David111

Hi everyone im new to the forums

I am 22 years old and just come out of my time as an apprentice at a power station. My apprenticeship was in electrical engineering and i now have NVQ level 3 and HNC in this (have the option to take a degree), and I am a Electrical/ C&I Maintencnace Technician at the power station. I am just wondering if there are many Power stations in Australia and where they are located as I would like to work in Power Generation.

I suppose i could get an ordinary electricians job or something electrical but with my apprenticeship being in a power station I would prefer working at one.

My current salary is around £28,000 per year does anyone know what the pay rate is in Australia for the same sort of job.

Thanks a lot for your time

hitchcock71

pm me if you need any help

hubby use to be an apprentice and did what you did - so if you need any help of advice pm me


but get yr hnc converted to a degree as then you are an engineer not a tech which for jobs makes all the difference


sorry about spellings

hoofie2002

My advice would be to go forward and do the degree. If you get that AND have industry experience, you will be much, much more employable and the world will be your oyster [not to mention the future financial rewards]. The downside is an Electrical Degree is a hard subject to study - the maths content is the hardest part of it I remember.

You are only 22 and Australia isn't going away - the hard work now will give you many more options for the future.

David111

Yeah thanks for the replies,

The thing is with the degree, its gonna be a VERY difficult subject to study and also take 4 years. This would lead to buying a house getting a mortgage etc. and I thought rather than settle here, why not make the jump to Aus and buy my first house there. But I do see the rewards, better employability more money etc.
I have checked with the online assessment and I am eligible to get a permanent visa and could move now, but wether to stay for the degree is questionable.

hitchcock71, I work at Eggborough power station in Yorkshire and yes I would be looking at working as an electrical maintenance technician in a power station itself. Obviously this is only what I 'want' due to being familiar, and i dont want to be restricting myself to this type of work.

Ive really set my mind on Australia and after some advice thats all. Waking up at 6.30 on a morning and having to scrape the ice off my car is doing nothing to make me want to stay.

hitchcock71

where in au do you want to settle? have you any thoughts on this ? have you thought about coming over on a 457 - which is sponsered employer visa -

its a temp visa of upto 4yrs

- however after 2 yrs you can with your employer - apply for a perm sponsered visa ?

jayr

I used to work at British Energy, though in Gloucester HQ in commerical.

Australia has plent of PS (though less than the UK). I suspect you would want to work and live in the eastern coast, which is where more PS are.

There are a lot of black - coal fired power station around the Hunter Valley in New South Wales and brown-coal fired in the Latrobe Valley in Victoria.

There is an increasing amount of gas-fired generation as well, and often these are closer to larger population centres.

Generator companies in Australia (Eastern states including SA, NSW, VIC) include Origin Energy, AGL, TRUenergy, Delta, Loy Yang Power, Intergen, CS Energy, Stanwell, Tarong Energy, Macquarie Generation, International Power plus lots more

Dorothy

You may be eligible to get a visa, but are you able to pass the skills assessment that you need in order to apply for the visa? Check if your skill is on the SOL, then look at which assessing body does the skills, then take a look at their website for what's required. Some require a degree, while others require a formal apprenticeship.