Advice for 30 year old trying to become an electrician?

[BiddeldyBwah]

Yeah I know what your saying, books will only get you so far wont they. And that's some solid motivational advice I really appreciate that actually mate, been losing hope a bit last couple weeks, but your 100% on the money, just have to keep on getting after it!

Well....i did it myself. Took me over a decade to get my shot and now i'm on a full level 3 apprenticeship at 35. Took probably 500 rejections and then i got offered about 4 jobs at once. They do class me as an 'improver' though since i already have building trade and construction skills. It's basically the only reason they hired me and the apprenticeship tag means they can pay me less so it's win/win.

 

[casperLennon]

Ring agencies and get experience that way. Then get a job on the books, if that’s what you want

 

[nicebutdim]

You won't get one now anyway, courses have started for the year and are in their second terms now, loads of work and exams already completed.

The problem with courses is they are great for book knowledge but most of the job is about experience.

You can know how to wire lights up but when you get on site it's a completely different matter. You can have 15 or 20 cables falling out of one ceiling void and as a qualified man you'll be expected to be told what they are for (usually by looking at what's written on them) and then crack on and make sense of it yourself. If you've only done wiring on a 3x4 plywood board at college it's not going to make sense to you and employers know it.

Then you have all the other iterations that you might not see at college - emergency lighting, multiway lighting, PIR, timed, emergency/normal mixed lighting, that's just lighting. Then you've got maglocks, fire break glass, CAT6 for several things, Vesta systems, fire alarm panels, sub boards, running man signs, electronic panels for machinery to communicate with its computers, roller shutters, isolators, SWA size of your arm, tray, trunking, basket, unistrut, gripple wiring.

That's just off the top of my head in the first 2 months of me being an apprentice. Throw in all the different ways you can first fix all that stuff and it's a minefield of 'easy enough but if you've never done it you will be stumped'. You can never know how to do it without having done it, so someone taking you on knows they will have to babysit you for 6 months while you figure it all out.

My advice is hound every single electrical company in the vicinity and concentrate on bigger companies with commercial contracts, they're more likely to give you a start since you're less of a hindrance if 15 blokes can share the burden of teaching you the ropes as opposed to a one man band who will have to stop to help you all the time.

Hound them, email, follow up with calls, put cards in electrical suppliers, put your CV anywhere you can get it.

Don't bother with the sob story of 'i'm passionate and looking for someone to give me a chance' they get 20 of those a week, bullet point what you can do and why you're useful to them. Get down to brass tax - they want to know you will not cost them money.

Every word of this^

I'm in exactly the same position.

 

[Typhoonut]

I'm in the same boat. I'm 31, have been studying evening over the past 2.5 years and coming to the end of my level 3 in a few months. I've just managed to secure employment as an electrical labourer before Christmas while working alongside my other job while the transition slowly happens.

I've been advised the same about continuing with further courses like 2391, to hold off until I've got slightly more industry experience involving testing and inspecting on a regular basis.

Keep calling around companies, someone will need the labour eventually, especially for the bigger jobs, giving you a foot in the door.

 

[Deleted account]

I'm in the same boat. I'm 31, have been studying evening over the past 2.5 years and coming to the end of my level 3 in a few months. I've just managed to secure employment as an electrical labourer before Christmas while working alongside my other job while the transition slowly happens.

I've been advised the same about continuing with further courses like 2391, to hold off until I've got slightly more industry experience involving testing and inspecting on a regular basis.

Keep calling around companies, someone will need the labour eventually, especially for the bigger jobs, giving you a foot in the door.

Well done. This was exactly the way I did it.
other than an apprenticeship there is no better way.
Mid 30s I retrained. Made big bucks . Now semi retired at 49.

 

[Jay1988]

Well done. This was exactly the way I did it.
other than an apprenticeship there is no better way.
Mid 30s I retrained. Made big bucks . Now semi

Well done. This was exactly the way I did it.
other than an apprenticeship there is no better way.
Mid 30s I retrained. Made big bucks . Now semi retired at 49.

Similar position now… steady job as train builder, 34 looking to retrain… seems a minefield which route to take… fast track 2365 for 7k (ish) is a big commitment

 

[Deleted account]

Similar position now… steady job as train builder, 34 looking to retrain… seems a minefield which route to take… fast track 2365 for 7k (ish) is a big commitment

Don’t do the fast track. Just pay fo4 one course at a time. That way you will avoid a big Costly scam.
Also be aware it’s different now. I didn’t need my NVQ or AM2 . You do now. It’s a lot harder and more expensive and will take longer.
If was in your boat now I possibly would not do it.