profession - electrician.

[Sergei Slovenija]

I recommended to my son that he get a special education in college, under the general term "electrician". I believe that, like most young fools of his age, he does not yet know what he wants and how he will earn a living when he flies out of the nest. He heeded my advice and my argument that a first skilled profession other than hand-mixing concrete and digging trenches wouldn't hurt. And then, it will be seen. There is a question - what qualifications of electricians and in what areas are in demand and better paid. For example, high-voltage installations, high-altitude work on power lines, change a light bulb for an old lady on call, and so on.

 

[Tangledfeet]

Renewables perhaps? It seems to be an area that can only get bigger and more specialised.

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

Renewables perhaps? It seems to be an area that can only get bigger and more specialised.

Guessing can cover a wide spectrum. The opinion of professionals is interesting, what is stagnating in this industry and what is expanding or what is stable. Today my son lives under the same roof with me. Tomorrow he decides to go, for example, to the USA or Germany and study at a university in another field of study, or decides to get married. Who knows? But he will have a profession and a diploma, which can be further expanded. And get paid, whenever he needs it.

 

[brightspark]

Renewables perhaps? It seems to be an area that can only get bigger and more specialised.

daughter joined the navy weapons engineer then left and retrained wind turbine technician and worked ofshore then got a job on the sol;ar farms electrician for shell lightsource now got job with another renewable company on the solar farms been offered a few other jobs but happy where she is and full training packages

 

[sparkysy]

^^^^^ renewable energy is definitely not going away any time soon definitely an area to get into.
To be fair I read somewhere that all of the electrical industry is falling short of skilled people as the older generation retire, a lack of new recruits taking up their place.

I do mainly agricultural electrical installation and there are not that many round my way that will do it so serves me well, I also do a lot of commercial installation and machine installation. All are really busy currently and there is plenty of work out there at the moment!
Sy

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

^^^^^ renewable energy is definitely not going away any time soon definitely an area to get into.
To be fair I read somewhere that all of the electrical industry is falling short of skilled people as the older generation retire, a lack of new recruits taking up their place.

I do mainly agricultural electrical installation and there are not that many round my way that will do it so serves me well, I also do a lot of commercial installation and machine installation. All are really busy currently and there is plenty of work out there at the moment!
Sy

Dictate your address, please. Our village is already packing its bags and carving out souvenirs.

 

[gaz1]

He heeded my advice and my argument that a first skilled profession other than hand-mixing concrete and digging trenches wouldn't hurt. And then, it will be seen.

here your classified as a labourer with no skills to your name with those jobs

hand mixing cement or concrete comes with throwing bricks up the scaffi to other guy filling the boards up and make sure that mix is right every time ive seen some lads have buckets thrown at them for bad mixes
certain areas your wearing your mix if its a bad one

 

[mtt.tr]

^^^^^ renewable energy is definitely not going away any time soon definitely an area to get into.
To be fair I read somewhere that all of the electrical industry is falling short of skilled people as the older generation retire, a lack of new recruits taking up their place.

I do mainly agricultural electrical installation and there are not that many round my way that will do it so serves me well, I also do a lot of commercial installation and machine installation. All are really busy currently and there is plenty of work out there at the moment!
Sy

To be honest here in the UK all trades are lacking skilled workers.

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

here your classified as a labourer with no skills to your name with those jobs

hand mixing cement or concrete comes with throwing bricks up the scaffi to other guy filling the boards up and make sure that mix is right every time ive seen some lads have buckets thrown at them for bad mixes
certain areas your wearing your mix if its a bad one

I'm not sure that the mutual practice of recognizing diplomas is so common in this area, where there is a danger to life. But what prevents you from passing local exams and confirming your class?

 

[sparkysy]

Dictate your address, please. Our village is already packing its bags and carving out souvenirs.

I am located in the West Midlands UK

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

I am located in the West Midlands UK

It was a light banter, but in translation, the salt was lost.

 

[Robotstar5]

I qualified as an industrial electrician and spent most of my career in factory automation, robotics, PLC's etc. decent wages which paid my mortgage. I spent most of my time in the automotive industry, but I would think places such as Amazon "fulfillment" centres will need skilled folks to keep them running.

 

[MetalMonkey]

I think this is best as a two post reply!

@Sergei Slovenija – I believe any trade (electrician, plumber, carpenter/joiner, builder etc) is always a good idea, even if he changes his mind in the future, he will not regret the skills he learns.
I think the same is true for any engineering or science based course. A little knowledge of business and basic accountancy will also go a long way.

