Qualifications and wages

[montybaber]

...Disclaimer.... before I start i'd like to say I dont want to upset anybody just some info I thought may be relevent

In the olden days you started an apprenticeship on peanuts (and I mean peanuts!!!) i am always amazed at what apprentices earn nowadays and on the whole they are very rarely interested (probably explains why wages have increased strangely )

I strarted on barely enough to buy my tools (which I was made to do!, the van came round every week and my sparx CHOSE THEM!!) when you finished your time the money was not even half a skilled mans, and when i say finished your time i mean college (results and certs seen) and apprenticeship passed officially not just college side.

Then came improvers for approx a year (more if you struggled) and then finally you were seen as skilled but not on full money.....noooooo!!!, then over two or three years gradual increases until you were on full wage

Obviously this was my apprenticeship and before you yunguns start thinking black and white IN THE NINETIES! maybe I was hard done by but I still believe apprentices used to feel priveliged to be given the opertunity to learn from someone and the low money was accepted, I could have earned more at asda AFTER my apprenticeship but in my and ther apprentices eyes we were the lucky ones.

I do get annoyed sometimes at my apprentices thinking they are hard done by with their wages, driving around in new cars and all the latest toys, I didnt even bother to learn to drive til i was out of my time as 1 i couldnt afford to learn and 2 no way could i afford a car!

Your money will come and please be thankful you have been well trained and have a trade behind you in the economic climate as it is, there are many in a worse boat!

I'd love to see you on 50k a year mate (honestly) and I hope you dont take offence

 

[super_stuey]

Staffie im not bein funny but do u really believe in this day and age that the supermarkets are gonna pay 40% over min wage for young kids to stack shelves? Im not havin it!

To the op, ive just finished my 2330 level 2 and managed to pick up a job 2 months ago. Im 1 of only 3 people on a course of nearly 40 with a (electrical) job!!

Im sure the big bucks will come 4 u (and me!!) matey but my advise is just value ur current employment and roll on 2010!!

All the best

 

[Staffie]

Staffie im not bein funny but do u really believe in this day and age that the supermarkets are gonna pay 40% over min wage for young kids to stack shelves? Im not havin it!

To the op, ive just finished my 2330 level 2 and managed to pick up a job 2 months ago. Im 1 of only 3 people on a course of nearly 40 with a (electrical) job!!

Im sure the big bucks will come 4 u (and me!!) matey but my advise is just value ur current employment and roll on 2010!!

All the best

I can assure you that Aldi certainly pay more than £8 p/h....FACT! I guess that's if you're 21+?

 

[montybaber]

its irrelevant, many jobs will pay more but with limited improvement

 

[rob the sparky]

...Disclaimer.... before I start i'd like to say I dont want to upset anybody just some info I thought may be relevent

In the olden days you started an apprenticeship on peanuts (and I mean peanuts!!!) i am always amazed at what apprentices earn nowadays and on the whole they are very rarely interested (probably explains why wages have increased strangely )

I strarted on barely enough to buy my tools (which I was made to do!, the van came round every week and my sparx CHOSE THEM!!) when you finished your time the money was not even half a skilled mans, and when i say finished your time i mean college (results and certs seen) and apprenticeship passed officially not just college side.

Then came improvers for approx a year (more if you struggled) and then finally you were seen as skilled but not on full money.....noooooo!!!, then over two or three years gradual increases until you were on full wage

Obviously this was my apprenticeship and before you yunguns start thinking black and white IN THE NINETIES! maybe I was hard done by but I still believe apprentices used to feel priveliged to be given the opertunity to learn from someone and the low money was accepted, I could have earned more at asda AFTER my apprenticeship but in my and ther apprentices eyes we were the lucky ones.

I do get annoyed sometimes at my apprentices thinking they are hard done by with their wages, driving around in new cars and all the latest toys, I didnt even bother to learn to drive til i was out of my time as 1 i couldnt afford to learn and 2 no way could i afford a car!

Your money will come and please be thankful you have been well trained and have a trade behind you in the economic climate as it is, there are many in a worse boat!

I'd love to see you on 50k a year mate (honestly) and I hope you dont take offence

i see where your coming from but i never did an apprenticeship i went to college as a mature student,and my employers employed me as an electrician not an apprentice .i would be well chuffed if i was on that money as an apprentice, one of our apprentices is on £3.50p/h.but as i am employed as an electrician i wanted to know peoples opinion at my wage considering this

 

[montybaber]

Perhaps your not on as much due to your lack of experience or nvq3, are you completing it now? maybe when you hold that qualification you will see a wage rise?

 

[Guest123]

Good post there Monty.

I admit when I started I got £30 a week for the first year!!!!! but I didn't care because I was doing something I enjoyed and I was only 16 (1997).

