On the jokecentre point brucelee talks about, the jokecentre and the REC have joined together in an agreement to work with each other and advertise agency jobs, regardless of the quality,length,pay,qualifications, etc etc.......so it's no surprise to me that they offer no help or advise for going to college as that route WILL produce fully qualified, industry recognized sparks that the agencies and mobs are trying to get rid of!!! Have a look at my thread, to give you an idea of the situation in the electrical contracting industry and you'll see you are walking into a rat race to the bottom!!!
My thread is: SMA's and the de-skilling ofthe industry.
Hi mate
yes I have read your thread and agree with most of it its a shame they are turning a once great trade into a joke
the private courses should be made to spread the course over a longer period and include more as they dont teach you everything to be a electrician Like they claim, especially the scientific principles only enough to be able to carry out basically domestic installations but yet they say become a qualified electrician in 6 or 7 weeks
they are very rushed and give basic qualifications unlike say apprentice or 2330 adult route
ever since i gave up my apprenticeship up in 1986 i have tried to get back on a course that would lead to being fully qualified I have worked on and off for over 25 yr mainly in domestic side new build rewires and same for commercial and little industrial under the watchful eye of good old fashioned sparkys
But lacked the theory and understanding of exactly how it worked
I have asked them repeatedly about possible training courses etc but always told there wasnt any or no funding
I had to give up working to become a full time carer for my mrs as she was left disabled I again asked about help with training funding setting up self employed basically anything to give us a better future
there answer was you dont have to work your exempt and there is nothing no help what so ever as i am not classed now as unemployed due to being a carer so as a result to get any help whatsoever you hvae to be on JSA for 6 months
I have contacted every firm or organisation for help with training wether private or not and to set up self employed and in the end Had to pay £4020 reduced from £5,020 for 2382-10,2377,2393, logic full scope level A and defined scopes lvB,C electrical competence achievment 6 week theory and practical training which is all on small rigs and bays
a megger 1552, BS7671, OSG a large folder of course notes and a CK toolkit hardly worth the £4k eh mate
and then I paid for and studied for 4 months at home for 2391-10 lv3 as this is the qualification the industry seems to recognise the most
I have also managed to get a course at a local college for 2330 lv3 and found out i would only have to pay £120 for the exam fees due to being a carer AMAZING WHY COULDNT THE JOKECENTRE JUST GIVE ME THIS LITTLE BIT OF INFO which would have saved me laods of hassle and time not to mention a large amount of money and then i would have had more industry recognised quals instead of basic ones. I should have started last september but missed out no places left after initailly being told there was then again in march I turned up to find no course on the date i was told to april 21st , due to C&G messing about with all quals which was supposed to be last registration 31/ 3/ 2011 now extended until 31/7/2012 due to the new 2357 not being ready for the industry so my course was postponed until june again i went to find i was in with a class of lv2 students who had initially been fast tracked to lv3 to register before march and they had all been returned to lv2 resulting in increased fees etc again due to torys and there pet dog and we all had our initial fees returned to be told it could be as much as £1600 but i believe its around £600-800 were under the old system it was a lot cheaper i was outraged as others went to college asked to speak to someone and a nice lady sorted everything and took the £120 cheque back and ripped it up as she had apporached the director of the college in regard to this matter who agreed with me that they had a duty to deliver a course for the fee i initailly paid and they should deliver the said course
THANKS TO THE VERY NICE LADY
I started in june did 4 weeks basically doing sample papers for lv2 and then had to re-enrol again last week as the C&G again messed the college up so on there system they had no students for this yr and everybody had to go and fill all forms again for the third time so instead of the tutors preparing for the course had to be in the canteen re enrolling everyone for loads of different courses
there is only 1 organisation that would help to set up self employed but due to the tory government cutting grants which i would have been eligible for this is another door shut in my face
I would do any course they would let me and have spent around £7k trying to get fully qualified and having to enrol also for a nvq and setting up registering with elecsa before i earn a penny
C&G and all the other organisations as well as the government are ruining a once great trade with there messing which is the only job i ever wanted to do i would go back to being a apprentice which is highly unlikely if at some point i would get the JIB card and experience etc to be fully appproved and qualified
the apprentice route is the best, but for adults almost a impossibility and people have committments family wise. The government in there infinite wisdom havnt thought it through but neither did labour when they were spending the cash in the good times
