This might be long so feel free to grab a brew.
So, as some of you may know, i'm a 34 year old who has been dying to get into the industry. I have fought for years to get someone to take me on and have been unsuccessful despite having a background in construction (I can basically build a whole house on my own) and can do the electrical basics.
I was so frustrated for years that I thought the only way I could get into the game was by doing one of those 16 week courses that promises to get your Level 3 C&G. I've actually signed up to one of the providers and then backed out on two separate occasions - one of them cost me a £150 deposit.
While I still think that sure, they're great at cramming and you get the exact same theory as someone on an apprenticeship route gets, it's become apparent to me that in the real world they're not worth the paper they're written on even if you get the same theory. Why? Experience. It's missing.
I thought, sure, once I can wire lights and sockets etc I can just apply it to any situation. I'm now not sure it actually works like that.
So what changed? I GOT A JOB. I'm on a 2 week trial for a potential traineeship/apprenticeship with a bigish (18+ blokes) firm in my area.
I like to think I'm alright at the basics already - I could rewire a house if I really needed to. But my it's been a shock and a real eye opener as to just how you cannot replace experience.
So day 1, I get sent to a massive factory which makes car parts and I'm helping put in 120 SWA. This stuff as I'm sure you know is the thickness of a 500ml coke bottle and heavy to boot.
I'm working in these two modules that have been unplugged and moved to a different part of the factory and then have to be connected back up again. They're in welding bays. It's absolutely manky. I came home looking like I'd been down a pit. Stuff isn't labelled up properly. There are cables missing. There are DB's all over the place in this factory, and also cabinets full of module switching, ethernet, and communication cables that all had to be sorted. There was electric shuttters. There was masses of massive cables that had to be tied properly and neatly. There was tonnes of unistrut and trunking as well as tray that needed to be installed and fitted correctly.
Day 3 I'm at a hospice doing emergency lighting tests. Then we go to a rented property and sort out some snagging - FCU's, light fittings, bathroom extractor, outside switched light.
Day 4 I'm at an airport putting in sockets and lights in conduit.
Day 5 I'm at a garden centre replacing lights.
This is just the first week. I now don't think it's possible to go from a short course into this big bad world of electrics with so many different kinds of jobs and be able to know what you're doing, qualified on paper or not. Putting in new cables is easy. Figuring out what someone else has done can be difficult.
If we ignore the technical aspect of the job there are just so many different fixtures and fittings available and they all get fit in slightly different ways. There's just no way. You cannot learn this from a short course.
I always thought those who poo-poo'd these courses were elitist jerks but I now realise why - they knew something I didn't. They're in the game, they're doing the work, they see it day in day out. Youtube house bashers make it look fairly straightforward and I still believe that when it comes to single phase domestic, it's still probably possible to do a short course and build up experience on smaller jobs.
But to be a proper electrician I now believe that you cannot become a proper well rounded electrician without actually DOING the job.
To those of you in similar situations to what I was - don't give up. I've been trying to get someone to take me on since I was 25 in 2012 and have had no joy. I'm now 9 years older and someone finally decided to give me a shot.
Keep plugging away and if you need to, enrol at college and try to convince someone to take you on on the back of that. Think twice about dropping thousands on short training which is going to leave you absolutely stumped at the first sign of a problem you're not familiar with.
Working on the job around other people who can show you the ropes is invaluable. I've already learned so much in my first week and I thought I knew most of it already. I knew jack. But I now have people to ask when I'm not sure, instead of trying to guess it myself.
Now the real learning begins.
Thanks for reading.
So, as some of you may know, i'm a 34 year old who has been dying to get into the industry. I have fought for years to get someone to take me on and have been unsuccessful despite having a background in construction (I can basically build a whole house on my own) and can do the electrical basics.
I was so frustrated for years that I thought the only way I could get into the game was by doing one of those 16 week courses that promises to get your Level 3 C&G. I've actually signed up to one of the providers and then backed out on two separate occasions - one of them cost me a £150 deposit.
While I still think that sure, they're great at cramming and you get the exact same theory as someone on an apprenticeship route gets, it's become apparent to me that in the real world they're not worth the paper they're written on even if you get the same theory. Why? Experience. It's missing.
I thought, sure, once I can wire lights and sockets etc I can just apply it to any situation. I'm now not sure it actually works like that.
So what changed? I GOT A JOB. I'm on a 2 week trial for a potential traineeship/apprenticeship with a bigish (18+ blokes) firm in my area.
I like to think I'm alright at the basics already - I could rewire a house if I really needed to. But my it's been a shock and a real eye opener as to just how you cannot replace experience.
So day 1, I get sent to a massive factory which makes car parts and I'm helping put in 120 SWA. This stuff as I'm sure you know is the thickness of a 500ml coke bottle and heavy to boot.
I'm working in these two modules that have been unplugged and moved to a different part of the factory and then have to be connected back up again. They're in welding bays. It's absolutely manky. I came home looking like I'd been down a pit. Stuff isn't labelled up properly. There are cables missing. There are DB's all over the place in this factory, and also cabinets full of module switching, ethernet, and communication cables that all had to be sorted. There was electric shuttters. There was masses of massive cables that had to be tied properly and neatly. There was tonnes of unistrut and trunking as well as tray that needed to be installed and fitted correctly.
Day 3 I'm at a hospice doing emergency lighting tests. Then we go to a rented property and sort out some snagging - FCU's, light fittings, bathroom extractor, outside switched light.
Day 4 I'm at an airport putting in sockets and lights in conduit.
Day 5 I'm at a garden centre replacing lights.
This is just the first week. I now don't think it's possible to go from a short course into this big bad world of electrics with so many different kinds of jobs and be able to know what you're doing, qualified on paper or not. Putting in new cables is easy. Figuring out what someone else has done can be difficult.
If we ignore the technical aspect of the job there are just so many different fixtures and fittings available and they all get fit in slightly different ways. There's just no way. You cannot learn this from a short course.
I always thought those who poo-poo'd these courses were elitist jerks but I now realise why - they knew something I didn't. They're in the game, they're doing the work, they see it day in day out. Youtube house bashers make it look fairly straightforward and I still believe that when it comes to single phase domestic, it's still probably possible to do a short course and build up experience on smaller jobs.
But to be a proper electrician I now believe that you cannot become a proper well rounded electrician without actually DOING the job.
To those of you in similar situations to what I was - don't give up. I've been trying to get someone to take me on since I was 25 in 2012 and have had no joy. I'm now 9 years older and someone finally decided to give me a shot.
Keep plugging away and if you need to, enrol at college and try to convince someone to take you on on the back of that. Think twice about dropping thousands on short training which is going to leave you absolutely stumped at the first sign of a problem you're not familiar with.
Working on the job around other people who can show you the ropes is invaluable. I've already learned so much in my first week and I thought I knew most of it already. I knew jack. But I now have people to ask when I'm not sure, instead of trying to guess it myself.
Now the real learning begins.
Thanks for reading.
