For us that are older, how qualified do you wish to become?

[DavidM]

As the title says. I'm 27 and would give anything for an opportunity to start and get the relevant NVQ and C&G certs that will allow me to work without hindrance - in addition to the invaluable experience of course.
But for others that are looking to enter the industry (especially the older guys) would you be happy just to acquire the C&G certs as far as qualifications go? What about NVQs or the AM2 trade test? Obviously, if you needed to find work with other companies they may stipulate certain qualifications. Anyone have any experiences of this nature, especially over the last couple of years?

 

[pennywise]

Still the wrong job parents had some blind manufacturers round to quote for their conservatory, fully motorized etc cheapest quote so far £13k most expensive £25k for bloody blinds told the salesman I could rewire their house 4-5 times over for what they wanted for maybe 1 weeks work at most, in a nice open space no obstacles etc. I'm going to look into setting up doing blind motorization

 

[confused-fuse]

Still the wrong job parents had some blind manufacturers round to quote for their conservatory, fully motorized etc cheapest quote so far £13k most expensive £25k for bloody blinds told the salesman I could rewire their house 4-5 times over for what they wanted for maybe 1 weeks work at most, in a nice open space no obstacles etc. I'm going to look into setting up doing blind motorization

as long you can wire cat5 cables you be fine lol for remote blind unit

 

[pennywise]

I don't know sounds a bit complicated for me lol The sickening thing is I've already put all the power and switchlines in just behind all the panels in anticipation, so even less for them to do

 

[confused-fuse]

i can give you a number for a mate who does blinds & is a sparky not far from brum lol

 

[rocker]

Still the wrong job parents had some blind manufacturers round to quote for their conservatory, fully motorized etc cheapest quote so far £13k most expensive £25k for bloody blinds told the salesman I could rewire their house 4-5 times over for what they wanted for maybe 1 weeks work at most, in a nice open space no obstacles etc. I'm going to look into setting up doing blind motorization

Well, my expletive could have been misheard as 'Luck me running' when I read that. Jeez Louise! You can get a roller blind for £25 from wilkos, crack open a scalextric car and pillage the motor and bish bash bos. £25,000? 1000% markup? Duck me.

 

[pennywise]

i can give you a number for a mate who does blinds & is a sparky not far from brum lol

Thanks for the offer, they are in south west london so a little bit of a trek. Think they may have already gone with one of the companies. I have had a look at the somfy stuff they all seem to use a blind monkey could set it up

 

[chris gray]

now who remembers pl509 arching or wiring a jacob ladder to the back of trippler & pl509[/QUOTE]

i made a bush spanner and a thread gauge

 

[confused-fuse]

you would need a stepper motor & controler with enough torgh to raise blind

 

[pennywise]

Well, my expletive could have been misheard as 'Luck me running' when I read that. Jeez Louise! You can get a roller blind for £25 from wilkos, crack open a scalextric car and pillage the motor and bish bash bos. £25,000? 1000% markup? Duck me.

Well that was after the first quote with their promotion of buy 2 blinds get one free. The first quote was 39k

 

[confused-fuse]

first day at collage wire this plug up ... then make a continuity tester... now its make a robot with pic84 with censors
who remembers the rubber benchs when your using the old wind up meggers ... yes we made bush spanners as well but that was in 2yr

 

[rocker]

now who remembers pl509 arching or wiring a jacob ladder to the back of trippler & pl509

I remember making a jacobs ladder from the flyback transformer in an old telly. Proper lethal! Also remember when I was a teenager making all these stun guns out of old disposable camera's flash capacitors and giving them out to chicks when there was a load of attacks near our nightclub. Tried them on myself and a few mates and they bloody hurt, aye.

 

[confused-fuse]

i still repair flash units and strobes for photographers lol but the units get cheaper so most people just ebay the broken ones for spares ....ya thay do hurt if you don't discharge them right upto 800v haha

 

[DavidM]

I'm 21 so not *quite* one of the 'older' guys, but I'm in the last few weeks of my 2330 level 3 (putting myself through college while not working in the industry). I'd like to go on and get the NVQ, AM2, 2382 and 2391 (including the design bit of it). The HND/degree is also something I'm interested in doing.

I'm jobhunting at the moment and almost every job wants someone with the NVQ. It might be known as Not Very Qualified but the range of work you have to have done to achieve it means you've got a decent amount of experience, and if that's what employers want then that's what employers will get.

At the minute it's so hard to get into the industry so in my opinion the more bits of paper you have the better. Personally I think the NVQ is the qualification to have.

I never mentioned that I've got a NVQ2 and I'm doing my 2330 level 2 practical test next Monday which I believe covers the first year or so of an apprenticeship - bar the work-based experience.
I'm also not working in the industry currently but obviously trying. Due to my current job something really needs to happen this summer otherwise it's been a waste as it'll be highly unlikely that I'll be able to do the 2330 level 3.
The college that I attend has also told us that the 2330 is due to be replaced with another qualification for the next academic year and this particular qualification will need students to be employed in the industry to complete it. Certainly not like it's set up now where you can do a number of quals without being in the industry.

 

[cobbydale]

Hi
If you don't already know the NVQ changes this year from the 2356 to the 2357. The new qual has new units and you must sit the AM2. If you can afford it I suggest you sign up to the old 2356 before December I know a guy who is offering it for £510+vat which is really cheap. They also register you with c&g now and will let you start next year. You can achieve your NVQ with knowledge units at an extra cost so no need to await your 2330 level 3. Remember if you are a practising sparky and can prove at least 3 years in the industry you can enrol for the old 2356.
If you want his details send me a message and I will pass his number on to you.

 

[JamesBrownLive]

what a s*** job no thanks ....
the reason i have come back to this trade i got made redundent from computers then for 2 yrs i had cancer all clear now thank god ... i could go do a teaching couse then teach electronics or computers if i wanted to put prefer this trade at the moment ....

I'm not sure if I would reccomend the teaching route, as that is what I am doing at the moment. Adult education is one thing that is going to get hit real bad once we get that 'emergency' budget and colleges and councils start to rein in their spending.

I teach for a council in south London and they have already started talking about cutbacks, large class sizes and higher number of students enrolled before the course will even run.
Couple that with the inordinate amount of paperwork and you've got a recipe for misery.
I get paid roughly £21 per hour to teach, but probably have a 1-2 hours prep per lesson and then have the course paperwork and 'Individual Lesson Plans' to contend with. After all the time I spend, it works out not much better than minimum wage. Then I've got the local psych patients that they put on my courses for 'therapy' but convieniently forget to tell me about

Further education is not what it was, I was teaching IT back in the 90s getting more money and without the paperwork.

I know this seems a bit of a downer, I just wanted to make you aware of the reality of what seems like a good job, but can turn out to be a nightmare.

Cheers