Hi guys, looking to change career

[Tom cordey]

Hello, I'm hoping you guys here can give me some advice! I'm currently living in Leeds, I'm 25 and a full time chef, I've been doing this for about 7 years but I think the time has come to move on. I dunno if anyone is familiar with cheffing but the days are long and the pay is bad, stress is high and the hours suck. I don't want to be working every weekend leaving my family at home and finishing work when everyone else is asleep and then leaving before they wake up.

I don't want you to think that I'm after an easy job - I'm looking for a challenge but with something as an end goal, which I don't have in this career - I don't see ever owning my own restaurant due to failure rates and stuff.. anyway, I digress.

I'm really interested in becoming an electrician - I wanted to do it straight out of school but family pressures didn't allow it and I followed a levels with the intent of uni but it just didn't pan out like that.

I'm here to get some advice on what route I can take into this trade. I'm at a total loss to what qualifications would be best, what the different things let you do in the real world, etc.

From my researching there are either colleges or independents where you fast track it and pay a hefty price, which I'm happy to do but I don't know if they actually give you anything valuable at the end. I don't mind putting money and work into getting the qualifications I need to work.. I just don't want to waste my money and get something useless.

I can pretty much full time it, as I can still chef on evenings/weekends hopefully but I wouldn't be able to do an apprenticeship as I can't afford to only earn that. I can easily dedicate 3-5 days a week to education for it and as I said - I really want to make the move over.

Thanks for reading and hopefully you gents and ladies can give me some insight as to what I should be doing..

 

[streamer]

Hi Tom.This sort of question gets asked quite often on here so if you type 'career change'into the search box you might find some useful information. Good luck!

 

[drzsta]

I dunno if anyone is familiar with cheffing but the days are long and the pay is bad, stress is high and the hours suck.

And you think sparking is any different...?

 

[Jay Sparks]

To do it properly will take a min of 3 to 4 years IMO. There are numerous fast track courses but these are generally just a tech cert, like the 2365 or 2330 etc. To become a qualified and skilled electrician you will need the technical knowledge and practical experience. The above courses will give you the technical knowledge and if you can work as a mate/labourer at the same time and then complete your nvq, you will become a qualified electrician. There are training providers that offer the nvq, IF you have the tech cert but it does cost a lot.

Jay

 

[Tom cordey]

And you think sparking is any different...?

I didn't mean to insinuate anything like that - I'm currently doing about 70-100 hours over 5 or 6 days pretty much every week, start times vary from 8-10am and finish is 10pm-1am. My hourly rate works out at about £5 an hour after doing this for 7 years and the way the industry is structured means there isn't much improvement to be made apart from opening my own place, investing a good £250k, and hoping it isn't a bust in the first 6 months.

Sorry if I offended you or anything

 

[Rpa07]

Don't think the reply was intended like that, don't worry. Starting out fresh in the business will be an investment of time and effort with a healthy bit of competition thrown in - take as said 4 years to train in what ever route you take and the rest of your career learning.
I understand where you are coming from though. You sound very hard working and frustrated. If you are stuck on the idea go for it but read some old threads relating to the same topic.
Is there some way you can go into another aspect of food prep and give yourself some time to study even if it's just from books and videos for the first year to see if you get on with the theory and some practical.
Just thoughts