Today I had a hands-on evaluation and interview at [business]. I blew it, big time. We didn't even get to the interview part. First test, I munged it, and when you fail a stage you're done, period.
The first test was wiring a three-phase motor. Wiring diagram supplied. Only problem is, I've never wired a three-phase motor, never read one of those wiring diagrams, didn't know what it meant.
Now, what I do in those circumstances is to take a guess and test; if that doesn't work, go back and try again. But the test is timed. I got three stabs at it before running out of time interrupted my fourth, and none of them worked.
It really doesn't help that when I Googed it just now this came up, and the very first one (high voltage) was immediately self-explanatory to me. Now I could ace that portion of the test in about ninety seconds. Connect T4 to T7, T5 to T8, T6 to T9, then T1 to L1, T2 to L2, and T3 to L3. Presto. It's that exact circuit.
That was all I needed. If I'd had just the information in that picture, I would have passed that test. But I didn't have it; they left part of it out.
The given diagram for the test didn't show what to do with the L wires. T1, T2, and T3 were not shown as being connected to anything, kind of like this:
That's what was missing, and that was the critical piece of information that kept me from understanding how to wire the thing based only on the wiring diagram. I would have gotten it, given time; or, if I could have asked someone--
The thing that really sucks about all this is that the other tests on the thing, I know I could have done easily. The other ones would have taken time to do, but they were troubleshooting tests, not "hey let's see if you already know how to do something you could learn to do in about one minute!"
Something I just taught myself to do in one minute.
I'm extremely disappointed in myself, but I do take some solace in the fact that today I
ADDENDUM:
This sums up my feelings rather neatly:
Natalie Dee FTW.