Pat14

35 year old ex british gas service engineer 16 yrs, self employed 3yrs , corgi reg ,in the process of emigrating i would like to know what job opportunities are available in the Brisbane or Melbourne area.

Kapri

Hi. If you do a search on it you will see the news isn't great.
In Australia Gas fitting is part of general plumbing rather than a career in its own right.
My Oh is a corgi registered heating engineer /gas fitter and he is retraining as a welder.

A lot of people who have worked in the trade for years have found they have had to do lots of courses in Australia, start again or come home.
If you do a search a lot of this info will come up.

If you have city & guilds plumbing qualifications then forget all I have said

Sorry if this is bad news for you - I did lots of research and ultimately decided OH would have to retrain as although he has his corgi registration it means nothing in Australia.

This link may help you.

Bobcat

Not sure if it's the same now........... but my Advanced City & Guilds in Plumbing were not worth the paper they were printed on.......... and being a long standing Member of the Institute of Plumbing carried even less weight down under? (ie in Perth)

I got a job up the mines as an electrical TA (trades assistant) and the pay wasn't much less than a qualified sparky. When i had to paint out the switchboard rooms floor and halfway up the walls with that pavement green stuff........ i was on higher duty allowance which took us almost to on par with the sparkys. Made a mockery of us having served an indentured apprenticeship!

shell74

Thanks for the information, i wont take it as bad news shall wait till we get there and take each day as it comes!!!! Some body might want a gasman lol

shell74

ooppss pat14 replied as shell74 (my wife) we are learning SLOWLY

paulf

They want Gasmen here, they just pay them less than a shelf stacker at woolies, I am also a Corgi registered fitter, with TRANSCO classifying tickets aswell, offers of $20 an hour, and even less from the two main water heater suppilers, Rinnai, Rheem.(did throw in a van and uniform, lol)

As said above, I also called it a day with the gas and am now a boilermaker/welder.

I did find out on the mines however lots of our trade rebrand themselves as pipefitters over here and there is good money in it, providing you can read an iso of course

Pat14

O dear thanks for advice paulf, im still up for the challange tho!!! By the way what is an iso???

dave99

Try www.seek.com.au good job site for all over australia

brian.w

Where are all the pipefitter jobs then,im one and going through a tra a metal fabricator lets hope when i get my stuff together i pass,im going to head for brisbane,was going to be perth but have a girlfriend in brisbane so its there i am going,would be great to know all the main companies that look for pipefitters in the mines,are you working in the mines then?and what sort of money are you making and time off,and where,pm me with details as would be great to get some c.v.s in and who knows might even get a sponsor while i await for tra and apply for skilled visa.

brian.w

isometric drawings,used to make,fit pipes and other stuff,gives the details of pretty much all you require,but still at times to measure job and work out sizes,hope that helps i use them all the time.

Pat14

I checked out that web site dave cheers looks like there could be life out there for a gas fitter, if have to try something else then so be it but i will keep checking it thanks. Also thank you for your information brian on the iso im sure you wont have any problems with the tra got mine back within 4 weeks mate

brian.w

what are you gas fitter?i sure hope i do pass this tra,its something i should have done years ago,i always put it off and now i am going ahead right until i have the skilled visa,after being in oz three times the longest 1 year,i have decided its the place for me,had enough of the uk now,but work for me in the uk is good and has always been,it will be like starting all over again over there with employers,which does worry me a little.

Pat14

Yes brian i am gas gas fitter, we both have had enough of this country and want to make a fresh start with our childrens future in mind. Its a big step to make but we are all looking forward to it very much. I must admit im a bit worried about work tho having worked for a national company for so long and now being self employed it is a bit daunting i know what you mean.