becoming an electrician

depends what type of electrician you want to be, do you want to do domestic installations, do you want to do factory work where the work is more varied, try writing to local factories or to local contractors. But first run a spell check and dont send any letters out with type typograpical errors your post here has.

 

2½yrs ago my son was after an apprenticship as an electrician. He was given a paper with questions to answer on various circuits & cable types. I looked at it & was unable to answer most of the questions. It presumed that any applicant already knew about electrical circuits before applying. Needless to say, he didn't get the apprenticship. I was under the impression that a kid was taken on knowing nothing then trained properly instead of expecting him to already know what the skill involved.

 

thinking of becoming an electrition. Not sure where
the best place to train would be and what the
industrey suggests as the basic qualifications to
get

English would be a start

 

Most companies will not touch anyone as an apprentice untill you have done a full year at college (5day) doing the 2360 P1. From then on, if they are taken on, they do the remainder of the course (4yr) on day release.

We had the college out on a review day a little while ago, the qualification is changing, cant remember the new number.

 

You don't give your location. If you're willing to work in the South of England then Southern Electric Contracting run a very good scheme with 2 'A'level entry and are currently advertising for applicants.

 

Oh dear.

Pot, meet Kettle. Kettle.. Pot.


<u>d</u>epends what type of electrician you want to be, do you want to do domestic installations, do you want to do factory work where the work is more varied, try writing to local factories or to local contractors. But first run a spell check and <u>dont</u> send any letters out with <u>type typograpical</u> errors your post here has.

1) The first word in the sentence has no capital letter.

2) Missing apostrophe.

3) "type typographical"?

I agree that correct English is important, and that people should take care over what they write, but looking at the standard of postings here by pro sparkies it's not an essential requirement of the job by any stretch of the imagination. Just because someone can't spell very well, or doesn't have a good grasp of the rules of grammar and punctuation, that doesn't mean that they can't be a good electrician.

 

This topic I am pretty sure was discussed some time ago.

try typing the query in the search engine.

I was contacted sometime ago by some one in 'me's' situation with regard to becoming an apprentice.

I am pretty sure the JTL do all the training now with on-site work and block/day realese to college.

Qualifications needed I would say are a good understanding/grades in Mathematics and the sciences (physics being top of the list)

Qualifications achieved are the City and Guilds 2360 part 1 and following up with the part 2 later.

Being a spark (from my point of view and probably others in here) has its pro's and cons.

I get,someitmes filthy,grimey,dusty when first fixing but do not mind this in the least as this is backed up with the cleaner apsects of the job with second fixing Inspecting/testing.

I HATE getting wet ths is why I have chosen not to be a plumber

(still think the spark is the best job on a building site and I feel priveliged to say I am one)

The college work can get a bit heavy at times with cables calcs/ohms law volt drop and so on but stick with it,as all this is needed to do the job competently.

Well I hope this has helped you mate,failing that,theres always office work........

SyFy

 

hello me

Don't know how old ya are m8 but I am 45 and have almost completed C&G 2360 pt 2! Now I am unusual in that I have chosen to be a sparky late in life. However I have been advised that C&G 2360 is being replaced with a new course starting this autumn. I would recommend that you get some advice from the local careers adviser first to help you decide which electrical course might be best suited to you but keep in mind that work based NVQ's are also a very good option for younger lads and lasses and in fact it would appear that NVQ's will be the preffered route in to the industry. Do some research and try to get on an NVQ if you can. Thats best way.

Roy

 

My point about English was a reference to the initial post. I'm sure being able to spell the actual job title is a basic requirement ?

jj

 

2½yrs ago my son was after an apprenticship as an
electrician. He was given a paper with questions to
answer on various circuits & cable types. I looked at
it & was unable to answer most of the questions. It
presumed that any applicant already knew about
electrical circuits before applying. Needless to say,
he didn't get the apprenticship. I was under the
impression that a kid was taken on knowing nothing
then trained properly instead of expecting him to
already know what the skill involved.

I am not convinced that true apprenticeships exist any more - cheap labour does though!!

RR

 

Hi Unphased

You sound like you have just done what I am thinking about doing.
I am 47 and want a career change to become an electrician.
Did you study full time or part time?
Have you looked at any of the home study courses,if yes what are your thoughts?
I was considering doing an intensive course but they don't seem to provide any real qualification.

