Electrical Skill courses

[cockney]

Hi this is my first post. I work in the digital print trade and I would like to become a domestic electrician, so I need to know what course to do? now as I work FT I will have to go to college 2 evenings a week in Leeds for at least 3 years. So I have been looking into this course here

Electrical Skills - The Skills Centre


Basically it it split into 3 modules and once I have done one module I then book to go into the office to do my practical side for a week and the repeat the same for modules 2 & 3.
The course is developed to work at your own speed and a part of the agreement I have to complete this course within 2 years and it will cost me £5250.

So....has anyone done any home study courses like this before? is it worth it ? or do you suggest I go to college for 3 years. The other thing which is bugging me is that I am 33 years old and I am wondering by the time i finish this course I could be 35-36 years old and am would someone employ me straight out of tech?

 

[Cirrus]

That's a lot of cash. I started my 2330 evening course aged 33 and over 3 years it cost me £2500. I work as a full time sparks and have done since day one. My advice, get into the trade NOW rather than making the mistake of thinking that after 3 years you will walk into a job as it is pretty unlikely base on what we hear from peeople at he moment.

 

[bobajob]

Cirrus,

Dose that mean that there is a saturation of electricians? I had heard that there was a huge need for qualified sparkies. I can't get into the trade completely yet as I already have a successful Window Cleaning business.

I want to slowly move into electrical work as I become more and more qualifed. Is that realistic? I want to move away from the windows because although, for unqualified work, it pays very well the work is very dependent on the weather, and it is very physically demanding (I have to use a 40 foot glass fiber pole which weighs 8KGs for 6-8 hours per day) and I am not getting younger...

Also I have a big customer base for my Window Cleaning work and I could start doing jobs for them as a beginning.

 

[Cirrus]

Colin, I think you may find that electrical work can also be very physically demanding.

From what I can see, certain parts of the country seem to be 'saturated' with sparks. Other areas people find work no problem but it is fair to say that there is no 'shortage'. I say the government was responsible for saying there was a shortgage of electricians a few years ago. I have spoken to several companies who recieve no fewer than 20 applications a DAY!! It is getting tougher to make the break but good luck.

 

[MacSparky]

Leading on from you there cirrus, i was speaking to my neighbour the other day who is a contracts manager and his words were that normally they have to phone agencies for the extra day work needed on site but at the moment the agencies are phoning around trying to place sparks ( term used lightly for some) as there isnt enough work, i'm referring to London here, and were not talking about agencies trying to place a few but placing lots of sparks. Not my words and the source of info is respectable in my eyes. Any agency workers on here that could add to this? maybe if i put my 'brain' back in then i could become a plumber instead!