As to which area to train/work in or the best route to get there – I think it is hard to say as I would imagine it would vary a lot depending on country.
Generally, I would suggest industrial, commercial, renewable, automation, power generation and network distribution would always be in demand and likely pay better.

 

[MetalMonkey]

At a slight tangent, as to the “shortage” of electricians in the U.K. (I really don’t think much of this is very relevant to other countries, which tend to be a lot better organised).
Anyway, here is my rant on the subject.

If you speak to a training provider, they will tell you there is a massive skills shortage, and an ever growing demand.
However, if you speak to those working in it, they will usually tell you the market is over saturated, there is no money in it, the trade is in a race to the bottom and to become a plumber instead!
I think there is a grain of truth and a pinch of salt for both views.

My take on it – the trade has decided that 4 year (soon to be 4.5) apprenticeships are the only real way to become qualified, and while there are mature apprentices, mostly the funding stream is there for under 19s only.
IIRC there is something like 7000 apprenticeship places offered each year and they claim they want 100,000 electricians, so erm. there’s your problem chief!

That’s discounting the fact that some of these apprenticeships are “mis-sold” by training providers to employers who can’t provide the relevant on-the job training, and some unscrupulous companies that just want to keep employees on apprenticeship wages.
So some may never qualify at all.

Training providers will sell you many different and expensive courses to make you “qualified”, but the majority of them aren’t worth the paper.

There are other “proper” routes into the trade, but again unless you are under 19 they are very expensive (AEB is another rant), usually take a couple of years to complete and at the end you still aren’t qualified until you have a portfolio of work, which you can only gain by working in the industry, which is unlikely you will given you aren’t qualified. Catch 22.

Hence they say only something like 10% of those starting the courses actually make it through the process.

But assuming you somehow managed to get that far (which might typically take you around another eighteen months), you could now be about eight grand down, but you aren’t done yet – you have another £900 to find for your final exam.

Then expect to spend another 1500 quid on a couple more courses before you are “really” considered qualified.
And of course you’ll need books. Lots of them, at least a few hundred quids worth.
They will be expensive of course, because paper doesn’t grow on trees.

But wait there is more. You weren’t actually thinking of starting work yet? – you’ll still need your gold card first – so expect another exam and another fistful of cash.

So now you might be considered qualified to wire up a massive three phase installation in a factory, but you are absolutely not qualified to change Mrs Miggens fusebox – not in the eyes of the council
For that you will need to spend out even more money on a third party annual membership, because. Reasons.

Don’t forget you’ll also need to put some cash aside for all your regular calibration tickets. And more books, and courses. Keep the gravy train rolling.
Oh and you need to prove CPD. So with all the training and paying you won’t have much time for working.

A shortage in the trade? Really hard to imagine how that could be.....
I don’t know what other trades are like, but I’d not be too shocked if it is anything similar.

If they want to plug the gap, perhaps make it a little less trail by ordeal and slightly more accessible.
But that’s just like, my opinion man.

 

[Turbo]

Has he any interest in cars? In the very near future auto electricians are going to be in big demand. All the ones around here are extremely busy and will get a lot busier as the number of electric cars increases.
Relatively clean work & very well paid once you're trained. I know if I could go back & talk to the 16 year old me that's what I'd be advising.

 

[addjunkie]

There is always work for good ekectricians on the HV side, factory installation and maintenance. But also automation and instrumentation. But remember what ever he does he will do it for many years, so an interest in it will be beneficial

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

MetalMonkey said:

@Sergei Slovenija – I believe any trade (electrician, plumber, carpenter/joiner, builder etc) is always a good idea, even if he changes his mind in the future, he will not regret the skills he learns


old joke

A young guy went to apprentice to a plumber. The teacher took him with him
clean the sewer. They see - the hatch of the sewer well is filled to the top with feces.
The plumber says to the guy:
- You sit here and give me the tools.
And he dived into the hatch. It pops up after a minute:

- Give the key to 15!
And dived again.
- Give the key to 152 ... And dived again.

Soon the level in the well dropped to the bottom, a pleased plumber crawls out, spits and says to the guy:
- You see, learn the skill, otherwise you will be giving the keys all your life!

 

[Munkul]

There is always work around here for good electricians in both industrial and domestic fields.
Best career path IMO for a young lad is to get into industrial side, ie an apprenticeship in a factory, and get into the control/instrumentation side.
You can make a good living if you know how EC&I and how to write PLC software like modern siemens, AB etc. It pays as much as a good mechanical design engineer.

 

[brightspark]

there lies the problem getting your foot in the door and a start

 

[mtt.tr]

I will caveat this with, you also need to enjoy it, or want to get good enough so you can enjoy.

very few get really good and progress in a career they hate