Apprentice looking for direction
Aug 23rd 2010, 6:11 pm
#1
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 2
Apprentice looking for direction
Firstly I am new to this forum and it looks great.
Hoping I can get some guidance.
I am 34 years old, English and have been living in Sydney for 8 year. I am a permanent resident. I have come back to the UK for a planned couple of years and decided to change my career from equestrian to a good solid trade, electrician (hopefully).
I have been working for a small but very professional firm in the UK as an Electricians mate and really enjoying it. I have been involved with some new build, start to finish (first fixing in the dead of winter bbbrrrrrr). Many re-wires and all sorts of domestic jobs from new light fitting to swimming pool, outside lighting, driveway gates. I could go on and on. But very varied. I can now replace consumer units with dual RCD boards and carry out associated testing. I do stress that when I have done these I have always had help at hand but now hardly need to ask any question. However I still have a lot to learn. Anyway my point is I have a fair amount of experience on domestic installations.
I am coming back to Sydney in January 2011 and looking to do the Electrotechnology cert II career start course that is 6 months long then follow by cert III as an apprentice.
My question is in which direction you would advise as far as finding an employer to take me on as an apprentice. Domestic or more commercial/industrial. I am thinking that there maybe more scope for eventually moving up into a more demanding and higher paid job with commercial but having little experience I don’t really know. Enjoying what you do is also important, the varied jobs that I am involved with now and meeting lots of different customers is good. I am worried about spending lots of time doing the same thing with larger projects. I may well be thinking too far ahead.
If anyone has general advice regarding being an apprentice or the career start then that would be helpful too.
Many thanks,
Nick
Hoping I can get some guidance.
I am 34 years old, English and have been living in Sydney for 8 year. I am a permanent resident. I have come back to the UK for a planned couple of years and decided to change my career from equestrian to a good solid trade, electrician (hopefully).
I have been working for a small but very professional firm in the UK as an Electricians mate and really enjoying it. I have been involved with some new build, start to finish (first fixing in the dead of winter bbbrrrrrr). Many re-wires and all sorts of domestic jobs from new light fitting to swimming pool, outside lighting, driveway gates. I could go on and on. But very varied. I can now replace consumer units with dual RCD boards and carry out associated testing. I do stress that when I have done these I have always had help at hand but now hardly need to ask any question. However I still have a lot to learn. Anyway my point is I have a fair amount of experience on domestic installations.
I am coming back to Sydney in January 2011 and looking to do the Electrotechnology cert II career start course that is 6 months long then follow by cert III as an apprentice.
My question is in which direction you would advise as far as finding an employer to take me on as an apprentice. Domestic or more commercial/industrial. I am thinking that there maybe more scope for eventually moving up into a more demanding and higher paid job with commercial but having little experience I don’t really know. Enjoying what you do is also important, the varied jobs that I am involved with now and meeting lots of different customers is good. I am worried about spending lots of time doing the same thing with larger projects. I may well be thinking too far ahead.
If anyone has general advice regarding being an apprentice or the career start then that would be helpful too.
Many thanks,
Nick
Sep 21st 2010, 9:48 am
#2
s**t rolls down hill
Joined: Sep 2005
Location: Currimundi, Sunshine Coast
Posts: 490
Re: Apprentice looking for direction
My personal opinion would be to go with the commercial/industrial side of the industry as domestic work is only quite a small part of this industry and so you may find it harder to go from a house basher to commercial than the other way round. I personally find the comercial/industral side of things presents more challenges and more vired. The other problem you may find is your age, as you will be classed as a mature apprentice and therefore will be payed at a higher rate. This then means it’s harder to find work, although I personally perferre adult apprentices as they tend to be much more focused on what they want to achieve. Having said that please don’t let this swade you in what you want to achieve, I hope that everything works out for you. All the best, Keith.
Sep 21st 2010, 5:00 pm
#3
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 2
Re: Apprentice looking for direction
My personal opinion would be to go with the commercial/industrial side of the industry as domestic work is only quite a small part of this industry and so you may find it harder to go from a house basher to commercial than the other way round. I personally find the comercial/industral side of things presents more challenges and more vired. The other problem you may find is your age, as you will be classed as a mature apprentice and therefore will be payed at a higher rate. This then means it’s harder to find work, although I personally perferre adult apprentices as they tend to be much more focused on what they want to achieve. Having said that please don’t let this swade you in what you want to achieve, I hope that everything works out for you. All the best, Keith.
