career question

[oilcooled :)]

well you know the crack out of college no work apart from a few johnny cash welding jobs i have coming to the shed, but with the weather being so crap even they come in bursts, weeks you could have 3 men employed with farming driving mechanics and welding and then followed by 3 weeks generally lashing rain everyday with absolutly nothing. i have a level 7 degree in mechanical engineering got a second class honour, so that makes me a mechanical technician engineer, or mechanical fitter, i dont want to do a level 8 because i want to stay hands on shop floor as such. heres the Q would i be a fool to go back and do an apprenticeship (level 6) if i done something like mechanics toolmaking or metal fab or anything related to mechanical Eng i can apply for an exemption and if the syllabus from college matches the syllabus from the trade, it would allow me to skip so many of the phases of the apprenticeship cutting it short, an apprenticeships here is 4 years. advice would be good.

 

[madkayaker]

Not sure how the funding works in Ireland but I was involved in training electrical apprentices at my local tech collage any anyone with a higher then the training could not get funding from the learning skills council so the college were unwilling to take them on as the bulk of the funding was from government even if the student/ company where prepared to pay

 

[gavuk]

I confess,I haven't a clue what level 6-7 or 8 means,in the old days there were city and guilds craft apprentices,then there were technicians who had btec or onc/hnc or hnd,both would be time served in the form of apprenticeships.


Then apprenticeships stopped,colleges closed their engineering workshops,so people weren't trained,,,,,,I've worked alongside plumbers,car mechanics,welders,fabricators all sorts of trades who managed to get a job as a fitter,more recently unless in a toolroom everyone around here wants electrical knowledge as well as fitting but they want you to be able to use a lathe,mill drills and grinders,be able to fault find and work on pnuematics and hydraulics,must be able to weld and fabricate,mig ,tig and arc and be a plumber and carpenter,change lights ,reset mcb's/drives,be able to test and safely work on motors,variable speed drives,sensors,pc's and computer systems......clean floors,paint anything and everything


Aim to get off the shop floor not on it ,project and r&d work would be the obvious routes and leave the hands on as a hobby and a way of appreciating what you potentially asking your fitters to do...... or carry on studies but with electrics/plc included...


My experience is the young bright lads ,see what crap gets thrown at us and decide they want into management or office based engineering and I don't blame them ,in the factory I work in our wages can easily be bettered by the operators with o/t or by the jump into management ,don't limit yourself get the highest degree you can and go to work in a suit ,but i'm interested in what the other members here think as well

 

[oilcooled :)]

I confess,I haven't a clue what level 6-7 or 8 means,in the old days there were city and guilds craft apprentices,then there were technicians who had btec or onc/hnc or hnd,both would be time served in the form of apprenticeships.

done in Fas training centres in conjunction with institutes of technologys
level 6 apprenticeship national craft cert

done in institues of technologys or universities
level 7 ordinary degree
level 8 honour degree
level 9 masters
level 10 doctor

i know were your coming from, but when i left school in 2009 apprenticeships just couldnt be got, so i done mechanical engineering, so im thinking we are still in a recession, an apprenticeship would be quarenteed work for 4 years and still be learning a bit although moneymight be not great, may be a better option than immigration ?

 

[tigler]

Isn't there supposed to be a shortage of engineers all around the world ? I can't see you having a problem finding a good job unless you want to stay in Ireland ?

 

[Wedg1e]

If you fancy a sideways move into picking fault with engineering , how about non-destructive testing? Run-of-the-mill ultrasonics and x-ray isn't fantastically well-paid but if you could get a foot in the door of long-range guided ultrasonics, the petrochemical industry worldwide is starting to need major inspection work doing, it'll be a licence to print money for some years to come.
I know, we were in at the ground floor and I've seen the invoices to Shell, BP, Exxon, Total, Aramco and the rest....

 

[oilcooled :)]

i have a applied to shell to do maintenance of a gas terminal on the west coast of ireland, so have to hold on and see how that goes i suppose