gooner_47
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Registered: 20th Jul 04
Location: Bexhill/Croydon
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Anyone here on an apprenticeship? I'm wanting a career change after travelling for a year, been helping renovate my parent's new place and enjoyed the electrics - however basic it may have been (changing faceplates, light fittings etc).
Just looking for peoples thoughts on them. Only thing that could work against me is my age... 28.
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GB123
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Registered: 21st Nov 11
Location: Kent
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I'm an apprentice, can be quite good depending on what company you work for, they also pay for 1 day a week college too.
Only thing is you'll probably end up with a lot of the shit jobs most of the time, probably not that good to be sweeping up at 28.
Oh and the pay's shit.
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fred7
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Registered: 17th May 04
Location: Rugeley, Staffordshire
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What do you do now for a job if u work? I did apprenticeship on £63 a week and living southampton for a year. Earned more my first week on site than the year i was in college. (Im not a sparky tho) best thing i did having apprentice trained on a cv is a good thing ive found. Wasnt 28 but if u have the funds go for it!!
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Welly Wanger
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Registered: 5th Jan 12
Location: Cambodia stroke Yorkshire
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You can do an apprenticeship at that age just got to find the right employer, who take adult trainees. You will more than likely have to pay for the course your self. You will have a lot more about you than a young whipper snapper will. Have a look on electriciansforum.co.uk. As a spark my self I often want career change, it was good when I was younger but not so much now. Sack it off and go travelling again 
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sc0ott
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Registered: 16th Feb 09
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Isnt the age 18-25?
Thing is the amount of applications theyll get you'd be lucky to even be considered especially at the age of 28. Theyll want someone fresh out of school who wont be retiring after the 4 years 
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gooner_47
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Registered: 20th Jul 04
Location: Bexhill/Croydon
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Not working at the moment, but have rental income from a flat. I used to be a technical consultant in a software company, but I'm confident I'd enjoy this more.
Well aware that I'd be starting from the bottom and be given all the shit jobs but I'm completely prepared to do that for a while if it means ending up with a job I'd enjoy getting up for each morning.
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gooner_47
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Registered: 20th Jul 04
Location: Bexhill/Croydon
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Apparently the 18-25 thing (is it 25? may be 24 I can't remember) is the ages with which the employer can claim funding for the training. Any older and the gov won't help them out.
So yeah... I'm thinking age may be the killer. Could make myself more appealing by paying for the training myself... the careers place mentioned something about a 24+ advanced learner loan.
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Welly Wanger
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Registered: 5th Jan 12
Location: Cambodia stroke Yorkshire
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enjoy getting up in winter to go on construction sites freezing your bollox off for 12 hours a day, while the technical consultant guys are in their nice warm offices
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gooner_47
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Registered: 20th Jul 04
Location: Bexhill/Croydon
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They can keep 'em. Grew to hate the office environment towards the end of my employment there.
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fred7
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Registered: 17th May 04
Location: Rugeley, Staffordshire
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Maybe try as a sparky mate? Get some income and some knowledge then start a course? I know those "be a sparky in X amount of weeks" are usually crap but surely they can help get a foot in the door? Good luck
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gooner_47
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Registered: 20th Jul 04
Location: Bexhill/Croydon
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quote:
Originally posted by Welly Wanger
You can do an apprenticeship at that age just got to find the right employer, who take adult trainees. You will more than likely have to pay for the course your self. You will have a lot more about you than a young whipper snapper will. Have a look on electriciansforum.co.uk. As a spark my self I often want career change, it was good when I was younger but not so much now. Sack it off and go travelling again
I missed this post at first...
Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. I didn't think about the flipside that you mentioned, that some may actually prefer an older apprentice/trainee.
"it was good when I was younger but not so much now."
Can you expand on this? How old are you if you don't mind me asking?
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gooner_47
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Registered: 20th Jul 04
Location: Bexhill/Croydon
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quote:
Originally posted by fred7
Maybe try as a sparky mate? Get some income and some knowledge then start a course? I know those "be a sparky in X amount of weeks" are usually crap but surely they can help get a foot in the door? Good luck
Yeah anything that gets me experience on site is a good option, from what I've read. All very well getting some qualifications yourself, but without any hand-on experience I don't think it's likely you'll be considered.
Also heard to avoid those 5ww (5 week wonder) courses like the plague. Not surprised... how the hell can you condense three to four year of a proper course down into that length of time? Common sense should tell you it's not a good idea if you want to do things properly.
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sc0ott
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Registered: 16th Feb 09
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quote:
Originally posted by Welly Wanger
enjoy getting up in winter to go on construction sites freezing your bollox off for 12 hours a day, while the technical consultant guys are in their nice warm offices
Good times 
Not so good when the heating breaks down though.
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taylorboosh
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Registered: 3rd Apr 07
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Apply for an openreach apprenticeship, same principles ish, wires and connections... £13000 start wage and take adult learners
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Tiger
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Registered: 12th Jun 01
Location: Leicestershire Drives:Astra VXR
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quote:
Originally posted by Welly Wanger
enjoy getting up in winter to go on construction sites freezing your bollox off for 12 hours a day, while the technical consultant guys are in their nice warm offices
This, I did 6 months on a building site constructing a factory over winter, freezing all the time. That and crawling around on floors fucking my knees up, cuts and scars all over my hands, bad wrists from 1000's of crimps that lasted a good year. Given the chance again, I would never be a sparky, it's just that I'm fcking good at it.
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22B
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Registered: 9th Sep 04
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quote:
Originally posted by taylorboosh
Apply for an openreach apprenticeship, same principles ish, wires and connections... £13000 start wage and take adult learners
Agree with this man, look for utility companies
Western Power is a very good scheme and after 2 years you are on 23k with progression up to 29k before overtime, Water companies start around 14k, national grid is another good one.
