Training to become an electrician...help please.

[omnomnom]

Hi,

So i've decided on a career change and after some thought i was to become an electrician. I've just had my final interview with tradescollege.co.uk and the qualifications i will be obtaining are :

• Defined Scope Part P
• Domestic Electrical Installer Level 2
• C&G 2365
• Full Scope Part P
• Level 3 C&G 2365 & NVQ
• AM2

I would be paying £180 a month for four years for this which totals £7800.

Is this expensive? I dont think it is but my wife does.


Thanks

 

[Bounce]

Hi,

So i've decided on a career change and after some thought i was to become an electrician. I've just had my final interview with tradescollege.co.uk and the qualifications i will be obtaining are :

• Defined Scope Part P
• Domestic Electrical Installer Level 2
• C&G 2365
• Full Scope Part P
• Level 3 C&G 2365 & NVQ
• AM2

I would be paying £180 a month for four years for this which totals £7800.

Is this expensive? I dont think it is but my wife does.


Thanks

Expensive compared to what ? If this is something you will truly enjoy doing then its a small price to pay - I assume you know what kind of work it will involve ? - if not I'd suggest you gain some on the job experience with an electrician before going ahead with it, you don't want to pay all that money and go through all the training and then realize its not what you want to do.

My dad was an electrician, now retired and my partners dad was an electrician (Now teaches it), they both struggled with the demands of the job as they aged (lots of being on knees, carrying tools, ladders etc) .

Have you figured out what are your potential earnings will be? - Also will be you be doing this self-employed or employed by someone? Being self-employed is great, but you need to build up a client base and a good reputation and be prepared to work weekends/evenings/long days.

 

[checjb]

I might be able to offer some insight. I was made redundant in Feb and decided to train as a sparks. I went with Access Training in Welwyn Garden City (they also have bases in Cardiff and Edenbridge) and have those same qualifications (or the EAL equivalents). I literally completed it all last Thursday and am now just waiting for my certificates. The total cost of my training was a shade under £4K. I paid in a lump but I know several of my course mates paid in instalments.
Happy to chat more if you think that'd help.

 

[Bounce]

I might be able to offer some insight. I was made redundant in Feb and decided to train as a sparks. I went with Access Training in Welwyn Garden City (they also have bases in Cardiff and Edenbridge) and have those same qualifications (or the EAL equivalents). I literally completed it all last Thursday and am now just waiting for my certificates. The total cost of my training was a shade under £4K. I paid in a lump but I know several of my course mates paid in instalments.
Happy to chat more if you think that'd help.

What now ? Do you have a job lined up?

 

[checjb]

No specific job but I'm planning to go my own way. I've been helping out a local spark for ~6 month and looking to join NAPIT ASAP (based on helping out friends and family for years on non-notifiable bits & pieces).

 

[Bounce]

No specific job but I'm planning to go my own way. I've been helping out a local spark for ~6 month and looking to join NAPIT ASAP (based on helping out friends and family for years on non-notifiable bits & pieces).

Wish you all the best with it, is it expected to be a good earner?

 

[checjb]

Good earner? Maybe but that's not my main priority. I used to have a very well paid job but found it uninspiring so wanted to try something new. Still not 100% locked into this but, to be honest, knowing how to do my own electrical work is likely to save me more than the cost of the training over the course of my remaining lifetime anyway.

 

[wesimmo]

I'm in the same situation, I've been working in senior roles in the corporate world for over 20 years, but I've had enough.

I really enjoyed tinkering with the electrics on the kit car I'm building and seem to have a natural inclination for it.

I'm seriously considering re-training as an electrician. Like you, its about quality of life more than anything, but I think if I can get a decent client base I can be making close enough to my old salary levels to make it worthwhile.

 

[checjb]

Nice to know that I'm not alone, wesimmo. I love the problem-solving (cable calculations, planning routes and fault finding) and it's way better than typing endless reports that no-one really needs or pays attention to.

 

[wesimmo]

Nice to know that I'm not alone, wesimmo. I love the problem-solving (cable calculations, planning routes and fault finding) and it's way better than typing endless reports that no-one really needs or pays attention to.

And trying to keep my mouth shut in management meetings, not something I've been good at!

But yeah, I got a quote to re-wire the house for £2.5k.

I could qualify as a domestic installer for the same money, and given I was made redundant in Feb, it seems a no brainer.

Obviously lockdown put a spanner in the works as the residential courses were all over the shop.

It almost sounds like we could get a private course going for OCUK forumites!

 

[checjb]

I worked out that I spent more on getting the electrical work done on my kitchen refit, power to my wife's outside studio and a consumer unit change than I did on this entire course. And now I have a trade and a potential job avenue. Absolute no-brainer. Even better, I can also genuinely say that I did something useful during the lockdowns.

BTW, I don't know if this holds with everyone else but I had 2 whole days in the classroom and then the first lockdown came in. They quickly switched to online lessons. There were quite a few people moaning about that but they've since found that the groups who went through the online tutorials have a markedly higher pass rate than 'in house' groups. (Even I got an average exam mark of 93.2%! ) So much so that they're honouring any classes already booked as 'in house' and then I understand they're moving fully online for the theory modules. I personally found it very handy as you can re-watch the tutorials whenever you want, as many times as you want and it really helps push in some of the more thorny issues.
Obviously, the practical element is still done in-house but you have to get through the theory before that happens anyway.

 

[clv101]

I would be paying £180 a month for four years for this which totals £7800.

Is this expensive? I dont think it is but my wife does.

Why does it take 4 years? Is it mostly just regular paid work/experience with a fully qualified electrician, with a few week/months of training/exams?

 

[Bounce]

Why does it take 4 years? Is it mostly just regular paid work/experience with a fully qualified electrician, with a few week/months of training/exams?

Maybe he wanted it over 4 years to spread the payments? - I assume interest accumulates onto this aswell.

 

[omnomnom]

Why does it take 4 years? Is it mostly just regular paid work/experience with a fully qualified electrician, with a few week/months of training/exams?

It takes 3 its just paid for, for four.

 

[Bounce]

Those health problems that you've mentioned - can occur after spending lifetime in any profession, don't you think so?

Depends on what profession, plumber, builder then yes, but office worker then no because you'll be spending most of your time sitting down at a desk.

All am saying is as you age, being on knees carrying tools and ladders becomes much harder to do then someone who is in there prime years (20/30's).

 

[clv101]

...but office worker then no because you'll be spending most of your time sitting down at a desk.

Might want to read 'Primate Change: How the world we made is remaking us' by Prof Vybarr Cregan-Reid. He identifies the sedentary nature of the average office worker as having dire health consequences for the last their of your life.

 

[Bounce]

Might want to read 'Primate Change: How the world we made is remaking us' by Prof Vybarr Cregan-Reid. He identifies the sedentary nature of the average office worker as having dire health consequences for the last their of your life.

no I don’t need to read that , being an office worker doesn’t mean you don’t workout/go the gym and eat healthy

 

[clv101]

no I don’t need to read that , being an office worker doesn’t mean you don’t workout/go the gym and eat healthy

That's covered at length in the book - 45 minutes in the gym a day is no mitigation to the damage 14 hours sitting on your arse causes.

 

[dlockers]

OP, check that this even gets you meaningfully qualified. The fact you are "interviewing" to pay a company a huge amount of cash (presumably a loan that is for the full amount so they get every penny right this second) is typical of the rotten part of this industry.

Several posts in this very sub of folk waking up 3/4 years later and realising they aren't even qualified.

Also, 4 years to be a sparks? lol

 

[Hyburnate]

Does this include 2392 Inspection and Testing?