Would you have chosen another trade in hindsight?

[Evans Electric]

Personally  I've been at it that long I find it difficult to think of anything else within reason  TBH.

 

[Phoenix]

Are we meaning just trade, or rather profession?

If it was profession, then I think I could have quite easily have ended up in IT, it was sort of the other option I had in mind upon leaving school. Trade wise, I think I need to be in something that has quite a bit of a techinical element to it, rather than being largely skilled orientated (such as painters or plasterers). I think if I had pick a different one it would probably be refrigeration

 

[UNG]

Personally  I've been at it that long I find it difficult to think of anything else within reason  TBH.

I'm much the same as you been at it that long what would or could I do as an alternative, although it has got me into a lot of interesting and diverse installation types didn't expect to get rope and comms mast access when I started out

Would I recommend the trade to anyone just setting out I think that would be a no, while the industry has become far more technical the training has gone the opposite way and is letting the industry down

 

[kerching]

Well, originally Pathology called

that changed to Pharmacology

 That changed when I got my A level,Results 

went in to the family contracting business working all over the UK and bits of Europe after I saw an opening in the Data Comms market back in the early 80s Worked for some fantastic companies and needed up,on first name terms with most of the Chairmen...also worked for some right tw@s

travelled a lot teaching SCUBA diving and ended up quite highly qualified BUT I would never have done it full time as it was my relaxation

in hindsight  I wouldn't have minded being a Gunsmith

 

[Phoenix]

Would I recommend the trade to anyone just setting out I think that would be a no, while the industry has become far more technical the training has gone the opposite way and is letting the industry down

I was talking to a chap who did 2391 last year, it seems to have been made very difficult to fail these days, and is a computer based exam, when I did it it was a three hour written exam.

I do sometimes wonder if the reduction in technical content of training, is kind of a reflection of the type of people who are likely to be taking them,  the folk who would have have eventually made it to technician grade, now no longer enter the trade, instead going to university to study a probably pointless course, all because the labour government of the late 90s wanted to fiddle the unemployment figures! The irony is, that with all the technologies coming in these days, we need those types in the trade, I do wondeer what it'll be like in 30 years when a lot have retired....

 

[Murdoch]

I should have been accountant.

I'm good with numbers and as far as I see they seem to do extremely little for very good money

 

[Sharpend]

I should have been accountant.

I'm good with numbers and as far as I see they seem to do extremely little for very good money

oddly I started out in this field but couldn’t stand the boredom of sitting at a desk all day, quite often is fall asleep. 
needed something more physically challenging whilst using the grey matter.  
 

with modern technology and Apps do we still need an accountant? 
 

 

[Murdoch]

with modern technology and Apps do we still need an accountant? 
 

Interestingly accountancy is the most likely job to be replaced by a computer program.

All you need are clearer rules and a few clever programmers ..........

I use one because knows what you can claim and how much!

 

[ProDave]

Electric chose me really. Right from a very early age I found electrical circuits interesting and they just made sense and I never doubted that would form my career.

If I was choosing again I would try and find some career where you were not subject to regulation, training and scrutiny perhaps, but lets be honest, that's pretty much how electrics was when a lot of us more mature blokes started.

 

[revjames]

I was all set to be a mechanical fitter and  started a full year at tech college as the beginning of the apprenticeship at the aluminium smelter. After a couple of weeks doing basic hand skills, filing bits of metal etc they told me I was to be an electrician. No conversation, they made their mind up and that was that. On reflection I'm glad, mechanical work is a lot more more physically demanding and I'm quite happy with my career.

 

[Andy™]

doubt id have chose another trade as such, however i often do a lot of mechanical work and stuff that most electricians dont. i get bored doing the same thing every day, i like a bit variety

 

[Evans Electric]

My dad,  who was ex navy  and working as a millwright   said the classic   "Get a trade son , you'll always have the advantage of someone  needing your knowledge & skills "  

I'd have done better with the various courses  if Mr Texas  had got his calculator on the market a bit sooner , as I was a bit slow with  longhand , mental calculations.   Approved Grade was my limit but was  always chosen to run jobs  , then supervising & estimating   & finally a one man band as Evans Electric .

