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Discuss Advice on domestic installer course/training URGENT PLEASE!!! in the Domestic Electrician Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

M

M.s. Rahman

Hi everyone

i am looking into a career change
i am currently a teacher
i was thinking of becoming a good and qaulified electrician.
for those that have become and that havent if you could give me some advice or some guidance i woulde really appreciate it, my concerns are the following:
- should i become an electrician through a training providor such as tradeskills4u,EC4U (electrician courses 4 u), electricaltrainingcourses.com (ETC.COM).... if not are there any other avenues ???

- i found these course providors tradeskills4u, EC4U, ETC.COM i wanted to know, has anyone had any epxerience with them ...are they good/bad, is it worth it ??? etc

the avergae cast for a bronze domestic installer is ÂŁ2500
 
Hi everyone

i am looking into a career change
i am currently a teacher
i was thinking of becoming a good and qaulified electrician.
for those that have become and that havent if you could give me some advice or some guidance i woulde really appreciate it, my concerns are the following:
- should i become an electrician through a training providor such as tradeskills4u,EC4U (electrician courses 4 u), electricaltrainingcourses.com (ETC.COM).... if not are there any other avenues ???

- i found these course providors tradeskills4u, EC4U, ETC.COM i wanted to know, has anyone had any epxerience with them ...are they good/bad, is it worth it ??? etc

the avergae cast for a bronze domestic installer is ÂŁ2500

I would pretty much agree with what everyone has said Rahman.

I did a short course, although it wasn't 5 weeks it was 6 months. On completion there is absolutely no way that I had enough knowledge (let alone zero actual experience) to start work in someones home. I spent quite a bit of time practising in my own home, pretty much taking it apart and also I was lucky enough to spend some time with a qualified electrician. I then started very, very small jobs in peoples homes and only then if I felt that I completely understood what I was doing.

You just don't learn anywhere near enough (perhaps 10-15%) of what you need to know to carry out domestic electrics.

If you are dead set on leaving teaching and becoming a 'domestic installer' (we are not electricians), then I would suggest contacting your local college as they may offer the same course as you have seen at tradeskills for you. The course at the college is likely to be longer (perhaps part time in the evenings) which will give you much more time during the course to actually take in what you are learning and also spend time practising. My local college now does the same course as above over a year (2 evening p/week).

Good luck with whatever you decide.
 
The short courses are not adequate for training properly, if you were an electricians mate with 10 years experience as a mate then a short course may be good enough, however without a job to support you and give you practical training they are just a lot of money for not much help really.


I couldn't agree more.
I have just finished one of those courses, Bronze with Trade Skills 4 U, and I can guarantee that you would be throwing away 2,500 quid.

I still have not had the time to write a review about my experience, but I came across your post and felt the urge to start here.

Forget about all the sales crap they give you and realise one thing: they are there to make money.
That is their one and only objective (hence the expensive car parked outside where it says CEO). So when they say that "its not about the exam or the certification" what they really mean is the exact opposite: all they are there for is to sell as many certifications as possible and make money off the ever increasing number of us who want a career change and cannot afford to take years out of our lives to train through a college and an apprenticeship.

Don't get me wrong, its not a scam, because if you look into, once you are finished, you end up with the pieces of paper which were stated when you signed up. However, if you, like me and many others who finished the courses and paid the sums of money, ask yourself whether its what you wanted, the answer is "no. I thought I was going to become an electrician, or more appropriately, a Domestic Installer, or..." well the answer you are going to get is that nobody ever said you were going to become one and if you go back and read all the sales crap, nowhere does it specify that when you finish you will feel confident in going into someone's house and rewire the whole thing...

Basically you will pay 2500 pounds, you will spend 18 days in a class room with lots of other people (many more than what you were sold at the start), you will be told not to ask questions because there is no time for questions, so all you have to do is follow the motto: "monkey sees, monkey does". At end you will have learnt how to put 3 sockets, 2 ceiling roses and 2 switches on a fake wall, wired them to a distribution board and tested them (doesn't really matter if you understand what you are doing, as long as you can remember how to replicate it the following day, when you will be examined by the same guy who is responsible for teaching you it in the first place (!?). Thats the whole of the practice side of things - here is a tip, go to a busy electrical store and, out load, ask if there is anybody who would be willing to show you how to put 3 sockets on a fake wall, for ÂŁ250 and within the hour you will have achieved the same goal.

