experience varies from already working as a plumber to not even done much DIY.
The start to the week is shambolic, team VIY are not very organised. Joe Awkward tutored the first week (ok not his name but it should be, and he pronounces it that way). Joe took a whole week to teach two introductory chapters from the manual, really it was one days training at most, and what seemed like ten days of his interminable stories.
Joe has a very high option of his teaching ability, not one I share. When, after the first exam Joe was asked for feedback, it was health and safety, i.e workplace safety while handling hazardous materials, so it’s important to know what you don’t know, Joe told us that as a previous group had wanted to argue with him about the interpretation of the questions he would not give us any feedback and it wasn’t his job to do so.
NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Joe may have gotten away with his patronise-the-ladies & sneer-at-the-lads attitude when working in the public sector, but it’s not good enough for a commercial training organisation. We spent the weekend talking about how to broach the subject of his unprofessional attitude and poor delivery skills with George but on Monday morning Joe had left, and the learning began. Big time.
Week Two
Int t’Shop
Joe’s sudden departure seemed to have caught his colleagues on the hop and we were moved to the workshop where we spent the first two days of getting used to the materials and tools. Think of the sound of dropped spanners and the smell of solder and singed fingers! The workshop teachers are Mark, Simon, Steve and Brian. They spend a lot of time teasing each other, which soon put everyone at ease. Whenever there are asked a how to question they you always get 1,2,3, or even 4 different ways of solving the problem with them adding that there is no ‘right’ way to plumb a job. What they teach is the underlying principles, encouraging students to take a creative approach to problem solving. As we were to find out they are extremely knowledgeable and go out of their way to make sure no student is left behind. The house teaching style is to show you once, answer any questions, encourage you to get on with it, and then reappear as if by magic, standing at your shoulder, if you get stuck. Thumbs up.
On Wednesday we started to on our first assessment pieces, half the class fitting a bathroom and the other half doing a pair of cold and hot water tanks. Most of us finished the assignment Wednesday evening/Thursday morning.
Week Three
Mark took over the classroom training apologising for any lack a familiarity with the material, and claiming not to be as good a teacher as Joe. Disarmingly charming, hilariously blunt, and massively knowledgeable Mark certainly under promised and over delivered. He has really natural training style, always saying how little he cares, always demonstrating how much he cares. Thumbs up.
More soon
Suburban Plumber