Main mistake  , I think ,  was to  be earning  other's fortunes  for too long  before redundancy forced me into self employment .  

 

[Murdoch]

 i get bored doing the same thing every day, i like a bit variety

Absolutely - theres nothing better than a bit of tricky fault finding to sort out to get the grey cells working overtime

 

[Andy™]

Absolutely - theres nothing better than a bit of tricky fault finding to sort out to get the grey cells working overtime

certainly is. seems to be a dying art though going by some jobs i go to

 

[Murdoch]

certainly is. seems to be a dying art though going by some jobs i go to

Which leaves people like us with a client base to work with and then get recommendations from

Seems to me that the dying art is complying with the regulations .........

 

[ProDave]

There do seem to be a lot that lack skills in fault finding. Like the one I recently mentioned, diagnosed a faulty electric boiler. £1000 and a new boiler later and it still did not work.  Strangely the customer paid his bill.  I diagnosed the real fault on the phone.

 

[UNG]

I was talking to a chap who did 2391 last year, it seems to have been made very difficult to fail these days, and is a computer based exam, when I did it it was a three hour written exam.

I do sometimes wonder if the reduction in technical content of training, is kind of a reflection of the type of people who are likely to be taking them,  the folk who would have have eventually made it to technician grade, now no longer enter the trade, instead going to university to study a probably pointless course, all because the labour government of the late 90s wanted to fiddle the unemployment figures! The irony is, that with all the technologies coming in these days, we need those types in the trade, I do wondeer what it'll be like in 30 years when a lot have retired....

It's not acceptable in these PC days to allow people to fail we have to be inclusive and not allow the discrimination of failure to get in the way of their stupidity

What it will be like in thirty years time is anyone's guess with the way training is going the only certainty is that the IET will be up to 21st or 22nd edition of 7671 by then

 

[Andy™]

It's not acceptable in these PC days to allow people to fail we have to be inclusive and not allow the discrimination of failure to get in the way of their stupidity

What it will be like in thirty years time is anyone's guess with the way training is going the only certainty is that the IET will be up to 21st or 22nd edition of 7671 by then

and the minimum requirment to join a scam and be deemed competent will still be based on your (or someone else on your behalf if you cant) ability to pay their fee

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Absolutely - theres nothing better than a bit of tricky fault finding to sort out to get the grey cells working overtime

:Salute

Solving a tricky fault...

OR....

Designing a better solution, more cost effective, to problem a customer thought wasn't actually feasible!

are probably 50:50 or maybe 60:40 proportions in the feel good factor at the end of a days work.

If "Varity Is The Spice Of Life" is a true statement, 

then my work life must have been an overflowing Spice-Rack!!!

As, since the day I left school, I have never been in a work environment where I would be thinking....

"I am going to be working here in this location doing a very similar task.. for weeks on end!"

Nineteen and half years employed, Twenty one years self employed...  Still plodding on...

doing jobs for people who are happy with my work, pay me agreed prices for my time & expertise...

I am struggling to think of another trade where I could actually get the variation & job satisfaction that I currently have..????

:C     

The 'another trade hindsight bit'...  If it relates to doing the same career path in the same era and time line..

Then YES I think I would..

But if it relates to doing the same career choice but starting anywhere from say.. year 2000 onward...

Then probably not..

As Health & Safety and over regulation has stifled the ability to "Learn By Your Mistakes" for risk of dropping a major clanger....

Guinness

 

[apprentice87]

Absolutely NOT anything that involves basically being on "piecework" be it welding, making things, fixing things, rewireing houses, the list goes on..

Psychiatric nurse.. [cos i like helping people, it is SOOOO interesting, and the NHS is great] [spoilt a bit now though as 80% of the clients are drug induced, self inflicted courgettewits...]

john..