Newbie considering "electrican" as new career after enforced job change

[DominicJ]

Hello all.
I'm Dominic
I'm 25, and I live in Manchester.

I'm a Semi Qualified Accountant (AAT) who's shortly to be redundant, well, probably October. Details are still up in the air, but I should be getting about £6k as a payoff.

I'm not sure I want to play around with spreadsheets for the rest of my life, so was looking at a career swap, this seemed a reasonable mix of "respectable" and not mind numbingly boring, and obviously a great time to make such a change.

I found the TS4U website after a quick google and will head over to the training pages shortly.

Assuming I did the 17 day course, what else is there for me to do and what equipment would I need before I can do domestic installs and the like?
How much would I need to spend on equipment, how long would I need to spend as a helper, would I be paid/unpaid ect

 

[Dan]

Welcome to Electricians Forum | Electrical Advice Forum | An electrical forum for electricians in the UK!

Welcome to electriciansforums.net DominicJ. Thanks for introducing yourself.

 

[acat]

Hi and welcome pleased you joined us. First port of call business link for your free course on starting your own business. Its sad but true we have a lot of members already qualified and experienced finding it difficult to find work, so self employed may be your only route.

Needless to say we will help where we can.


Good luck


Chris

 

[DominicJ]

I kind of got the impression people with a 17 day course under their belt starting out on their own was, frowned upon, shall we say....
Found a much closer course in stoke, which is commutable, although probably not sensible for a few weeks cramming.

 

[Phil]

welcome

 

[Guest123]

Welcome along.

 

[Phil]

Hello all.
I
Assuming I did the 17 day course, what else is there for me to do and what equipment would I need before I can do domestic installs and the like?
How much would I need to spend on equipment, how long would I need to spend as a helper, would I be paid/unpaid ect

I really would not want to go down the quick fix course route if i were you. as for the time for the experience well it could be how long is a piece of string. there are things you just have to be on site to learn, trouble is there are too many firms out there offering to make you an electrician in --- weeks. as for the tools i would not want to be buying the lot at once but there is a list below of the basics and there would be more to add to that.
£500 ish for a tester, drill, screwdriver set vde, snips vde and pliers, hammer steps, bs7671 regs on site guide gn3 think amazon do them for around £70 for the 3. tool bag, public liability insurance, drill bits, lump hammer, scutch,
I am not trying to put you off just giving you the info i think you should have before you spend too much money. if you know anyone in the trade try to get some experience first to make sure you like the job as a lot don`t . good luck and if you need any advice feel free to pm me

 

[Sintra]

Hi & welcome.

 

[Notsosmart]

Hi Dominic,

Welcome aboard.

I think a 17 day course is unlikely to give you the skills to start installing with any level of competentcy, would you expect one of us to work successfully within accounts after a few weeks distance learning?

There are other routes into the trade and some of the other guys on here can give you good advice on the best options available.
Good luck.

 

[DominicJ]

Worryingly, yes, Accounting exams are quite literaly the hardest things out there except for theoretical physics research, but the job is colouring by numbers, kinda why I'm looking for a change.

I realise it wont make me an electrician, but was sort of hoping it would be enough to get me to the point where an actual electrician considers me useful enough to have around for 6/12/24 months and do the rest of the training.
Found a longer course at a local college.

Thanks for your help guys, I think the girlfriends friends boyfriend is an electrician so I'll pester him at the next BBQ

 

[CRiMiNaLNiNJa]

I've been in training since last May used to work in Pharma, I took redundancy. I subscribed with a trade college for the full works of electrical courses cost around £9k (£6k was for the Electrotechnical 2330's you pay the premium to do it over 8 months rather than 3 years at college which would prob work out around £2K!) IMO if your coming from a no trade background and decide you want to try at Sparking, I would study as much as poss it's the only edge you can get plus you think you know a lot, I cannot express how much I’ve learnt with the courses I’ve done, I thought I was pretty electrical savvy beforehand! You do a short course you will defo not be competent! IMO if your gonna do it do it properly! These are the courses I’ve done and going to do (in order); C&G 2330 Lv2 - Electrotechnical (you get a lot of basic practical and theory) C&G 2393 Lv3 - Part P Qualification (pretty essential for domestic work most bodies won't accept you without it if your new) C&G 2382 Lv3 - BS:7671 Reg's (you'll need sooner or later no matter) C&G 2377 Lv3 - PAT (not essential was just thrown in for free) C&G 2330 Lv3 - Electrotechnical (much greater theory and testing/inspection) C&G 2356 Lv3 - NVQ (this is work based, and completes the Electrotechnical quals) C&G 2392 Lv2 - Testing & Inspection (Basic single phase cert in T&I) C&G 2391 Lv3 - Testing & Inspection (Full Testing & Inspection) I'm about a 1/3 of the way through my 2330 Lv3 at the mo. I took redundancy Feb 09, i got a grant from government through my old job for about 30% and a career development loan from Barclays for the rest, I didn't front any cash I’ve lived on my redundancy package since, so that would be a good way to start kinda risk free. As for tools etc... Well, I’ve probably spent at least £2k on a MFT, Drill & VDE tool set, and I defo haven't got enough to just get into domestic straight away. Hope this helps! Aidan

 

[CRiMiNaLNiNJa]

I've been in training since last May used to work in Pharma, I took redundancy. I subscribed with a trade college for the full works of electrical courses cost around £9k (£6k was for the Electrotechnical 2330's you pay the premium to do it over 8 months rather than 3 years at college which would prob work out around £2K!) IMO if your coming from a no trade background and decide you want to try at Sparking, I would study as much as poss it's the only edge you can get plus you think you know a lot, I cannot express how much I’ve learnt with the courses I’ve done, I thought I was pretty electrical savvy beforehand! You do a short course you will defo not be competent! IMO if your gonna do it do it properly! These are the courses I’ve done and going to do (in order); C&G 2330 Lv2 - Electrotechnical (you get a lot of basic practical and theory) C&G 2393 Lv3 - Part P Qualification (pretty essential for domestic work most bodies won't accept you without it if your new) C&G 2382 Lv3 - BS:7671 Reg's (you'll need sooner or later no matter) C&G 2377 Lv3 - PAT (not essential was just thrown in for free) C&G 2330 Lv3 - Electrotechnical (much greater theory and testing/inspection) C&G 2356 Lv3 - NVQ (this is work based, and completes the Electrotechnical quals) C&G 2392 Lv2 - Testing & Inspection (Basic single phase cert in T&I) C&G 2391 Lv3 - Testing & Inspection (Full Testing & Inspection) I'm about a 1/3 of the way through my 2330 Lv3 at the mo. I took redundancy Feb 09, i got a grant from government through my old job for about 30% and a career development loan from Barclays for the rest, I didn't front any cash I’ve lived on my redundancy package since, so that would be a good way to start kinda risk free. As for tools etc... Well, I’ve probably spent at least £2k on a MFT, Drill & VDE tool set, and I defo haven't got enough to just get into domestic straight away. Hope this helps! Aidan

Seriously wtf? who stole my lines? sorry that must be a headf**k to read!

 

[Spudnik]

Hi and welcome

 

[kung]

Hello and welcome also.