Career - change of direction

[sjhall]

If you had your time again , would you still go down the same career path ? at the age of 34 I'm very disillusioned with the whole sparking game , I have no personal gripe with anyone who has done a short course and become a domestic installer, but I do think the influx of domestic installers is killing the trade and I don't think it will get any better in the future...

If you had the chance to retrain , would you ?

Ste

 

[Phil]

i am. never too old for a change. think carefully before leaping and you could always look at going into a more specialist area where you will be in demand for your skills

 

[sjhall]

Phil your Right , one of the options I was thinking about , is doing my Gas , there is a shortage of good engineers , loads of installers , but lads that can really fault find are a rear breed , as i've found out when trying to get a Ravenheat boiler fixed ....
Or on a total different path , there is a nice big shiny prison being build not far from me , will take a few years in which time I could do the necessary quals part time to go for a job there , nice pension etc

 

[Phil]

whichever you choose good luck with it

 

[RWJ]

doing my Gas , there is a shortage of good engineers , loads of installers , but lads that can really fault find are a rear breed

You could say the same about the electrical business. From what the Gas Safe guys I know are saying their industry is also over run, and the amount of new "Gas & Heating" vans you see around....... Twice as many as new sparks?!? (Just a guess)


I've also thought about jacking it in......AGAIN!!! and I'm not even sure it wasn't better when I was stacking shelves at Morrisons between jobs... Or is that just rose tinted glasses???

 

[morph]

yep its pony ,
another day for me where i only have a few hours work

 

[telectrix]

real pony, i ain't even got anything booked for this week or next. 1 job waiting for client to dig trench. another waiting for SPEnergy to give a date for supply install.

 

[BlueToBits]

It's the 'grass is always greener' effect. Why do people think that other industries are easier to make a living in than their own? We hear of loads of experienced IT consultants, telecom engineers, terachers and the likes disillusioned with their own industry wanting to retrain as electricians and loads of electricians wanting to re-train as IT consultants, telecom engineers, terachers and the likes. Everyone is chasing the worm dangling from the hook.

 

[RWJ]

Why do people think that other industries are easier to make a living in than their own? We hear of loads of experienced IT consultants, telecom engineers, terachers and the likes disillusioned with their own industry wanting to retrain as electricians .

Because you can earn £55k+ and it only takes 5 days / weeks(What ever the training centres are claiming now)

 

[telectrix]

the trouble is, all the worms have been gobbled up by the locusts from eastern europe. all we have left is the hook to hang ourselves from

 

[BlueToBits]

Maybe there's a shortage of electricians in eastern Europe?

 

[BlueToBits]

£55K ! I wouldnt get out of bed for less than 100

 

[RWJ]

£55K ! I wouldnt get out of bed for less than 100

You best leave the trade then!! lolol

 

[zedess]

Well not all eastern european locusts, i priced a rewire up yesterday at a 3 bed terrace,just after a nice shiny new van pulled away (he had just finished his quote and already given it!).Basically: kitchen ring 6 sockets,radial down 5 sockets,radial up 6sockets.shower circuit c/w pull, 5 lights up,4lights down..all earthing to do,new c/u..test cert and all plaster ...left his buisness card on the window ledge..price on the back £1395..the lady mentioned she thought it was really cheap...he said yes he needed the experience...and the property would be occupied by mum dad and the 3 kids for the time of work!........... That my friend is what u are up against!! never mind the price of copper!!

 

[telectrix]

that price is a joke. he must have worked it out as dole supplement.

 

[BlueToBits]

It is a joke, I bet it hardly covers his HP van payments. but how long can he keep that up for? Before long he'll be complaining he can make ends meet.

 

[telectrix]

you have to push the quality side, proper certification and notification, all that. explain to customer that he can probably do it for that as he has "acquired " the materials.

 

[jedisparks]

Interesting thread, im 31 and starting to get itchy feet. But if i change it will be something completely different. I have been thinking about becoming a paramedic. The more i look into it though the more i think im better off where i am. That trade (if you can call it that) is oversubscribed, subject to the governmeant cuts and NHS shake up, less pay, have to put up with abuse from the public etc. But ive always fancied it for some reason.

You have to think really carefully before you jump.

 

[zedess]

Yeah, thats all u can do really...i mean how ffs how can u compete with a price like that? im cutting to the bone and im still miles away on price, ill stick my price in ..pushing the certification, test results and bc notification (if hes not peed), and the fact i use a tradesman to plaster for the finish but dont hold your breath!!

 

[Adam W]

I think this profession has been squeezed just the same as every other - teachers are just glorified babysitters, medics face abuse from the people they're trying to treat for self-inflicted injuries, nobody has any respect for the police, everyone thinks they're an electrician, customers want everything for nothing and trades/traders should be grateful for the privilege of being fleeced otherwise complaints will be made.
Added to that a lot of professions have been dumbed down to the point that anyone can walk in from the jobcentre and do them with no previous experience (although experience is nearly always apparently essential). Sales, finance, telecoms... All of them nowadays seem to involve being paid minimum wage to sit in front of a computer and getting an earbashing from a customer in one ear and an earbashing in the other from the kid who's been there the longest and been made 'supervisor'.

Personally I think I'm going to stick it out - it may not be as good as it used to be, but you can still work 'normal' hours on a site or in a factory and have a bit of a laugh.
If I could wave a magic wand I'd probably be a train driver - a well paid, unionised job driving around in a train with nobody to bother me apart from the occasional suicidalist. If only everyone else hadn't already got the same idea...