Hi
I thinking about a change of career, by doing electrics professionally. I've read about UK wiring regs and understand them, although i'm sure there's things that i don't yet know :-)
What i want to know is what qualifications/courses/etc do i need to do this?
Any advice or url's welcome!
Ben
How old are you ? For a start, not many companies will take you on as an apprentice if you're any older than 18 - 19 at most. Companies also like their staff to have at least "O" grade English and mathematics, etc. before sending them off to colleges and things.
So, if you can supply these types of things on your curriculum vitae (CV) you might be able to get an apprentice post with someone some where.
I'm 27. I've been in I.T. since about 20 years old. I'd be looking to work for myself, placing adverts in local papers for a start, then perhaps expand out a bit. I hate working for a boss - doing all the hard work while he sits in his chair and pays me just a small cut of his profits :-(
I'd have no problems with taking part-time courses at college for example in the hope of being fully qualified to do it professionally and fully *legal*. Being a cowboy ain't an option!
I'm just worried that getting into this line of work requires me to be time-served. I can't just jack my day job in and work for £4.70/hour!
Ben]
Hi Ben
Surprising number of people exiting IT for electrical and plumbing work - many much older than 27!
A general search gives leads like...
Have a look at the City & Guilds website for courses and speak to your local technical college. You may be able to do some of the C&G courses part-time (evenings) and therefore keep on the day job until you've got the quals. Of course you'll also need practical experience and that's probably harder to get...
Good luck! JR
There's a program on soon (tonight at 9.00 ?) about well paid bankers leaving their jobs to become plumbers. I'm sure that will give some tips and pitfalls that can equally be applied to electrical work.
That said, why do you want to get out of I.T. Sure it's bad in areas being outsourced to India but have you considered the other options. Computer training possibly. Network installation or troubleshooting. And I would regard repairing computers as more interesting and challenging than replacing consumer units for example.
Ben, tech colleges run 1 day week or 2 evenings a week to do the C&G 2361 electrical installation cours, part 1 is 2 years and part 2 1 year, then you might consider 2391 testing and inspection, then the 16th edition wiring regs and possibly PAT testing. i am taking my part 1 exam next week, and a lot of the lads on the course have picked up jobs in the industry already, if you want to change career get your name on a course for next year and apply to companys and ask to mate sparks foc for experoence, all the best.
Cheers for the URL, i'll google for more info too.
Is it necessary to have experience to do it legally though? i.e. could i just do the courses, take my exams, and then start putting ads in newspapers?
Ben
As I understand it you don't (yet) actually need any qualifications to do work on domestic electrical installations... however this is all supposed to be changing.
As a very easy and quick start, I'd suggest the OP look for a C&G 2381 course, it covers the basics of BS7671 and is really a course in "how to use the book". I took one a year ago at my (then) local college in Worksop. As I was unemployed at the time it only cost me the £20 exam registration fee. It was over about 9 weeks IIRC, 3 hours each Monday evening. The exam at the end was a doddle - 2 hours for 50 multi-choice questions, open book (BS7671 and the OSG). The IEE holds intensive 3-day versions of this course. Expensive though.
As you say, experience is the main thing. I had a bit of that fortunately.
The big cost when starting up on your own is the test gear you need to have if you want to be able to check your work. Although bargains do come up on ebay, you may want to wonder about their past lives. I spent about £1,000 on new Robin gear complete with cal. certs.
The C&G 2391 course is a lot more difficult than the 2381 and is all about inspection and testing. Some colleges which offer the 2381 don't offer the 2391, though many do. These courses are also quite heavily subscribed.
If you are looking (eventually) to join NICEIC the 2381 and 2391 are part of their membership requirements, though strictly speaking the 2391 isn't neccessary if you can prove that you have the appropriate knowledge. What *is* neccessary though is a period trading *before* you can join NICEIC. As the government appears to want to make membership of NICEIC (or other similar organisations) mandatory for electricians, much in the same way that CORGI is mandatory for gas work, one must ask ones self how on earth new electricians will be able to begin trading.
Hwyl!
M.
Cheers G&M! Posh Plumers (BBC1)... just tuned in after missing the first
10 mins.I think the main reason for me wanting to get out of I.T. is because i'm just bored with it. It's a real drag going into work everyday and just sitting behind a desk, having to have meetings with my boss about boring shit, letting my boss think he's right and not taking no for an answer, he is always right, blah blah. Mind you, i suppose that happens in most jobs, but the sitting down all day drives me up the wall!! I want to get out and do something in the real world!
Ben
Have to say that the guy unblocking the toilet put off any thoughts I may have in future of following you.
But what on earth was he doing sawing through the soil stack ? There was a rodding access point literally feet away.
Good luck anyway !!!
Martin
There are bargains to be had on ebay....
I bought a Robin insulation/continuity tester, earth loop impedence tester and RCD tester all in good condx for under £500 over about a month last autumn when I was doing substantial works on the house - although not complete rewiring.
I use them for DIY! The Mrs keeps telling me I should sell them on, but they're very handy when there's a problem (like when she put a nail into the cooker cable and it cause some earth leakage and intermittant tripping).
Calibration is not expenive £23+VAT locally.
Rgds JR
Going back about 17 years, a City & Guilds 236 Parts 1 & 2 were par for the course for being qualified as an electrician.
