NICEIC Certification Scheme NICEIC Courses and more.

[gerry.slater65@]

Hello all.
A bit of background firstly.
Im 50 and retired from my previous career. I completed the 2330 electrical installation, level 2 and 3 around 8 years ago. 17th edition.
I have been working for an electrical firm but am not realy sure its my thing.
Ive decided to go out on my own and need some advice please.
Initially, I'll probably sign up to the Domestic Installer scheme.
Ive been talking to the NICEIC about courses. They seem to want me to do two courses. The 2394 and 2395.
Im not really sure if I need both, they are expensive but if I need them, I'll take them.
Im pretty competent domestically but to be honest, my testing skills are not great. Probably just a little rusty, it's been a while.
Any advice or help on all this would be great. To be honest, I'm not sure I'm even taking the right path.
Many thanks in advance.
Gerry.

 

[Guest77]

I would agree with them that you take the courses, as your limited in experience regarding testing it may help you improve your skills you have learned even further and you will benefit from it, JMO.

 

[Midwest]

Hello all.
A bit of background firstly.
Im 50 and retired from my previous career. I completed the 2330 electrical installation, level 2 and 3 around 8 years ago. 17th edition.
I have been working for an electrical firm but am not realy sure its my thing.
Ive decided to go out on my own and need some advice please.
Initially, I'll probably sign up to the Domestic Installer scheme.
Ive been talking to the NICEIC about courses. They seem to want me to do two courses. The 2394 and 2395.
Im not really sure if I need both, they are expensive but if I need them, I'll take them.
Im pretty competent domestically but to be honest, my testing skills are not great. Probably just a little rusty, it's been a while.
Any advice or help on all this would be great. To be honest, I'm not sure I'm even taking the right path.
Many thanks in advance.
Gerry.

Bit like you, I retired & returned to being an electrician a few years ago now. I did the C&G 2392, my knowledge of testing wasn't good, and was advised to do that first. Since then I think I should have done 2394 or 2395, missed out on a few EICR jobs, but hey hoe.

You'll need to consider, what will be you mainstay of work and choose a course accordingly. I'm led to believe the 2394 & 2395 courses are quite hard, and if you have no experience of testing, you might find the courses taxing. Guided by others on here on that. Think the advice to do two different courses is a good idea, as long as you can afford it. And you could then do the 2395 after you have some experience under your belt.

I have thought about doing the 2395, but I'm not sure I would get a return on it, in terms of work and how long I intend to carry on working, before retiring properly.

:auto:

 

[Andy78]

I would say yes, do these courses. They will benefit you in your position of lacking experience in testing, and with potentially becoming self employed.

The courses are quite tough I would imagine for the uninitiated, they are aimed at experienced testers, but as long as you go for a well structured course and not a compressed course you will be fine.
The compressed courses are for those interested in gaining a bit of paper, but if you are interested in learning and furthering your expertise then go for a longer course.

I did the 2394 and 2395 combined course on an evening class at a local college. They ran concurrently and took 12 weeks each course, once a week for a 3 hour session. There was loads of time for discussion of the finer points of testing and the regs, as well as time allocated to mock exams and practice sessions. Well worth the money and time !