Wannabe Electrician, career advice needed

[ExArmy]

hi, heres my situation:

I have just left the Army after 7.5 years as a royal signals electrician (don't let the name fool you, the job basically involved maintenance of batteries, maintenance of generators which was mostly mechanical, putting up tempory power & light systems) and would like to start a career as an electrician, I have the following qualifications already; 17th Edition, Inspecion and testing, Certificate for domestic installers+ Part P, PAT. also before joining the army i started an electrical apprenticeship but got fired after the first year. from the first year of the apprenticeship i have learned alot and i have a good electrical knowledge base but overall i lack practical experiance and confidence.

Today i had a rep from T4TS come round and try to sell me one of their courses (£4900 if you pay upfront) which would get me C&G 2330 and garantee a work placement at the end of my training to gain NVQ level 3 and get "fully qualified"

now at the time i was initially put off because i would have to go over the things i have already done, and i would not get money knocked off despite having done a fair bit of it already. then after he went i did alot of searching online and found alot of negative stuff about the company, which put me off even more.

the thing i'm most sceptical is about T4TS is their claim to garantee you a job placement locally at the end. how can they do this? and if they didn't get me a placement i'd be £5k down and still effectively in the same boat as i am now, plenty of certificates but no practical experiance!

i'm now thinking it would be better to do G&G 2330 at a college (i've read you can do that on here, but not sure which colleges do it. i checked with my local college a while back and they did not offer any courses like that?) and then try and get a work placement and get the NVQ L3 signed off. christ even if i don't get the NVQ L3 done atleast i would be getting practical experiance.

any help/comments appreciated

 

[sparksflying]

this is all my quals:

·[FONT=&quot]City&Guilds 2391-10 Inspection, Testing and Certification of Electrical Installations [/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]City&Guilds 2377-11 Management of Electrical Equipment Maintenance[/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]City&Guilds 2377-12 Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment [/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]City&Guilds 2382-10 17th Edition Wiring Regulations[/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]City&Guilds 2149-02 Engineering Systems Maintenance part 2 [/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]City&Guilds 2149-03 Engineering Systems Maintenance part 3[/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]City&Guilds 2019-01 Basic Engineering Competences(Electrical Engineering)[/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]EAL Level 2 Certificate for Domestic Electrical Installers incorporating Part P [/FONT]

You should not need the 2330 level 2 etc with the quals that you have, you would be going backwards (getting an electrical level 2 qual, when you have level 3 already in 17th & 2391 etc). I would also advise to wait and see what the JIB say regarding the grading and if you dont get the grade you want then go for the NVQ 2356 level 3, a lot cheaper than the 2330 etc, you can accredit prior learning from the army, and a lot more beneficial to your circumstances.

 

[DavidM]

yes i done training and I have been offered work exp for £6 per hour so I can probably do my NVQ 3 .....so im thinkin should i put up n shut up get my nvq3 and jib approved electrician status or shall i give up? Answers on a postcard please.

The thing is im not too sure I can hack another year of very low income!!!!!im so skint..

Obviously, make sure you can do your NVQ3 before saying yes or no, but considering getting the NVQ3 is the main sticking point (you can get other quals that aren't assessed on-the-job) I'd grab this opportunity with both hands if I were you. The world is pretty much your oyster once you've got the NVQ3 - in my opinion anyway.
How long is the contract for, or is it just set to run?

PS: If you say 'no' to them I'll take the job!

 

[ExArmy]

ok bit of an update on the career:

been offered a job working for my mates company (general building and groundwork) as a labourer and i will no doubt get the chance to do a few small electrical jobs to do as they come up if they are not too complicated.
and if it is too complicated for me then i imagine he will just call out his electrician as usual and i can help him do it, gain some experiance and we'll get the job done twice as fast.

 

[ExArmy]

ok well i went to the college for an interveiw with the head of the electrical department and they said i could do the 2330 level 2 course part time (normally 2 days per week for a year) in one day a week as i probabve enough knowledge to be fast tracked. this sounds ok to me as my new boss would not mind me going to college for one day a week.
and then today i went in to do the college induction and the same guy said theres a chance i could use my existing level 3 quals as pre-requisites for going straight onto 2330 level 3, and complete it in one year doing one day a week. at the time i though it sounded quite good but after speaking to a few lads i know that are electricians with they all said i would never get a JIB card without 2330 level 2 or equivalent technical certifiace.
so i'm thinking about phoneing the college back and just telling them to get me on the level 2.
what do you lot think??

 

[Anth]

I use to work with a few lads who had only done nvq level 3 and 2391 and 17th edition and they all got there jib approved card no bother
I think it's jst pot luck with jib lol

 

[ExArmy]

got a call back from the college today, they have got me on the 2330 level 3 day release starting on the 16th.
what should i do? do the level 3, or do the level 2? i'm not sure i could pass the level 3 tbh after talking to a few people who have done it, and they all said i should just go for the level 2 which i am probably going to do unless i hear any good reasons otherwise.....

 

[pmac10]

exarmy, ive replied to you in the past so i thought id stick my orr in again, level 3 no good without level 2?? to me thats like sayin A level maths is no good without GCSE maths? ive an HNC in electrical engineering and if i wanted to go back and do a NC in electrical engineering id be laughed out of the building.
if the college thinks you are fit to do level 3 it means your existing knowledge surpasses level 2. go for level 3 mate, as mentioned in an earlier post, why go backwards??

 

[sparksflying]

Totally agree with pmac10

The level 3 consists of health and safety, electrical science and motors etc which is the unit 301 and a mulitple choice exam. The other two units are 302 and 303, fault finding and testing and inspection which again you should have no difficulty achieving. see also past forums on this at IET Forums - approved prior learning and c&g 2330 level 3

 

[ExArmy]

thanks for the help guys. decided to do the level 3 course in the end!

 

[ExArmy]

thought this thread was due an update....

i've now completed the level 3 course, and also have taken the exams for level 2 so i have C&G 2330 Level 2 and 3. got distinctions in everything except the 301 gola in which i got a credit, bit disappointed about that but at the end of the day i still have the certs!
next step is NVQ, whilst still working for the same buiding contractor i've managed to blag a job 16 hours working alongside an electrician which is the minimum on the tools required by my college to give me full funding for the 2356 NVQ3 and the AM2. so i expect this time next year i will be in possession of a gold card and then i will probably be going to work in the middle east and earn some £££££!

 

[RickED]

Hey ExArmy, was reading your thread I have not been able to find any apprentiships/work in civillian life, soo I've given up that and decided to apply for the Royal signals: Electrician, I saw you served 7.5 half years in this job could you tell me if it's worth it? and what was the experience like? I'm 21 years old and just desperate to do something my life, want a trade, but even the Army are barely recruiting it's been 6 months and no jobs soo far.