Need advice please

[Neil-b]

Right i have been a marine engineer, maintainace engineer and a mechanic since i have left school. I am now 31.
I am wanting to get into the electrical field and finding all these courses confusing. I am in a full time job at the moment and really cannot give it up to go to collage full time etc.
I would like to know are there any home learning or night course that i can do to get me started.
Many jobs i have seen in the maintainance industry you need the 16th edition how much does this cousre cost etc.

Just looking for a little bump forward on this as i am guessing it is going to cost thousands which i do not have to get a carrer in something i want.

Reagrds Neil

 

[TonyM58]

Neil,

I know there are companys that sell a home learning pack, but you would still have to go to a C&G approved training centre to take the exam.

dont know how much the home learning is, but to be honest, if you are knew to this you may find it a struggle. My students are sitting in front of me for three days solid and they are bouncing questions off me and each other.

Best of luck

 

[Cirrus]

My suggestion would be to sit the 17th oncer you have suitable experience on site and in college or like Tony says, you will find it a struggle and maybe even blow your mind!

 

[madeinwood]

When I had the time and the money to train as an electrician, I contacted NICEIC and was told that a 5 yr apprenticeship was the only way to qualify, so I gave up the idea.

Where I live, in rural Scotland, we are desperately short of qualified electricians - in my area there's one who works as much as he wants to, and another, 20 miles away, with a minimum 9 month waiting list but who won't travel 20 miles anyway.
The rest of the electrical work, legal issues notwithstanding, is done by general builders or homeowners. I had to learn how to extend a ringmain myself just to get it done, then waited 2 yrs til an electrician moved into my area who could check it.

No jobs? Work for yourself - there's loads of work out there.

Or is that not acceptable?

 

[Cirrus]

Of course you can work for yourself but it brings a lot of risks and you have to be sure that you have steady work. Not all areas are short of work like your area in Scotland. Take where I live for example, there are at least 10 Major (30 + sparks) firms withing a 5 mile radius so right from the word go you are competing with them. Then there is advertising, trying to get word of mouth business built up etc....
I desperately want to work for myself but with the ridiculous mortgages we have in the south it ain't an easy thing to embark upon.