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Currently work as a teacher which is well paid and has good holidays especailly useful for l;ooking after kids, but in reality i am a bit bored and can;t see myself doing this for the next 28 years. Did consider ed pysch but the thought of another 5 years of study min is not appealling at present.
Had in teh back of my mind retraining as a p,umber or electrician for a couple fo years and just looking into it alittle more at present. Have found some spots offering intensive 4 week courses for under £3000, just wondering if there is a night school or day option to do these courses over a longer period and still be able to keep some employment at the same time.
what is the job like in the day to day, is it viable to jsut set up by yourself when qualified or is it better to work for someone for a while to get more experience etc and if so what are likley wages?
any other advice greatly aprreciated, those working for themselves what is annual income like and what are working hours to earn that.
thanks a lot
My advice would be to find someone you can spend a day or more with and see what you think of the job. I looked into changing career a few years back and found a friend of a friend who was in the trade. That day was a real eye-opener. Do this before you spend any money of make any big decisions.
Bring doughnuts on day 1 too!
My Dad has been an electrician all his long life, and he assured me very early there was no reason at all to follow in his footsteps. Pay will be considerably less than teaching a few years in, with worse holidays and pension provision.
With the variety of work you'd potentially be often I'd be very cautious about setting up on my own without any real world experience. Wiring a lighting circuit is straightforward in a classroom, now try it in a period house that about 20 other sparkies amateur and professional have had a go at over the years.
Good advice from Jeff. I worked with my dad over several uni holidays, and I'm more than happy with my decision to pass on it.
work as a teacher which is well paid and has good holidays
What more do you want? Can you not transfer your teaching skills to other areas? Then you loose the negative but keep the positives.
TBH most people find there jobs boring to some extent. Live for the weekends and holidays, which in your case are far longer than most.
The grass is always greener 😉
As an electrician, I would say seriously consider staying where you are.
I like my job, but I'm highly dubious of these training companies that offer these short courses, they remind me of the IT training companies from about 10 years back who offered the same thing. They may give you some skills and qualifications, but in this business experience counts.
It's difficult to change to this sort of trade later in life as you need to be in the business as a trainee/apprentice to gain experience and the wages for these positions are low.
It probably depends where you are, and what type of work you do , but I worked out roughly how much various guys who did stuff on our house must be earning, and even if they were booked 50 weeks a year, they can't have been taking in much over 25k before overheads / tax etc. Probably salaries are more close to teacher pay in places that aren't the back of beyond though.
what is the job like in the day to day, is it viable to jsut set up by yourself when qualified or is it better to work for someone for a while to get more experience etc and if so what are likley wages?
Why do you think people serve 3yr apprenticeships and attend college? Not many trades where you can just swot up on the job the night before and no "specialists/support services" sitting in an office somewhere.
Window fitters, kitchen fitters and tyre/exhaust fitters tend to do quick courses rather than need any C&G or trade experience.
You are unlikely to earn more than your teaching job.
Police might be a better option
Maybe you are teaching the wrong subject or in the wrong school?
Makes me look stupid,took at least 10 years before I could tackle most jobs to a high standard as an apprenticeship/time served joiner.Go for it,you will have plenty of spare time on your hands!I'm self employed and have averaged 3 day weeks for the last 2 years.
I'm a C&G apprentice trained electrician. I started at 16 straight from school and now are managing the electrical installation on site. I have been lucky where I've been happy (most of the time) and stayed with the same company. Money can be quite good, I earned just under £50k last year which I don't consider too bad considering I don't work weekends or much overtime. I have done several C&G courses over the years all paid for by my employer that are helpful.
As far as these several week intensive courses go I'm not in favour of them. The company I work for wouldn't employ you as an electrician if you've not completed a full apprenticeship. The courses may teach you the basics but they won't make you an electrician or plumber. There are a lot of trades people out there at the moment struggling to find work with much more experience than you'll have. I know unfortunately who I'd prefer to employ! What about joining a company as an adult trainee? At least you'll get proper training.
Mr Mojo - How many hours a week do you work? £50k is very good if its just a standard 37.5-40 hrs per week, whatever your business!
An average week is 45-50 hours, sometimes more sometimes less. My hourly rate isn't too bad and quite a bit more than the jib electricians rate.
I must admit don't think I'm going to earn as much this year but still over £40k.
dont do it...
sure you can qualify but no one will emply you and the first job you get to you wont know what to do.. my local agency has 60 electricians on the books and only 3 are working they have no gas fitters ( cos were all working)
dont do / train for any trade at the mo your course fees might as well be chucked on a bonfire.. there is no work for newmly qualified, the only non gas people i have are on day rates,know how to do the job with zero supervision.. could you do that after a 3 grand 3 month course..
it took me 5 yrs after qualifying to bulid a business and be at a stage where i'm employing people