I'm retired now,I operated a grader for 37 years,as good as you are,you never stop learning,i stared as a green horn,learned a lot from the older operators,finished as a finisher,great info
Run a grader for 11 years and was still finding another function it would do. I loved it what you could do was admazing. My work will be seen 50 years from now
Back in the 1960's we lived very rural as in no neighbors for miles. The road was gravel and seemed like every summer the township graded the roads to bring them back after a winter of snowplowing. They also used their red Austin Western to clean out the ditches. As a young boy I loved watching them work. When they purchased a Gradall I was in heaven. I remember watching that Gradall being used on steep banks and in ditches it was unbelievable.
In the 70's I pulled into a town with an almost empty tank and no money. So I went to the employment office and asked for a job. He said "I've got one job, can you drive a backhoe"? I said "Yes". Cut a long story short, I worked through smoko, lunch and kept going after knock-off. Eventually the boss came out and pulled his thumb across his neck and waved me into his trailer. I'd already prepared my story about being rusty and different machines, etc. But when he said "You've never driven a backhoe before, have you"? His eyes told me to say "No Sir". I was wondering whether he'd pay me anything when he said "See you in the morning". He added "Have you eaten"? "No Sir", "Got any money"? "No Sir". He told me to see a bloke at the pub and gave me cash for fuel. There was two machines on that job, the other bloke was pretty good according to him and the other workers but when we finished that job a few months later I was faster and fussier than him. Experience does help but *_"Hard work"_* can and did trump experience.
These machines are so incredibly versatile. I haven't operated heavy equipment but a grader looks similarly difficult to operate as a walking excavator.
Its a feel thing as is most moving machinery. You can give people all the book knowledge you want, and yet so many operators completely stink...I know the basics of boxing and yet would get owned by raw talent.
