Thinking of a career change

[pilchardthecat]

A friend of mine retrained to become an electrician in his mid-30s.

He got the necessary bits of paper from the college and just needed the years experience as an apprentice in order that he could be certified for doing domestic work etc.

Unfortunately, nobody would hire him as an apprentice, because ulike the 16,17,18 year olds the min wage requirements are different, and they seemed to think he wouldn't put up with making everyone tea and skivvying.

He gave up after a year and now does other things

 

[Anonymous]

encee Cheers M8

A friend of mine retrained to become an electrician in his mid-30s.

He got the necessary bits of paper from the college and just needed the years experience as an apprentice in order that he could be certified for doing domestic work etc.

Unfortunately, nobody would hire him as an apprentice, because ulike the 16,17,18 year olds the min wage requirements are different, and they seemed to think he wouldn't put up with making everyone tea and skivvying.

He gave up after a year and now does other things

Hmm I did have concerns over "getting started" once qualified I have spoken to the Course tutor and I have been assured by him and by a good friend of mine who is a qualified sparky and was working as a spark for over 20 years till he smashed his legs up in m/bike accident that the qualifications certificates that I would leave the course with already certify me to carry out Domestic electical work. My mate basically put it like this.

I would effectively learn over the 6 week period what he learnt over four years on day release, what I don't get is the experience of watching and on the job training of how a sparky actually works.
This I can handle as I do have alot of experience of tool work and as Lacroupe said My life experience and knowing how to deal with people will go a long way. The way I see it is I will be able to the job but over the first year or so it is just going to take me longer to do a job than it would an experienced Sparky, and I think if I am honest and up front with that with potential customers and reflect it in my Quotes then hopefully they will understanfd they will a good job but it will just take a bit longer.

Since I have been thinking about this and discussed it with people I have so far got 10 potential customers already.
Downside is that looking at the costs and the obvious initial outlay to set up and time given before I could project making a profit and determined not to borrow any Money to do it then Very strong possibility that Maldives blue Z4 2.5 will be in the buy and sell section

 

[Taz]

Nosa, this is your time to change, if you do nothing you will always look back and think what if, at worst you won't like it

 

[Anonymous]

That's a lot of money to shell out. I don't want to see you lose your car. :wink:

I think the course you're talking about is the Domestic Installer Scheme which is strictly defined as work covered by the Part P Regulations.
The full scope qualification covers new installation or rewiring domestic premises, and there is also a minor works qualification.
It may seem like they are de-skilling domestic house wiring, but the testing procedures are horrendously complex nowadays.
I assume that this qualification would let you test and issue test certificates, and if it does that could be very useful to you.

I'm not in the industry any longer, but I'm not aware that Scotland had adopted the new Part P Regulation yet - I may be wrong.

I do wish you the best of luck.

 

[z4phill]

Consider training as a brickie. They get paid a hell of a lot and if it's too cold or raining, they just sit in the office all day and get paid for nothing!

The girlfriend's a Civil Engineer and she can attest to this

I am A bricklayer and stone mason By trade and take it from me Its a young mans game , its true the weather can cause you to have big delays , I have been self employed for 28 years and when your not working your not getting paid , This time of year is a nightmare cant lay when its raining or freezing and that sums up the british winter, on top of that not to meny new houses bieing built at the moment I have never been paid to sit on my backside and hope I never will , A good brickie will earn good money You have to be fast clean and tidy it takes years to be a good one, have seen blokes on site calling themselvs bricklayes they have done a 6 month college course and are unemployable they are to slow dirty and the work is so untidy it has to be pulled down and rebuilt in the worst case, or acid cleaned to remove the compo off the wall in the best case , unless you are keen and under 21 dont even think about trainig as a bricklayer , I am 46 myself and run my own building company and would not employ a brickie unless he has had 3 years training and been on site for 7 years ,The big expansion is in renewable energy fitting solar panels etc I would have a look in that direction there seems to be lots of projects on go at the moment

And talk about getting paid loads doing for nothing we had an engineer on site recently on £350 a day looking in a big hole taking measurements every hour on how quickly water soakes in to the ground he was there two days !!!!!!!! WTF

 

[Guiseley]

it is in Rotherham so that would mean costs of food and Accom for 6 week

Thoughts :!:

Lucy lives in Rotherham :wink:

 

[chrismann85]

Consider training as a brickie. They get paid a hell of a lot and if it's too cold or raining, they just sit in the office all day and get paid for nothing!

