new member

[ASAP spark]

Hi all,new member introducing myself . been electrician for nearly 40 years,still get a buzz from it(most day) although increasing red tape and schemes to take my hard earned cash from take the shine off it . part p is a disaster,the nature of our work means we must have a regulatory body to ensure standards and the publics safety,must be preserved . but increasingly,these 'schemes' do nothing but make professional sparks,a cash cow,doing little to keep standards high, and seperate professionals from the cowboys.

 

[Leesparkykent]

:welcome:

 

[Pete999]

:welcome:

 

[Guest77]

Hello all, a new member here introducing myself. I have been an electrician for nearly 40 years, I still get a buzz from it (most days) although I feel increasing red tape and the "schemes" are taking my hard earned cash and is taking the shine off it.
I personally feel part p is a total disaster, the Government think the nature of our work means we must have a regulatory body to ensure standards and they feel these bodies will help to keep the publics safety preserved.
I feel strongly that these "schemes" actually hinder creating professional Electricians, a cash cow if you like, doing very little to keep standards high, and I feel these "schemes" seperate professional Electricians from the cowboys.

Welcome to the site, nice to have you on board.

 

[ImpededLoop]

Welcome along!

 

[Breeze]

Good morning ASAP SPARK

 

[Besoeker]

 

[Engineer54]

WELCOME!! Nice to see another Qualified Electrician with the amount of experience that qualifies you as being a ''Dinosaur''. That's what some of the young Pup's here like to think of us are anyway!! lol!!

 

[Paul.M]

Welcome and with an opening post like that, you will make a lot of friends on this forum

 

[ASAP spark]

Morning all, and thank you for your welcome .hello engineer 54.i think us dinosaurs,could still show these young pups a thing or two,lol,

 

[Engineer54]

Morning all, and thank you for your welcome .hello engineer 54.i think us dinosaurs,could still show these young pups a thing or two,lol,

Only if they are prepared to listen, more often than not they are chasing their tails around getting nowhere... lol!!

 

[Des 56]

Welcome to you ASAP spark,I hope to see you become a familiar name in the near future

 

[Guest77]

Welcome and with an opening post like that, you will make a lot of friends on this forum

Especially Voltz LOL.

 

[ASAP spark]

True but i think its our 'duty'to chew their ears now and again lol.seriously though,i think young people coming into the proffesion,have much harder time of it now in many ways,red tape,amount of money we have to pay out just to keep working in the job we love(again,most days),i dont envy them.but thats the nature of the job now and if they stick it out,they'll have years ahead of them in a profession thats worthwhile,interesting Satisfying.

 

[Des 56]

True but i think its our 'duty'to chew their ears now and again lol.seriously though,i think young people coming into the proffesion,have much harder time of it now in many ways,red tape,amount of money we have to pay out just to keep working in the job we love(again,most days),i dont envy them.but thats the nature of the job now and if they stick it out,they'll have years ahead of them in a profession thats worthwhile,interesting Satisfying and extremely well paid

I have added a few truly tongue in cheek words you missed out Asap

 

[7029 dave]

Welcome along.

 

[ASAP spark]

Lol,yeah,cant find room on my driveway for my rolls royce coc my porsches!!

 

[rapparee]

Well hello asap. You might be an aul fella worth listening to.

 

[ASAP spark]

Hello rapparee,

 

[Besoeker]

True but i think its our 'duty'to chew their ears now and again lol.seriously though,i think young people coming into the proffesion,have much harder time of it now in many ways,red tape,amount of money we have to pay out just to keep working in the job we love(again,most days),i dont envy them.but thats the nature of the job now and if they stick it out,they'll have years ahead of them in a profession thats worthwhile,interesting Satisfying.

No disagreement with that. What saddens me is that fewer young people seem to be attracted into the electrical field.

 

[ASAP spark]

Hi besoeker,i dont think its that they dont want to,i think its more the case that theres little or no apprenticeships now.whereas once the careers officer in school would point you in the direction of a local company,taking lads(and girls)on to learn the trade,now it seems to be a case of dig deep into your pocket and buy yourself a place on an expensive 'course'.gaining the paperwork, but not the experience needed.on the job, experience is vital,and you cant get it from a 5 week course and a multi choice exam at the end of it.im not criticizing those that take this route,theyre just trying to earn a lliving,but i think that the apprenticeship route was good for the trsde snd for those wanting to become a spark.

 

[rapparee]

No disagreement with that. What saddens me is that fewer young people seem to be attracted into the electrical field.

Well when i was at school getting to uni was the be all and end all. If you were doing a trade you were a reject. This was the agenda pushed by the teachers

 

[ASAP spark]

I think that was the case to a certain extent,social attitudes changed and going to uni became the 'thing'.getting yr hands dirty became unfashionable.but being a tradesman/woman in our game doesnt just take physicsl graft,it involves a whole range of technical abilities and you have to keep up with all manner of skills to get on and do the job efficiently and safely.

 

[Besoeker]

Hi besoeker,i dont think its that they dont want to,i think its more the case that theres little or no apprenticeships now.whereas once the careers officer in school would point you in the direction of a local company,taking lads(and girls)on to learn the trade,now it seems to be a case of dig deep into your pocket and buy yourself a place on an expensive 'course'.gaining the paperwork, but not the experience needed.on the job, experience is vital,and you cant get it from a 5 week course and a multi choice exam at the end of it.im not criticizing those that take this route,theyre just trying to earn a lliving,but i think that the apprenticeship route was good for the trsde snd for those wanting to become a spark.

My background is mainly power electronics for industrial applications.

A little anecdotal tale from the commissioning phase of a project a few years ago. As these things go, it is often a question of hurry up and wait. You get to a point where you have done what you can and then have a boring wait for others to do their bit, make plant available, etc.

So the consultant, my chief project engineer, and I were sitting around a table during a wait. Chewing the fat while we had a cup of tea and we got to discussing age. We had all known each other for decades so it was an easy and comfortable relationship. The consultant was years past retirement age, I was in my sixties, and the chief project guy was about fifty.

Why were three fairly old guys doing the commissioning? It isn't an easy job at the best of times and this particular one was a bit trying. Long hours, lots of stairs, and the noise made any conversation impossible.

But there we were. Grey hair and all.
We need new blood. It would appear that engineering just doesn't seem a sexy career choice.

Besoeker

 

[ASAP spark]

true,i think real efforts must be made by the industry to attract new blood but they must provide the training and support needed to achieve this,they have to put their hands in their pockets if they want to keep our industry moving forwards and making it a viable career choice for youngsters.maybe the regulatory bodies too,could put their hands in their pockets,lack of investment and shortsightedness killls businesses both large and small

 

[Besoeker]

true,i think real efforts must be made by the industry to attract new blood but they must provide the training and support needed to achieve this,they have to put their hands in their pockets if they want to keep our industry moving forwards and making it a viable career choice for youngsters.maybe the regulatory bodies too,could put their hands in their pockets,lack of investment and shortsightedness killls businesses both large and small

I think the first step is to get them interested.

 

[ASAP spark]

I think we need to encourage them and show them whats on offer to get them interested.

 

[Besoeker]

I think we need to encourage them and show them whats on offer to get them interested.

Yes, I agree. I don't quite know how we go about doing that.

 

[ASAP spark]

morning besoeker,i think all of us who care about our industry,believe we need to invest in recruiting new blood,but as u say,how do we go about it? ...ps ive become grandad again(number 3)at 5am today

 

[Besoeker]

morning besoeker,i think all of us who care about our industry,believe we need to invest in recruiting new blood,but as u say,how do we go about it? ...ps ive become grandad again(number 3)at 5am today