19th April 2010, 01:33 PM
Jack Wrote:In my experience, having a car does not guarentee progression up the supervisor ladder, I know many diggers who have cars, some merely ferry the rest of the staff to and from site and never progress any further.
However, if in a pinch a PO or manager gives a digger with a car a quick covering job monitoring a machine and they perform well, they are often given more oppertunities. Doing watching briefs, dealing with descision making, working well with the construction team and clients form the basis of the skills needed to be a good supervisor in the commercial world.
Very true. I often find that as long as you get a good crop of excavators on site, the archaeology tends to "dig itself" and I spend most of my time dealing with logistics, trying to juggle the client and archaeology priorities, and keeping staff on site reasonably happy so that they can produce good work.
Inside London, cars are a bit pointless, which I know from working there. I'd think at least having a driving license would be worthwhile.
No-one should be forced to drive, but with public transport the way it is and most jobs taking place in the a**e end of nowhere, having a car is pretty much necessary. Unfortunate as it is, you may be the best archaeologist in the world, but if you can't get to the site your skills can't be used.
On the flip side - if you don't have a car - please don't expect me to be used as the site packhorse. I've invested time and money into learning to drive and maintaining my wreck of a vehicle. Ringing me at 8 on a Sunday night out of the blue and expecting me to pick you up from the station without any notice? Get a sodding taxi!
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