Career Change - Electrician

[trodat]

I imagine this comes up fairly often and I hope I am not posting this in the wrong section.

As my title of the post suggests I am looking to change career - I am currently in the Royal Marines and due to leave in the next 3/4 months. Being an electrician is something that interests me and is probably going to be something I will want to pursue - however. I have no idea what route to take and the ONE that will actually benefit me in getting work after getting qualified. There are MANY training providers who say they can get me FULLY qualified in 6/8 weeks however I am somewhat skeptical about this. I certainly wouldn't have been happy with someone serving alongside me in many OPS I've been in with only 8 weeks experience.

Guidance and advice will be greatly appreciated. Again as above states this is something I am pretty set on doing. I have funds so want to make sure they are 'invested' wisely and rightly.

Regards,

T

 

[NEZ2490]

I imagine this comes up fairly often and I hope I am not posting this in the wrong section.

As my title of the post suggests I am looking to change career - I am currently in the Royal Marines and due to leave in the next 3/4 months. Being an electrician is something that interests me and is probably going to be something I will want to pursue - however. I have no idea what route to take and the ONE that will actually benefit me in getting work after getting qualified. There are MANY training providers who say they can get me FULLY qualified in 6/8 weeks however I am somewhat skeptical about this. I certainly wouldn't have been happy with someone serving alongside me in many OPS I've been in with only 8 weeks experience.

Guidance and advice will be greatly appreciated. Again as above states this is something I am pretty set on doing. I have funds so want to make sure they are 'invested' wisely and rightly.

Regards,

T

Hi and welcome to the forum. Great set of lads on here sorry and gals too.

You are right to be skeptical of the get trained quick companies out there. A good place to start would be to talk to a company called JTL a training provider who many of my apprentices came through. Minimum qualifications would be an NVQ level 3, City and Guilds 2356 electrical installations, 17th edition wiring regulations City and guilds 2382-12, AM 2 (achievement measurement 2) also if you plan to work on your own jobs registration with a Part P body would be required NIC EIC, Napit etc..

Hope this helps and good luck great trade to be in.

 

[trodat]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Great set of lads on here sorry and gals too.

You are right to be skeptical of the get trained quick companies out there. A good place to start would be to talk to a company called JTL a training provider who many of my apprentices came through. Minimum qualifications would be an NVQ level 3, City and Guilds 2356 electrical installations, 17th edition wiring regulations City and guilds 2382-12, AM 2 (achievement measurement 2) also if you plan to work on your own jobs registration with a Part P body would be required NIC EIC, Napit etc..

Hope this helps and good luck great trade to be in.

thanks for the reply - however I suppose I should have mentioned that I am 33 years of age (still young though)

An apprenticeship would be great however hard to see happening with a wifey and child!

The quals info though was VERY useful

 

[Skyba]

Well the short answer is you can't get qualified in 6-8 weeks, I've met a few people who have done these courses and they're far from being qualified. Also with the new city and guilds course set out the way it is I think you have to be on full time employment to even begin the college side now.

I started late as a career change but I was ill and was able to attend college once a week so I could gain my 2330 lvl 1&2 and then I managed to start getting work as a mate and begin my NVQ.

There's no real way to learn how to do this quickly, I'd personally look at going to a college near you and enrolling on the new city and guilds qualification, then plan on taking around 4 years to get qualified.
this is also probably the cheapest way and IMO the correct way to retrain.
I think it was around £1200 for my 2330 lvl 2 and then around the same for the lvl 3, then I paid £750 for my NVQ 3 with a college and the AM2 is about £800 which is now compulsory now although with mine I have managed to get around this as my NVQ 3 is more thorough and requires extra assessments, I think I'll be attending it anyway soon as I'd like to have it anyway.

And as for your age, it's never too late, I'm now almost 28 and I'm just getting to the end of my fourth year and hoping to be qualified. I was working with an improver who is 42 the other week who was taking the same route as me.

You may have to take a £7 p/hr mates/labourer job for a bit but soon you could get an improver job and the money is a little better I'd you're lucky.


Hope this helps you.

 

[Guest55]

out of politeness i'm really trying not to facepalm poster this thread , sigh.
the word "qualified" isnt even recognised by bs7671 , IET , building regs etc but anyways ,
the question you should be asking yourself is not who can train me and how long it takes but is working in the electrical sector a viable means of generating a income to live on ?
research the marketplace in your area and ask yourself is this a wise move ?
starting up is hideously expensive as a spark , i'd be looking at I.T. for a career change personally.

 

[Brightspark2]

Well the short answer is you can't get qualified in 6-8 weeks, I've met a few people who have done these courses and they're far from being qualified. Also with the new city and guilds course set out the way it is I think you have to be on full time employment to even begin the college side now.

