Every job I seem to get was complicated and hard. I used to think I was unlucky or the bosses just didn't like me. It did not take me long to work out it was the totally the opposite. All the shit jobs made me a better tradesman.
What was most complicated one? it is hard to tell there all so different. Good that I got a lot of variety as it always kept me on my toes. The industry changed over the years at the start, knowledge and experience was the key, then it became all about speed. Then it was all about the rules, regulations and paper work.
Probably the most interesting was converting an old push button control panel to a new computer touch screen that operated 40 odd conveyor belts. It was in what I used to call the crows nest, as it was high up looking down over the layout. Lots of experts designed new systems that company I worked for could not afford. So in the end they just wanted a new computer to control the existing system the way it was. The system was so old that the drawings and instructions were all long gone. The place was running on local knowledge only. Installing the new touch screen and motor control was the easy part but getting somebody to write the code the way the operators wanted it to work was the problem. Engineers and bosses would get the computer doing what they thought the operators needed but sitting in there air conditioned office they had no idea how the old system used to run. It was lots of visual and verbal communication. It was a hot and noisy place. During trials product got stuck, jammed, thrown onto the floor and damaged. The new system was needing more operators to make it work not less. In the end I had to act as the middle man between the engineers and operators and slowly fix the problems at a time.