Hello all

[mal103]

I am a 38 yo chap with family, ex Navy, ex Plumber - currently slipped into the world of IT but looking to go back on the tools.
Although in a comfortable job I am worried about being made redundant and not getting other work, I have tried moving work closer to home in Wilts for over a year but have not had much luck. The skills you learn in IT are not brilliant and are only relevant for a few years so when I look at my CV it is a load of crap unless they look at experience only.
Hence the reason why I am re training, partly for my own benifit as I am competent to do electrical work BUT am far from being qualified, partly to have qualifications as a fall back career which will allow me to go self employed if required and continue working until I am ready to retire.
So far I am revising the C&G 2330 (2) mainly from books - I am amazed how anyone can drag this course out for 2 years, the maths is newish to me but the rest is basic and common sense safety. Next is the 17th - then it's time to decide what to do next with work.
I have partly re-wired my old home and added sockets, lights etc but recently spent ages trying to work out the new system in the new house - hence the need for more knowledge.
Hope to ask and maybe answer questions or just join in, cheers for now,
Malcolm

 

[Bane]

Hi mal,

Welcome to the site! Some real good guys here, always willing to help and offer advice. Loads of knowledge to be exchanged, all you need to do is ask!
(Except for me because I'm crap BUT if you have any questions on SCUBA or underwater maintenance...Then I'm your man!)

 

[TonyM58]

Mal, welcome aboard (no pun intended), i'm ex forces as well, think theres a few of us on here

 

[mal103]

Thought I would update this as I haven't been on for a while and have just asked a question, still basically the same, I have since revived my old Plumbing business and got it going part time - I'm itching to move over full time but need to do things in a logical order.
I am not going to work with gas just yet but do need to have the capability of self certifying any Electrical work I need to do - I have already had to turn down a few jobs because I can't do the Electrics (legally that is) and can't get a Sparks in time to assist.
In spring I want to be able to offer Plumbing and Electrics - that's the goal anyway.

 

[Bane]

Thanks for coming back and regaling us with your presence

Hope everything goes well for you Mal and try to pop in time to time and keep us updated with your progress.

 

[Carter]

I am a 38 yo chap with family, ex Navy, ex Plumber - currently slipped into the world of IT but looking to go back on the tools.

Gotta be the way to go chap, real world skills, it never ceases to amaze me that supposedly very intelligent IT peeps have not the slightest idea how the power arrives at their workstations.

Although in a comfortable job I am worried about being made redundant and not getting other work, I have tried moving work closer to home in Wilts for over a year but have not had much luck.

so much for the promised fantasy island of "home working" also I understand that a lot of off-shoring is going on. The 'information industry' is not as robust as has been portrayed.

The skills you learn in IT are not brilliant and are only relevant for a few years so when I look at my CV it is a load of crap unless they look at experience only.

The skill sets in IT are very task specific as well as far as I can detect, as a spark you will be overwhelmed and intrigued by the diversity of the subject matter. If you can get a shoe in the door of the industrial and commercial sectors then so much the better.

[quoteHence the reason why I am re training,[/quote]

You've got a head start already as with your plumbing backgroung your manual/trade/tool handling skills will need no instruction and the same skills are directly transferable into the electrical installation field.

...partly for my own benifit as I am competent to do electrical work BUT am far from being qualified, partly to have qualifications as a fall back career which will allow me to go self employed if required and continue working until I am ready to retire.
So far I am revising the C&G 2330 (2) mainly from books - I am amazed how anyone can drag this course out for 2 years,

I think it's not so much that the course is overly extended more that it was designed around the idea of 'day release' study where the student is a jobbing mate/improver type. In those circumstances 2 yrs is still precious little time to cover all the bases from basic domestic installation to crashing in kilometres of high bay lighting trunking to fire alarm sysytems to fault finding on three phase plant or machine tool control cabinets. It's a masive skill set compared to I.T. Read study read read study ask read ask check for bull**** re-read investigate...etc ad infinitum.

the maths is newish to me but the rest is basic and common sense safety.

yeah but you do flow calcs, BTU calcs, fall calcs, same thing only different! If you can grasp the basics of current flow ie voltage, current and resistance you're well on your way. From that base point you can get the concepts of reactance (inductive & capacative) in AC ccts. and then you're into motors and 3 phase systems. From then on the world's your lobster and limited only by your preferences, personally I used to love crashing in miles of high bay lighting trunking perched on top of a sky-jack platform on a Sunday morning listening to the Test match and calculating the day's earnings

Next is the 17th - then it's time to decide what to do next with work.

...your lobster chap...to cook as you wish!

I have partly re-wired my old home and added sockets, lights etc but recently spent ages trying to work out the new system in the new house - hence the need for more knowledge.
Hope to ask and maybe answer questions or just join in, cheers for now,
Malcolm

Seems to be a wealth of good advice on this forum, I've been in the trade since 78 and I am still learning and don't see that situation changing thank God.


Bane! you're a scooby doo too! Was O.W.S.I. ran my own dive shop years back. Gotta get that drysuit out of loft storage. Sh*t! you've just reminded me I haven't get wet for 3 yrs!

 

[tony.towa]

Welcome to the site, and good luck with what you want to do, you realise that you will have your brains picked with all our plumbing problems now?

A quick note for Carter, it's nice that someone else admits to being in this industry for what seems like mega-years. Like you, and I've said it before, I keep learning too.

 

[Bane]

Bane! you're a scooby doo too! Was O.W.S.I. ran my own dive shop years back. Gotta get that drysuit out of loft storage. Sh*t! you've just reminded me I haven't get wet for 3 yrs!

But never dived in the UK Carter!!!
Call me a wimp but it's never appealed to me
Plus, have you ever seen the River Humber? It's like chocolate milkshake! Everytime I drive past it I have to remind myself it's a river and not a brown field (seriously).

Did all my diving/teaching/working in Malta.

 

[Carter]

BANE Did all my diving/teaching/working in Malta.

Nice! I decided to put m'self through the mill and do it in the most difficult conditions I could find ie the freezing pea green UK waters. my first training dives were in a manky, sheer sided granite quarry in Tamworth (Dosthill) in February (2degC water temp) in an appallingly ill fitting school 8mm drysuit with a knife strap round the neck seal to stem the worst of the ingress. AT NIGHT You had about 15 mins before your fingers refused to articulate despite pouring kettles of hot water into the 7mm thick gloves pre-dive to defrost the buggers sufficiently to allow you to get them on in the first place. Talk about in at the deep end, the thing is, despite it being the harshest introduction to the dive industry that could have possibly been devised I loved every second of those dives (the gratis bacon butties also helped) and thought that now I've done the worst, NOTHING can be worse than this....then I ended up at Gildenburgh. Just shows how wrong you can be.

 

[Bane]

*Above post clarifies my stance on NOT diving in UK*

Very funny Carter

Must admit though, as you said, when you learn in such *****y conditions it certainly prepares you for the worst and if anything was to go awry you should be ready for it.

Then, on the other side, when you go diving in great viz (and let's face it, compared to UK anything above 5metres viz is great), your totally relaxed and at ease.