Any help would be appreciated.

thanks
KBG

 

Hi Me

Don't be put off by all the cynicism on this forum. I work as an IT Manager in one of the top 3 banks in the UK (earning a fortune)and have become disillusioned with my current career. I decided I needed a change so I thought "what would I succeed at?". Many years ago I had a job as a television engineer, which I enjoyed, so I thought what job is similar to that and an Electrician came to mind.

I asked the same questions on message boards and was met by the same opposition. However I persevered and discovered that a college a few miles did flexible learning (Evening class in Electrical Installation City & Guilds 2360 (Part 1)'. I decided that I would take the plunge and try and get the qualifications needed.

I have recently passed those exams and have signed up for Part 2.

As previously mentioned by someody else C&G 2360 is changing, but there will be something in it's place.

My suggestion would be to scour your local colleges for the equivalent course to the C&G 2360 and sign up whether it be day or night.

Once you have the qualification nobody can take it away and it wil give you confidence to start small jobs.

I do agree that you must pay attention to your English as this can sometimes be your entry ticket to the course. My English is rubbish but I do use the spell check to get rid of the obvious errors.

Don't give up, if you want it enough you will get it.

Good luck

 

The best bet is to get an apprenticeship with one of the larger reputable firms that have a properly structured training programe and career progression. In the South, Southern Electric Contracting (SEC) run such a scheme with 'A' level entry. I think they recruit in February. It would be worth getting in touch to get details for comparison with any other schemes you find.

 

My English is rubbish

O.K. for an IT manager "earning a fortune", but not good enough for an electrician eh?

 

Become an electrician?

Your best bet is to get a job with the local authority -

ANY JOB.

Wished I'd done this when I left school. Its the only form of employment where your pension is a sure-fire bet, and you don't have to work very hard for the money.

TT

 

Cant argue with the last statement, i'm a sparky with local authority. Served my time with them and i left school with only 5 standard grades at a 3, not very good. Benefits are great thou.

 

At 45 I also decided that I did not want to bet my career on the next big thing in IT and decided on a more stable technology i.e. Lectrickery.

Signed up for C&G 2360 and just completed part 2 (passed last week)

Things worth bearing in mind. C&G are out to fail you. Questions mired in double talk and not all are relistic snearios. Grasp of English is essential. If you are half intelligent and the college will allow it, skip the first year of part 1 and 'fast track'. They only teach you to reed and rite in year one. Fast track is hard work but worth it. Team up with someone on your course, it made a conspicuous difference to those of us who did - home work etc.

Part 2 exams are a *******. Installation paper OK but the science and principles paper was a pig. C&G 'redesigned' the paper so most of our exam technique was wasted. Only 30% of us passed (only 50% stayed the course long enough to sit the exam) so attrition rate is high. C&G are all knowing, all poerful ********.

All this to told at the end that my 2360 is worthless on its own. The new NVQ3 is the ONLY qualification recognised by JIB and the other mafia, so now I have to do 8 of 16 modules in NVQ3 to get my card. Sucks, especially as NVQ3 is a dumbed down version of 2360. What the ....

Oh yeh, and with Part P coming out in Jan 2005, you'll have to comply with more red tape and associated expense. I really do not know how anyone is expected to start up as a self-employed sparks these days.

Sorry this sounds a bit down. Upside is that judging by the number of older sparks who have told me that they are jacking it in when Part P comes in, there will be lots of work out there.

Having ranted. its a great job. varied, technical, filthy dirty, multi-skilled (you like digging trenches in concrete?). I love my customers and if you treat them right they'll keep coming back (don't dress like a ****-wit, and CLEAR UP after you)

Disregard the above if you are an immigrant from places that don't have electricity. You can start trading tomorrow without the hard work (according to Prescott)

Still wanna be a sparks?

Hope you do.

3fazed

 

Hi 3fazed
you have done what I am looking at doing i.e. career change. I could n't agree more with you about how hard it seems to get started in the electrician business.
The college's I've looked at say you have to be a working electrician to do C&G 2630 and all they offer is The basic electrical installation course.

a question did you start trading while you were getting your qualification? Was this a problem with customers or your experience?

thanks for help.
KBG