Intro and a few questions

[MadSapper]

Hi all,

Just posting to quickly introduce myself as well as to ask a few questions.
To quickly summarise I am in the Army and by trade I am an electrician. Just assuming nobody here has much knowledge of how the army actually use us trade wise, they don't. Unless your on a construction tour you wont touch your trade. This is a problem as not only does skill fade occur but it makes it difficult to even progress in your trade.

Through the army I have attained my Level 3 Award in the Requirements for Electrical Installations BS 7671: 2008 (2015) and also Level 3 Diploma in Electrical Installations (Buildings and Structures) 600/5499/2

Officially we don't do the civilian AM2 at the end of the course, instead we do the army AM2 which is nice way of saying well done but your not getting the NVQ.

I still have a fair bit of time in the army yet as I am enjoying it, but I would like to prepare myself for when I do leave. So I would greatly appreciate any help here. I'm looking to further develop myself in my own time as an electrician and feel like the wealth of experience on here can steer me the right way. Basically can anyone recommend any courses I should potentially look at getting myself on (part time of course) that will benefit me. Is a part time HND in electrical engineering of use? I have looked at potentially studying a part time degree whilst serving but don't want to stray to far from the electrician side. I don't know if this helps, but when I do leave I fancy a couple of jobs, working on wind farms, with HV, rail or anything similar.

Cheers in advance for any replies!

 

[DavidSpark]

First thing to do is get your self over to see the clerk of works over in your support squadron and let them know you're keen to get things done. Secondly make sure your troop staff know you want to go places and do things as soon as possible because if anything comes up they'll think of you first. Sadly you may be on a waiting list of more senior people.

There isn't much you can do other than just plug away in unit until you get onto your class 1 which should be around 12 months after your class 2. In the mean time try contacting friend and family and asking if they are friends with any electrician's that could take you on during leave or on weekends. Alternatively you can get in touch with local firms to arrange this also.

You may need an ECS card which is from the JIB which is a health and safety assessment with a grading. With the 2365 level 3 you may get trainee stage 2, better than nothing but a good starts to getting on site.

Once you do your 2-1 you can then think about the AM2 and applying for an NVQ. Check out the ones run by Xstraining.

As for the HNC/HND. They are pretty in-depth and very big step above the 0-2 course, they are a smaller step up from the 2-1 course in terms of content.

Any more questions, send me w message and I'll try give you some pointers.

 

[MadSapper]

Thanks for the reply i'll send a pm over.