Become a fully qualified electrician in just 6 weeks

[uksel]

does anyone else think these courses should be outlawed?

how people can honestly think you can go from zero knowledge to competent in these short periods of time is beyond me

at least two year training schemes should be mandatory for domestic

perhasp a system where you need three years for commercial and four for industrial





I personally think these courses devalue my profession, of which I for one am proud!

any thoughts...?

 

[DurhamSparky]

YES BAN THEM!!! but then i would be useless!!! i never did 6 weeks course but i did do individual courses with out going to college!! im ex navy and never got suitably accredited!!

 

[marksparky]

I agree totally there is too many variable's in this job u just couldn't learn in 6weeks and operate safely! Im at this job 7years now and im still learning

 

[DurhamSparky]

i did powergeneration from a nuc reactor and now im doing 230v lights and power..!! but still daft things that crop up that the 6 week course cant prepare you for!!!

 

[Paulsad]

I used to do van signs and was right next to a plastering / tiling / plumbing course place; I got loads of cars/vans to do as these "fully qualified" lads came out ready to go into business. Length of course ? 3 Days.

 

[Tomppa]

Totally agree with you....

 

[Amp David]

Impossible, unless you've been sparking for years without any recongnised qualification and all you want to gain are the qualifications.

 

[Rebecca]

I wanna do a proper course that will teach me everything I need to know, but it's all so confusing
Where do I start and how do I find a reliable course provider thats not gonna shut down as soon as I join up.

 

[Paulsad]

What about college Rebecca?

 

[Davey101]

I wanna do a proper course that will teach me everything I need to know, but it's all so confusing
Where do I start and how do I find a reliable course provider thats not gonna shut down as soon as I join up.

Get yourself a job as a mate, or adult trainee, enrol at college, add 3 years, then your a spark (albeit one who wont know much). You CANNOT become a spark just by going to college.

 

[robdav99]

Took me nearly 5years to get my NVQ3, still doing some PEO's and still have to start my 2392 T&I and somthing that takes the **** is that even though my course finished after 17th it was only to the 16th so I need to do the 17th aswell.

 

[uksel]

glad i'm not alone then, the other thing that gripes me is when dodgy course providers rope in dopes with their...

the 17th edition is a legal requirement for anyone who wants to be an electrician

you will be breaking the law if you don't book your 17th edition course with us right now!!!



never mind the fact that the 17th edition of BS7671 is a non-statutory document - but some dipsticks do buy into it

funnily enough, probably the same ones who shouldn't be practising!

 

[JulianC]

On the other side of the coin, I have a degree in Electronic Engineering, I'm 38, have a mortgage and have been DIY'ing for years. I fancied a career change. Should I have jacked everything in and gone to college for years, learning at a painfully slow pace, then got a job with an electrician making tea and other menial tasks, earning peanuts to become a qualified domestic spark? No thanks. Short courses have their place. They aren't right for everyone but are for some. And let's face it, there are plenty of time-served, supposedly qualified sparks out there who really shouldn't be let anywhere near electricity. Horses for courses.

 

[uksel]

short courses are great for some things and do have their place

if you're 38 and want to be a good electrician then

1. it's a bit late in the day for you really (sounds more like a mid life crisis) < please take in jest!

2. just because you're older and fancy a career change, doesn't mean that a 6 week intensive course will turn you into a competent, skilled tradesman - regardless of your capacity for knowledge, these skills are developed over the course of a few years.

it's not really about what you have on paper, in the real world it's about experience and genuine ability.

qualifications on the whole should be designed to whittle down and phase out bad tradesmen, so that the best are left, instead they have been engineered to open the floodgates to give average joe an easy ticket to botch up some poor souls electrics (and charge them the earth while doing it)

 

[JulianC]

How wonderfully patronising

Just because you've spent years at college and 'in the trade' doesn't make you a skilled and competent electrician either. You might like to think it does, because it taken you years to get there and not six weeks, but it doesn't. You don't know my ability, like I don't know yours. I might be brilliant, I might be crap. You might be brilliant, you might be crap. Same applies to anyone.

I've had a fair amount of experience dealing with so-called skilled tradesmen over the years, both in industrial and domestic situations. Some have been great, others have been shockingly bad. Much more of it is down to the individual and their own abilities rather than the route they've taken to qualify.

Of course qualifications should whittle out the unsuitable, but that's hardly the fault of the training providers is it? Blame C&G or whoever - the exams are painfully easy.

One thing I have noticed is the amount of jealousy and sour grapes directed at people who've taken the short course route, regardless of how good they are. Grow up eh? The good will survive, the poor will flounder. And guess what - some may be better electricians than you! Rather than complaining about it, deal with it. Adapt to the market and give people a reason to use you.

And let's face it, this electrics thingy. It's not exactly rocket science is it?

Mind you, I'm a bit upset that at 38 I have no chance of becoming a good electrician. I wonder what plumbing's like

Of course, all the above is meant in good humour.