The short courses are not adequate for training properly, if you were an electricians mate with 10 years experience as a mate then a short course may be good enough, however without a job to support you and give you practical training they are just a lot of money for not much help really.
I couldn't agree more.
I have just finished one of those courses, Bronze with Trade Skills 4 U, and I can guarantee that you would be throwing away 2,500 quid.
I still have not had the time to write a review about my experience, but I came across your post and felt the urge to start here.
Forget about all the sales crap they give you and realise one thing: they are there to make money.
That is their one and only objective (hence the expensive car parked outside where it says CEO). So when they say that "its not about the exam or the certification" what they really mean is the exact opposite: all they are there for is to sell as many certifications as possible and make money off the ever increasing number of us who want a career change and cannot afford to take years out of our lives to train through a college and an apprenticeship.
Don't get me wrong, its not a scam, because if you look into, once you are finished, you end up with the pieces of paper which were stated when you signed up. However, if you, like me and many others who finished the courses and paid the sums of money, ask yourself whether its what you wanted, the answer is "no. I thought I was going to become an electrician, or more appropriately, a Domestic Installer, or..." well the answer you are going to get is that nobody ever said you were going to become one and if you go back and read all the sales crap, nowhere does it specify that when you finish you will feel confident in going into someone's house and rewire the whole thing...
Basically you will pay 2500 pounds, you will spend 18 days in a class room with lots of other people (many more than what you were sold at the start), you will be told not to ask questions because there is no time for questions, so all you have to do is follow the motto: "monkey sees, monkey does". At end you will have learnt how to put 3 sockets, 2 ceiling roses and 2 switches on a fake wall, wired them to a distribution board and tested them (doesn't really matter if you understand what you are doing, as long as you can remember how to replicate it the following day, when you will be examined by the same guy who is responsible for teaching you it in the first place (!?). Thats the whole of the practice side of things - here is a tip, go to a busy electrical store and, out load, ask if there is anybody who would be willing to show you how to put 3 sockets on a fake wall, for £250 and within the hour you will have achieved the same goal.
I could go on, and on, and on, but I am going to stop there (hoping that someone questions me to explain further). All I am trying to say to you is forget about Trade Skills 4 U, or as I like to call them "No Skills 4 U" and find a better way to use your £2500.
ps. In case you think that I am a bit bitter because I failed the exams, let me tell you that I passed all of them first time. The reason I am bit bitter is that this is the way I feel after working hard to save £2500 and then losing them in 18 days to buy 4 pieces of paper and nothing else.
