German trained "Mechatroniker"

[PaulScot]

Hi,

I have been living in Germany for 5 years now and am currently training to become a Mechatroniker, it's a 3.5 year course which includes Electric, mechanic and IT. Also some welding etc. Afterwards I will be officially allowed to work as an Electrician or in some kind of metal related field and so on. It's very intense, the amount we are learning. Basically my question is, after my course is finished, it's not impossible that in the future I return back home to Scotland. I can't seem to find any information about how I would get my qualification recognised there. Anybody able to help? As I said, I would be essentially a fully qualified Electrician with further qualifications in metal work and some welding etc, the question is if I could work as an Electrician in Scotland or as a Mechatronic(?) without needing to do further training or if it wouldn't count for anything etc.

Just to be clear it's not just a short course where you don't learn anything, at the end of it I can work anywhere in Germany as a fully trained Electrician or directly as a "Mechatroniker", which includes the above mentioned other aspects. I like it here in Germany, here because of my wife and kids, but it's not impossible that we could one day return to Scotland and it would be good to know if I would be able to continue working in the same field or if I would need further certification.

Course title is "Ausbildung" as "Mechatroniker" with a large energy company, coal power plant. So an industry job.

Hope somebody can help, thanks a lot!

 

[Dan]

Hi,

I have been living in Germany for 5 years now and am currently training to become a Mechatroniker, it's a 3.5 year course which includes Electric, mechanic and IT. Also some welding etc. Afterwards I will be officially allowed to work as an Electrician or in some kind of metal related field and so on. It's very intense, the amount we are learning. Basically my question is, after my course is finished, it's not impossible that in the future I return back home to Scotland. I can't seem to find any information about how I would get my qualification recognised there. Anybody able to help? As I said, I would be essentially a fully qualified Electrician with further qualifications in metal work and some welding etc, the question is if I could work as an Electrician in Scotland or as a Mechatronic(?) without needing to do further training or if it wouldn't count for anything etc.

Just to be clear it's not just a short course where you don't learn anything, at the end of it I can work anywhere in Germany as a fully trained Electrician or directly as a "Mechatroniker", which includes the above mentioned other aspects. I like it here in Germany, here because of my wife and kids, but it's not impossible that we could one day return to Scotland and it would be good to know if I would be able to continue working in the same field or if I would need further certification.

Course title is "Ausbildung" as "Mechatroniker" with a large energy company, coal power plant. So an industry job.

Hope somebody can help, thanks a lot!

I don't think it would be a straight transfer. You'd need to do training and portfolio and exams here. Just as if you were fresh I think. Especially after any changes made once we leave EU properly.

Any work you do going toward your portfolio over there, perhaps keep close to you etc it could maybe contribute.

If it was a straight transfer everybody would be moving to the easiest country to pass and then coming back and possibly working with different equipment etc. So you'll need prove your skills on UK spec stuff at the very least i would have thought.

You need to spark to British Standards.

However I'm not a sparky at all. So worth noting that. I'm absolutely wrong once a week easy.

 

[PaulScot]

Cheers Dan! I figured that might be the case but I know a lot of foreigners are working in the UK and they can't all be starting from scratch, surely? I mean the training we are receiving here (in Germany) is to a high standard, would be a real shame (for me) if it wasn't recognized back home. I can understand with it being a different system that I would possibly have to sit a few exams to register in Scotland/UK, but it would be good to know if anyone has any similar experience or could point me in the right direction. Would like to return home one day and would be a real shame to have to start from scratch...

 

[Dan]

True!

Very true.

The lads will reply soon enough im sure they'll reassure you and totally correct me mate. Hang in there.

 

[FatAlan]

Sounds like a good course Paul. I wouldn’t worry about it until you have to make the decision as things change every 30 seconds. You may have specialised by then as well. Experience is they key.
Wouldn’t bother coming back yet as things are about to get dire here with Brexit. Wait till Scotland gets independence.

 

[westward10]

These are the best people to interpret your qualifications for UK equivalent.

NARIC - UK NARIC

 

[littlespark]

When I left school, I started as an apprentice electrician and qualified in '95
After moving away from home and getting married, I went to University of Abertay in Dundee at the age of 24 and studied exactly what you have... "Mechatronics"
I now have a BSc(hons) degree in it, but no career with it.

I went back to the tools and now work as a Self Employed Electron Management Consultant... (ie, I'm still a sparky!)

Having a degree will not get you a job as a general spark. You'de want to be looking at manufacturing/ robotics. I know one of my class at the time got a job with NCR, the cash machine people.
I had a mortgage, wife and kid to worry about, and I took the easy route back into a paid, steady job rather than searching for something to suit my degree and possibly moving further away from my family. (My dad had a stroke in the middle of my course)

Did I waste 4 years studying for a degree? Maybe....
Do I regret it?.... No. Not one day.

Being a spark already, however, got me into the university course with absolutely no highers from school.



Take no notice of @FatAlan .... Scotland's independence is Sturgeons pipe dream. As Salmonds before her.... and you see how much credibility he has nowadays.

