Competence

[Strima]

I am a Electrical Trainee. After 23 years in the Army I had no choice but to change careers. I could have gone into the transport industry but I decided to move into something that I believe I'm more suited to doing and that actually interests me.

I could have gone down the college route and tried to gain an apprenticeship but at 40 years old the chances of anyone taking me on at that level are slim to none. I have a family I need to provide for, the same as everyone else, so I need to get out there and get earning and gain more experience where I can.

I'm struggling to find work but when I do get some I put in 100% to do a good and safe job, I don't try and bluff and have found that honesty is always best when dealing with real sparks. I have never found any resentment out on the ground and have never been called a job stealer. Quite the opposite, respect is a two way street, I may get the crap jobs like burying cables and crawling through 50 years of cobwebs but I need to start somewhere and gain the knowledge and experience that the time served have. We all have to start somewhere.

I find it disappointing that some, read minority, members of such a highly respected forum and trade feel the need to constantly dig at the Electrical Trainee's who ask genuine questions and seek advice of their peers rather than leave an installation in a dangerous state. Some comments on here would deter some people in asking questions.

I could have gone on a full blown rant but what would that achieve?

Call me a job stealer etc, I don't care. I care about putting food on the table and clothes on my kids backs, do you honestly think I have any qualms about taking someone else's job?

 

[madmac]

"Call me a job stealer etc, I don't care. I care about putting food on the table and clothes on my kids backs, do you honestly think I have any qualms about taking someone else's job?"

This whole argument rolled into one simple and selfish answer!

When it comes down to it, you HAVE to feed your kids and provide for your family, of course no time served spark has any of these worries!!!

Do it the right way, keep yourself and Joe Public safe and you'll never look back!!! Do the Electrical Trainee courses and you'll always be not sure!!!

Put yourself in the boots of a time served spark foe a moment and you'll not be happy either!!!

 

[JD6400]

Hi Strima , i am going to pull you up on one of your comments .
You say like real sparks ?
Well if you are doing the job under the supervision of others and are on the learn , then you are what i would call a real sparks !
All be it lacking in knowledge at the moment , which i am sure you will be backing up with further courses .
It is a shame that it was not possible to find a suitable college course for your self from the start , be it day release , evenings , or as said before even distance learning as a last resort ! As this would (in my humble opinion) have been more of a incentive to a employer to take you on now , maybe ?
But good luck to you and keep on sparking !

 

[brman]

It is funny, we keep on seeing these Electrical Trainee bashing threads and they never make sense. Training is just that, training. Everyone has to do it. End of discussion.

I reckon the mods should ban the phrase Electrical Trainee and we would all get on a lot better :lol:

 

[SW1970]

I've yet to hear of anyone making a successful claim on their PI insurance for PIR/EICR work.

And you won't either because PI settlements are usually confidential, including the respondent, in this case an electrician. Why would an electrician who has got it badly wrong, then publicise a claim on his policy of probably many thousands and potentially tens of thousands. It could lead to reputation damage (as well as being quite embarrassing) so he's unlikely to do it.

 

[Engineer54]

I'm sure that everyone here will agree that you Can Not become an electrician with 5 Weeks of training, even less so with the recently introduced 17 day courses!!

The main problem comes, with these Scheme Providers accepting such under trained people as competent electricians, that are basically legalising these people to enter peoples homes and undertaking electrical work!! I have no problem with those taking these courses, but i do have a problem with allowing under trained individuals into peoples homes, who are totally unaware of these people abilities.

I don't care what anyone Say's, you cannot be stacking shelves, sitting in an insurance office etc, one week and 5 to 7 weeks later be undertaking electrical work in peoples homes, with the blessing of these totally rouge scam providers, who's original brief was to ''Improve'' safety and certify electricians competence... The whole thing is now a complete farce, with some of these training centres now offering 17 day courses!!

The whole training system and certification requirement needs a thorough overhaul. It's just one big money making exercise, that is fooling candidates and the general public alike!!

 

[sedgy34]

Part P caused major problems IMO short courses for other trades to jump on and do electrics,after 2 weeks they are all electricians lol

im normally too busy to attempt other trades work but maybe if us true sparks did plumbing,kitchen fitting etc it might p them off too.

 

[Dan]

Please keep the thread on-topic. And keep the offensive remarks to yourselves. If you can't be constructive, don't bother posting in the thread.

 

[JD6400]

Going back to the OP , i would have said that it would be allowed as long as you have the appropriate insurances .
I can not see how testing and inspecting a property could be deemed as notifiable work !?

 

[Jay Sparks]

Doing an EICR is not notifiable but you may find that some people/businesses will want you to be NICEIC registered. If you tell them your with Elecsa or Napit they won't want you, which is wrong in my book. Its some form of discrimination but all the client will say to that is, "well you are too expensive then". So you can't win.



Jay

 

[seftonbarn]

I have just finished a 5 week wonder course. I an waiting for the results of my 2391 exam which I took a couple or 3 Friday's ago. I have a hypothetical question.

I can understand the need to subscribe to an approved competence scheme in order to be able to complete and certify notifiable works without paying the local building control to inspect and test the work (Building Regs). But do you have to be registered to a scheme to carry out periodic inspecting and testing. Surely if you are competent (which I am not I hasten to add), you meet the requirement of BS7671, so why pay several hundred pounds a year to subscribe to a scheme.

I'll take that as a "No" then.

 

[Strima]

Seftonbarn, you are correct, you don't need to be registered to carry out EICR. I myself am one of those fabulous Electrical Trainee, I have 2391 but after a while on the tools I have realised that the qualification is only a small part of it.

I would recommend that you get some time on the tools and get in with the more experienced sparkies. There are so many permutations of installations and faults that having the qualification will not help you. You need to know how to interpret the results you have gained on a test and make an informed decision from it, I was under no illusion that it would be easy however it is harder than I presumed, and I was one of the stronger students.

No more doors with a few circuits on that are easy to reach, more like dusty old houses with limited access, cables routed everywhere, running over heating pipes, baton holders in showers, rat poo in ceiling roses, CU's covered in kids toys, bathroom fans that haven't been cleaned in 30 years, kitchens an inch deep in grease, the list is endless.