As an engineer yourself you're generous to allow the Sky boy the word at ll, even in inverted commas.
Did you let him do his "installation", what did it consist of, and is it a job that requires an
engineer?
Unfortunately, in the UK, as most of the general public are Technically ignorant, (& its getting worse), anyone who does any job a bit technical gets called an Engineer.
This filters down in a way that means in UK, proper Engineers have lower social standing than
Doctors & Lawers AND get paid much less as well. On the Continent, this isn't the case.
As my house is in an awkward position, I have on the front of the house, one 80cm dish for 13 & 19deg and on the back (for (28deg), is a (non-SKY) 60cm dish with a Technomate 0.1db Octal LNB.
I had already installed (& checked on my SKY+) all the coaxes to the TV so when the SKY guy came, all he had to do was connect the two HD boxes up and do the Software update
Even then he was having a few 'ring-up his supervisor' problems !!
I am close to retirement and have worked in Communications in the Forces for 24yrs followed by the last 22yrs as a Design & Development Engineer, (Electronics & EMC).
What is required of the SKY Installer, is some basic Mechanical skills for his Dish & cabling, and detailed PRACTICAL knowledge of the SKY boxes and their User Interface.
Therefore, I see the knowledge and work requirement of the SKY Installer, as that of a junior Technician.
The theoretical knowledge associated with a real Engineer, such as in Mathematics, Laplace Transforms and Fouriers analysis, etc, which are necessary in all forms of Engineering, will be absent, but not actually required by a Sky Installer - or even for almost all Electricians.
The bottom line is that for almost all of SKY's Customers, who are technically ignorant, the Installer will be seen as technically adept, no matter how little engineering knowledge he really has.
Terry Toye