I have currently gained my level 3 NVQ BTEC in electrical/electronic engineering over a 4 year apprenticeship in a factory building machines, I have very little experience with domestic wiring but has hoping if I completed my 17th edition and part p that maybe then I could try and gain some experience but then at least be a licensed electrician... been researching for hours and got no where PLEASE HELP?? Also I am currently studying my HNC in electrical engineering... I know it's irrelevant for electricians but thought I would mention it
Can I be a electrician after completing level 3 electrical engineering apprenticeship?
- Thread starter Jregis94
- Start date
Help Support Talk Electrician Forum:
Manator
©Honorary Essex Boy™
This is why the word electrician is in my opinion greatly misused. The study course you have chosen makes you the ideal candidate to design rather than install. I very much doubt that you would have the core skills to install.
I work with a very highly qualified maintenance trained electrician and he would agree.
What I would really like to know is why you would want to downgrade? No offence to our hard core highly motivated electrician base.
I work with a very highly qualified maintenance trained electrician and he would agree.
What I would really like to know is why you would want to downgrade? No offence to our hard core highly motivated electrician base.
Stay on the industrial side, your skills will be like gold dust.
Stick to machinery, become a service engineer, 1000 times better than the race to the bottom that is electrical installations works.
Hi Jregis as I find myself keep saying on here , I don't know what qualies required these days , but as Andy says , don't get sidetracked by the phrase "Part P " . As he says it is merely part of the Building Regs which says ..in a nutshell, Domestic work should be done by a " Competent Person" . Someone will help on here , keep looking.
Edit; Just read Sidewinder's post and totally agree ........ there is a shortage of industrial engineers in my experience.
Edit; Just read Sidewinder's post and totally agree ........ there is a shortage of industrial engineers in my experience.
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks for fast responses people, the main reasons I was considering it and hope this answers 'manator's' question...
Is that the last 4 years of my apprenticeship I've only learnt basic engineering/electrical skills as the training has been pretty awful... and thought if I learnt domestic electrical work, it could be a good thing to make money on the side. Also the other main reason is that im really considering trying to migrate to Australia and have been told HNC's aren't recognized over there, thought it would be easier to go out there as a electrician rather that a under qualified electrical engineer. :/
And yeah I really wanted to get into being service engineer... just not gained any skills from my apprenticeship to really commission/fault find/test, have only been building up load banks for the last 4 years and don't even touch them when they are live..... it's been pretty s**t apprenticeship I've thought, only the money and them paying for my qualifications that has kept me there
Last edited by a moderator:
I don't even know what "load banks" are, mate . !!! :Blushing
Jregis,
Can you not stay at your current employer and progress on?
Can you not stay at your current employer and progress on?
I assume the load banks are for testing generators, do you ever get to use them on site?
Haha yeah load banks test generators... quite a specific set of skills I've learnt building them, only transferable skill would really be panel wiring... and I've tried to work my way up to service, to progress from my apprenticeship. so I can travel around, which is what I wanted( as I have never liked going to the same factory everyday for past 4 years I've wanted to work at different sites) but unfortunately they won't give me the chance because they think I'm not ready(which management just don't have a clue in my factory) and which is partly why they are putting me through the HNC
There are other uses for resistance banks. We had a devil of a job to find a manufacturer to construct a bank for crane control. Neutral earth resistors for MV IT systems being another.
Being able to do the control side is another string to your bow.
Being able to do the control side is another string to your bow.
HNC was one of the things that was looked for when I became a Service Engineer on machine tools.
I was doing mine, but I had never worked on PLC & CNC equipment, but I did have a good mechanical and basic electrical grounding.
Hopefully you will have been working to the relevant standards, so whilst you won't have been working to BS7671, you will have been working to the product standards and EN 60204-1, knowledge of 60204-1 is something that not many electricians have.
Presumably the load banks are CE marked to the Low Voltage Directive?
I'd stick it out, for now, panel wiring is quite an art, it's not the only skill that you have without realising it.
