Wannabee Sparky

[Tin Gill]

A question to all the qualified electricians out there...

I have a successful career in IT making pretty good money but I am soooooo bored! I really enjoy working with my hands instead of staring at a screen all day. However, I'm 34 and it would be a big move to try and change career direction (mortgage etc etc).

I've been doing a fair bit of plumbing and electrical work for family and friends and do enjoy it - although without a doubt it is hard work and demanding. I've been toying with the idea of becoming an electrician. I don't want to do it half heartedly so was going to do the C&G 2355 Installation & Commisioning Electrotechnical Systems (NVQ III) course in the evenings.

There really isn't a question here but more just looking for your thoughts and any guidance about the best way forward and what you think of the demand for electricians and if you consider it 'enjoyable'.

Much appreciated.

 

[breezer]

This is just my opinion:

although you may get what qulifications you want most elecrtrical companies want experianced electrciains, they may also take you on at a lower than normal rate.

The other thing is that being an electricain is VERY hard physical work, bending conduit, cutting cable tray, installing 90mm 4 core wire armoured cable, (not to mention house bashing) its no joke as you get older you will become less enthusiastic and find that the work is more tiring, and so you will start to look for something else, how often do you see an electrican that is over 50 (other than those who are doing "cushy jobs" you don't is the answer because it is very demanding, its not all wires and lamps, there is a lot of hard graft, i would personally re think your decision

 

[masona]

How about carpentry or plumbing ?

If you want to earn good money I would go for plumbing as there're 15,000 plumbers needed in Essex alone ! One of my mate is earning £200-300 per day but can be long hours + hard work and unsociable out of hour depends what you want to do in plumbing.My other mate just do boilers servicing which easy and small job to do and money not bad either!

 

[bobdabuildarrr]

I work in IT too... earn a decent amount, but have taken time off work to fit a new kitchen. Including moving and adding sockets etc, removing radiators etc its been quite a job, in fact all in all about 3 weeks work.... CERTAINLY worth the £2-3k wanted by 'branded' kitchen installations, excluding the additions/changes I needed.....!!!!
so.. it does get you thinking....
I added an outside tape. and removed about 10 feet of redundant and failing pipework.... how much would a plumber charge to do it?
I also added two socket spurs and moved the oven 30amp supply.. including making the cable runs, and making the wall sound afterwards.. how much would that cost normally?

I have no idea on 'real' prices, but maybe the money to be made is in a complete package, of kitchen fitting....
clearly assembling the units with a spirit level is NOT worth £2k
or is £1800 of that for the worktop?

Dont you just hate the bloomin first-time 'sparkies/chippies/spanner monkeys who now reckon they can 'do it all'...
well I aint touching the worktop mitres.... thats a professionals job...
anyone live/work near didcot and can handle a router and jig?

Mark (aka ginyarg)

 

[Tin Gill]

You've definitely got a point there, ginyarg...

If you get someone in to fit your bathroom, they will do all the plumbing and electrics normally - so it helps to have a cross section of skills - plumbing, carpentry, plastering and electrical.

That seems to be the way of today...jack of all...

breezer...you mention that chances are when one gets older, being an electrician will lose its appeal and the search for something else begins...well I've been in IT now for about 8 years and before that I was a management accountant for about 5 years and to cap it all, I have a degree in aeronautical engineering!

So, the search for something else isn't just to do with a job being physical and tiring - there are a lot more reasons why people want to change careers. Perhaps this is a case of 'the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence' but from where I'm sat, I would gladly swap my boredom and the 'all day in a swivel chair in front of a computer' life for the 'hard graft' and being your own boss.

I've spoken to a lot of my mates who are all in professional white collar jobs and pretty much all of them feel the same. Everybody wants to do something more interesting and challenging with their lives - being white collar isn't all it's cracked up to be...

 

[breezer]

fair point (from your side of the fence) but being your own boss is not all that, (no matter what job you do) you are wondering when the next job will come in, you are at the beck and call of your customers, no holiday / sick pay, say hello to the tax man, and his mate, vat man, can you pay your mortgage every month, dont get me wrong its great ,but hard work.

As for kitchen fitters etc (no offence to any kitchen fitters) but you see them fitting the kitchen plumbing and wiring great, now lets take a closer look.

I have had my kitchen fitted (i didn't do it) yes he was a good "old" boy he even showed me his corgi card (i asked as i had never seen one) he told me he used to be a plumber and gave it up to be self employed kitchen fitter, it used to take ages when he first started (as you would expect) so he was already a qualified plumber, but he learnt how to do the electrical side but some one else showing him, but that he was NOT a qualified electricain.

As with most jobs watching some one else do it, they make it look easy, kitchen fitting is a skilled job, in figuring out the angles to cut things (work tops) right first time, with the electrical side it is not rocket science since the biggest thing he has is a 2.5 mm cable for sockets to worry about, which again is easy because all you should do is to keep a ring (they only alter what is there, not install from new, only additional sockets are new)

he doesnt have to lift floor boards, doesn't chase most of a cable in (its behind the base unit he has just fitted)

What i am trying to say is there is more to be an electrian than meets the eye (I suppose it is true of most jobs)

Most people i know / met started in one job and have used the knowledge of that job as a "spring board" to something else, not exactly changing career.

take Charlie Dimmock, she started as a "saturday girl" in a garden centre, now she is manager of that garden centre and tv star, but look how long it took her to do it and i will bet it wasn't that easy. I am also not saying you want to be .........an electrican over night, but you will have to make a lot of sacrifices to be a good one

Obviously it is your choice (and all this is my opinion) but being an electrcian is hard work.