DIT078

perco

Hi all,

I'm wondering if there's anybody who has completed the 3yr part time Higher cert. in elec services engineering in DIT. Course is DT078. Would I be correct in saying that a qualified sparks skips 1st yr of this course?
Also how did people find the course and has anyone gone on to do an ordinary degree from this?

2011

Would I be correct in saying that a qualified sparks skips 1st yr of this course?

Yes, you are correct.

Choose your course carefully though, IMHO there is not much work for people that have this qualification at the moment! It is a good course to do when the building trade is booming.

This course is 4 years part time if you are permitted to skip the firat part.

eoghan.geraghty

Yes a qualified sparks skips year 1.
I'm doing year 2 at the moment. It's a bit more difficult than the electrical science you've done in phase 4 and 6 and there's a fair bit of maths involved too.
There's about 60 people in year 2, I've no idea what the pass rate is though.
If you breezed through your science exams go for it. If you found fas tricky then think carefully about it.

It's 2 years part time as you skip year 1.
You might be thinking of a different course 2011.

2011

It's 2 years part time as you skip year 1.
You might be thinking of a different course 2011.

Yes I was!

As you say it is 3 years part time. Here is the link:

http://eleceng.dit.ie/main.php?page=Programme%20Info&programme_code=DT078&prev_page=Undergraduate%20Programmes

This is a higher certificate course (level 6). I was thinking of the part time level 7 electrical services course (DT083).

According to the website employment oppertunities:

".....can include working in an electrical design office, for an electrical contractor, as engineering systems support in the manufacturing sector, perhaps in technical sales support, project management, or in the provision of industrial services"

I dont think there is much work in these areas in Ireland at present

Having said that it is always good to learn and I am sure that there are oppertunities abroad.

eoghan.geraghty

I think with construction jobs gone, further training is necessary to get into areas like pharmaceuticals, industrial automation, and facilities management in places like Intel, HP, Squibbs.
These companys have to start growing again sometime, so you may as well do a 2 or 3 year course while you're waiting.

2011

Automation is a good area to get into IMHO. Nothing is recession proof, but PLCs can save money by making things run more efficiently so there are still oppertunities there.

Also the pharma industry is still strong and automation systems are constantly being upgraded and changed. Evenwhen this does not happen they have to be maintained.

Stoner

I work with two people who did this course. I've also worked along side others who have it. It appears to me as if some aspects of the course are not very difficult e.g. the maths is not relatively difficult compared to other engineering classes. One person I know has gone on and completed an ordinary degree since

The people I work with can size cables, use lighting design software etc and have a good knowledge of electrical services, so I'd give it a +1 for the construction industry if that is the direction you want to go in, after that I'm not to sure. I'm not very impressed with their over all knowledge of electrical engineering outside of electrical services (this includes a decent bit WRT to renewable energy)

Once again this is just my humble opinion, but it's honest, it's good in someways, possible perfect for the services side of things but lacking in big picture engineering IMHO.

perco

Thanks for that lads...Im just about to head abroad for a year but just looking into a course for when I return. Im prob better off looking at sustainable energy side of things. Hopefully we'll see advances on that kind of stuff. Thanks again

intbn

perco wrote: »

Thanks for that lads...Im just about to head abroad for a year but just looking into a course for when I return. Im prob better off looking at sustainable energy side of things. Hopefully we'll see advances on that kind of stuff. Thanks again

don't know if this'd be any use to you but if you do the electrical services engineer course(DT010, level 7) you can do a year long course on "Electrical Services & Energy Management" (DT712), it's a year long full time or 2 years part time, might be just what your looking for.

hope this helps;)