The girlfriend's a Civil Engineer and she can attest to this

I am A bricklayer and stone mason By trade and take it from me Its a young mans game , its true the weather can cause you to have big delays , I have been self employed for 28 years and when your not working your not getting paid , This time of year is a nightmare cant lay when its raining or freezing and that sums up the british winter, on top of that not to meny new houses bieing built at the moment I have never been paid to sit on my backside and hope I never will , A good brickie will earn good money You have to be fast clean and tidy it takes years to be a good one, have seen blokes on site calling themselvs bricklayes they have done a 6 month college course and are unemployable they are to slow dirty and the work is so untidy it has to be pulled down and rebuilt in the worst case, or acid cleaned to remove the compo off the wall in the best case , unless you are keen and under 21 dont even think about trainig as a bricklayer , I am 46 myself and run my own building company and would not employ a brickie unless he has had 3 years training and been on site for 7 years ,The big expansion is in renewable energy fitting solar panels etc I would have a look in that direction there seems to be lots of projects on go at the moment

And talk about getting paid loads doing for nothing we had an engineer on site recently on £350 a day looking in a big hole taking measurements every hour on how quickly water soakes in to the ground he was there two days !!!!!!!! WTF

Phil, please don't take that personally, I wasn't referring to self employed bricklayers. My girlfriend worked for a large Civil engineering firm. I completely agree with you about Civil Engineers, they do absolutely nothing and get paid a sh1tload. Whilst I was study engine theory, my girlfriend was playing in the sand.

Don't think that would be a viable career path for Nosa however, as it'll take 3-4yrs to get a degree and I think he may be a little to old to go the apprentice route, which can take 5 yrs or more with no guarantee of getting to engineer level.

 

[Anonymous]

Don't think that would be a viable career path for Nosa however, as it'll take 3-4yrs to get a degree and I think he may be a little to old to go the apprentice route, which can take 5 yrs or more with no guarantee of getting to engineer level.

Yup, that and I prefer to work for a living

 

[Lucy]

it is in Rotherham so that would mean costs of food and Accom for 6 week

Thoughts :!:

Lucy lives in Rotherham :wink:

Hey don't tell him that

 

[Rolf-Dieter]

Hope you find what you are looking for soon. I've had several career changes in my working life in the end I was lucky to succeed on my own for the past 25 years.

Always look at things in a positive way and remember what good old Albert once said;

"In The Middle Of Difficulty Lies Opportunity" (Albert Einstein)

Best of luck to you!

Cheers,

Rolf-Dieter

 

[Anonymous]

it is in Rotherham so that would mean costs of food and Accom for 6 week

Thoughts :!:

Lucy lives in Rotherham :wink:

Hey don't tell him that

Damn, was planning a surprise visit as well. :x


Rolf-Dieter Cheers I am kind of hitting that feeling sorry for myself stage, and looking to the future I think I will be having to make a big change, It's just having the Kahoonas to do it.

 

[RichardG]

I take it you will come out with the 17th edition, not sure which colour we are on now. The basic to cover that are easily achievable as it's all theory, and you are allowed to take all your books into the exam with you complete with all the notes you have made in the margin.
The only problem is there is no set pass mark. Its done on the average of the people who have taken the exam that day (nationally), so if you are unlucky and in with a bunch of Einsteins the pass mark be very very high, the flip side is time it right with a bunch of thickos and then pass is very low, makes you think about allthose qualified electricians. At least this how it worked when I did the 16th edition a couple of years ago.

As for the outlay it can be as much as you want or as little, I'm sure MrsN wouldn't mind you using the handbag as a works vechicle for a while till you get established.

Anyway like has been said before, good luck in whatever you decide to do.

 

[Rolf-Dieter]

Rolf-Dieter Cheers I am kind of hitting that feeling sorry for myself stage, and looking to the future I think I will be having to make a big change, It's just having the Kahoonas to do it.[/quote]

Nosa

You will find a way .... remember where there is a will there is a way ... also be carful what you wish for it might just come true.

Best of Luck and have a Great Weekend!

Cheers,

Rolf-Dieter

 

[Jonotaff]

Nosa,

Shippers..............PM Sent.

 

[Anonymous]

Nosa,

Shippers..............PM Sent.

LOL "Shippers" takes me back..

PM Replied

 

[Taz]

Nosa,

Shippers..............PM Sent.

LOL "Shippers" takes me back..

PM Replied

intrigued

 

[Anonymous]

intrigued

Very Exclusive club Taz, Can't talk about it. :wink: 8)

 

[Taz]

More DIY for me this morning

If i had a career change i think i would be a plasterer (is that spelt right?), i find plastering can be therapeutic

 

[Z4coupebeaver]

Please keep this thread alive as it will be interesting to hear how you get on. All I can give are best wishes and hope it turns out well. With enough determination and a bit of good look - it will.

What I struggle to understand is what is so difficult about domestic electrics to take 6 weeks to learn.

I was 18 when I rewired my first house with no previous experience. Up until the recent regs came in, I always did my own electrics and could never understand how people could earn good money for it. I've fitted sophisticated alarm systems, inteligent home control systems, AV systems, mood lighting, control systems linking home alarms to heating and ventilation together with paging and remote control systmes. I've fitted countless consumer units and made my own control modules for home automation, installed hard wired networks, audio and video distribution via cat5 etc etc. None of this is difficult, all of it is logical. Most of the above is beyond usual domestic electrics.

Brickying is a skill that requires some knowledge and lots of practice. I can't understand anyone thinking brickies are overpaid though. All the rich brickies I know work very very hard in pretty crap conditions with the UK weather.

 

[Greg]

I have been an Electrician now for a few years, I went to college at first then got on with a local firm full of hard nosed grumpy old men and arrogant apprentices it was hard going then. I left and did my own thing for a while got my 16th edition then got another job for a bigger firm and got further up the slippery pole gained some respect from co-workers and on the hole enjoyed it. Then Jan 09 got made redundant when the whole company folded and was unable to find a job anywhere. Ended up setting up on my own and all last year struggled to stay above water it was really hard. I got myself a van and NICEIC registered and since then work has been nice and steady. Knowing then what I know now I would of been a plaster. There are no anal yearly inspections, constant academic updates and having to compete with non qualified chancers who f*** up there own jobs that I get called in to fix. Times are hard but this year I have been doing ok for myself. Seriously there is alot of competition and if you ever have a read on the electriciansforum.co.uk the mood over there is pretty musch the same and the general question buzzing around is "how can I compete when joe public, rated tradesmen, myhammer members claim to be electricians and undercut me only to have no idea on Regs or good practice????" The industry is on its arse everyone knows a plumber needs to be Corgi/Gas Safe to work on your boiler and its pretty common knowledge that they will charge you handsome for it but most people think anyone can open up a fusebox and start messing with your electrics. Whenever people plan a new kitchen all they think about are the taps, tiles, worktops, finishes etc never the electrics and when it does dawn on them usually the kitchen fitter steps in and claims the work they are not qualified or licensed to carry out. I am a qualified, self employed electrician with NICEIC registration and thing are pretty bad for us ATM.