Wanting to learn a Trade but what?

Ransom

Ransom

Ransom

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18 Oct 2002
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Buxton
im gettin on a bit now (26) an i really should learn a trade or at least try but which? i know i will have to goto night college / homestudy as i will have to work full time to support my family / rent etc

what trades fun an doesnt take about 10 years to learn ? an i will almost definetly get a job at the end of it.

what do you guys recommend? be as harsh as u want :p
 
Ransom said:
im gettin on a bit now (26) an i really should learn a trade or at least try but which? i know i will have to goto night college / homestudy as i will have to work full time to support my family / rent etc

what trades fun an doesnt take about 10 years to learn ? an i will almost definetly get a job at the end of it.

what do you guys recommend? be as harsh as u want :p
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I would say either a plumber, electrician or plasterer.
 
Funeral director, whatever the economic siuation, people still die and need burying. Never heard of the bottom dropping out of the funeral market have you!. Job for life too I guess
 
You'll find it hard to learn a trade and support a family; do you know anyone in the trade you could job with? This could be your best way in.

Otherwise you are going to have to be an apprentice for a while, even if you take a gnvq your going to be next to useless in the real world for a while.

Could you work two jobs for a couple of years? If your willing to consider that (and I know how much hard work it would be) then yeah, you could do it easily enough.
 
brickie. i used to work for a housing company and the brick layers they employed could earn up to £1000 per week if they were good. most of them only worked for 6 months of the year! plumbing is also a good choice if the the prices they charge is any indication of potential income!

nin9a
 
basmic said:
I would say either a plumber, electrician or plasterer.
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They are all good trades to be in, doing one of those and being self employed would give you the potential to earn as much as you like. It would also give you the advantage of being able to work as and when you want.

I'm going to say you should take up plastering, You'd better be a fast learner because I need some doing next week :p
 
cheers guys


so anyone on here any of these proffesions listed an could say roughly how long it takes to learn there trade?

and also where to start off from? i know college .......but where an what sort of cost will i be looking at
 
Well I'm trying to get into the electrician trade at the moment, its not easy at all, I'm 19, so a tad older than most apprentices, but keen to learn and all that, no joy at all, couldn't get an apprenticeship for love nor money. A few months back I started investigating alternative options and I'm all set to start a course in electricial installation at college in septemeber, on top of that I'll need some on site experience (firstly because without that, the course wont be much use, and secondly when I come to do the NVQ part, I'll need to do an onsite portfolio) this onsite experience, I'll probably have to offer to work for free (at least initially) to get, then I'm going to need an evening/weekend job so I have some money (luckily I still live with my parents, so fortunatly the amount of money I need is not sky high)

Its a bit of a knightmare, but hopefully my determination to get into this field will see me though, I heard that plumbing is easier to get into...
 
I started joinery about a year ago at 19, just this week got myself an apprenticeship. The first step is to make a list of what you want to do, then attend a college open day where you will get some sound advice (well I did) and get on the course. As I was over 19 I had to pay fees for the exams at around £60 for the year, I shouldn't think you would have to pay anymore. Due to your age you can't go with CITB, a training agent who provide your employer with funding and liase with the college etc to make sure the training is being done properly. There are other training agents, not 100% about what they could do for you. Finding a job is NOT easy, taking on untrained people is a big risk for them. If anything, you have chosen one of the worst times to get into a trade as loads of 16 year old scrotes are leaving school and will be after the same jobs ;)

Oh and bench joinery *** :D
 
Sad but true, although with retirement age moving further away I personally think the age barrier on things like this should move alongside retirement. I mean at 26 the op is hardly an over the hill old bloke and should be able to get help changing career.
 
Plasterer seems the best option to me, see if you can learn the basics somewhere/somehow, practice plastering around the house or on a made up wall in the garage/garden.

Go to work, the companies that work for local authorities employ some truely shocking tradesmen. Get your experience there, then onto sites. Congrats your now a plasterer. :p

Everything else is training, qualifications and time.

TDF.
 
nin9abadga said:
brickie. i used to work for a housing company and the brick layers they employed could earn up to £1000 per week if they were good. most of them only worked for 6 months of the year! plumbing is also a good choice if the the prices they charge is any indication of potential income!

nin9a
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I know plentie of brickies and im pretty sure they dont just choose to take 6 months off ;)

In summer they start work at 7/7:30 and dont finish til like 4/5 so they are putting the hours in for the money they earn. And in winter they can get rained off a lot of the time but even then they have to be there at same time and sit in the van til at least 1 b4 they are allowed to leave. Its very hard work hence why they are on good ££ and it takes a lot to learn 2yrs at college i believe as m8 was doing it.

Plastering aint too bad but once again its also a very hard skill to learn as u dont just get big flat walls to work on.

I started tiling and worked with a guy for about a year on and off its not as labour intensive as some trades but can be difficult work and time consuming and the moneys good as well. Starts from £20sq/m and if u can get work on a building site on new houses its even easier. Fresh walls and plain tiles 99% of the time makes for easy work but u have a lot of houses to get through.
 
TheDogFather said:
Plasterer seems the best option to me.
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Unfortunately, it's the cheapest of the trades. A decent plasterer only charges about £100 a day which is peanuts compared to an electrician, bricklayer and certainly a plumber.

My wife is going to start doing carpenty evening classes because whe wants to learn how to make furniture. That's just for 'fun' though, not to earn a living.

How about becoming an emergency locksmith or glazer, they are a license to print money.
 
R5Rich said:
I know plentie of brickies and im pretty sure they dont just choose to take 6 months off ;)

In summer they start work at 7/7:30 and dont finish til like 4/5 so they are putting the hours in for the money they earn. And in winter they can get rained off a lot of the time but even then they have to be there at same time and sit in the van til at least 1 b4 they are allowed to leave. Its very hard work hence why they are on good ££ and it takes a lot to learn 2yrs at college i believe as m8 was doing it.

Plastering aint too bad but once again its also a very hard skill to learn as u dont just get big flat walls to work on.

I started tiling and worked with a guy for about a year on and off its not as labour intensive as some trades but can be difficult work and time consuming and the moneys good as well. Starts from £20sq/m and if u can get work on a building site on new houses its even easier. Fresh walls and plain tiles 99% of the time makes for easy work but u have a lot of houses to get through.
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ta m8 very informative post for me :)

yeah i dont expect any handouts from councils / colleges ive had my time an missed it i know that.

i work in tele-sales ok its a nice job i like it etc etc but its not bringing in much cash an its not a trade.

plastering seems like it might be the "one" to at least look into.


cheers all
 
Ransom said:
plastering seems like it might be the "one" to at least look into.cheers all
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I'd go with plastering, the rest require an awful lot of certificate setc that have to be up to date, especially plumbing and electrics.
Plastering is kind of therapeutic. A friend of mine does all my plastering for me and I tend to help mix up the plaster, clean the tools and so on.

If it hasn't been mentioned before look up the "golden trowel" courses. I am seriously tempted to learn a trade at evening class sometime soon. I am a mechanical engineer by trade but I fancy adding a household trade to that.
 
In the long run, plumbing might be the most lucrative. I'm not sure on the training periods etc., but plumbers are in significant demand at the moment. It's not uncommon for one to earn £50,000+.
 
N9ne said:
In the long run, plumbing might be the most lucrative. I'm not sure on the training periods etc., but plumbers are in significant demand at the moment. It's not uncommon for one to earn £50,000+.
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Plumbers have an awful lot of courses and training, not really something you can learn part time I would not have thought.
 
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