How did you get into sparking???

[millwall ken]

Hi all,
Right missus and kids asleep, bloody man-hating cat out, dog asleep on my side of the bed, and even the baby's hampster is quite. So peace and quite.

Okay, I'm interested in members stories into how and why they became sparkies. For the most part I'd say that most of us just fell into it as opposed to it being your career choice at school. Anyone wanna start us off?

 

[Adam W]

I fancied being an electrician since I was very young, but I was never really introduced to the idea of an apprenticeship - where I grew up the universally accepted idea was you did GCSEs, A Levels (NOT GNVQs) then went to university to do a degree, and finally walked into a well paid job. I was even discouraged from doing it - "do you want to get kicked out of school and go and work on a building site? Is that what you want?"

I didn't have the money for university, applied to the MEB and a few other companies for an apprenticeship (which I didn't get), applied to college to do my tech cert (but didn't get in) so I carried on working in pubs until I was 21, then moved down south and got a 'good job' in a call centre.
I got sick and tired of that when I was about 25 and applied to college again. Was amazed when I got in, called and/or wrote to all the companies, then got some agency work when I was in the second year.

 

[alarm man]

PS: Just what do they put in the water up your manor?

beer..:cool3: and if anyone watches that geordie shore thing,dont be fooled.its exactly like that..:blush2:

 

[Phil]

I did most of an apprentership but because of the clown I had to work with and the way he treated the young ones I walked before it was completed. he was a real old alkie. miserable old piece until dinner time and then as a newt afterwards. he used to threaten the other lads and would pin them against the wall if they looked at him funny. he decided he would do it to me one day and told one of the other lads he was going to wall me up. Being 18 and a div I told him in some certain words what I was going to do to him if he came anywhere near me. needless to say he backed off and I thought that was that tbh. that was until I got called into the gaffers office and told I was to sign a written warning for gross misconduct. I was told I could not speak or threaten a senior member of staff in such a way and he would not hear my side of things even though he knew the guy had smacked the other lads around.

needless to say I didn`t sign his piece of paper and I asked for a different type ie the p45 and told them to stick the job. I don`t think Mick was to quick afterwards to mistreat the other lads after that.

afterwards I was always in work but never really felt as though i was in the right one. I managed to get back into college whilst taxy`ing and then got taken on by a guy I was introduced to doing pubs nightclubs and offices all over the country. In between doing some house bashing for my sins

right now I am working on my future by doing the degree. would I have done things different? hell yes I would have done it all a lot sooner and gone to another company to finish the apprentership.

 

[johnboy6083]

ui joined the army when i was 16, and asked to be a plumber in the royal engineers. they had no space for plumbers, so i decided on electrician instead. i left the army in 2007, with no qualifications, but i had nearly completed the army's version of the 236. nothing on paper though. i got work as a sparks mate, and decided to join a local water featrure firm, and i took all of my exams and NVQ. they thought i was being disloyal when i left, even thouigh i paid for everything myself, and they wouldnt give me more money when i qualified. i do enjoy my job most of the time though1

 

[DurhamSparky]

started life as a call centre operator at what was Yorkshire Electricity (based in Durham under the npower name) i was 17/18 and that lasted 9 months before i got bored talking technical and joined the navy as a marine engineer. after completing what was mainly a mechanical apprentichip with a little bit of electrics i was happy. however after 3 years of doing that i placed trust in a senior sparky on board and he confirmed he isolated a feed to a 3phase starter panel...! after i blew my self up across 2 phases while working on a pump bowl in the bilge of the boat i decided to A) bring down the incompetent spark B) learn electrics to allow me to do ALL isolation's both mechanical and electrical my self and also be able to complete jobs quicker and easier..! so after 3 months of pestering my boss i was transferred to the electrical section and picked it up pretty quickly while doing External Electrical Accreditation to go alongside my experience.

3 years doing that on board and then off to London MOD HQ as a Electrical Biased Engineer in the Plant Room of a Top Secret and Secure Facility underground on Whitehall finally nailed the coffin and i completed ALL the remaining qualifications

since leaving the navy all i had to fear was confidence and best practice of getting it right first time with little mess (oh and getting the price right)

 

[kung]

Just stumbled across it while looking for the yellow brick road ! wanted to be a hypnotist but i was crap at that and after years of practice it still dont work with customers ! dammm double dammmm ! oh yer back on subject sounds like same as most ! worked with me dad from a young age went to collage and here i am poorer than a plasterer with minimal to pay for and no updates etc !

