thats it man my dads doing 25 yrs for harmed robbbery with in tent to morder someone as well, i fink hes my dad har d to tell who it mite be me mum always had fellas coming in and out of her bedrooom,

fink she was a tarrrrrrrrrrttttttttttt

what do you mean like, you might have olevels and that sort of thing but some of us were dragged up through life not born with a silver spoon in our mouth like you lot, know what i mean harry

i very beg your pardon what sort of talk is this old boy, i have never been so insulted in my life

up yours


ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

i think rite you are dissing him man no wot i mean, the freedom of speech is wicked on the west side and on the east side init

respect

Kevin,

Remember to read all about the principles of planning and operational management. These will give you a good, all-round understanding of how a "system" works.

However, there is one rather sensitive subject that many potential emplyers whinge about. It is the correct use of the English language, especially in written format.

Persons who do not have English as their first language, may be forgiven for some of the grammatical errors. However, many employers will not forgive the use of a lower-case "i" when referring to yourself - especially if they believe that English is your native tongue. Moreover, the correct use of apostrophes and full-stops etc. is also equally as important. The last thing you need is a potential employer who is not focussing on your technical ability, enthusiasm and dedication.

Best of luck.

James.

You know what Dave? You got it spot on!!

Kevin

I have just carried out a survey of the UK construction industry, predominantly about delay analysis but I think the findings for planning in general are probably pretty comparable. One of the questions I asked was ’where did you get your knowledge...’. The ranking of replies was:
Experience/self-taught 1
Short course/seminar 2
Textbooks/journals/papers 3
Other practitioners 4
Undergraduate course 5
Postgraduate course 6
Other 7
So it seems to me that a formal education is not a barrier.

You might also get inspiration from Gary France. Gary is/has been a regular poster in this forum about this topic. If you don’t know about Gary this is his thumbnail CV:

Gary is a Group Board Director of Mace and heads up a 60 strong team of planners providing specific expertise to the early stages of property and construction projects. Gary has been involved in planning and programming for 32 years and has worked in a variety of positions for both contractors and construction consultants. He is often asked to input into the conceptual/feasibility stages of his clients’ projects, advising on overall management strategy as well as providing programming input and advice. Gary played a significant part in London’s successful bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games and devised the programme and methods for the delivery of the Olympic Park in Stratford. In addition, Gary undertakes programming expert witness work and in 2004, Gary formed and set up the Planning Engineers Organisation where he is Chairman.

In my humble opinion he is probably the UK’s number 1 planner (and I don’t know if there is anyone else world-wide who would claim the crown). He would, of course, dispute that because he is a modest and really genuine bloke. However, he has readily admitted here, in a spirited discussion some time back that he started his career as a labourer on site and worked his way up by enthusiasm, application and dedication. From what I recollect of his story he is not a graduate with an engineering degree (or any other degree come to that). That does not stop him being in demand as a speaker on the academic circuit.

My advice is to learn what you can, do what you can and put yourself about. Join forums like this, go to meetings, user group get-togethers and so on. You don’t say how old you are Kevin but it’s never too late to get an engineering degree if that’ll make you feel better, I went back to university part-time when I was 36.

Best of luck

David

Kevin

Although I trained in the UK, wales & London, I now live in Australia, so I am not familiar with the current UK education system.

Basically the way most planners that I know start is by doing some sort of trade/professional qualifacation usually in Engineeeerng but it could be IT. Then "learning on the job "

So academic qualifications are not the main way to get into plannin g, although you can do interatnional diplomas, but what most emplpyers are looking for is expereicne , it is the old chicken before the egg thing unfortunatly

If I were you I would also get soem training/skill sin things like MS Project, Primavera. Ideally of course with your employer payin gbut there are demo version around on the web.

how old are you ?

PS it might be a few days before I can respond. but iw ould like to continue to help

regards

Tom Hadley

Hi

I am a senior planner and came to it through an ONC in the UK and then degree in civil engineering. there are now diplomas around the world just in Project control/planning. but once you are in you can work , as I have done on almost any type of project

You didnt say what you have been doing in projects. Is it clerical or thechnical or what?

Let me know and i will be willing to discuss this with you

regards

Tom Hadley