Newbie - Qualified Maintenance Electrician looking for advice on career options

[Shammie]

Hello, I am new to the forum. I am a Maintenance Electrician on a gas plant and have been doing my current job for 7 years, I have just finished a HNC in Electrical Engineering this year and I am looking for a bit of a change. I didn't do the HNC for the purpose of moving on or changing career however now that its finished I am feeling a bit stuck in my current job.
I am not really sure what I want to do though, I don't feel totally happy in my current job but I don't really fancy going up to a management role. I have had a look about on the job boards but I am just looking for other advice/ suggestions/ideas on what other electrical jobs are out there that I could aspire to do other than just moving to a new company but pretty much doing the same job. That may well be the answer to my problems but I want to look at more options than that before I decide.
I hope this makes sense and any advice/suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[*-jester-*]

There's not many females in the electrical industry so a big kudos to you.

If you've worked on a gas plant you must have some experience of control circuitry.
It is a hard vocation to get into because there aren't as many job opportunities out there in the controls industry but I've been doing it for nearly 30 years and I still thoroughly enjoy it.
Control circuits in my opinion present more of a mental challenge compared to domestic / commercial electrical installations and the work is more varied than a static plant based maintenance electrician, with the right placement you can travel the country or even the world.

 

[Shammie]

There's not many females in the electrical industry so a big kudos to you.

If you've worked on a gas plant you must have some experience of control circuitry.
It is a hard vocation to get into because there aren't as many job opportunities out there in the controls industry but I've been doing it for nearly 30 years and I still thoroughly enjoy it.
Control circuits in my opinion present more of a mental challenge compared to domestic / commercial electrical installations and the work is more varied than a static plant based maintenance electrician, with the right placement you can travel the country or even the world.

Thanks for your reply, yeah I am thinking that maybe working in a more mobile role would help as I would not be travelling to the same place everyday. I feel like I know the plant inside out which is good but repetitive work!

To help get into the control industry what would you recommend doing that would help. As in if you were looking to take someone on what would be some good experience/qualifications that may help.

I work cross trade as we are just a small team of 6 with 2 electrical, 2 instrumentation, 1 mechanic and 1 supervisor. My apprenticeship was also electrical and instrumentation however I don't do loads of instrumentation in my current role but help out when required or when I am called out for a fault etc.

 

[BruvDunk]

There's not many females in the electrical industry so a big kudos to you.

If you've worked on a gas plant you must have some experience of control circuitry.
It is a hard vocation to get into because there aren't as many job opportunities out there in the controls industry but I've been doing it for nearly 30 years and I still thoroughly enjoy it.
Control circuits in my opinion present more of a mental challenge compared to domestic / commercial electrical installations and the work is more varied than a static plant based maintenance electrician, with the right placement you can travel the country or even the world.

I agree with this, Industrial Control is an excellent area to get into. Once you get a few years experience the doors should really start opening up to you.
And its something different each day to get your teeth into