Advice for someone interested in a career with electrical...

[Gigagator]

Hi all,
I finished my A-Levels last year and didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to do. As a result I got a job working in a store stacking shelves on night shifts.

I need a change, and in weighing up my options, a future as an electrician is high on my list. It is something that has always interested me from a very young age and was a path I looked certain to go down when I was 15 or 16.

I'm 19 now (20 in October) and am interested in making a commitment to this career path but I'm not entirely sure where to start. This is where I hope you guys can help out and provide me with some advice.

I've heard that apprenticeships are the best way to get started, but there seem to be a lack of them in my area (Cardiff) and might my age be a problem? I'm concerned that if I just do college and apprenticeship, I won't have gained any real-life experience to make employers want to take me on.

Here's a link to my local college with a list of courses in this field, but which one should I start out with?

http://tinyurl.com/89nh388

Any advice much appreciated.

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[Taylortwocities]

SSE run an apprentice programme every year.

Details of the 2012 programme - and links - can be found HERE .

But it will mean you have to travel.


I'm not sure if there are schemes near where you live. In fact I didn't know they even had electricity in Wales - blimey

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I need a change, and in weighing up my options, a future as an electrician is high on my list. It is something that has always interested me from a very young age and was a path I looked certain to go down when I was 15 or 16.

As a regular electrician? (i.e. the domestic/commercial/industrial type that hang around here?)

Nothing wrong with that at all, but if you cast your net wider then there are other electrical-related opportunities with the National Grid and the DNOs. This, for example, could be an excellent start to a career as an in-demand person - the number of nuclear power stations in use is only going one way.

 

[OwainDIYer]

Also look at things like railway signalling, and the various armed forces.

 

[streetlighter]

Don't forget highway lighting and traffic signals, try your local council highway lighting department.

 

[bhm1712]

apprenticeships do infact give you real life experience as you put it..your learning on the job, not sitting infront of a lecturer and reading books the whole time.

I can always tell a graduate electrical engineer from a time served electrical engineer. The graduate will swear blind that black is white, and will explain all day how something will/should work but when it actually comes to doing it, or finding out that it doesnt work as planned...well then the problems with lack of experience start. Unless the graduate has done it later on in life, or done it at the tail end of an apprenticeship...

 

[Gigagator]

Thanks to everyone for the responses. Had a realisation today that I NEED to get out of my current job quicker than I originally anticipated. And if I'm going to do that, why not make that career move? As opposed to just moving to more store work and continue feeling equally unfulfilled.

In response to BAS:

As a regular electrician? (i.e. the domestic/commercial/industrial type that hang around here?)

Yes, exactly that. That's the area I'm most interested in right now. The problem I have is that unless I want to move (possibly quite far) away, an apprenticeship seems to be impossible to find around here.

I've discovered this, from a company called OLCI and they have a training centre in Cardiff apparently which is ideal but I was just wondering what you guys made of it.

I need to do some more research into pricing but it looks ideal but that's why I want your opinions.

Thanks

 

[Gigagator]

Did a little bit of digging around and apparently courses from the likes of OLCI are poorly regarded by most of the trade. I'll cross that off the list then.

Back to square one!