Combi Question from a Level 2 Plumber...

[Dan Robinson]

As I said in another thread - retraining for any industry is tough and often financially impossible.

If I wanted to be a lawyer I couldn't afford to, but I don't see many people moaning at lawyers about not getting decent paying training positions like they do plumbers and heating engineers.

 

[2520years]

Yeah would be funny if me mortgage didnt need paid lads

A lot of people in your situation would set up on their own. You can enrol at college doing one day per week to get your ACS. You don't have to do work that needs CORGI registration, except when you're looking for NVQ evidence, which you'd get checked.

Sorry to hear your problem Gastel, hope you get something sorted.

 

[Paul Barker]

Feel sorry for alot of trainees......I'm 31 and have 2 & a half yrs exp regards full heating system installs boilers,rads,cylinders the works & I would say I'm competant, problem is I havent got my (Was due to sit it in Jan) ACS certificate & have just been laid of......now im struggling to get a job with another firm as ive no qaulification.......it's a feckin catch 22, if youve got qaulification & no exp they wont take you & if you have got exp but no qaulification they still wont take you, really is depressing

What do you do??

choose an industry that isn't bloated with workforce. And certainly don't go self employed in our part of the industry. You think I'm joaking? I'm deadly serious, it is far too oversubscribed.

 

[Paul Barker]

Only yesterday a senior man in the industry having been laid off, has bought a van and I saw him outside the merchants, another one of the many going back on the tools because he has a mortgage to pay. The frontline self employed provider of our service is way over subscribed, there is no demand for them, as bigger firms do the sensible thing and cut their coat according to their cloth, so laying off workers, said workers remain in the industry as they know nothing else. Yet everyday we get letters from people who clearly believe to the core of their being that plumbing is a quick step to fame and fortune.

 

[Gastel]

Feel sorry for alot of trainees......I'm 31 and have 2 & a half yrs exp regards full heating system installs boilers,rads,cylinders the works & I would say I'm competant, problem is I havent got my (Was due to sit it in Jan) ACS certificate & have just been laid of......now im struggling to get a job with another firm as ive no qaulification.......it's a feckin catch 22, if youve got qaulification & no exp they wont take you & if you have got exp but no qaulification they still wont take you, really is depressing

What do you do??

choose an industry that isn't bloated with workforce. And certainly don't go self employed in our part of the industry. You think I'm joaking? I'm deadly serious, it is far too oversubscribed.

Easy said now paul, when I was took on I was told i'd be put thru my ACS after 2 yrs exp, so the job chose me as it was to good to turn down......& its what I wanted to do, now i'm left in limbo but have the exp + I can say safely that I was alot more competant than a few of the qaulified guys I worked with, really grates me.

 

[Paul Barker]

Yes mature students in any career can easily see the weakness of the past assessment proces. When I did project 2000 nurse training the staff on the wards trained in the old way (which they always said was best but in truth was inadequate and incomplete and fostered the old patriarchal model of the health service) were inadequate to meet the true needs of the client.

In the same way the gas industry used to be a farce, you got through your acops by being a bum on a seat. The first members of corgi just signed up to it, that was all they had to do.

The assessment needs to be a lot tougher than it is today, it already got tougher when I did it, but there is still plenty of evidence about of "qualified" cowboys.

I'll get lambasted for being obsessive about flues, but the neighbour across from me has a new boiler fitted fluing directly onto neighbours boundary fitted a few weeks ago by somebody corgi registered. If you go round our town you'll struggle to see a good flue position, but I can't fit them wrongly. What makes these people think they can? I tell you what, there is still something wrong with the assessment process, despight the fact it's 50% about fluing they still haven't taken it in.

Yes it's very frustrating when you are mature and study to the best of your ability when suyrrounded in the industry by incompetence and lack lustre attitude.

You wouldn't believe the stick I get from so called "real electricians", as my route has been a fast track. But it is my attention to detail in the job and my understanding of the regs and my will to apply that understanding that decides how professional I am. They would have me not call myself an "electrician".

Yet I am qualified to do periodic inspoections and when I do them I always find plenty of fault in what people who are allowed to call themselves electricians have done. Only yesterday I had to check an extension rewire which had no certificates. Was doen by a livelong time served electrician.

Went to check resistance of 16mm main earthing conductor 470 ohms. I had to run a new one. Likewise there was no rcd protection in the extension which had patio doors leading to the grassed garden. Where else would you plug in your lawn mower? The builder was very cross at having to pay me £188 for the test inspection and correction of the job.

I think part P is a great thing, clearly the so called qualified weren't doing things right because they were not accountable. Now the elctrical trade is accountable, they have to have a gripe about people like me. It's guilt projection, that's what it is.

 

[joop1977]

NVQ2 has changed in the last couple of years,still got to do leadwork though......what is the point in that?never seen a plumber fit lead flashings etc

 

[Soggy_weetabix]

NVQ2 has changed in the last couple of years,still got to do leadwork though......what is the point in that?never seen a plumber fit lead flashings etc

Am bossing tomorrow

Dave

 

[joop1977]

wouldn't a basic electrical qualification be better??i know of electricians who struggle to wire up a y plan system

 

[2520years]

wouldn't a basic electrical qualification be better??i know of electricians who struggle to wire up a y plan system

We did a small section on electrics at level 2. It was strange because they told us how to wire a fused spur and a few other things...then said don't do it because you're not Part P qualified. Then they told us that we do more Electrics in level 3, but weren't sure if that was accepted as equivalent to Part P. No-one seemed sure if we can replace like-for-like sockets, ceiling roses etc. either. I don't see why not, as it's just like wiring up a central heating pump or shower.

 

[2520years]

8)
Job's a guddun.

TBH I was a bit worried still faffing around near the combi-boiler, but it went off without a hitch...so far!

It was odd that the man of the house had taken a day off work to supervise(?) me, but he was asleep on the settee most of the day. Does anyone leave a key with a neighbour these days?

 

[gas4you]

Most of my jobs take place with a key left with me that I collect the night before I start.

 

[2520years]

Most of my jobs take place with a key left with me that I collect the night before I start.

Haha! They must have thought I looked shifty! (Or they've been watching too much Rogue Traders.)

 

[joop1977]

when i started my nvq2 i had 8 weeks to find experience with a qualified plumber,if i didn't i couldn't get my qualification.seems to me alot of colleges have a lower criteria than others

 

[Agile]

Its over a year since any college has contacted me about a placement!

Its also a long time since anyone on a gas course has contacted me for work experience too.

Unfortunately I cannot usually manage someone who has a full time job to pay his mortgage. However a lender will often agree to a repayment holiday if its to take a proper training experience.

Tony