Highest paying specialty?

[Littlespark99]

Good morning everyone,

I'm new to the forum so firstly hello I am currently training to become an electrician however I'm undecided as to what kind I should be. I currently have my level 2 City and guilds + ecs card and am working towards my level 3. I have a few weeks experience in domestic wiring (I've just started thanks to my teacher recommending me to someone). I've thought a lot about getting into rail or UPS or even test related kind of work but I've yet to talk about this to someone who knows what they're talking about. My main concern is money and career progression. I'd like to at least be earning 40k take home a year by the time I'm 30 (I'm currently 18), ideally about 80-100k+ by the time I'm 40. These are just some personal goals and obviously don't need to be met I just need to know the best possible path to get there. I enjoy electrical work so I'm not fussed too much about what kind as long as the pay is good. Also I'm a little stressed as I was told it'd be much more difficult to find an apprenticeship after I turn 19 which is soon, should I be worried? I would greatly appreciate any advice given. If you have any questions please let me know.

Thank you

 

[Littlespark99]

How much do you think we actually earn? Is your college filling your head with rubbish that we are rich? To make good money you need to be willing to put the time in and work hard at it but don't be expecting 100k by the time your 40 unless you catch a break. You could always retrain as a GP they make that sort of cash

Pretty much what's happening, one of my teachers say that just doing house rewires you could earn 4k a week and that you could earn more in other specialties.

Control & Instrumentation is what you need to be looking into.

This looks very interesting, what's the best way to get qualified? Looking online a bit says that I need to do electrical and mechanical engineering first which is something I've been thinking about anyway.

Electrician with rope access £££££

What's rope access and what does it let you work on?

If you are interetsed in going down railway line ( Pun intended ) then @essex is your man to ask for advice.
And as above make sure you keep your expectations realistic.

I'll talk to him asap thank you

I think your goals unless you run a contracting firm with lots of people doing work for you are a bit optimistic.

In the future the stuff thats currently specialised will become the norm. Bit like computers in the 90s.
Any half sensible person can now fix one etc.. with AI developing. The skills will be your bog standard spark. Anything to grand or with danger money will be automated.
In china they got a robot / machine that can install pylons and terminate cables!! Imagine that here.. might make the dno more efficient

Starting a company seems like the most likely route for me after I've gained enough experience to do so but I don't know if there are better/less stressful options out there.

Only electricians i have ever heard on that sort of money were in the wild west of Iraq after the invasion but you ran risk of getting blown up, or your head hacked off. so was a judgement call on the rewards verses the risks! they were on couple of grand a week tax free.

Honestly I wouldn't mind risking my head getting sawed off if it means more money, either I get rich or die which sounds like a win win to me haha. Seriously though if stuff like that are available when I'm experienced then I'd be all for it if the price is worth it.

 

[Deuce]

The only freelance sparks I know on that kind of money have pretty much sacrificed their family/home life as they're working around the world at huge events and exhibition stands. I'm sure at the sharp end of automation and process line design there are some very well paid sparks too. I also hear oil platforms in the sub-sea industries pay very well, but also - quite dangerous work apparently.

Most sparks like most other trades top out around the early to mid £40k's as that is the point at which one way or another, you start to pay higher rates of tax. It's hard to find a way to motivate yourself to work harder to earn more, knowing that about 50p in every extra pound you make, will go in tax.

Many that do earn 100k+ are mostly doing it by being good at running a business employing a number of sparks, which is a whole different skill set really. All the electrical knowledge in the world won't effect whatever level of business acumen a person has.

I would look less at electrical and more at automation and plc programming if you want a fairly clear route to making a very good living. Go train as an automation engineer

 

[Deuce]

Pretty much what's happening, one of my teachers say that just doing house rewires you could earn 4k a week and that you could earn more in other specialties.

If this guy is teaching you the skills to earn 4k a week (£200,000 pa..) then how much must he be on!? £8k a week!?

If you suspect he isn't on that sort of money himself then there are only two possibilities:

1) He has no idea what he's talking about.

