If you were leaving school today would you ......

[Evans Electric]

...... bother with all this carp you seem to need to become an electrician ? 

 

[Murdoch]

...... bother with all this carp you seem to need to become an electrician ? 

No........ 

 

[binky]

debatable.

 

[Andy™]

probably. no matter what job you do you will always have ****e to put up with

 

[binky]

true, and in theory any job that needs tickets pays more money. What I don't understand is how some electricians can put food on the table when the charge low prices like £350 for a CU change? I was charging that 10 years ago. There's a shortage of skilled workers, so why aren't they charging proper money?

 

[Evans Electric]

There's a shortage of skilled workers, so why aren't they charging proper money?

You answered it in your post Binky  ..   some electricians charge low prices .

There is a problem with your observation though .   The lowest being an employed spark doing a "foreigner" on a weekend with knock off stuff,  no testing , no certs ,no invoice.   You can't compete with that .

 

[Geoff1946]

It's easy to say what you wouldn't do again but to be convincing you need to say what you would do.

 I believe most occupations and careers have their downsides and bad times as well as their benefits. 

 

[Sharpend]

Be a Pilot 

 

[Geoff1946]

Be a Pilot 

OK, good. BUT do you actually have the apptitude and educational qualifications?  

Downside?  Think of the boredom of long haul flying, day in, day out, the unsociable hours and shift patterns, the absences from home.

 

[Sharpend]

But if you go straight into it from education then you’d know no different? 

However I do agree, all jobs will become repetitive and mundane after time and that as an electrician you can have a variety of different tasks that challenge your knowledge and understanding. There are so many different electrcial avenues to walk. Only when you get to Dekes years can you say you’ve done it all?????

OK, good. BUT do you actually have the apptitude and educational qualifications?  

Downside?  Think of the boredom of long haul flying, day in, day out, the unsociable hours and shift patterns, the absences from home.

I didn’t say pilot of commercial planes didn’t even mention planes, I was thinking the SS Enterprise it always seemed to go on exciting journeys. :coat  

 

[ProDave]

I am not sure. But EVERYTHING seems to demand more "tickets" to do it than used to.

On the other hand the younger generation just accept this as "normal" so it may not bother them.

For me the question would still be was an apprenticeship available. Leave school at 16, start an apprenticeship earning a (low) wage = good.  Do A levels (or whatever they call them these days) go to university, finish at age 22 having not earned anything and with a £50K debt = a VERY BAD way to start your working life.

 

[binky]

someone I know's son has just finished his maths degree, got a job in 'The City' and starts on £50k a year - you have to do the right degree! 

 

[ProDave]

someone I know's son has just finished his maths degree, got a job in 'The City' and starts on £50k a year - you have to do the right degree! 

If that were the case for all graduates it might be worthwhile, but a LOT are not in that happy position.

 

[Sharpend]

No, my daughter got a law degree but couldn’t get the scholarship afterwards as she graduated on the start of the financial crash and solicitors were not taking on, so now she has a huge debt and little hope of using the degree as it has expired. Apparently she tells me she only has seven years to obtain the scholarship with the existing degree after this it is not recognised by the legal lot, I suppose because she has not used any of the law training and perhaps is out of touch? :C  

 

[kerching]

I actually enjoy doing what I do....I am not very good at it but nonetheless I enjoy it ( mostly )

wanted to be a Pathologist......

changed to,Pharmocology....

so, had I not been touched with a  neon, then in no particular order

Customised vehicle body builder....proper stuff.      English wheel + sheet of Tin = Car

Gunsmith

Surgeon

Gamekeeper

helicopter pilot

Saxophonist

Voice of Reason

 

[Tony S]

No I wouldn’t change my mind. I’ve enjoyed the last 40+ years even when things turned to s***. Gas burner blow backs and being knocked out more than once hasn’t dented my love of our trade.

Before my teens my brother was a newly qualified electrician, he built up a board with P/B’s, timers, contactors, Etc. At the age of nine I was building motor starters and it made my mind up as to what I wanted to do.

 

[Evans Electric]

I was thinking the SS Enterprise it always seemed to go on exciting journeys.

You mean  always seemed to BOLDLY go  on exiting journeys .     

 

[binky]

If that were the case for all graduates it might be worthwhile, but a LOT are not in that happy position.

that's exactly what I'm getting at, there's so many mickey mouse courses, plus Uni's have started offering lots of unconditional places to get bums on seats. No one should be taking a course that doesn't offer a financial return on the investment.

 

[Tony S]

If that were the case for all graduates it might be worthwhile, but a LOT are not in that happy position.

One of the things our company did with any new graduate we took on was to put them “on the tools” before letting them loose.

I overheard the fitters forman telling a new gradate draftsman “these are the lads that will pull your arms off if you screw up". His initials were BW, he was christened “burn and weld”.

 

[binky]

the way graduates should be treated, it'll teach them so basics of doing the job and designing products that can be made.