I started late as a career change but I was ill and was able to attend college once a week so I could gain my 2330 lvl 1&2 and then I managed to start getting work as a mate and begin my NVQ.

There's no real way to learn how to do this quickly, I'd personally look at going to a college near you and enrolling on the new city and guilds qualification, then plan on taking around 4 years to get qualified.
this is also probably the cheapest way and IMO the correct way to retrain.
I think it was around £1200 for my 2330 lvl 2 and then around the same for the lvl 3, then I paid £750 for my NVQ 3 with a college and the AM2 is about £800 which is now compulsory now although with mine I have managed to get around this as my NVQ 3 is more thorough and requires extra assessments, I think I'll be attending it anyway soon as I'd like to have it anyway.

And as for your age, it's never too late, I'm now almost 28 and I'm just getting to the end of my fourth year and hoping to be qualified. I was working with an improver who is 42 the other week who was taking the same route as me.

You may have to take a £7 p/hr mates/labourer job for a bit but soon you could get an improver job and the money is a little better I'd you're lucky.


Hope this helps you.

I'd like to echo this. Go to collage, some collages can do the adult leaner route which means you only need to go in every 4 weeks as they trust you to do the work at home. Get on as a mate or labour while you train up. It takes 4 years.

Dont fall for the 5 week pay us £5000 and you can earn £50,000 a year within 6 weeks courses.

 

[vaughant]

Try and get an adult apprenticeship in a big industrial firm,they love ex army boys as the disciplines there.
learn about plc's,control,drives,scada,programming etc as its the future.
Any monkey can wire up lights and sockets,hence the 8,000,000 "electrician available to work anywhere to get experience" threads in the jobs section here.
Sad fact is the domestic market is completely saturated,people working for minimum wage etc.
You can get a lot of help doing an adult apprenticeship that won't leave you short of cash etc,I'm sure they'll fast track you being ex army.
Where are you located?
Sorry its the millionth time today ive said it but the opportunities up here in Aberdeen are endless.

 

[Skyba]

Plc and scada is definitely the way to go, I've been trying to get my foot in the door with it myself.

My old drilling company is crying out for a plc engineer to work on their control rooms for the micro tunnelling equipment.

 

[NEZ2490]

thanks for the reply - however I suppose I should have mentioned that I am 33 years of age (still young though)

An apprenticeship would be great however hard to see happening with a wifey and child!

The quals info though was VERY useful

Thanks. However, unfortunately there is no quick route. You might be able to work as an electrician having only gained the 17th and registered with the NIC but as to being able to carry out the work, different story. The industry is so varied and this is no disrespect to you but i think a lot of people underestimate or under value the knowledge it takes to do our job and do it correctly. Just on the materials alone it took me years and years to learn all the little bits and bobs especially in the industrial arena.

Anyway sorry, rant over and this does tie in to another thread about being undervalued so i'm sure the subject has had lots of discussion.

Good luck if you choose to stick it out though, like i said its been a very rewarding trade for me.

Regards Richard

 

[UNG]

out of politeness i'm really trying not to facepalm poster this thread , sigh.
the word "qualified" isnt even recognised by bs7671 , IET , building regs etc but anyways ,
the question you should be asking yourself is not who can train me and how long it takes but is working in the electrical sector a viable means of generating a income to live on ?
research the marketplace in your area and ask yourself is this a wise move ?
starting up is hideously expensive as a spark , i'd be looking at I.T. for a career change personally.

I.T. is in the same boat as the electrical industry if not worse so why would you want to go there been plenty of career changers moving from I.T. to electrical on this board because of it

 

[trev]

Our window cleaner netted more than I did in September

 

[Guest55]

I.T. is in the same boat as the electrical industry if not worse so why would you want to go there been plenty of career changers moving from I.T. to electrical on this board because of it

well at least in I.T. you dont have to jump through part p hoops and spend a fortune on set-up costs.
and the market in computing in general is expanding all the time , where as contruction in the UK has been shrinking for years.
just suppose i'm completely wrong , what would YOU suggest instead ?
another body on the Domestic Installer bandwagon ?

 

[Hobsoni]

There's two ways to get to the top, you can either take the lift or stairs. The lift might be quicker, but you will see a whole lot more if you take the stairs.

My wisdom is done for today.

 

[Thomas02]

I initially went on one of these 4-week wonder courses and although they are quite good, no way are they good enough. You cannot go out and attempt electrical work and testing after a months training in my opinion. I personally went on to do two years C&G 2330 Level 2 & 3 at college. I have only recently passed my NICEIC domestic installers assessment and I am now ready to give it a go on my own.