Obviously it's different for the older chaps re-training as no doubt they have families and mortgages etc etc but I wouldn't have swapped my apprenticeship for the world (sad I know).

 

[montybaber]

my first yr was 1996 £1.90 per hr

 

[Morty]

I was employed for the first 3 years by my previous boss and completed my 2330 level 2+3, NVQ level 3 and AM2. He ran a small business which covered industrial, commercial and domestic and I'm very grateful to him for the training he provided me.

But in March this year he said he had to lay me off due to the fact that the business had slowed down too much since way before christmas and he couldn't sustain the losses. I was on £7p/h when he laid me off, and the only thing I could do was register self employed and ring round everyone i could think of to tell them I'm available for work.

One day passed being un-employed and since then, a good four months has passed and I have not had a day off. Since then I have also acquired my 17th edition and am 3 weeks away from taking my 2391. Which has made it hard to see all the extra money I have been earning because the courses are quite dear but at least the money is there to put towards what I need.

So what I'm saying is if you truly believe that you think you've got what it takes then I would say take the leap, I was forced into it but I will never look back. I even go back and do the occasional job for my previous boss for over twice the wage I used to.

I was probably a little bit lucky but I do believe you make your own luck. Also I used to buy all my own kit when I was employed which included all my hand tools, drills, testers and my beloved bosch radio which loves pumping out tunes from the nano! I had my own van too so I was always ready to go it alone if I had to.

So I'm saying being self-employed is definetly the way to go, but stick at what your doing until you've got yourself all the things in place that u need to take it on. Ditch the car and get a van because a van makes you money, where as a car losses you money. You just get less chicks. Good luck bro

 

[montybaber]

You just get less chicks.

Thats where I have been going wrong!!!!

 

[rob the sparky]

I was employed for the first 3 years by my previous boss and completed my 2330 level 2+3, NVQ level 3 and AM2. He ran a small business which covered industrial, commercial and domestic and I'm very grateful to him for the training he provided me.

But in March this year he said he had to lay me off due to the fact that the business had slowed down too much since way before christmas and he couldn't sustain the losses. I was on £7p/h when he laid me off, and the only thing I could do was register self employed and ring round everyone i could think of to tell them I'm available for work.

One day passed being un-employed and since then, a good four months has passed and I have not had a day off. Since then I have also acquired my 17th edition and am 3 weeks away from taking my 2391. Which has made it hard to see all the extra money I have been earning because the courses are quite dear but at least the money is there to put towards what I need.

So what I'm saying is if you truly believe that you think you've got what it takes then I would say take the leap, I was forced into it but I will never look back. I even go back and do the occasional job for my previous boss for over twice the wage I used to.

I was probably a little bit lucky but I do believe you make your own luck. Also I used to buy all my own kit when I was employed which included all my hand tools, drills, testers and my beloved bosch radio which loves pumping out tunes from the nano! I had my own van too so I was always ready to go it alone if I had to.

So I'm saying being self-employed is definetly the way to go, but stick at what your doing until you've got yourself all the things in place that u need to take it on. Ditch the car and get a van because a van makes you money, where as a car losses you money. You just get less chicks. Good luck bro

cheers morty will do.i will keep you posted on how i do.

 

[Staffie]

my first yr was 1996 £1.90 per hr

You're havin a laugh? Don't you mean 1986, or were you living in *******?...







MOD EDIT:Lets not go down that road again.

 

[montybaber]

Not having a laugh at all mate I was 16 week after I left school and 'spaceman' by babylon zoo was ringing out of every stereo in the country

I think you will find apprenticeships used to be all about the learning and we felt lucky to be given the opertunity let alone any money for it!

Worst thing is that when I was paid (monthly) a whopping £300 approx my mum and dad took £200 as keep

 

[Staffie]

Not having a laugh at all mate I was 16 week after I left school and 'spaceman' by babylon zoo was ringing out of every stereo in the country

I think you will find apprenticeships used to be all about the learning and we felt lucky to be given the opertunity let alone any money for it!

Worst thing is that when I was paid (monthly) a whopping £300 approx my mum and dad took £200 as keep

That's bad!

In 1987 I was on £1p/h and I thought I was hard done by.....

 

[sparky paul]

It allways amazes me how apprentices seam to think they are worth the BIG MONEY from day 1


My apprentice gets £80.00 a week for four days,he goes college 1 day,he gets picked up in the morning dropped off at night,all his hand tools and PPE ,28 days paid hols a year , if i ever asked him to catch the bus to a job he think he would pass out with shock


He is a first year apprentice and i reckon he might be of use to me by about 2011 but in the ,meantime he is learning the job ,he is one of the only ones on his course who actualy working in the trade,he will make a good spark one day in the distant future and when that happens he will get paid his worth and not before.