Discuss Becoming a qualified electrician in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

Welcome to ElectriciansForums.net - The American Electrical Advice Forum
Head straight to the main forums to chat by click here:   American Electrical Advice Forum

Reaction score
0
Hi All,

I’m looking to become a qualified electrician but already have a full time job so unable to complete a full course.

can you get online courses that you take your time with? For example https://gbconstructiontraining.com/...3-10-online-course-weekday-exam-value-bundle/

would that be suitable?
I’m not looking at changing my career however electrics is something I really enjoy so would like to be qualified in it. I would probably complete smaller jobs at weekends etc.
 
Wanting to become a qualified electrician but not wanting to complete the full course - does that sound right to you?

Even smaller jobs (and jobs at weekends) need to be done correctly, safely and to the regs.

By all means take an interest and take courses, but it's important to get experience also before you even think about doing jobs for people.
 
Hi All,

I’m looking to become a qualified electrician but already have a full time job so unable to complete a full course.

can you get online courses that you take your time with? For example https://gbconstructiontraining.com/...3-10-online-course-weekday-exam-value-bundle/

would that be suitable?
I’m not looking at changing my career however electrics is something I really enjoy so would like to be qualified in it. I would probably complete smaller jobs at weekends etc.
that is just a basic initial verification course. all it will do is give you a ticket to apply for parting with £500 ish of your hard earned to niceic et al. it will not make you a qualified electrician. you will be limited to domestic work and have a wrecked back and knees by time you are 40.
 
I'll be honest with you mate, that qualification isn't worth the paper it's printed on, or the price they're charging for it. I know as I've got it!

They'll teach you to read the electricians guide to the building Regs, the part p document, and give you a mickey mouse exam at the end of it.

None of the schemes will be interested in it either to be fair, you won't learn anything technical or any electrical theory as it's just about complying with Part P of the building Regs...

you'd be better off starting from scratch and signing up to a C&G level 2/3 if you've got no knowledge of electrical theory and doing it properly.
 
Last edited:
After working for mobile phone operators for over 20 years in power delivery systems for their switching sites and remote radio sites I reckon it is about time I got a ticket in my own name instead of my employer or client. Work was fibre, CAT6, very low voltage, low voltage, split phase and three phase supplies with the power being derived from the grid, diesel generator and solar plants.
Given that I do have good knowledge and plenty of experience can any of you qualified guys maybe advise me on the best way not just to become NICEIC accredited but gain a quali in the trade? Not just interested in getting the paper to wave but also interested in theory - much of which is understood already.
Our local college doesn't offer much and besides, if it did 'Grandad' here at 53 would be a bit out of place with a bunch of spotty faced teens! Only interested in domestic work and supporting my PV solar and battery storage hardware supply business.
No local electrician is interested in advising here.
Looking mainly at C&G2346L3, 2372, 2377 and 2391.
 
Do you want to become an electrician or become well enough qualified to carry out a limited amout of electrical work?

Distance learning is something I've explored, after being struggling to secure a local college course. The only two providers I could find that offer any route toward being an electrician were https://traininginelectrical.co.uk and https://www.thompsontrainingltd.com with level 2 & 3 City & Guilds 2365.

Both providers require a period of attendance at their training centres for practical assessments and I'd expect that a fair level of commitment is required to complete these courses. Being able to complete these courses would certainly set you well on your way to becoming a qualified electrician but, in order to achieve NVQ level 3, you will have to secure some work in the industry - this shouldn't be too great a hardship, considering you want to qualify to work in the industry.

To become fully qualified, you should expect to gain considerable experience and then obtain further qualifications, but the above would be the correct route to start off if distance learning is the only option.


*I note that one of the above linked providers is not currently offering distance learning courses, which may be due to the current situation.
 
As others have mentioned, your best bet is to contact your local college.

An online course may be useful, in the sense that a theory test is useful for your driving license - but hands on experience with a competent person is essential.

And if you're looking to complete small jobs at weekends, I can only think of small domestic ones.

One thing to bear in mind is that if you're coming in to do a bit of domestic work, you really do come across a wide variety of 'standards' compared to commercial work, which can be quite challenging to have to rectify thanks to the creativity of the past work that has been installed.
 
If you plan on being a part time weekend sort of sparks , then you might be better learning multiple trades so you can offer a bit of everything.
it’s amazing the amount of small jobs out there that need doing.
changing radiators , plumbing in appliances , adding a new double socket , tiling A floor etc.
people in my area pay a small fortune to local multi skill handymen to do such work. You can easily make a few hundred quid in weekend just doing odd jobs. Without the expense of fully retraining in one discipline...
 
From my perspective, my experience so far is commercial. There were very strict local regs enforced by Orange UK and EE in their sites and these were local regs that were laid over the national regs.

I have seen quite a few domestic installs and some are not the best, but many are really tidy. In the grotty cases cables are not tied in, back boxes not connected to PE, bare copper visible, tails not dressed, unsheathed crimped connectors used instead of Wago 222 for example.

I have been in touch with the college here and 'Grandad' can start in September '21. The work I want to do is simply request G98/99 approval from DNOs and make the final ties to the CU. And naturally sign off my own work after designing an on/off grid system in my own home. I am just fed up trying to get an electrician to come and do the work. It's the old phrase, "if you want a job done, go do it yourself".

Another point is that no local electrician is interested in having someone share their time to gain experience in the field.
 
Don't know where you live, but these people are pretty good if you are down south.
https://www.electriciancourses4u.co.uk/
The courses are quite fast paced however, so you need to be a fairly quick learner. They like to sell you the books & give them to you on the 1st day, but for me I found it was better to have a look at the books in advance & that enabled me to be more on the ball in the lectures.
 

Reply to Becoming a qualified electrician in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc

Electrical Forum

Welcome to the Electrical Forum at ElectriciansForums.net. The friendliest electrical forum online. General electrical questions and answers can be found in the electrical forum.
This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by Untold Media. Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock