Electrical qualifications info

[Bazza]

Hi all, Went for a job interview yesterday and was asked about my electrical knowledge. Now for as long as I care not to remember I have been a service engineer and although I have a C&G in mechanical engineering, after my apprenticeship my jobs have increasingly involved electrical equipment on a service basis. I have no problem with working on control panels, 3 phase equipment, PLC, inverters etc. but in a service context it just involves diagnosing the fault with the equipment and effecting a repair whether it means replacing a motor or electrical board, I used to repair boards at one time but it is not cost effective anymore, far cheaper just to swop out.

Now this company knows of my electrical knowledge as in my last job they where one of my customers which I regularly attended when they had problems, mechanical or electrical and also pneumatic/hydraulic.

Now I do not have any formal electrical qualifications and they asked If I would take a course to get one, they cited H&S as the reason. I'm OK with that but they mentioned 16th edition, now as far as I am aware the 16th/17th is more aimed at actual installation and design where as this job entails repairing existing machines when they break down so I will be basically repairing the innards of the machines.

Is 16th necessary for this or are there other courses I can take more relevant to the type of work I will be doing?

Bazza

[cj]

Hi Sounds like the old get out of jail free card ploy.If you are in any electrical job outside installation they always seem to ask for 16th edition. Trouble is 16th has been superseded by part 2 and now 17th and as you state is aimed at the electrical wiring and installation. Repairing any type of machinery from a washing machine to a robotic production line requires specialist knowledge and training is always given by the manufacturers or maintenance firm. Whilst I agree a basic knowledge of electrical operations and safety is important it is by no means proof that you are capable of doing the specified job. I would recommend you contact the manufacturers of the equipment and ask to attend their training course.

HTH CJ

[Bazza]

That is my thought, I have attended various manufacturer training courses in my previous jobs, vacuum packaging/labelling equipment, food processing, not your small stuff but your high volume industrial jobbies. The kit in this factory is the same stuff that I am used to, they just carry a different brand name than the ones I have trained on. They all do the same job though and use the same techniques so I would have thought rather than 16/17th a manufacturers training course to familiarise myself with the brands would be adequate and probably a lot cheaper. Ironically I do some work for small engineering firm (I am self employed) and next week we are redesigning the packaging machine from the factory I have applied for the job with, the original spec was crap due to him buying cheap and the supplier not having enough experience of the process it was to be used for, would be a shame if I dropped off on one of the dimensions but then my conscience wouldn't let me do that.

Bazza