...a good technical person will quickly learn how to manipulate a manager into doing their bidding.
:rofl:
It took me years to perfect the ability to get a manager to think that my idea was his idea. He may get the credit, but often there are people above him/her that 'know the score'.
As for pay, well my immediate supervisor may get paid more (on paper), but he also doesn't get paid for overtime. Come fall me and a few buddies will sit and compare check stubs (sometimes loudly, and when managers are near). We'll often ask them if they've broken $100K yet. My manager looks down sheepishly and says that he's not there yet. I don't give him too hard a time, honestly he's a nice enough guy, but he took a manager slot instead of a technician slot. He's an engineer (mechanical) and got stuck with a bunch of electronics guys.
I've worked for some real idiots too. It does take some people longer than others to realize that the crew that works for you can make you look good, or bad, if they are willing to take the pain, making a manager look bad (and eventually replaced) isn't difficult. But it's a group effort. And not painless.
@Hlynkacg H-60's I presume (I hope)? I loved my time working as an avionics tech on the helos. P-3's are for sissies. When you get a 1000 hour pin in a helicopter,
that's an accomplishment to be proud of. 3000 hours means you've made it to Jedi Master status.
So in short, I'm a technician. And proud of it. Engineers dream it up, but a tech makes it work. Once (maybe twice) in a lifetime a good engineer will pair up with a good tech and they become an unbeatable combo (until discovered by management and they promptly get disbanded).