I could go on, and on, and on, but I am going to stop there (hoping that someone questions me to explain further). All I am trying to say to you is forget about Trade Skills 4 U, or as I like to call them "No Skills 4 U" and find a better way to use your ÂŁ2500.


ps. In case you think that I am a bit bitter because I failed the exams, let me tell you that I passed all of them first time. The reason I am bit bitter is that this is the way I feel after working hard to save ÂŁ2500 and then losing them in 18 days to buy 4 pieces of paper and nothing else.
 
The above post should be made a sticky somewhere.

Sorry to hear about your experience David, but thanks for the words of warning "from the horse's mouth" to others thinking of letting themselves be led up the garden path.
 
It's bloody criminal of these parasites to think it's any where near ok to rob people of there hard earned cash by selling them a false reality.

To put things in to perspective, i attended college for 3 years to gain my core qualification. This is made up of multiple units which all builds up to achieve the end qualification and includes multiple exams, assignments and practical assessments using a variety of wiring systems and cable types such as MICC, SWA, singles, flat twin and earth, SY, flexible cables, FP and data etc.

This however is just getting the basics in practical and the theory which takes up most of the day each week. Things take time to learn and sink in. Alongside that i worked the other 4 days a week on site installing and initially verifying the work. Carrying out periodic inspections or Electrical installation condition reports is another aspect which is essential to gain competence in also IMO. This was a separate course which alone is spread out over 10 weeks in my case one evening a week and followed by two written exams on initial verification and the other on periodic inspection C&G 2394/5, one multi choice 40 question online and two practical assessments. It would not really be worth trying to complete this add on unless you already have a decent knowledge of the fundamentals first.

In my eyes there is no shortcut to becoming an electrician and to be truly competent one must be taught properly and learn how to go about things professionally and safely. After all electricity can kill in the blink of an eye.
As electricians we are guilty until we can prove our innocence in a court of law, so having the proper training and qualifications not only shows a degree of competence but is also proof of this.

These short courses really are making a mockery of what being a time served electrician is all about and serving your time is the only way to do it IMO.
I am 4 years in and still feel i dont know much and have heaps to learn , but we all have to start somehwere and that is at the bottom and from there is where we progress. NO shortcuts.
 
Last edited:
I would pretty much agree with what everyone has said Rahman.

I did a short course, although it wasn't 5 weeks it was 6 months. On completion there is absolutely no way that I had enough knowledge (let alone zero actual experience) to start work in someones home. I spent quite a bit of time practising in my own home, pretty much taking it apart and also I was lucky enough to spend some time with a qualified electrician. I then started very, very small jobs in peoples homes and only then if I felt that I completely understood what I was doing.

You just don't learn anywhere near enough (perhaps 10-15%) of what you need to know to carry out domestic electrics.

If you are dead set on leaving teaching and becoming a 'domestic installer' (we are not electricians), then I would suggest contacting your local college as they may offer the same course as you have seen at tradeskills for you. The course at the college is likely to be longer (perhaps part time in the evenings) which will give you much more time during the course to actually take in what you are learning and also spend time practising. My local college now does the same course as above over a year (2 evening p/week).

Good luck with whatever you decide.
thankyou happyhippydad
 
While I was doing a course we had a guy do the same (career change) despite us all having years experience in the industry and thinking no way he can do this. He has in fact managed to get an electrician to take him on. The real snag with a proscribed route into electrics is the portfolio of electrical tasks you need signed off which means you HAVE to be in the industry already and the pay is usually pea nuts for what is hard graft and dangerous (potentially) work. JIB rates for apprentice are below ÂŁ5 ph. Could you survive on that. Best thing is to advertise in wholesalers etc. as willing slave you might get lucky and get paid then think about course in a couple of years?
 
Hi

I've done one of these courses (well currently doing anyway), and while I'm quite comfortable with my understanding of electrics and electrical systems, I'm more than aware I'm lacking in being able to turn theoretical knowledge in to practical application, is there anything any time served electricians can recommend doing in order to gain experience? (other than asking around local sparks for experience, I'm hitting that one hard already)

I'm not looking for a short cut in to a trade like some probably are, I need a change in career later in life, I know these courses aren't fit for the purpose they're sold as, I'm just looking for a step in to a new career and could do with some constructive advice?
 
County Councils require you to be 17th edition and most decent sub contractors want you to be aswell. Domestic installers are like cancer of the industry. My advice would be to become fully qualified, maybe 4 years but then you join the elite.
 

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