Trade Skills 4 U waste of time?

[rewireIT]

Trade skills 4 U are a bunch of shysters that sprang up out of nowhere at exactly the same time as part P was introduced, now they are a multi million pound business. Think about that next time you have a mouth full of insulation in the deepest darkest corner of someone's loft.

In fact i take back what i said about TS4U - they now mandate that you do their pointless 'Step 1' course BEFORE you can even do the Level 2. They've essentially split the Level 2, called it 'Step 1' and 'Step 2' and charged two fees for it. Adds a cool £1800 onto the cost of training with them. Shameful.

 

[nicebutdim]

In fact i take back what i said about TS4U - they now mandate that you do their pointless 'Step 1' course BEFORE you can even do the Level 2. Adds a cool £1800 onto the cost of training with them.

Pretty much every training provider outside of colleges have this requirement. There may be some who don't, but not any that I've looked at.

 

[oscar21]

Can you not wing it anymore getting into the electrical industry? I never did the official college course back in the mid 90's when I started. I kind of knew what I was doing due to my dad kind of knowing what he was doing and I kind of re-wired my first house so it at least all worked. When I went for a job interview at a local sparks desperate for electricians I just told them I had done several re-wires and I knew what I was doing. As long as you are intelligent you can pick it up as you go along and after 5 years and my boss paying for an expensive 16th edition and 2391 course for me I was their qualifying manager.

Not long after that I became self employed and then you really do have the licence to wing it. Even recently we needed the CSCS card to do a job on site but they accepted the screen shot of the booked and paid for H&S course they let us on site as they needed us quickly. Do you think we actually bothered turning up and doing the course? Of course not, who's got time for that, We did the job, got paid and the CSCS thing would have ran out by now anyway, everyone was happy - we winged it.

I know part P has probably kyboshed a lot of that now but is it so difficult to do something similar in the industrial side of things, I cant believe someone would blow their life savings on getting a job, its got scam written all over it, they should be paying you.

 

[oscar21]

In fact i take back what i said about TS4U - they now mandate that you do their pointless 'Step 1' course BEFORE you can even do the Level 2. They've essentially split the Level 2, called it 'Step 1' and 'Step 2' and charged two fees for it. Adds a cool £1800 onto the cost of training with them. Shameful.

When I updated to the 18th TS4U insisted that I did the full 3 day course instead of the update course because the 17th qualification I had didn't include the latest amendment. Cost was about £400, robbing bar stewards. Did it with NAPIT instead with one of those patronising on line courses, about £200 I think.

 

[nicebutdim]

Not long after that I became self employed and then you really do have the licence to wing it. Even recently we needed the CSCS card to do a job on site but they accepted the screen shot of the booked and paid for H&S course they let us on site as they needed us quickly. Do you think we actually bothered turning up and doing the course? Of course not, who's got time for that, We did the job, got paid and the CSCS thing would have ran out by now anyway, everyone was happy - we winged it.

I know part P has probably kyboshed a lot of that now but is it so difficult to do something similar in the industrial side of things, I cant believe someone would blow their life savings on getting a job, its got scam written all over it, they should be paying you.

No one needs to blow a load of money on training, when it's available for a fairly reasonable price from colleges and funding is available to cover course fees for adult apprentices.

Winging it in the industrial sector would be nigh on impossible as you're generally going to need to be a scheme registered contractor, with every person on site provding CSCS/CSR details as part of their induction. Maybe small commercial jobs could be run this way, but anything of a half decent size and the main contractor isn't going to be taking chances on unknown quantities.

 

[nicebutdim]

Personally i'd rather go somewhere like that then spend 2 years fannying around at college, upon leaving which everyone will say sorry, you've got no experience.

What difference would it make whether a person went to a training provider or night classes at a local college?

Both options provide for people working in the industry, people with experience and people for whom neither applies.

 

[rewireIT]

When I updated to the 18th TS4U insisted that I did the full 3 day course instead of the update course because the 17th qualification I had didn't include the latest amendment. Cost was about £400, robbing bar stewards. Did it with NAPIT instead with one of those patronising on line courses, about £200 I think.

Lol wot you don't even have to do a course. I literally just got the book and booked on for the exam.

 

[rewireIT]

Can you not wing it anymore getting into the electrical industry? I never did the official college course back in the mid 90's when I started. I kind of knew what I was doing due to my dad kind of knowing what he was doing and I kind of re-wired my first house so it at least all worked. When I went for a job interview at a local sparks desperate for electricians I just told them I had done several re-wires and I knew what I was doing. As long as you are intelligent you can pick it up as you go along and after 5 years and my boss paying for an expensive 16th edition and 2391 course for me I was their qualifying manager.

Not long after that I became self employed and then you really do have the licence to wing it. Even recently we needed the CSCS card to do a job on site but they accepted the screen shot of the booked and paid for H&S course they let us on site as they needed us quickly. Do you think we actually bothered turning up and doing the course? Of course not, who's got time for that, We did the job, got paid and the CSCS thing would have ran out by now anyway, everyone was happy - we winged it.

I know part P has probably kyboshed a lot of that now but is it so difficult to do something similar in the industrial side of things, I cant believe someone would blow their life savings on getting a job, its got scam written all over it, they should be paying you.

Can't say i disagree with you - i fudged my CV big time when i got started cause i knew i could do the job. I stay firmly in my lane by telling people i'm a mate/improver and never try to claim i'm a spark.

On my very first job as a 'trainee' i saw the agency improvers on 18 quid an hour working and they were terrible. I thought i can do this. So i went and did it.

 

[7029 dave]

Nearly all sites have foreign labour including electricians, do you think they are all qualified to UK standards, no chance. One English QS and jobs a gooden, cheap labour been going on for quite a few years.

 

[nicebutdim]

On my very first job as a 'trainee' i saw the agency improvers on 18 quid an hour working and they were terrible. I thought i can do this. So i went and did it.

You've told us this many times before in similar threads, and it's great that it got you a better wage, but I fail to see how it helps the OP who simply asked if completing level 2 with this training provider is a worthwhile endeavour to help them find an apprenticeship.

You and I started apprenticeships at the same time. You quit in favor of better earnings, while it's taken me two years to get onto the same sort of money (Although I'm in NI, so £18/hr is probably worth £22/23 in GB terms).

Unless I'm missing something your choices in getting your cards are: a. A college course. b. An expensive training provider or c. Mature worker assessment which requires proof of 5 years experience, before you even begin.

If all goes well my apprenticeship should deliver an NVQ this coming year, with AM2 shortly after. Obviously this depends on me getting the book work done, but the opportunity awaits.

While I'm pleased that your choices were the correct ones for you, I don't think they're for everyone and I'm firmly of the belief that discouraging people from undertaking apprenticeships is dreadful advice. Perhaps I'm missing something here, but will maintain that the OP (at 24 years of age) should consider all available options, before throwing away good opportunities on the advice of someone who hasn't achieved what the OP is aiming for.