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Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone can give me any advice.

I’m currently an electrician working in commercial and industrial offices/factories etc butI’m looking to move forward and do something a bit more involved and test myself.

I’ve been doing a bit of research and I like the look of trying to move into Building Management Systems and automation, but I haven’t been able to find a huge amount of information about what kind of qualifications I’d need to take the step.

Ideally experience is king and I’d love to be able to get some experience working on this kind of stuff but my current company doesn’t touch anything like that so I can’t do it there, and in this day and age a lot of companies don’t want to train people, they prefer already qualified people already in the industry. This means I’d probably be having to look at funding the qualifications myself with no guarantee of a job after it so I would like to get it right rather than commit money and years of work to something then find out it means nothing.

is anyone able to point me in the right direction in regards to courses, or even companies that may be willing to take someone on and train them on the job? I’m not afraid of hard work and I know I’m capable of learning it all, and I want to feel like I’m progressing rather than spinning my wheels. I’ve got a young kid now and I want to be able to support my family the best I can and I feel like where I am currently will just be going through the motions indefinitely.

apologies for the long post but I’d appreciate any advice anyone can give me. Thanks
 
TL;DR
Advice for getting into BMS and automation engineering
Last edited:
Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone can give me any advice.

I’m currently an electrician working in commercial and industrial offices/factories etc butI’m looking to move forward and do something a bit more involved and test myself.

I’ve been doing a bit of research and I like the look of trying to move into Building Management Systems and automation, but I haven’t been able to find a huge amount of information about what kind of qualifications I’d need to take the step.

Ideally experience is king and I’d love to be able to get some experience working on this kind of stuff but my current company doesn’t touch anything like that so I can’t do it there, and in this day and age a lot of companies don’t want to train people, they prefer already qualified people already in the industry. This means I’d probably be having to look at funding the qualifications myself with no guarantee of a job after it so I would like to get it right rather than commit money and years of work to something then find out it means nothing.

is anyone able to point me in the right direction in regards to courses, or even companies that may be willing to take someone on and train them on the job? I’m not afraid of hard work and I know I’m capable of learning it all, and I want to feel like I’m progressing rather than spinning my wheels. I’ve got a young kid now and I want to be able to support my family the best I can and I feel like where I am currently will just be going through the motions indefinitely.

apologies for the long post but I’d appreciate any advice anyone can give me. Thanks

Where are you based? I work for firm that only does bms feom small school boiler houses to large industrial contracts.

I started as an adult trainee with my tech cets, and recently qualified with no additional training courses and alot of our employees didn't start off in bms

The key to it all is understanding the panel drawing, and one you have that figured its not that difficult, and looks more technical than it is.

The most challenging part is planning you own containment routes in a plantroom, their are tines when you spend a day scratching your head because everything is in your way.
 
Thanks for the information, that helps actually knowing that there are still chances out there to train on the job. I live in Essex.

if you don’t mind me asking, what kind of training qualifications did you end up doing at your firm to get qualified and how long did it take you?
 
Thanks for the information, that helps actually knowing that there are still chances out there to train on the job. I live in Essex.

if you don’t mind me asking, what kind of training qualifications did you end up doing at your firm to get qualified and how long did it take you?

i did my C&G 2365 lvl 2 & 3 at college full time for 2 years, then got employed as a electricians mate which i was for nearly 4 years. i started my nvq over 2 years ago, but lacked the motivation to complete it, though when i did it took me 3 months to complete!

i could do power and lighting when i started, but just naturally picked things up over time with zero technical training in BMS installation which i dont think exists.

its wiring by numbers, and really easy to pick the basics up by most competant electricians.

take the boiler panel drawings and look at the dashed line running between panel | field. looking at numbers 415 and 416, they are terminals inside the panel and wires are run to terminals 10 and 11 in the boiler (see boiler terminals) easy right? the type of containment used will determine whether you use a 2c YY or 2 brown singles to wire it in. assuming its trunking all the way, you would use 2 browns then kopex out of the trunking into the boiler.

terminals 2 and 4 are mains, so singles to isolator then to the boiler (if contained) otherwise a heat resistant flex for final connection.

terminals 417 and 418 are fault, so singles to isolator then to the boiler, as you can see only 417 is broken throught the isolator. if this was wired in YY it would be a pain breaking one core correctly!

while we focus on the field side of the drawing, attention should be paid to where cables go panel side. ive seen boiler faults wired in 2c YY, but the boiler fault is 240v output.

the pump drawing shows a screened cable (0-10v demand), unscreened cable (fault) and power.
the power was singles to isolater wired in trunking, then flex from isolator out of a stuffer to the pump plug
the control was wired to the pump in 4c CY, as a screen was specified for some cores, out of a stuffer into the stuffing gland on the pump.

as an electrician, if you can figure out the panel drawing and selection of cables you will have zero issues.

i hope that makes sense lol
 

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yeah that sort of makes sense. Like I said I don’t get to touch anything like this at my current job so it’s new to me but we all start somewhere I guess. I know I’m capable of learning it.

mom guessing the majority of your training and experience was learned on the job then? You could do the standard electrical stuff and your firm took you on and trained in what you do now?

if you don’t mind me asking, what’s the money like? If you’d rather not answer or would rather PM me I respect that. I just have a young family to consider but I don’t know anyone in the field where I could ask them for information
 
yeah that sort of makes sense. Like I said I don’t get to touch anything like this at my current job so it’s new to me but we all start somewhere I guess. I know I’m capable of learning it.

we've just took a guy who has only done power and lighting installation. he initially struggled with designing containment for plantrooms, because he was used to installing it to drawings. he's flying and doing very well after 6 months of being dropped in at the deep end!

mom guessing the majority of your training and experience was learned on the job then? You could do the standard electrical stuff and your firm took you on and trained in what you do now?
i had domestic experience prior, so i could use my tools meaning i was useful straight away. it didnt take me long to figure out the drawings and cable to use. if you can read, and understand technical information you wont have an issue.

if you don’t mind me asking, what’s the money like? If you’d rather not answer or would rather PM me I respect that. I just have a young family to consider but I don’t know anyone in the field where I could ask them for information

our compsny isnt JIB, but use their rates for guidance.
 

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