Looking at changing Career at 32 to an electrician - Liverpool based.

[£15]

My cousin's husband spent several thousand pounds paying one of those training centres that makes bold promises about making tens of thousands of pounds as an electrician. He did as much as he could, but still had to get practical experience to complete his training. This required getting a placement/job. No one would employ him.

He ended up getting a job in a school as a technician in the science department.

There's lots of money to be made - unfortunately, it appears to be made by the companies selling these training courses and not the people paying for them. Just be careful and do you homework.

Have you looked at an apprenticeship with one of the energy companies/suppliers, e.g. Scottish Power, BG, etc? Wages will be low to start with and probably hard to get in, but it'd be a good way to start to a career.

https://www.scottishpower.com/pages/apprentices.aspx

 

[lemonkettaz]

There doesn’t seem to be a “zero to hero” approach to become an electrician it seems.

Plus electrician kind of covers many different areas too, a lot of people just think of house bashing when it comes to sparkies. There is a lot more involved , like design, electronic , power distribution , maintenance , testing etc etc.

I’m trained as an electrician in the Army, I’ve touched on all sorts and have a few years experience but I’d probably struggle civi world just because of things like ECS cards, being JIB registered to work on sites requires you to of undertaken so many qualifications. You can get lost looking at what qualifications to get or need but the be all and end all it seems is the NVQ level 3 which requires portfolio assessment through real work you have done. It can be a little frustrating.

I aim to get as many ticks in boxes as I can over next couple of year. But ultimately I want to be sat in an office thinking rather than pulling cables everywhere £££

 

[RDB85]

I have looked at a couple of colleges and they have said that I could start a Level 2, i guess the hard part would be trying to get some paid training whilst waiting Even on an apprentice wage, dont get me wrong nothing wrong with an office job, I just fancy a change thats all.

 

[spoffle]

Your knees will come in for punishment as an electrician. One leccy I met had attached interior knee guards he had made into his trousers, and said they worked really well. Another I know of had to come out of the job in his 30's because his knees had gone.

Learn to squat, and this isn't an issue.

 

[lemonkettaz]

How good is your maths? I am not sure how electrical training is taught in colleges but we got smashed with a lot of maths when it came to AC an DC Theory, Motors and Generators etc.

Inspection and Testing qualifications are good to get too, they were 2394 and 2395 but now I think it's gone to a 2391. City and Guilds that is.

Inspection and Testing is more knowing what you are doing too, you can easily go through the motions of testing electrical installations to make sure they fit in to regulations but to understand the theory behind what you are doing is essential, it will put you above others in a sense of if something doesn't look right within the installation you can understand what is wrong or could be wrong before even looking.

TBH When I first started training and learning the electrical trade I never knew how much is and can be involved with it. It's not just joe bloggs that comes around the house and fits a new kitchen light switch it goes far beyond that if you want it to.

But yeh back to basics if you are keen on it maybe just go down a part time college course for now and keep it ticking over in the background instead of making wholesale changes in your life, unless you know someone in the electrical industry that could give you a hand in it all.

I am aiming to degree level eventually I am a bit sad and find it interesting, although I have so much more to understand

Edit: Just a couple of books to get: Electrical Installation Work Brian Scadden will help with level 2 and level 3 installation in college to start with. Get your hands on an engineering maths book just a basic level, or look for electrical engineering maths again just basic. It will probably help you now and the future if you ever want to advance. Maybe even a GCSE Maths might be good enough not sure I just remember being a bit lost to start with but my maths was never amazing

 

[Hyburnate]

Just to support what has been mentioned. There are a lot of ex-soldiers taking the training and coming into it so not all hope is lost.

 

[RDB85]

How good is your maths? I am not sure how electrical training is taught in colleges but we got smashed with a lot of maths when it came to AC an DC Theory, Motors and Generators etc.

Inspection and Testing qualifications are good to get too, they were 2394 and 2395 but now I think it's gone to a 2391. City and Guilds that is.

Inspection and Testing is more knowing what you are doing too, you can easily go through the motions of testing electrical installations to make sure they fit in to regulations but to understand the theory behind what you are doing is essential, it will put you above others in a sense of if something doesn't look right within the installation you can understand what is wrong or could be wrong before even looking.

TBH When I first started training and learning the electrical trade I never knew how much is and can be involved with it. It's not just joe bloggs that comes around the house and fits a new kitchen light switch it goes far beyond that if you want it to.

But yeh back to basics if you are keen on it maybe just go down a part time college course for now and keep it ticking over in the background instead of making wholesale changes in your life, unless you know someone in the electrical industry that could give you a hand in it all.

I am aiming to degree level eventually I am a bit sad and find it interesting, although I have so much more to understand

Edit: Just a couple of books to get: Electrical Installation Work Brian Scadden will help with level 2 and level 3 installation in college to start with. Get your hands on an engineering maths book just a basic level, or look for electrical engineering maths again just basic. It will probably help you now and the future if you ever want to advance. Maybe even a GCSE Maths might be good enough not sure I just remember being a bit lost to start with but my maths was never amazing

That’s superb advice, I have a C&G Level 2 book, but I will look at others. The testing aspect interests me a lot. I have an uncle who is retired now, but probably could help me if I asked. I recently attended a college open evening and have an offer which could see me start the course in September. So I may see about getting some training inbetween, or a part time job to pay for the course. I have also enrolled in a PAT testing course. So hopefully if I pass that I can approach companies about doing some PAT testing.