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Does the need drive the end?

6 replies [Last post]
Tue, 2007-08-14 06:23
Oliver Melling
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All,

I have been a planner in the UK for about 5 years ish.

Since I have been in the industry, the market has been very buoyant for planners.

I know that there is the olympic village, terminal 5 and so on but....

will the current high requirement for planners lead to an immense amount of people training to become planners and thus saturate the market in the coming years?

Oliver
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Replies

Wed, 2007-08-15 06:06
#1
Jerome Atkin
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Oliver,
So sorry, I just got into work at 7am when I posted that reply. So sorry I should have waited for the tea boy to bring me my morning cuppa first !
In the UAE there are many planners – 90% have no clue on how to build a programme, link it and ensure a correct critical path with correct durations for activities, I spend my day sorting out plans from sub contractors as their baselines are totally .. (no wonder Dubai’s building works are running late).
Same when I was in the U.K (although not as bad as here) people are sending out idiots who say they are planners who cannot tie their shoelaces let alone plan a project.
Most of the people will however get a result where all they are doing is updating, but when it comes to reports ect they will have to rely on other people helping them.
My main point is if you are a sub contractor and earning 300+ per day you should be able to hold your won.
A lot of consultants do not know planning/planners but sell there services !! They would not know a good planner from a bad one – I suppose they don’t really care.
Sorry if my post was aimed at you – I’m having trouble with consultants at the moment so I lashed out, but at the wrong person.

Sorry Oliver.
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Wed, 2007-08-15 02:54
#2
Oliver Melling
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Gerome,

I am not a consultant, I am a planning engineer.

The reason i asked the question, is because in the UK there are many as you put it ’software jockies’ earning top money right now.

A few more years experience and they will become planners!
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Wed, 2007-08-15 02:41
#3
Chris Oggham
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Hi Clive,

I understand where you’re coming from, but I think the issue centres around what the job entails. Gerome pointed out, in his post, just what being a planner means, but it isn’t until someone actually starts doing the job that they’ll find out for themselves.

The fact that people aren’t falling over themselves to become planners would seem to indicate that there are other alternatives that provide an easier option.

Chris
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Wed, 2007-08-15 00:19
#4
Jerome Atkin
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Oliver,

Doing a planning course for P3 does not make you a planner; it enables you to operate the software at basic levels.
There are a lot of functions, which it does not teach you.
The course has a book, a step-by-step guide through the programme (P3).
Once you have completed the course you are no planner.
Also if you think you can walk off the street and say “hey planners earn good money I want to be one of those” you will be found out in the first 10 mins on the job.
You should have an engineering qualification or have been brought up through the ranks (like I have in construction - under qualified senior planner). These people who have got no experience in planning who do a course should be sold as just that, they are in my mind not even a Jnr planner.
I think they should be in a planning environment for at least 1 year before they can call themselves even a Jnr Planner.
Everyone has to learn, I agree – but after doing a course in planning (software not the practice off) you cannot go and function as a planner. A lot of consultants are selling “planner’s” who have no experience and cannot even tell what a critical path is.
This is what is killing the industry, if there were less software jockeys practicing as planners; then the real planners could give them help. If someone calls them self a planner and only has done a course I would see this straight away and not hire him in the first place. There are a lot of planners in London – but not a lot of them have the experience to plan millions of pounds worth of work, hold meeting with sub contractors, go on site and work out % comp to ensure the data they have is correct, progress the plan and see if the critical path has changed, make recovery plan, earned value, recourse analysis, Check a plan to see if the logic is correct, spot mistakes and not assume the plan is correct the list goes on – most of this you do not learn in the course, but will be expected to know how to do it when you are in that planning seat. – But this would not give the consultants the commission you crave !
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Tue, 2007-08-14 22:43
#5
Clive Randall
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But that is how most people see planners Chris

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Tue, 2007-08-14 09:52
#6
Chris Oggham
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Hi Oliver,

I don’t think we will see large numbers of people training to become planners to saturate the market. At least not while there are there are easier alternatives.

With this drive to introduce HIPS when you sell your house it’s much easier to take a few courses and become a Thermal Efficiency Inspector on £100k. Much of the work seems to consist of filling out some pre-printed forms and carrying out a few basic calculations.

Seems to be an easier alternative than planning.

Chris Oggham
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