What do they not teach you at college?

[Mr Curnow]

I have completed my C&G levels 2&3 as well a HNC in Electrical Engineering, but apparently as someone new out of college I'm still not ready as an electrician as college doesn't teach you everything you need to know, my friend said in the real world it's nothing like at college, I gave up and went onto web development for the last few years as I knew that I wouldn't get a start, I didn't want to lie about experience, so it wasn't possible to get a start.

To me it seems that you could probably start but you'd need to learn some extra things which you can learn on the internet and practice at home, like LV lighting etc, I never did my 2391 when I was at college so I can't sign off electrics, would I need to learn that? It also seems like many electricians like to exaggerate how inexperienced you are, but when it comes to the job, you can actually do it, my mum had an electrician around her house the other day, he didn't fix the problem and wasted time purposely, but I fixed it within minutes. It seems that they are manipulative and looking to pay young naive people as little as they can hence why they emphasize their inexperience. And also most of the time you don't get that much better with experience, it's the theory that's hard, the practical work just takes a little time to get used to, anti intellectualism I bet.

 

[hightower]

In a domestic setting (because that's all I have a little experience of) I've found it's not so much the wiring itself (connect this wire to this wire) that requires experience. That comes down (in large) to theory which I find can be picked up in the classroom.

They teach you how to cut trays, bend conduit etc at college (course dependant) but it's things like chasing walls and finding cable routes that don't get taught so much. Every house I've worked on has been unique in its own way. On Saturday I was working on a rewire and I said "Ok, time to lift the floorboards" and the bosses reply was "Why?" - turns out the house had a substantial void under the floor - we simply drilled holes where we wanted the cables to come up and then muggins here crawled about feeding the cables up through the holes - it was a lot quicker than (and less mess) than lifting floor boards.

I'm fairly new to the game myself, but I'm not sure asking on a forum is going to get you experience - it might get you knowledge but experience is something that comes with practice and can't be learned in an academic sense. You might know you have to chase a wall (understanding), you might even know how to chase a wall (knowledge), but experience means you can chase the wall (competence through experience). I reckon at the moment for every single thing I learn at college, I learn double through on-site experience.

I know this response doesn't help you any (in that you can now chase walls etc) but I'm not sure experience is something that can be handed out on an internet forum. Yes, it's hard finding work, but there's a reason why so many jobs want someone experienced - because it counts for something. So keep at the job hunt, and things will come good man. Good luck!

 

[Diddy]

As already said just lie about experience if you are applying for a mates job....Then if you arrive on site and they ask you as a mate to do something that you have never done then just pipe up and say "Oh I have never done this before can you give me a quick demo please" that will do the trick - As a mate you are not going to be left to wire complicated systems ect. You will most likely be doing containment on large sites - Conduit, Trunking, Tray, Ladder rack ect. Pulling in large cables and general lifting and carrying as and when required. The other handy thing is again in general you will be working as part of a team, Pretty easy to fit in and learn from the guys who have been doing it for a while.

 

[old dog]

and you always get better with experience mate otherwise why is it called experience?

I agree I am 38 years in the trade and learning every day. College can't teach all the things you learn over years of working in the trade. As suggested above try and get a job as a mate to gain the experience you need to move forward.
Good luck

 

[sysrq]

I agree I am 38 years in the trade and learning every day. College can't teach all the things you learn over years of working in the trade. As suggested above try and get a job as a mate to gain the experience you need to move forward.
Good luck

Another thing they don't teach is when employer fires you just because you are trying to get things done the right way and to the highest quality. Employers always wan't speed over quality.

 

[Adam W]

Another thing they don't teach is when employer fires you just because you are trying to get things done the right way and to the highest quality. Employers always wan't speed over quality.

They'll never admit to that though. More often than not it's "I don't care how long it takes, just do a good job" which roughly translates as "do the best job you can as quickly as you can".
Also the way to keep your job is to do what the boss tells you to do without questioning it, no matter how much of a stupid idea you think it is; just prepare yourself to be stripping it out and doing it again. Mistakes are fine as long as they're the boss's mistakes.

 

[sysrq]

They'll never admit to that though. More often than not it's "I don't care how long it takes, just do a good job" which roughly translates as "do the best job you can as quickly as you can".
Also the way to keep your job is to do what the boss tells you to do without questioning it, no matter how much of a stupid idea you think it is; just prepare yourself to be stripping it out and doing it again. Mistakes are fine as long as they're the boss's mistakes.

Thanks, very legitimate and sound words.
Properly trained graduate can do any job fast and according to IEC 60364.
BS 7671
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/07/fc/5d/07fc5dca38e8801470d7d63d7037ef8e.jpg

 

[Adam W]

Thanks, very legitimate and sound words.
Properly trained graduate can do any job fast and according to IEC 60364.
BS 7671
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/07/fc/5d/07fc5dca38e8801470d7d63d7037ef8e.jpg

Doing a job quickly comes with experience, which can't be taught.
"Overqualified" usually translates as "know it all". I've worked with a few of them. It's very difficult to work with someone who has no experience of the job they're supposed to be doing but tries to tell everyone else how to do their jobs because they worked in management until they decided to "take a step down and do an easier, less stressful job", which they think is beneath them.

Nowadays you can do a management or business degree straight out of school, hence the situation where you have managers trying to run a business they know nothing about.
The way to get a job done quicker is to employ more labour and/or labour saving equipment and/or materials, not to pay several people's wages to some whipcracker to jump up and down and tell everyone they're not working hard enough to meet their KPIs and SLAs.

 

[patcanfixit]

I have completed my C&G levels 2&3 as well a HNC in Electrical Engineering, but apparently as someone new out of college I'm still not ready as an electrician as college doesn't teach you everything you need to know, my friend said in the real world it's nothing like at college, I gave up and went onto web development for the last few years as I knew that I wouldn't get a start, I didn't want to lie about experience, so it wasn't possible to get a start.

To me it seems that you could probably start but you'd need to learn some extra things which you can learn on the internet and practice at home, like LV lighting etc, I never did my 2391 when I was at college so I can't sign off electrics, would I need to learn that? It also seems like many electricians like to exaggerate how inexperienced you are, but when it comes to the job, you can actually do it, my mum had an electrician around her house the other day, he didn't fix the problem and wasted time purposely, but I fixed it within minutes. It seems that they are manipulative and looking to pay young naive people as little as they can hence why they emphasize their inexperience. And also most of the time you don't get that much better with experience, it's the theory that's hard, the practical work just takes a little time to get used to, anti intellectualism I bet.

I did the same as you, and for the same reason, although i do have experience, i was working with a electrician and completing domestic installations from drawings practically on my own, which almost always passed testing without any problems. I became unemployed mid way through my lvl3 2330 and wasn't able to do the nvq, While looking for work, I was was offed a job driving contractors on and off of the Olympics site for £100 a day ( that was it, drive them in at 9am, then drive them off at 4:30 ) then something else came up.... and so hear i am years later trying to find work as a mate again.

I know a lot has changed, if i was a painter id be happy to bend the truth but if im being honest then i cant really say im experienced, because my experience is out of date, ( i guess i could keep the regs with me at all times ) im not comfortably exaggerating because i know people are trying to pay mates to do an electricians job
ie mate required, must have 17th edition, wouldn't being 17th edition suggest your not a mate ?

I am applying for jobs but feel i cant compeate im hoping i have more luck keeping my eyes open here.
Guess if you try....

good luck.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

I would suggest that you sign up with a few agencies to gain experience.
Agency workers are expected to be rubbish, so lack of experience won't make much odds.