Humour me, please.
Can you drill & tap holes?
Do you know about drill sizes for tapping?
I was doing mine, but I had never worked on PLC & CNC equipment, but I did have a good mechanical and basic electrical grounding.
Hopefully you will have been working to the relevant standards, so whilst you won't have been working to BS7671, you will have been working to the product standards and EN 60204-1, knowledge of 60204-1 is something that not many electricians have.
Presumably the load banks are CE marked to the Low Voltage Directive?
I'd stick it out, for now, panel wiring is quite an art, it's not the only skill that you have without realising it.
Humour me, please.
Can you drill & tap holes?
Do you know about drill sizes for tapping?
Thanks for the help, Yes I suppose your right about the standards, I just kind of wire them up without thinking about that(I guess it's the designers who would know more about following the standards when they design the machines to be built)... and yes the first year of my apprenticeship was only allowed to do the mechanical side which purely drilling/tapping and torquing nuts and bolts..... so really only had 3 years experience actually wiringHNC was one of the things that was looked for when I became a Service Engineer on machine tools.
I was doing mine, but I had never worked on PLC & CNC equipment, but I did have a good mechanical and basic electrical grounding.
Hopefully you will have been working to the relevant standards, so whilst you won't have been working to BS7671, you will have been working to the product standards and EN 60204-1, knowledge of 60204-1 is something that not many electricians have.
Presumably the load banks are CE marked to the Low Voltage Directive?
I'd stick it out, for now, panel wiring is quite an art, it's not the only skill that you have without realising it.
Humour me, please.
Can you drill & tap holes?
Do you know about drill sizes for tapping?
Well, I tell you what, then, you have more transferable skills than you realise, and that is a positive, NOT a negative thing.
I had an install spark subbing to me, & I asked him to drill & tap some P clips to a machine to hold the cable.
M5 screws, I asked if he was OK with that, the answer was yes.
So, he drills 5.0mm dia. holes in the machine, then says, that the taps go straight through the holes!
We then had to find M6 screws & P clips that took an M6 screw.
So, if you have a good solid mechanical basis, as well as the 3 years electrical, and they are putting you through the HNC, knuckle down and learn outside the box, and outside work and self-teach yourself stuff, that way, you will be a good candidate to be a service engineer.
Stick around here and ask about stuff, there are a lot of old industrial hands around.
I had an install spark subbing to me, & I asked him to drill & tap some P clips to a machine to hold the cable.
M5 screws, I asked if he was OK with that, the answer was yes.
So, he drills 5.0mm dia. holes in the machine, then says, that the taps go straight through the holes!
We then had to find M6 screws & P clips that took an M6 screw.
So, if you have a good solid mechanical basis, as well as the 3 years electrical, and they are putting you through the HNC, knuckle down and learn outside the box, and outside work and self-teach yourself stuff, that way, you will be a good candidate to be a service engineer.
Stick around here and ask about stuff, there are a lot of old industrial hands around.
In fairness you probably don't know enough after four years to be out on your own on jobs. I've nine years experience in a factory and i feel as if i'm only starting to scratch the surface lol. The more i learn the more i realise i need to learn more. I have to call in a 68yr old every now and again, I'll never let him retire
You are lucky to do your apprenticeship and even luckier to get a hnc out of it. Keep the head down and keep learning.
Tony has also set up a good knowledge base on this forum, there are a lot of good articles for an industrial electrician to read.
You are lucky to do your apprenticeship and even luckier to get a hnc out of it. Keep the head down and keep learning.
Tony has also set up a good knowledge base on this forum, there are a lot of good articles for an industrial electrician to read.
Last edited by a moderator:
Sounds like both Sidewinder’s and my apprenticeship, we both started in a machine shop. Valuable knowledge drilled in to you from the start (sorry for the pun).
There’s a shortage of industrial electricians with mechanical skills, please don’t under value yourself.
Last edited by a moderator:
Similar threads
