Thinking of training to be a sparky, please post your thoughts

[yorksparky]

Hi. I am considering working towards becoming a qualified electrician. I plan to take the 17th edition course, a place near me do a 3 day course for £540. And then look for somewhere that will take me on as a trainee. What advice do people have? is the 17th edition a good place to start? I have GCSEs, 3 A levels, currently doing a university course that I dont enjoy and will probably drop out of. I have no electrical qualifications yet. Please share your thoughts!

Thanks,

yorksparky

 

[trev]

Yorksparky, you've obviously got a brain. It's sometimes a bit difficult to advise guys like you without coming across as holier than thou.

If you really have your mind set on this then go for it. The caveat is though, things are bloody tough now in electric land and are probably going to get tougher in the short term.

Best advice is take no damn notice at all of the ads that you see which say "Give us many thousands of pounds and you, yes you, can be an electrician in a few weeks" Go down to your local college and ask them how to go about getting on to City & Guilds 2330. It'll take you a lot longer and the studying will be harder but you'll be better off in the long run

Good luck mate

 

[Dave 85]

Generally you have to take other courses before you take 17th edition.
What are your mid-long term plans? Go self employed or work for a company?

Either way, deciding to become a sparky these days does not magically put 30-40k a year on your plate. There are thousands of 'all training and no experience sparkies out there and noone wants em'
Personally Ive always said, if I were gonna take someone on to work for me, the ideal guy would have been a domestic electricians mate for a few years with NO qualifications. Quals are just gonna mean I have to pay him more.

My most important bit of advice is this: Find out weather you will have work to walk into before spending time and money on training. Dont just expect to do a few weeks/months/years at college and have everyone throw money at you, it wont happen.
I had 2 freinds who were willing to use me as a mate on a casual basis lined up before I decided to become a sparky.
I know plenty of people who have spent hundreds/thousands on training and ended up doing completely unrelated jobs.

 

[yorksparky]

Thanks for your input. The 17th edition was suggested by a company near me. I plan to focus on getting experience over qualifications, I have done plugs and lighting for a garage and also finished a loft conversion wiring for a friend when their electrician became ill and could not finish it. Mid to long term plans are to get a steady income from a company, and only consider working for myself if it seems like a good idea. Long term I actually want to buy a house, renovate and sell, Im from a big DIY family and currently saving up a (small so far!) deposit for the future so I might have a half reasonable deposit when Im ready to buy in maybe 10 years time or so. Will many places be interested if I have no electrical qualifications at all? I was under the impression I would need something to start with in terms of qualifications.

 

[Dave 85]

Its catch 22 mate. Unless you work for free or know a sparky who'll take you, you cant get experience without qualifications. But having qualifications only slightly increases your chances of getting a job that will give you good experience.
And by the way
They're SOCKETS NOT PLUGS!!!!!!! aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrgggh!!

Sorry ...pet hate
One of these days a client of mine is gonna come home and find a load of live 13amp plug tops hanging off their walls in the places they asked me to put effing 'plugs'

Its like calling a girls **** a cock....

 

[Des 56]

If you have had enough,drop out of the course you are now on, after you have secured an electrical course at your local college,it will be far more effective than someone robbing you of lots of money with promises of milk and honey that will not materialise

 

[Knobhead]

What are you doing at university?
Will it be of any help in what you want to do?
If not why do you want to change to something alien to what you’ve studied?

Wiring a light or a “plug” as you put it, may have been fun at the time. Did you see the work that went in to getting the cables in place?

Think long and hard before chucking a university place out the window. Also think of who you’ve deigned a place to in higher education.


Signed,
Disgusted of Nottingham.

 

[Knobhead]

*******

 

[Adam W]

Yeah but Tony a degree is "better" than a City & Guilds level 3, ergo a degree is all-encompassing - do part of a degree in something and you're already part way to becoming an electrician, plumber, gas man, carpenter, mechanic, farmer or whatever.

It doesn't work the other way around because you need to know how to put on a tie, which is module 1 of the rocket science degree, or any other degree for that matter. Not NVQ though. No way.

 

[sedgy34]

Yorksparky, you've obviously got a brain. It's sometimes a bit difficult to advise guys like you without coming across as holier than thou.

If you really have your mind set on this then go for it. The caveat is though, things are bloody tough now in electric land and are probably going to get tougher in the short term.

Best advice is take no damn notice at all of the ads that you see which say "Give us many thousands of pounds and you, yes you, can be an electrician in a few weeks" Go down to your local college and ask them how to go about getting on to City & Guilds 2330. It'll take you a lot longer and the studying will be harder but you'll be better off in the long run

Good luck mate

AGREED!!!! BUT what you dropping out of that could get more interesting and earn you loads of dosh in the long run?
(sparky work is tough and if you have an off day your held responsible and locked up lol)