I was wondering if any sparky types on here could help me out. I am due to get out of the Army in 3 years and would like to possibly retrain as an electrician. I have found the following courses on the net and was wondering if these are worth doing? Practical Week - Clarkson Evans Training Part P Bundle - Clarkson Evans Training I would like to obtain a recognised qualification. Is there much difference between these and an NVQ or City &Guilds for example? Any advice would really be gratefully received!!
Speak to your Regional Resettlement Office - they will have all the details of courses, and will be able to tell you which ones are worth doing and are value for money. You will need something that gets you the IEE 17th Edition wiring regulations qualification if you want to work as an electrician, as I understand it. ( I did 15th Edition many years ago... ). If you qualify for ELC's or SLC's you may be able to get the MoD to pay for some of it... Your local Education Officer should have all the details on that... Lots of training organisations advertise courses in the resettlement magazines - Pathfinder etc - and most of them are SLC accredited. No point in paying for it yourself if the MoD will fund it...
Pappa, I did the same as you back in 2005(back in now though). You can do as many courses as you want, but experience counts for a lot. See if you can get with a firm and do some work experience. I don't know what trade you're in in the army, but doing some time with a firms ill allow you to see what the jobs like and if you'll like it. I looked at courses similar to the ones you listed and my gaffer advised against them, especially the 16th edition(as was at the time). he described it as trying to run before i could walk. 17th edition is not necessary in the beginning, and even if you took it, it could be hard to pass. Also you could pass it but have a severe lack of depth of knowledge. What I did was go to college and start from the bottom up. If your army job allows, you could go to night classes and be qualified in 2 yrs with out having to do part P. Part P let's you work on domestic installations and limits your employability, but it all depends on what type of work you want to do. I preferred industrial. Domestic, unless its a new build can be a pain in the arse. When I got out you couldn't use enhanced learning credits to pay towards these courses as they weren't nvq level 3. You can use slc though. I am a bit out of date but my mates a sparky so I can always ask him anything you want to know. if you have any questions feel free to pm me. matt
Thanks very much for that Matt! Some good advice there! Doing the sparky thing is one thing im looking at doing. Im trying to get sorted now as im sure my last 3 years will go in a blink of an eye and dont want to get to 12 months out and have a flap on because i havent dine any courses yet! Thanks again mate! Adam
Have you considered becoming a gas engineer? theres a lot more work out there for gas as you have to be qualified to touch gas appliances etc,
