Do guys prefer self-help or to hire the skills of a professional / “expert”?
09-05-2015, 09:56 PM
From my experience, it seems that guys tend to enjoy considerable self-satisfaction and sense of accomplishment by fixing, building and maintaining things on their own.
Likely there is some cultural and socialization aspects concerning the answer, yet over the years (30 years or more since my leaving high school), some of these self-sufficiency expectations have changed in society with various forms of automation and the value that has been given to the employment of services, communications and office skills – as opposed to making or repairing things.
In my case, I was brought up in a rural area and rural living and encouraged to be self-sufficient; however, when I moved away from my home area, after high school, I became more and more detached from self-help type practices because I entered into a world that was valuing, more and more, communications and documentations, and in essence services and office work.
When I was in middle school and highschool, I found value in the trades and in the making, creation, servicing and maintenance of a variety of things. I think that my initial inclinations and interests were to go into areas that would employ engineering kinds of skills; however, in high school, I was NOT really educated in what is an engineer nor recognizing the variety of differences in skilled work or skilled work that required some theoretical training. So because of some of my limitations in perspective, I did NOT really understand the difference theoretical or practical aspects of an engineer with a 4 year degree or more as compared with an engineering trained technician that may have less than 2 years of post high school education / training.
While I was in middle and high school, I worked with my uncles to repair, maintain and build buildings, and even carrying out a variety of repair and maintenance work that involving the practices of family-owned farming and ranching practices.
When I was 12 years old, one of my uncles took me under his wing in order to assist him in carrying out a variety of duties in his auto mechanic’s shop. Sometimes my work in the autoshop that continued while I was in highschool involved actual mechanical repairs and maintenance of automobiles or farm equipment; however, frequently I was assigned various grunt tasks or running a variety of errands related to his small business operation.
Even though auto mechanic’s work could be very grungy, I felt some satisfaction when carrying out work that resulted in concrete fixing and maintenance of things.
Over the past 30+ years, I have held a large number of jobs, and I have engaged in a variety of activities involving providing services, ancillary services and even carrying out office work.
NONETHELESS, over the years, from time to time, I have also incorporated a variety of self-help skills into my life.. so if my car broke down, I might attempt to fix it myself. If I needed to change some building set-ups, I may install equipment or facilities on my own.
In that regard, when the work requires new skills or specialty tools, it is NOT always clear whether it would be better to employ some assistance or the expertise of someone trained in the trade or to attempt to carry out the self-help work myself. There remain only so many hours in any given day, so sometimes the time/money balancing factor seems to justify that my time might be better spent in other activities, rather than attempting some kind of do-it-yourself building, maintenance or repair.
I am curious to hear from other guys about their perceptions as applied to their own practices regarding self-help activities that may bring them self-satisfaction. Do guys get more satisfaction in carrying out the work themselves, consulting with “experts” or getting a specialist to carry out work for them?
Likely there is some cultural and socialization aspects concerning the answer, yet over the years (30 years or more since my leaving high school), some of these self-sufficiency expectations have changed in society with various forms of automation and the value that has been given to the employment of services, communications and office skills – as opposed to making or repairing things.
In my case, I was brought up in a rural area and rural living and encouraged to be self-sufficient; however, when I moved away from my home area, after high school, I became more and more detached from self-help type practices because I entered into a world that was valuing, more and more, communications and documentations, and in essence services and office work.
When I was in middle school and highschool, I found value in the trades and in the making, creation, servicing and maintenance of a variety of things. I think that my initial inclinations and interests were to go into areas that would employ engineering kinds of skills; however, in high school, I was NOT really educated in what is an engineer nor recognizing the variety of differences in skilled work or skilled work that required some theoretical training. So because of some of my limitations in perspective, I did NOT really understand the difference theoretical or practical aspects of an engineer with a 4 year degree or more as compared with an engineering trained technician that may have less than 2 years of post high school education / training.
While I was in middle and high school, I worked with my uncles to repair, maintain and build buildings, and even carrying out a variety of repair and maintenance work that involving the practices of family-owned farming and ranching practices.
When I was 12 years old, one of my uncles took me under his wing in order to assist him in carrying out a variety of duties in his auto mechanic’s shop. Sometimes my work in the autoshop that continued while I was in highschool involved actual mechanical repairs and maintenance of automobiles or farm equipment; however, frequently I was assigned various grunt tasks or running a variety of errands related to his small business operation.
Even though auto mechanic’s work could be very grungy, I felt some satisfaction when carrying out work that resulted in concrete fixing and maintenance of things.
Over the past 30+ years, I have held a large number of jobs, and I have engaged in a variety of activities involving providing services, ancillary services and even carrying out office work.
NONETHELESS, over the years, from time to time, I have also incorporated a variety of self-help skills into my life.. so if my car broke down, I might attempt to fix it myself. If I needed to change some building set-ups, I may install equipment or facilities on my own.
In that regard, when the work requires new skills or specialty tools, it is NOT always clear whether it would be better to employ some assistance or the expertise of someone trained in the trade or to attempt to carry out the self-help work myself. There remain only so many hours in any given day, so sometimes the time/money balancing factor seems to justify that my time might be better spent in other activities, rather than attempting some kind of do-it-yourself building, maintenance or repair.
I am curious to hear from other guys about their perceptions as applied to their own practices regarding self-help activities that may bring them self-satisfaction. Do guys get more satisfaction in carrying out the work themselves, consulting with “experts” or getting a specialist to carry out work for them?