 

[mattmoo1974]

I Didnt do very well at skool in turn ended up stood next to the mixer from 7am onwards.
Noticed the sparky used to turn up at 9-9.30 big baked bean stain down his nice clean top, Noticed he disappeared at 3 ish "To get some more cable" and would reappear the same time the next day. Always had a nice shiney van and tales of holidays some where nice.
Id like to point out this was about 20 yrs ago.
Man did i miss the boat

 

[electromonkey]

I left school with my A levels and went on to study Geography in uni. Dropped out of that after my second year (I din't really want to do it in the first place). I worked in a supermarket on a manger training course then moved in to sales. I spent a lot of time on the road and generally sales is a solitary life, giving you too much time to think and I didn't like the direction my life was going in. I've always liked hands on work and knew a trade was the right direction to go in. I started by labouring on weekends for any spark that would let me. Some for free, some who paid me. I studied in the evenings and then finally jacked in my sales job and started working as an apprentice/electricians mate. I now work for myself mainly doing domestic and light commercial work. If I had my time over again, I would have liked to have done an apprenticeship covering a wider range of work i.e. industrial and heavy commercial along with the domestic stuff.

I'm happy now though and glad I didn't go down the plumbing route. Imagine strangling turds all day. No thanks.

 

[Knobhead]

My father who had been a factory hand all his working life decided his sons were to have a trade. Brother who was nine years older than me became an electrical apprentice in the factory father worked at. He got me interested in anything electrical, I helped him rewire mum and dad’s house. When I was about 9 he brought some old 230V relays and PB’s home and set up a board for me to play with. After a couple of belts off my new toy I learnt to respect electricity. At nine years old I could set up sequence control.
Once I finished my 4[SUP]th[/SUP] year at secondary modern school I too applied for apprenticeships but only to the big companies in the area. All the application forms had a section “choice of trade”, all had electrician written in and a line through other choices. Went for two interviews, one where brother and father worked, the other a major chemical company. The first interview didn’t go to well as I wasn’t keen to work with the family looking over my shoulder. The other went brilliantly until near the end and they said they only had mechanical vacancies that year, I lost the plot with them, accused them of wasting my time! A year later I was interviewed again and before I sat down the chairman of the panel said “it’s OK we’ve got one this year”. I think I made an impression the first time. There then followed one of the best apprenticeships you could wish for. I was the first apprentice in the company to finish the EITB J02-J22 while still an apprentice, I also got my C&G electrical technicians.
Now 39 years down the line from starting, I’m on the physical scrap heap, who’s going to employ someone taking 14 painkillers a day?

 

[Mr.Si]

Went to School, GCSEs (did fairly well, no A grades though), then did A levels - but only got 2 of the 3 I did.
Both times, the more technical subjects got me the highest grades, but that's because I enjoyed them the most and therefore put more effort in to them. Funny that. One of the GCSE subjects was a Split one with DT and Electronics. Loved that

Went to Uni as it was the "Done Thing" and I was hauled in by the idea of getting a higher paying job. Did degree in Computer Science, got a 3rd because I'm not a "programmer".

The idea of a "Trade" was never identified but that might be the education system. Just was not something I thought of.

When I finished Uni, I worked for a Horticultural Technical Sales company as a stores lad, but I got to work with the resident sparky building panels and working in glass houses installing lighting and running cables etc.
My manager also let me help him do some first fix in his house when he had half of it re-built. That was interesting and I almost got to go to college via them to do electrical courses.

I was also interested in Sound Engineering and Live Event Production in my spare time. Which inevitably got me in to stage lighting too. With this came the need to have some nice large power supply cables, such as 63A CeeForm connectors etc and a basic understanding of electricity.

However I then moved in to Acoustics and worked at that for 4 1/2 years, but I was never really acoustic consultant material and as times grew hard, they laid 3 people off. One thing during those 4 1/2 years I was made aware of, by visiting just so many of them was building sites and thus trades. Building sites have always fascinated me.
During the last year or so of that job, I decided to begin learning a trade and my interest in the Electrical side of things and a bit of history and understanding made me go for the 2330 Levels 2 & 3.

Still in the learning mode whilst now in an IT Support role, but trying to get in to WORKING in the trade is the next step.

Doing some private jobs, within family and my own home is where I'm starting though, just to keep my "foot in the door" so to speak.

So I'm coming at it from a "Career change" perspective but wishing I'd got into it from school.
I was probably too much of a snob to realise!

 

[topquark]

I started my first years apprenticeship a "couple" of years ago (1976 mg_smile. Took a change of direction after and did OND Business Studies and MSc Physics (Computing/Electronics). Started work in computer hardware maintenance. Completed an IBM PC maintenance course (when PCs came on the market in the early '80s) to enable the company to sell them. You had to be able to service them in those days before you were allowed to sell them!.

Started work at IBM Hursley in 1989 (when it was still an R&D Lab) and left April 2010, doing everything from hardware, software, technical documentation/reviews through to line/project management. Bought my quals up to date just over a year ago (2382/2392) and joined ELECSA back in January.

