Manator
©Honorary Essex Boy™
Robin I fully agree with you and have met some very good people who have not done a recognised apprenticeship, some times people like you come to the trade late, and are just as justified as any other to call themselves an electrician. What sets you and people like you who have changed careers apart from the rest, is the fact that you are willing to be humble, and ask even the most basic of questions so that you can perform your tasks to the best of your ability. This forum is a great source of information, which is a very broad spectrum of all specialities. I could not begin to try to get technical with Sidewinder and Canoeboy when they start talking about variable speed drives with active front ends. Or even try to read through the regs books to quote an example of text like Special Location does.
From time to time I and others like me do get a feeling in our guts that some people should never try to perform any kind of electrical works.
A working example of this is a recent new installation I carried out, it was designed by an electrical engineer working for the client, he had specified radial circuits protected by type c circuit breakers and wired in 2.5mm LSOF cable. Now normally I follow all specifications because they form the basis of the tender, however, being experianced I noticed that the circuit design was lacking and looked odd, when I did the cable calculations I found that 4 circuits he had designed were not going to work.
The only way I knew this is because of my experiances where I have had to fully design and calculate the full installation. I doubt that anyone who had done a fast track course could have had the same experiance to spot this mistake, especially if the design was submitted by someone who possibly had more qualifications than they did.
If you think you are only just learning the trade, and are the only one, think again because I am learning all the time. Its very easy for people like me to get into a rut of doing things the same way, simply because I have done it this way all my working life, then some snotty nosed apprentice comes back from college and says something that totally changes my way of doing things.
Never apologise for the way you got into the trade, just be humble enough like I and others are, to learn something new everyday.
The best electrician I ever worked with was a guy who did an apprenticeship during the 14th edition, but did no other courses since leaving college, but I could trust him 100% to get everything right.
From time to time I and others like me do get a feeling in our guts that some people should never try to perform any kind of electrical works.
A working example of this is a recent new installation I carried out, it was designed by an electrical engineer working for the client, he had specified radial circuits protected by type c circuit breakers and wired in 2.5mm LSOF cable. Now normally I follow all specifications because they form the basis of the tender, however, being experianced I noticed that the circuit design was lacking and looked odd, when I did the cable calculations I found that 4 circuits he had designed were not going to work.
The only way I knew this is because of my experiances where I have had to fully design and calculate the full installation. I doubt that anyone who had done a fast track course could have had the same experiance to spot this mistake, especially if the design was submitted by someone who possibly had more qualifications than they did.
If you think you are only just learning the trade, and are the only one, think again because I am learning all the time. Its very easy for people like me to get into a rut of doing things the same way, simply because I have done it this way all my working life, then some snotty nosed apprentice comes back from college and says something that totally changes my way of doing things.
Never apologise for the way you got into the trade, just be humble enough like I and others are, to learn something new everyday.
The best electrician I ever worked with was a guy who did an apprenticeship during the 14th edition, but did no other courses since leaving college, but I could trust him 100% to get everything right.