Becoming an Electrician? What to do, what to get?

[Chems]

My (soon to be) brother in law is a very talented guy who works in the family business which does everything from shop fitting to house renovation to restoring period ceilings in stately homes. He however wants to add a professional qualification to his skill set and has chosen to a sparky course.

He is however quite bemused by the different options he could do, what qualification is it that he really wants to get, weather to go for a intensive short course over a few weeks or do night classes for 3 years.

Some of you are Sparky's and generally know about these things so rather than trawl the internet I thought I'd just skip to the end and ask the oracle that is UKW.

 

[Dibs-h]

Night classes for 3 yrs - that would be painful!

 

[Shane]

Night classes for 3 yrs - that would be painful!

Gotta agree, I'd want to bosh it out quick

 

[Chems]

Especially as he is already quite savvy with the work having worked on various sites for years.

 

[Mcluma]

Search for the courses online i looked at them the other day for my son, it was not to expensive and it didn't took to long either, i thing it was in total 2 / 3 months or so

 

[DeanN]

There's a place in Chesterfield that does electrical courses - I know a few guys who have been on them, and gave them the thumbs up.

http://www.techniquetraining.co.uk/AllCourses.html

 

[flanajb]

If he only wants to do domestic installations then that can be achieved in a very short period of time. eg weeks not years

 

[Chems]

There's a place in Chesterfield that does electrical courses - I know a few guys who have been on them, and gave them the thumbs up.

http://www.techniquetraining.co.uk/AllCourses.html

Thanks for that Dean, looks much better than the ones I found online that seemed to have an overwhelming amount of different routes.


What classes as not expensive, cheapest I've seen is about 2.5k?

 

[Losos]

He is however quite bemused by the different options he could do, what qualification is it that he really wants to get

There's only one qualification that is worth the paper it's written on and that is 'City & Guilds' it used to be quite hard work but in common with most things these days I expect they've watered it down recently :roll: But nevertheless it is what he needs to aim for.

 

[Chems]

Theres so many you can get, and they have just changed the numbering format around, and then back again to confuse even more. Which one depends a lot on how far he wants to go with it I think.

 

[RogerS]

I would ask the question in the Electrical section of Askthetrades as the guys there are pretty pragmatic.

 

[StevieB]

Best bet is to ask one of the trade bodies such as NAPIT or NICEIC what they will recognise. I was under the impression it was C&G as well but I am not a sparky. You (or you BIL) could ask the same question on the screwfix forums if you can stand the sarcasm, or just ask in a good electrical wholesalers!

Steve

 

[RogerS]

Best bet is to ask one of the trade bodies such as NAPIT or NICEIC what they will recognise. .....
Steve

I'd be sceptical about getting unbiased advice as they will want to push you down the line to join them. CERTASS is another registered scheme.

 

[Ateallthepies]

I am part of the NICEIC and from my readings it seems you need no formal qualifications to become a 'domestic installer' within this body?
I read that a person only needs to be 'competent' to work as a sparks and self certify read 1.2 , i ... http://www.niceic.com/Uploads/File2294.pdf

As long as a person fulfils all the rules of registration within a registration body then they can trade as a sparks it seems?

steve

 

[Jacob]

My (soon to be) brother in law is a very talented guy who works in the family business which does everything from shop fitting to house renovation to restoring period ceilings in stately homes. He however wants to add a professional qualification to his skill set and has chosen to a sparky course.

He is however quite bemused by the different options he could do, what qualification is it that he really wants to get, weather to go for a intensive short course over a few weeks or do night classes for 3 years.

Some of you are Sparky's and generally know about these things so rather than trawl the internet I thought I'd just skip to the end and ask the oracle that is UKW.

He just needs a screwdriver and some pliers!