Recommended additional courses

[SouthyBCFC]

Hi all, first post so bare with me. Currently I am a 19 year old apprentice having worked two years in the trade predominately in a domestic environment. Today i had my quarterly review with my training officer at work and it has come to light that the budget whereby any additional courses requested by the employees comes out of needs to be spent by march 2015. My point been is there anyone out there that can recommend me any additional short courses etc. that will benefit my CV in the future any suggestions would be welcomed. Currently thinking towards a 2 day PAT testing course but any thoughts from users i would be thankful for. Cheers for your time Tom

 

[Engineer54]

It does add up. I know apprentices / trainee electricians who have done NVQ 3 in 2 years and all domestic. Many did it on one massive social housing contract we were all on for over 4 years.

Really, so you can get through a NVQ 3 purely on domestic projects?? Pull the other leg it's got bells on it!!

If you can complete a full level 3 2387 + NVQ 3 in two years as an apprentice with a contracting company that mainly deals with domestic installations, something is very ,very wrong somewhere along the line !!!

 

[Plonker 3]

What about doing PASMA and IPAF courses, not electrical but they last for three years and will make you more employable should you choose to leave in the near future. Even things like asbestos awareness are asked for now adays.

 

[davesparks]

Really, so you can get through a NVQ 3 purely on domestic projects?? Pull the other leg it's got bells on it!!

If you can complete a full level 3 2387 + NVQ 3 in two years as an apprentice with a contracting company that mainly deals with domestic installations, something is very ,very wrong somewhere along the line !!!

I spent my entire apprenticeship working for a rural domestic building company, it is entirely possible.

There was just me and the one qualified electrician on the company, amongst around 60 tradesmen of every discipline.

The electrician I worked with was very experienced in domestic, commercial, agricultural and light industrial work, having worked for a very well respected local contractors for most of his career.

We did the occasional bit of commercial or agricultural work for local businesses and farms, and the basics of motor control I learned in company's joinery workshop.

I have still managed to come out of it with the skills that have allowed me to succeed in much bigger working environments and working with far more complex systems.


It's not just about where you work, the attitude and the knowledge of the person teaching you is a massive part of it.

 

[Engineer54]

So was your technical college apprenticeship a two year affair too??

And you did this so-called NVQ 3 with that company as well, all at the same time? NVQ 3 is supposed to cover installation of all types of metal containment systems and just about every other type of installation work that you'd never see or come across on domestic installations.

Sorry, it just does not add up or compute with me.... But then i put little to no faith in the verification of these NVQ 3 portfolio logbook system. They are wide open to fraud and abuse.

 

[davesparks]

So was your technical college apprenticeship a two year affair too??

And you did this so-called NVQ 3 with that company as well, all at the same time? NVQ 3 is supposed to cover installation of all types of metal containment systems and just about every other type of installation work that you'd never see or come across on domestic installations.

Sorry, it just does not add up or compute with me.... But then i put little to no faith in the verification of these NVQ 3 portfolio logbook system. They are wide open to fraud and abuse.

The college part was spread over 4 years (should have been 3 but the college were hopeless)

Yes I did the NVQ3 with the company and I did have the broadest range of types of work of anyone in my class.
I had worked with T&E, SWA, MICC, steel conduit and trunking, plastic conduit and trunking and cable tray by the time I finished the portfolio.

When I did the AM2 the only thing I had never worked with before was FP200, which didn't take 30seconds to get to grips with.

Yes the NVQ system is open to massive abuse, certainly some of the photographic evidence in my portfolio was utter BS.