It has taken me since early 2009 to get to this stage and has cost me a small fortune. You mention that you have funds - how much do you have to spend? Here is a breakdown of some of my costs incurred so far to give you an idea:

4 week domestic installers course: £3,000
1 year 2330 Level 2 course: £2,000
1 year 2330 Level 3 course: £900
Estimated tools & equipment costs to date: £5,000 (all the proper kit is essential)
Second hand work van: £1,300 + tax, insurance, mot, general running costs etc...
Books/publications: must be in the region of £350-£400 (guidance notes, regs, osg & others etc. etc...)
NICEIC yearly membership: £450
Public Liability Insurance yearly: £270

I will also have print, website and other advertising costs, banking & accountant fees. It all adds up and I haven’t even started trading yet!

I am actually older than you and I have found it a difficult trade to enter and it takes time and hard work to get started. I would forget about any kind of apprenticeship route. I tried this but at my age it was futile, there were guys in their teens at college who had no success in finding one. Are you looking at purely domestic or the commercial/industrial sector?

I have found that it is generally hard to get a foot in the door anywhere unless you know a friend or perhaps a family member who will be willing to give you a chance. I don’t want to paint a bleak picture, just telling it how I see it. Please don’t get me wrong - I think it is a fantastic trade and I am hopeful there will be many challenges to look forward to.

I wish you all the best and good luck for the future.

 

[UNG]

well at least in I.T. you dont have to jump through part p hoops and spend a fortune on set-up costs.
and the market in computing in general is expanding all the time , where as contruction in the UK has been shrinking for years.
just suppose i'm completely wrong

I know a few I.T. professionals who are out of work or working on short term contracts with spells out of work and seen many I.T. departments shrink over the 10 years so I'm not sure where this buoyant I.T. market is that you mention

what would YOU suggest instead ?
another body on the Domestic Installer bandwagon ?

Not sure what this has got to do with the OP's career change but this area of the electrical market is beyond saturation anyway and has caused more problems than it's solved
what the electrical industry needs is to take the competent out and put properly qualified back in, you never hear of competent gas fitters only qualified ones but that's a debate for another thread

 

[Guest55]

Not sure what this has got to do with the OP's career change but this area of the electrical market is beyond saturation anyway and has caused more problems than it's solved
what the electrical industry needs is to take the competent out and put properly qualified back in, you never hear of competent gas fitters only qualified ones but that's a debate for another thread

my reply had everything to do with the OP's planned career change.
and you still havent suggested an alternative option for the OP , just some irrelevant comments on gas fitters.

 

[whitestu]

There seems to be a general view on the forum that you can't become an electrician in 5 weeks and another view that the market is saturated with sparkys who have become electricians in 5 weeks. Both can't be right!

Stu

 

[Guest55]

There seems to be a general view on the forum that you can't become an electrician in 5 weeks and another view that the market is saturated with sparkys who have become electricians in 5 weeks. Both can't be right!

Stu

why not ? its true.
and i wouldnt call a domestic installer with 5 weeks training an electrician lol.

 

[UNG]

There seems to be a general view on the forum that you can't become an electrician in 5 weeks and another view that the market is saturated with sparkys who have become electricians in 5 weeks. Both can't be right!

Stu

If it took 4 -5 years to become a qualified electrician 30 years ago what's changed in that time that reduces the training to 5 weeks to get the status as a qualified electrician

 

[Skyba]

There seems to be a general view on the forum that you can't become an electrician in 5 weeks and another view that the market is saturated with sparkys who have become electricians in 5 weeks. Both can't be right!

Stu

You're looking at 2 different things though, 1 is a domestic installer, this is someone who can go into someone house and do electrical work, 2 is a fully qualified electrician with the ability to get a gold JIB card stating the fact that they're fully qualified.

a domestic installer can't take on industrial or commercial projects.

The debate is not can you do a 5 week course and go into someone's house and do electrical work, it's is it right that it is possible?
Some people will say yes (usually domestic installers) some will say no (usually qualified electricians)

I'm not yet qualified but I've been working towards it since the beginning of 2009 and will have literally just sat down and finished off my log book and I personally don't think I have learned even half of what's out there to learn.

I can see it from both points of view, i can totally understand why a old head in the game who served their apprenticeship would feel a little short changed when some guy says he's an electrician after 5 weeks training, in reality it takes years to learn the trade and in all honesty you'll never stop learning.
On the other hand everyone has to make a living and if you can why not, it's not the fault of the people doing it, it's the fault of the companies who are trying to make themselves loads of cash through selling these courses along with the authorities who make the rules.

Also animosity is the natural order of it i think, I'm serving my time and doing it the long fully qualified way and I still get the older sparks telling me how easy it is etc.

thing is it's not the olden days anymore and jobs and a kind face who's willing to teach aren't as easy to come by these days and its every man for himself.