 

[FatAlan]

When I left school, I started as an apprentice electrician and qualified in '95
After moving away from home and getting married, I went to University of Abertay in Dundee at the age of 24 and studied exactly what you have... "Mechatronics"
I now have a BSc(hons) degree in it, but no career with it.

I went back to the tools and now work as a Self Employed Electron Management Consultant... (ie, I'm still a sparky!)

Having a degree will not get you a job as a general spark. You'de want to be looking at manufacturing/ robotics. I know one of my class at the time got a job with NCR, the cash machine people.
I had a mortgage, wife and kid to worry about, and I took the easy route back into a paid, steady job rather than searching for something to suit my degree and possibly moving further away from my family. (My dad had a stroke in the middle of my course)

Did I waste 4 years studying for a degree? Maybe....
Do I regret it?.... No. Not one day.

Being a spark already, however, got me into the university course with absolutely no highers from school.



Take no notice of @FatAlan .... Scotland's independence is Sturgeons pipe dream. As Salmonds before her.... and you see how much credibility he has nowadays.

Admire your confidence Littlespark. I'm quarter Scottish and no fan of Ms Sturgeon but I fear she may get her way if the Brexit shenanigans go the wrong way.

 

[PaulScot]

When I left school, I started as an apprentice electrician and qualified in '95
After moving away from home and getting married, I went to University of Abertay in Dundee at the age of 24 and studied exactly what you have... "Mechatronics"
I now have a BSc(hons) degree in it, but no career with it.

I went back to the tools and now work as a Self Employed Electron Management Consultant... (ie, I'm still a sparky!)

Having a degree will not get you a job as a general spark. You'de want to be looking at manufacturing/ robotics. I know one of my class at the time got a job with NCR, the cash machine people.
I had a mortgage, wife and kid to worry about, and I took the easy route back into a paid, steady job rather than searching for something to suit my degree and possibly moving further away from my family. (My dad had a stroke in the middle of my course)

Did I waste 4 years studying for a degree? Maybe....
Do I regret it?.... No. Not one day.

Being a spark already, however, got me into the university course with absolutely no highers from school.



Take no notice of @FatAlan .... Scotland's independence is Sturgeons pipe dream. As Salmonds before her.... and you see how much credibility he has nowadays.

Thanks for the above replies, appreciate it. In regards to the mechatronics degree, yeah totally agree with you there however the course I am doing isn't a uni degree, it's essentially a trade in itself here, including the electrician title and further qualifications. It's a bit crammed due to the amount you have to learn and I guess in essence you might not be quite at the same level as a pure electrician (it's 3.5 years), but in regards to where you can work or what you can do, you are officially "Elektrofachkraft" which is an electrician at a trade level.

I am a bit lucky in where I am doing my course, as normally as an apprentice you would be doing all the little odd jobs, whereas here you literally just learn theory and practical skills in the "work" weeks and then pure theory in the "school weeks". It's a really good company and the level of training is probably a bit higher than most other companies in this area of Germany. As I said I can then specialize and become a "master" or a "techniker" or go on to study mechatronics at uni as you did. I don't think the trade "Mechatroniker" is known at all in the UK, is it? It's becoming more and more common here as in theory you can have one guy who's capable of identifying problems, fixing them and maintaining a system (also dealing with installations) that would normally require multiple people. So employers love it, naturally, cheaper. Generally you specialise afterwards.

As I am working for an energy company (large power provider, mine our own coal and supply own power plants), the electrical part is a bit more in depth. After I am done I probably want to do my "meister" and possibly study aswell, but not sure yet (bit complicated here), will see how I feel at the end of the course if I still have the motivation. Most important part to me is that I will be officially qualified as a mechatroniker and able to work as an electrician or in other areas, I am interested later in working offshore.

Would be awesome if I could pick up work back home in Scotland at some point, as I figure the training here has some merit and hopefully can be recognised...

 

[PaulScot]

Regarding independence / brexit, prob best leave that for another forum post as we could spend a good few hours talking about that one

 

[Dan]

Christ don't start that one again lol

Nobody will sort that out with a forum thread. ???

 

[Deleted member 122525]

As I understand it from talking to people on side from Eastern Europe, and the guys who have done stuff correctly, They Did the Am2 exam, spoke to the JIB, presented there qualifications to them, and got a gold card, some went on and the there inspection and testing as well,

 

[R-fur]

Your course sounds like you would be well placed to get a job as a wind tech. installing and servicing wind turbines. There are quite a few Germans working in Scotland doing that kind of work.

 

[edexlab]

I've worked alongside quite a few German and Dutch Mechatronic guys that are trained to the same level as yourself and it's obvious to me that they all would find a maintenance job here with no real issues, very well trained people!

However I've worked with a young Polish guy that did a similar qualification but had no experience and he found very few companies understood what he could do I told him to go down the Naric route and to target the multinational companies as I've met UK people who have done Mechatronic training with them.

As others have said Naric to convert the qualification to a UK equivalent and the current Regs exam would be all you'd need
JIB is mostly only needed for installation work