It sounds to me like you are bored with your current _job_. That's not necessarily a good reason to change _career_. I suggest you first try looking for another job in your current career, or at least think about it before jumping to something else significantly different -- is it really your career you are bored with, or your current job? A change of job could both make use of your current expertise, and expose you to new situations for further learning and mental stimulation.
Reckon my twisty-wire bog unblocker (forgotten what it's called - get them at Been&Queued in DIY and pro versions[1]) would have sorted that lot out in
5 mins, pager or no. It deals with bog-roll-round-the-bend blockages easily enough. Mind you, maybe matey just wanted to create a bit of work experience for the new boy (plus a bit of good TV, and an enormous bill for the punter). Talking of which (bills) I thought the 'posh' bit referred to the new boy & girl featured, didn't realise it applied equally if not more to the outfit they went to work for (which got enough free publicity without my adding to it :-). Reckon their hourly rate must put my daily rate in the shade! [1] I use the DIY version - I've only needed it 3 times ofer the last 2 years and twice have been at home. Incidentally it looks a bit like a riding crop in about 10mm dia coiled steel.
As it stands at the moment you could just put the ads in newspapers.
Which is probably why "they" want to make all sparks be members of a recognised trade organisation before they can legally trade, but see comments about the catch 22...
after 19 years as a sparks I'm thinking of going the other way, just don't get the satisfaction I once did and everyone wants something for nothing and its a right pain getting people to pay up.
good luck to anyone who wants to give it a go.
Loz
Mmmm.
One thing to think of is to change size of company if possible - i.e. if in a large one go to a small one and vice versa.
I've been in a range of different sizes, including my own and all have their pluses and minuses. It can be that the OP is at a stage of needing things that the current employer can't or won't offer.
Another principle that I have always had is to make sure that I am always learning new skills and acquiring knowledge in new areas. That maintains marketability as well as interest.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
Heh! Yup, I noticed that one too! "Rod the f**king stack, don't saw through it!!" I shouted at the TV (and the missus) as I also watched this programme in glee.
Odd, though - I'm in the same situation as Ben. I'm 30, and currently working in IT.
I have to say, I ABSOLUTELY loathe it with a passion. I sit behind my desk all day, every day, doing the same support s**te.
Now, I am extremely interested in becoming an electrician, and have spent a lifetime 'playing' with mains power (in a professional, quality sense - new ring mains at home, etc). Similarly, I think I'm a damn good plumber too.
Matt and gorgeous Jane (Posh Plumbers, BBC1 this evening) have given me fresh inspiration. I'd like to set up 'Dempster Electrical'.
I'd be grateful for advice from any sparks / plumbers out there. How do I become qualified, and still make my mortgage payments in the meantime?!
Regards,
Al.
What did she say?
So what you're saying is that you are bored with doing support. That doesn't mean to say that all IT related things have the same effect.
Whatever you do, even if it's for yourself, there will be days when you are bored and don't want to do the job, whatever it is, even electrician or plumber. The difference will be a much closer relationship between what you do each day and what you earn. Not everybody is ready for that.
As Andrew Gabriel said, are you sure of what the issue really is?
OK, that's fine and I am sure you are. However this is DIY work, and other than earache from SWMBO regarding when it will be finished, you do have almost as long as you like to do the jobs.
This is a long way from doing these things for a living where you have to think most of the time about time spent and fitting in as much paying work into the day as you can.
That's fine, and I wouldn't want to discourage you. If you are really, positively sure you want to do this then you'll do it. The important thing is not to do it because it seems attractive relative to your current job.
Of course support can be boring, especially if poorly organised - I've been a victim myself in the dim distant past.
The best advice is to measure each step and don't burn bridges before you have to do so.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
When I first started up on my own, I was without pay for months and living from hand to mouth on savings I'd gathered from my days as an apprentice and doing homers at the weekends, so get ready to starve a little before anything big comes along.
There is a huge difference from DIYing things in your own house, or for friend, because you have time to sit and think about what needs done and how to plan and clean up after you're finished. But if you're doing work for complete strangers, the public we'll call them from now on, you'll find that some are good and some are bad in all walks of life. You have to be at the job on time, you have get materials for the job, and you have to make sure that you have everything at hand and not have run off to the local B&Q every two minutes to get bits you thought you wouldn't need.
If you don't do this, then you're not going to make anything from the jobs you do. You have book work to do. You have banking and other payment things to look after. You have to keep tools clean and fully serviced because you can't work without the right tools. You need to have advertising to keep the work coming in. You need to keep the customer happy so that they recommend you to others and keep the work flooding in.
You need to keep from going completely mad through lack of sleep and stress caused by people badgering you to get their work done on time and to their standards, not yours. You will need to keep the family happy and secure in the life style they're used to.
Most of all, you need the support of everyone around you. They're the ones that matter most in your life, so to let them down with your stress related work habits is not a great idea.
Get the help of a local business advisor and banking people before you even think of going it alone in the big bad world of self-employment. It isn't for the faint hearted, and there is a hell of a lot more to it than becoming qualified and starting work with shiny new boots and clean overalls.
If I had the choice to start again, I wouldn't do it. I honestly wouldn't do it again. I've had nothing but good things happen in the last six or so years, but the twelve years it took to get the good things now, I don't think it was worth all the hassle.
If you leave your job in IT, can I have it ? PLEASE !!!!
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