Is 29/30 years age too late to start an sparky apprenticeship?

[JiuJitsuJose]

Hi all. Apologies if this is a dumb question but I am wondering if anyone can confirm any success stories of someone who got into the trade at late 20’s/early 30’s?

Long story short, I’ve recently come out of the forces and after a big chat with mates in different trades, they’ve suggested I start a sparky apprenticeship. From my perspective (granted I know nothing about it), I’ve got one voice saying to go for it and another saying I’m too old, will struggle on apprenticeship pay etc.

Could anyone offer their opinion or some personal success stories with a later start? Cheers!

 

[pc1966]

Plenty of folks change trade at much older years!

A good attitude and willingness to get on with things will go a LONG way in eventually getting a job. Yes, starting pay is not great but if you have any sort of technical background or aptitude you should be able to get through the various exams and things get a lot better then.

Others on here can advise about that aspect far better than myself.

 

[Dustydazzler]

30 is a great age to get into the trades ( if you can afford low pay to start with )
If you can find a company to take you on jump at it and get you quals done as quickly as possible.
There is way WAY more money in trades now then when I started in the mid 1990s

 

[JiuJitsuJose]

30 is a great age to get into the trades ( if you can afford low pay to start with )
If you can find a company to take you on jump at it and get you quals done as quickly as possible.
There is way WAY more money in trades now then when I started in the mid 1990s

Is the 4 year apprenticeship the quickest way of getting my quals done and becoming competent? Or would it be worth getting employed as a mate and doing quals over time?

 

[Dustydazzler]

Is the 4 year apprenticeship the quickest way of getting my quals done and becoming competent? Or would it be worth getting employed as a mate and doing quals over time?

Been 25 years since I did mine , 4 days on-site and 1 day at college for 3 years.
Most youngsters I see on site have all gone down the NVQ3 apprentice route

 

[nicebutdim]

OP has 15 years on me and I wish I'd retrained at their age.

Getting college place was a challenge and lots of knockbacks from potential employers was tough, but college and employer have both been supportive and appreciative of efforts as well as appreciating sacrifices made to start again from scratch.

Best advice I can give is to sit down and think long and hard about what you want to do. Whether it's working in the electrical industry or something else, if you really want to do something it's down to you to make it happen - there'll be setbacks, but nothing insurmountable.

 

[Uplight99]

If I’m honest, you’re going to really struggle finding a company to take you on as an apprentice at your age. Most companies want apprentices to be 16-18 so they can pay them knob all, they’d have to pay you the national living wage I believe.

It’s extremely hard for youngsters to get apprenticeships at the moment there’s not many going around and the demand is huge. I know someone who’s been looking non stop for over a year with no luck

 

[Dustydazzler]

If I’m honest, you’re going to really struggle finding a company to take you on as an apprentice at your age. Most companies want apprentices to be 16-18 so they can pay them knob all, they’d have to pay you the national living wage I believe.

It’s extremely hard for youngsters to get apprenticeships at the moment there’s not many going around and the demand is huge. I know someone who’s been looking non stop for over a year with no luck

I believe the 2023 the apprentice rate is still around £5 per hour regardless of your age IF you are a full time apprentice where your employer is paying for your college courses then they can pay you below the national minimum wage.
When I was an apprentice you got like £6k a year or something like that...

 

[Uplight99]

I believe the 2023 the apprentice rate is still around £5 per hour regardless of your age IF you are a full time apprentice where your employer is paying for your college courses then they can pay you below the national minimum wage.
When I was an apprentice you got like £6k a year or something like that...

They can pay him apprentice wage for the first year but when he gets to the second year onwards they’ll have to pay him the national living wage.

Also most apprenticeships are training provider funded (unless you do it privately) so the company doesn’t pay for college or course fees. Even my AM2 and NVQ has been paid for by the training provider (JTL)

Pretty sure they also pay for up to 2 AM2 resits too, I’m not 100% sure about that because I don’t get my results until Friday so am not sure if I will need a resit

 

[pc1966]

Is the 4 year apprenticeship the quickest way of getting my quals done and becoming competent? Or would it be worth getting employed as a mate and doing quals over time?

I can't say.

I suspect that becoming an electrician's mate might be slightly better paid and maybe more open to you at ~30 especially if you have a clean driving license and can do jobs like picking up materials from wholesaler, etc.

I suggest you ask around local electrical companies, any maybe even see if any local wholesale places are willing to post a "work wanted" notice. You might find an opportunity that has not quite made it to the "we have to recruit" stage, and being seen to actually want work is a good starting point.

 

[ElectroChem]

I started my apprenticeship at 31, it's definitely possible.

 

[pc1966]

Also worth looking at what you can do to make yourself more suited to potential jobs. There are a lot of free educational videos from the likes of eFIXX and John Ward that most would recommend viewing if you have spare time.

Also some skills you can learn without too much cost and access to fancy tools & equipment, possibly the most basic and essential one is to be able to strip cables:

• Leaving a sane amount of free play to install things
• To the correct conductor length(s) for the accessory
• Without nicking the primary insulation (on sheath removal)
• Without nicking the conductors (on insulation removal)

When starting out you generally would get the dogsbody jobs to do of fetching stuff, helping pull cables through, tidy up afterwards, etc, but obviously to goal is to learn the whole job so to more you can offer a prospective employer the better.

 

[Lister1987]

These 2 videos might give you an insight from ex-military personnel that have done what you're looking at doing

 

[Petej999]

These 2 videos might give you an insight from ex-military personnel that have done what you're looking at doing

 

[JiuJitsuJose]

Thanks to all the responses and advice. To those interested or in a similar boat to me, I managed to get a place into the apprenticeship and sealed an unbelievable opportunity with a firm. Start next week and will be working all over the country, in predominantly commercial/industrial with a bit of domestic. Also supplying me with a van and minimum wage for my age, which I know is an absolute touch.

Morale of the story is don’t let your age put you off going for something!

 

[Thommo]

Thanks to all the responses and advice. To those interested or in a similar boat to me, I managed to get a place into the apprenticeship and sealed an unbelievable opportunity with a firm. Start next week and will be working all over the country, in predominantly commercial/industrial with a bit of domestic. Also supplying me with a van and minimum wage for my age, which I know is an absolute touch.

Morale of the story is don’t let your age put you off going for something!

Well done mate and good luck.
I am 59 in August started in the trade September 2019 and got my results for my AM2 today, passed first time. Three and half years of studying and willingness to learn /listen but all worth it now.
They are a helpful bunch on here and will always
push you in the right direction.