Utilities is a very relaxed sector to work in, great pay for not doing alot. Also you will have no transport costs as you have a work vehicle, all your tools supplied, good pension schemes aswell as decent annual leave.
Only downside is being on out of hours standby, but you do get a callout fee aswell as a retainer for being on standby
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fred7
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Registered: 17th May 04
Location: Rugeley, Staffordshire
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^ sounds great and a half decent income to train as well.
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Andrew
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Registered: 5th May 04
Location: Skoda Octavia Estate, Ford Puma
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Not sure what qualifications you have, if any. Teaching seems to be another good place to be. Mrs started on 21k, now on 23k. You get all the holidays and pensions.
I was considering doing teacher training when my IT company was not going to well. I got offered another IT job and back doing the same old stuff.
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jezza
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Registered: 19th May 07
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I second an Openreach apprenticeship, most definitely.
2011 - I started one of these at 22, and there were guys 10 years older also doing it.
I was on £12.5k. Pay bump to 15k, then 18k if I remember. Then 22k when you first qualify. Not including overtime!
Loads of training and really easy to pick up. PPE, tools, van supplied.
Very easy to get on if you want to. An apprentice who started when I did became a local ops manager, and is now an ethernet planning manager.
I left after a year and a half to join a graduate scheme. Ironically now office based (but it suits me better).
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gooner_47
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Registered: 20th Jul 04
Location: Bexhill/Croydon
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Interesting. Does the apprenticeship you do with Openreach enable you to move into the domestic installation path further down the line? Or would you need to have more specific training for that?
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carl roper
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Registered: 17th May 09
Location: Newport Shropshire
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Domestic is the most boring work you can do, i would advise you to stay well away from it. I would advise to go comercial/industrial. Where i work now does a mix of all three and domestic bores the life out of me and ive only been doing it 4 years
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gooner_47
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Registered: 20th Jul 04
Location: Bexhill/Croydon
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Thanks for the advice. Good to hear opinions...
Let me rephrase re: the BT apprenticeship then - when you're finished what would what they've taught you allow you to go off and do - other than putting in phone lines and fibre and whatnot?
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22B
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Registered: 9th Sep 04
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quote:
Originally posted by gooner_47
Thanks for the advice. Good to hear opinions...
Let me rephrase re: the BT apprenticeship then - when you're finished what would what they've taught you allow you to go off and do - other than putting in phone lines and fibre and whatnot?
If your interested in electrical then go for national grid, western power/sse or water companies, you will work on industrial equipment 3 phase 415v, plc and scada control, motors, pumps a lot more interesting than working on house installations where the majority of the work is running cables.
They will train you up to do installation aswell as inspection and testing which is a transferable as well as doing a hnc on most
apprentiships which opens the door to instrumentation and control.
Forgot to say: good luck, as these companies only take on 20 or so apprentices a year so you will be up against hundreds of other people of all ages, and most will require assessment tests if you make it past the application form aswell as interviews, amazing the amount of people of all ages and different walks of life that apply .
[Edited on 10-01-2014 by 22B]
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Welly Wanger
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Registered: 5th Jan 12
Location: Cambodia stroke Yorkshire
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I'm soon to be 34 and the good old days have gone for me. The winters are harsh on any construction site. I've pulled large cables through ducts in trenches knee deep in snow, sludge, ice etc for weeks. There was good money to be made, but not so much now. For example. I was changing car park lighting in a large supermarket chain with my brother and we was pulling between £400-£1000 a day each, 7 days a week. We usually did the store in one day but grafted hard for the reward.
All the large electrical companies are buying jobs so to speak so there's not much money out there for the lads.
Like some one says if you find it difficult to get a start be a sparkys mate then advance to an improver then on to a sparky. Takes time and knowing the right people, put an add on the forum I gave you in the looking for work section.
Been a spark in winter pfft, this is my place www.facebook.com/theriversidelodge get your back pack on and go travelling 
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ljames555
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Registered: 2nd Sep 03
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quote:
Originally posted by 22B
quote:
Originally posted by gooner_47
Thanks for the advice. Good to hear opinions...
Let me rephrase re: the BT apprenticeship then - when you're finished what would what they've taught you allow you to go off and do - other than putting in phone lines and fibre and whatnot?
If your interested in electrical then go for national grid, western power/sse or water companies, you will work on industrial equipment 3 phase 415v, plc and scada control, motors, pumps a lot more interesting than working on house installations where the majority of the work is running cables.
They will train you up to do installation aswell as inspection and testing which is a transferable as well as doing a hnc on most
apprentiships which opens the door to instrumentation and control.
Forgot to say: good luck, as these companies only take on 20 or so apprentices a year so you will be up against hundreds of other people of all ages, and most will require assessment tests if you make it past the application form aswell as interviews, amazing the amount of people of all ages and different walks of life that apply .
[Edited on 10-01-2014 by 22B]
National grid isn't the place if you want to do electrical work all the equipment 22B mentions either gets contracted out and even that's a rarity because work is few and far between on that equipment. National grids main type of work is mechanical big nuts and bolts still a rarity.
But it is one of the safest jobs in the country once your in and a good pension scheme. If you want a easy life with a decent pay and van then it's for you but if you want to learn and do plc, motors, panels and 3 phase wiring then I'd go eslewhere. I can't vouch its the same for the other companies mentioned but I have a family member who give me that response when I asked about jobs.
They have no age limit on apprentices which is a good thing, british gas make you stump up 16k if your over 24 if you get offered a apprenticeship which is disgraceful.
My advice would be to try factories, chemical plants, crane companies. They all use plcs, motors etc etc equipment that in my eyes is everywhere and a sought after trade which opens plenty of doors.
Goodluck
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