I still do a fair amount of electronic repair/upgrades (hardware/software/firmware). Mainly board level replacement stuff these days (so the oscilloscope doesn't see the light of day very often), but do sort out the odd custom power supply (i.e.: TM9100 Hardware Repairs - Technomate 9100 Wikipedia).

 

[kathwilcox]

well where shall i start, was sick of doing crap, thankless, low paid jobs while the kids were growing up. other half was laid off when saralees closed and retrained as a gas engineer, so i thought if he can do it so can i, don't know why i decided to become a sparky but its the best thing i ever did. have 2330 lvl 2&3, 17th ed, 2391 and have just become a qs with niceic (one of the very few females).
Tried to get the kids to be builders, joiners and plasterers but they were having none of it,lol

 

[1shortcircuit]

Once upon a long time ago my brothers and I were all sat down in the front room with our parents and our Mother said... I want one of you to be a builder, one a plumber and the other an electrician.

Yeah yeah, I was going to be a professional footballer. Had the trials, had the positive feedback just didn't have the 6ft 5 inches they were all searching for at the time

Anyway Mother leaves Christmas Eve, leaving myself (13) my 2 brothers (10/8) and my 7 year old sister with my Father and that was that. My Dad had to give up his job as an Inspector in the Aircraft Industry and dedicated the rest of his p*ssed up life looking after us all the best he could.

I fell in and out of a hideous amount of jobs that ranged from washing dishes and cleaning toilets in a Chinese Restaurant at the age of 14 to fast fit centre management, School Grounds Maintenance (mostly cricket pitches), cold calling insurance sales, Progress chasing for Westlands Helicopters, call centre Muppet, Telescopic Forklift Operator, Slinger Signaller for Cranes and so on and so on.

I've had loads of jobs, never left any because I wasn't good at what I did but none of them appealed enough to do longer than 18 months normally. Well, apart from the forking and banking. That I did enjoy as there was a lot of responsibility with regards to the lifting I was involved in.

Unfortunately the construction trade dried up around here and the contract I was on came to an end and I could no longer get any work.

I sat down on one occasion and thought about what I really wanted to do, I was thinking along the lines of what can I do that will always be required and I will still be able to do when I near the age of retirement so Plumber, Plasterer builder and Electrician came into mind.

I quickly ruled out Plasterer because I'm a short arse and have done Plasterboard tacking in the past and knew how challenging I found doing ceilings back then.

Builder was quite appealing but then I thought about getting older and didn't think that I would want to be lifting and walking around knee deep in mud, in the p*ssing rain at the age of 60+ so that got dismissed.

Plumber was the next to be binned, the thought of dealing with other peoples p*ss and s*it decided that sharpish lol

So Electrician was then considered, before making any decisions I decided to ask a family friend if I could do a few days work with them unpaid (I was out of work anyway and it got me out of the house). From that point on I've not looked back. Okay so at the age of 33 I opted for the short course route but this is just the beginning for me.

I've now got almost 18 months Domestic experience under my belt and will be going for my Final assessment next week.

Unfortunately when I was at school I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do but after all these years I have finally found something that can be mentally challenging but practical at the same time. If I knew back then what I knew now I would have opted for the apprenticeship route and would have many years experience under my belt by now.

 

[Paul.M]

Left school at 16 with average grades, my dad wanted me to sign up to the army like he did at my age, he did the full 22 years and has been posted all over the world but for a 16 year old all I wanted to do is lounge about going out with my mates etc. A year later after working in rubbish jobs a female friend started seeing a new bloke, he asked if I work for him as an electricians labourer. That was it, I fell in love with the trade after a couple of weeks. Me being intrigued by what we was doing I asked loads of questions every day to find out why we use 1.5 for lights and 2.5 or 4mm for sockets? He was very accommodating and took the time to explain. After a few months I stopped asking questions so he asked me why? "I know it all" was my silly reply at which he almost dropped to the floor laughing. He then put me to the test on a kitchen rewire and told me to design the circuits. Told him what was needed and why, he wad amazed but I put it down to his good tuition. After this he trusted me to work by myself and he would test and power up. This went on for 4 years until he got an offer he couldn't refuse, electrical QS for a big home building company. Because I had no quals I couldn't go work for the same firm so ended up back into dead end jobs for ten years doing small jobs on the side to keep my hand in until part p came along (i did a lot of work for landlords). I decided to go to college and did my 2330 L2 + 3, 17th but I qualified in 2008 just as the recession hit. Found it difficult to find work with all the laid off sparks out there so I continued in a dead end job until January this year when I got a start. Since then I've been suby-ing for different firms as and when needed and doing my own work on the side. Biggest regret for me is not going into an apprenticeship straight after school and getting more quals than what I have now. PS Ken, great thread.

 

[millwall ken]

Some very interesting and varied accounts here fellas.