Howdy

[christhebeck]

Hi, all.

Career-changer-upper here. Figured I’d be polite and say hi before picking your brains for information.

Nice to meet you all.

Chris

 

[Sharpend]

Welcome to the board Chris, what’s the story? 
why the change? What route you taking to do changeover? Have you started? 

 

[christhebeck]

Welcome to the board Chris, what’s the story? 
why the change? What route you taking to do changeover? Have you started? 

Sorry, Sharpend. I wasn’t sure if this was the right subforum for all of that so

I've been going down the rabbit hole on this website!

I’m 36, living in Brighton, East Sussex and have been running cocktail bars, restaurants and hotels for the last 10 years. Recently lost my job what with everything that is going on but have been thinking of making a change for a year, so here I am.

I’ve completed an apprenticeship in Mechanical Engineering but if you asked me to quote the course numbers I’d probably blow a gasket. This is my first task as I’m currently waiting to hear back from the various qualification bodies to find out what I achieved, where and when. I’m 99% sure I completed a  C&G 2 and 3, a BTEC and was halfway through my ONC before moving to London and falling into the hospitality industry.
 

My understanding is that due to

my age I’ll have to fund any and all qualifications myself as government funding won’t be available to my employer. Please correct me if I am wrong; that’s why I am here. So a City & Guilds Level 2 Diploma in Electrical Installation appears to be the first step. The course is 18 months and involves two evenings a week at a reputable college in Brighton.

I’m not interested in these “become a sparky in three months” scams. I know from completing my proper apprenticeship that these are essentially worthless.

To be honest reading the forums here has already been very informative, but I have to admit it sounds like even more difficult a leap now that I have.

I guess the things I’d like to know are;

* In the current workplace climate; what are the chances of a 36 year old gaining an apprenticeship with an electrician/ firm. As I mentioned previously I understand that I’ll likely be funding this myself.

* What’s your advice if I’m unable to secure an apprenticeship? Am I wasting £1600 as no-one will be interested in someone with little or no site experience?

I’ll be doing my CSCS exam in the next two weeks to hopefully gain some

site experience as a labourer and to hopefully get to know some sparkies. Networking and letting people get to know you appears to be really

important. I’ve read a lot on here with regard to the risks involved with taking on people you don’t know, etc.

Anyway, I’ve babbled on enough now. I’m not here go on about what I do know. It’s everything I don’t know that I really need to hear from you folks.

Sincerely thanks in advance, and I’m sure

I’ll have more questions.

Chris.

 

[Sharpend]

Are you going to get an apprenticeship -NO

will you need it if you do evening classes-NO

towards end of the evening classes your tutor may have companies that he knows will take someone on, you will need a placement of some descript to complete your NVQ, however this is many months away.  
is there a guarantee that you’ll get work? There is as much chance of you getting work as there is in doing your studies. You will only get out what you put in. 
What I will say is this, if you get a really good grasp of the theory and you are a positive presentable/likeable personality then you will succeed, it may take a little time but it will come. If On the other hand you are unpresentable, not interested then it will not happen for you. 
Whilst a skill is valuable people tend to employ the person first skill set second. 

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

The course is 18 months and involves two evenings a week at a reputable college in Brighton.

I’m not interested in these “become a sparky in three months” scams. I know from completing my proper apprenticeship that these are essentially worthless.

The extracted text from your previous posts says to me...

Here is a bloke with his head screwed on...  

looking for FACTS not false claims and sale's hype!!

What you want to do, is NOT impossible..

But it is also NOT going to be easy handed to you on a plate..

A few reality check facts:-

Electricity is considered a green power source for homes & transport for future development and as a preferred alterative to other sources of energy for power/heat/transport. And there are a lot of inefficient power sources for heating homes, offices, running transport systems etc..

There are a lot of qualified people, experienced in electrical work, who have been discarded from numerous industries which have had to reduce their capacity or close completely due to Brexit and/or Covid!

There is a significant number of electricians working in the UK who are approaching retirement age.

There is a significant number of large companies looking for cheap labour to fulfil contracts they have tendered for based around a shoestring budget.

More often than not, 'Who-You-Know' carries more weight than 'What-You-Know'    

Some people incorrectly assume there are pre-set cable types to be used for certain types of circuit. (e.g. Lights must me 1.0mm, Sockets must be 2.5mm, Cookers must be 6.0mm, Showers must be 10.0mm... These are ALL wrong and total Bollox!!

A good grasp of Physics and Maths are needed to correctly design a circuit that will meet both the customers requirements and BS7671.

There are a lot of training providers who are looking for bums-on-seats to cover their costs, but don't care a hoot if they are giving appropriate training for the people  who are paying their wages!!!!!  

Drunk too much too think of any more at the moment....  :C   

But you can probably get the gist!!?

 

[christhebeck]

Thank you for your frank responses, folks. It is much appreciated.

College doesn’t even start until September so I have a very long way to go. Gotta start somewhere though, aye. This may sound completely daft, but is there any early

literature you can recommend? Figured I’d start now and get ahead where possible. I’ve already purchased GCSE maths books to brush the dust off.

Thanks again.  

Chris

 

[Sharpend]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?

Brian Scadden or Trevor Linsley were always popular material. 

 

[Evans Electric]

Any thing  by Brian Scadden  will be useful  , he  passed away recently but was one of the best for writing with hands on experience. 

Also try  ...The Part P Doctor  by Alan Lynch .    

As the others have said , this is NOT  an easy path to be taking ,   and as Specs always says ,   its  who you know not what you know that can get you started .   Like a firm  or one man band that is willing to take you on in a Trainee  position  .   

In my humble opinion ,   although it is necessary to attain all these courses  ,  there is no substitute for "Hands on experience"  which unfortunately is quite difficult for someone in your position .   

I'm not sure if anyone like yourself has ever come back on here to say they were now working  in the trade . 

 

[OnOff]

Brian Scadden

I emailed him once about something in one of his books. Came back to me personally.

 

[kerching]

Trevor Linsley was one of my lecturers for my ONC back in the early 70s....true story

 

[OnOff]

I've still got a carrier bag Tony Cable gave me!

 

[Evans Electric]

Trevor Linsley was one of my lecturers for my ONC back in the early 70s....true story

Oh  !!   I thought you learned under Michael Faraday   :innocent

 

[kerching]

Oh  !!   I thought you learned under Michael Faraday   :innocent

He was in the year below me....bit of a clever git