2) He does know people that earn £4k a week but he isn't good enough to do the same, so instead he's going to.. erm... teach you to be good enough to earn it??

 

[Deuce]

The only freelance sparks I know on that kind of money have pretty much sacrificed their family/home life as they're working around the world at huge events and exhibition stands. I'm sure at the sharp end of automation and process line design there are some very well paid sparks too. I also hear oil platforms in the sub-sea industries pay very well, but also - quite dangerous work apparently.

Most sparks like most other trades top out around the early to mid £40k's as that is the point at which one way or another, you start to pay higher rates of tax. It's hard to find a way to motivate yourself to work harder to earn more, knowing that about 50p in every extra pound you make, will go in tax.

Many that do earn 100k+ are mostly doing it by being good at running a business employing a number of sparks, which is a whole different skill set really. All the electrical knowledge in the world won't effect whatever level of business acumen a person has.

I would look less at electrical and more at automation and plc programming if you want a fairly clear route to making a very good living. Go train as an automation engineer

 

[Littlespark99]

If this guy is teaching you the skills to earn 4k a week (£200,000 pa..) then how much must he be on!? £8k a week!?

If you suspect he isn't on that sort of money himself then there are only two possibilities:

1) He has no idea what he's talking about.

2) He does know people that earn £4k a week but he isn't good enough to do the same, so instead he's going to.. erm... teach you to be good enough to earn it??

When I asked him why he's teaching he said it's because he's already set (he's 62) and he wants to teach for fun which I think is fair enough but yeah it is still a bit sus

 

[DPG]

A reality check is needed or you will be aiming for likely disappointment at some point in the future. Not saying the 100K is impossible, but as everyone has said above, it is unlikely.

 

[Silly Sausage]

Re C&I:
I got into by chance really, quite a long time ago now!
I did have an Engineering qualification which almost certainly helped considering I had no experience.
Start looking for Control and/or Instrumentation courses, I'm sure they exist.

It is an interesting career.

Good luck in whatever path you go down anyway.

 

[Deuce]

When I asked him why he's teaching he said it's because he's already set (he's 62) and he wants to teach for fun which I think is fair enough but yeah it is still a bit sus

Those I know (and £800-1000 as a day rate isn't uncommon in my industry) that make that kind of money only do so as they're insanely specialised - to the point of being useless to 99.9% of all potential customers but priceless to the other 0.1%. The problem is as you specialise, you become more and more detached from the general day to day evolution of the industry overall. Such a person would be an interesting teacher, but perhaps not a very good all rounder!

Anyway, if you really want to know if he's spent the last 30 years earning £200k+ a year then I'm sure there will be some clues. Does he drive a Fiat or a Bugatti?

 

[Phil Thompson]

The OP should do stand up, he’d make a fortune.

4K a week from requires is certainly easy to do. But take out your materials and overheads and wages to other boys and you’ll be luck to have 25% of that by the end lol

 

[JAWS]

£1200 a week take home is 100k a year. Not bad if you can get it.

 

[Littlespark99]

£1200 a week take home is 100k a year. Not bad if you can get it.

Sorry I think I'm missing something, £1200*52=£62,400? Don't get me wrong that's still a lot of money but it's not 100k unless I'm doing something wrong?

 

[DPG]

You won't be working every one of the 52 weeks.

 

[Squid]

Try railways and seeing as you are in London, London Underground the way to make decent money is on call rota and doing *shifts......

Thats *shifts not a Richard for the Banning Mods......

 

[Deuce]

£1200 a week take home is 100k a year. Not bad if you can get it.

No. Do it again.

 

[JAWS]

No. Do it again.

£1270 a week not £1200

Year Month Week
Gross Wage £100,000 £8,333 £1,923
Taxable Wage £88,141 £7,345 £1,695
Tax Paid £28,356 £2,363 £545
Tax Free Allowance £11,859 £988 £228
National Insurance £5,624 £469 £108
Take-home pay £66,019 £5,502 £1,270