becoming an electrician

hmf300

hi, im doing the leaving certificate now and i want to become an electrician. i know of small electricains and ive seen them in work and it seems to be a nice trade to work in. i asked my guidence councillor at school whats the best way to become an electrician and he said i would need someone to sponsor me to do a FAS course. anyone have some information on this?

thanks

T954

****Rant ahead****
Don't bother unless you're willing to work in every corner of the country and be happy with being told on a fri evening that you are going to a job hundreds of km away for monday morning and willing to accept months and months of unemployment.....unless you're one of the extremely lucky ones..... and eventually accepting that you will have to travel abroad for work and then deal with the headache of getting back into the Irish system on your return. Eventually you will accept being in and out of work regularly or will have moved onto something else like so many other lads I've seen come through the trade. Of course you could be lucky and fall into a place where you will have a permanent job but the chance a re slim and the competition will be great. Throughout this famous 'boom' the trade that had to be the most oversubscribed in terms of the sheer number of apprentices that were wandering around had to be that of electrician. There are now so many electricians in their late twentys and early thirties it is not even funny......you will be competing hard for jobs. As for your pension....I won't even go there its not worth a pittance....you better earn plenty and invest in your own your employer certainly won't be doing it for you and the cif pension is thrash.

In short you won't make much, there will be stacks of competition for little work, sometimes conditions won't be good at all, you won't have any real pension short of your own one and having money to invest in that will be hard when and if you have a family and you won't be retiring early.

My advice would be to reconsider your choices and if you are set on becoming 'a spark' head around to a few contractors in your area and seek out an apprenticeship, oh and make sure your employer registers you with FAS asap. Sooner they do the sooner you qualify.
Good luck.

hmf300

T954 wrote: »

****Rant ahead****
Don't bother unless you're willing to work in every corner of the country and be happy with being told on a fri evening that you are going to a job hundreds of km away for monday morning and willing to accept months and months of unemployment.....unless you're one of the extremely lucky ones..... and eventually accepting that you will have to travel abroad for work and then deal with the headache of getting back into the Irish system on your return. Eventually you will accept being in and out of work regularly or will have moved onto something else like so many other lads I've seen come through the trade. Of course you could be lucky and fall into a place where you will have a permanent job but the chance a re slim and the competition will be great. Throughout this famous 'boom' the trade that had to be the most oversubscribed in terms of the sheer number of apprentices that were wandering around had to be that of electrician. There are now so many electricians in their late twentys and early thirties it is not even funny......you will be competing hard for jobs. As for your pension....I won't even go there its not worth a pittance....you better earn plenty and invest in your own your employer certainly won't be doing it for you and the cif pension is thrash.

In short you won't make much, there will be stacks of competition for little work, sometimes conditions won't be good at all, you won't have any real pension short of your own one and having money to invest in that will be hard when and if you have a family and you won't be retiring early.

My advice would be to reconsider your choices and if you are set on becoming 'a spark' head around to a few contractors in your area and seek out an apprenticeship, oh and make sure your employer registers you with FAS asap. Sooner they do the sooner you qualify.
Good luck.

hi, thanks for your help. id like to be able to have a trade here in ireland that would be usefull abroad. id ike to go to austrailia some day once i have a trade! cheers for your help.

meercat

my first bit of advice is to really concentrate on your maths subjects
(physics will help too)
you dont have to be great at them but any knowledge you have will be of great help later
if you know a local electrician,ask to accompany him at weekends or school holidays,volunteer to do this free of charge(he may pay you though)
this will give you an insight into the trade you have chosen and also will show any prospective employer how keen you are
it may introduce you to other electrical contractors who may notice your application
be nice to everybody and talk to everybody you meet about your ambition to join the electrical trade
finally,work as hard as you can and ask as many questions
its not always about the money though
your choice of a trade can take you anywhere in the world or allow you to become self employed or maybe even an employer in the future
you have to work for it though,nothing for nothing
be positive
best of luck for the future
meercat

hmf300

meercat wrote: »

my first bit of advice is to really concentrate on your maths subjects
(physics will help too)
you dont have to be great at them but any knowledge you have will be of great help later
if you know a local electrician,ask to accompany him at weekends or school holidays,volunteer to do this free of charge(he may pay you though)
this will give you an insight into the trade you have chosen and also will show any prospective employer how keen you are
it may introduce you to other electrical contractors who may notice your application
be nice to everybody and talk to everybody you meet about your ambition to join the electrical trade
finally,work as hard as you can and ask as many questions
its not always about the money though
your choice of a trade can take you anywhere in the world or allow you to become self employed or maybe even an employer in the future
you have to work for it though,nothing for nothing
be positive
best of luck for the future
meercat

great help. cheers for the positive answer

T954

hmf300 wrote: »

hi, thanks for your help. id like to be able to have a trade here in ireland that would be usefull abroad. id ike to go to austrailia some day once i have a trade! cheers for your help.

Again check that the trade you choose will allow you to work in a foreign country before you decide........your Irish papers may not be enough to allow you to work as an electrician in another country....Australia is one of them. You will have to do a course or courses to operate as a fully qualified electrician there, depending on territory.

hmf300

sorry for my lack of knowledge but how would i go about that?

Captain Chaos

hmf300 wrote: »

sorry for my lack of knowledge but how would i go about that?

Just worry about here first. Once you are qualified here you are for all of the EU. For anywhere else you will have to do a small course in whatever country you go to to bring you up with their electrical spec and standards.

meercat

Captain Chaos wrote: »

Just worry about here first. Once you are qualified here you are for all of the EU. For anywhere else you will have to do a small course in whatever country you go to to bring you up with their electrical spec and standards.

yes,agree here
one step at a time

Dufftronic

I am now a qualified electrician of 2 years or so. Unlike Mr. Negative T954 i say to you go for it. Not everybody winds up with an awful employer and having to drive all around the country. I got trained to be a spark in a large manufacturing facility in Monaghan. Fair enough i had to do shift work but it was the same place everyday. You should look at some of the large manufacturers in your area and call in and ask to speak to someone in engineering about apprenticeships. You will be far more employable having industrial experience than someone who has essentially just chased walls for 2 years before they got to actually wire anything.

I have had to, like so many others i trained with, leave the country to find employment. In 4 weeks of searching in the UK i applied for 6 jobs, got 4 interviews, 4 second interviews and 1 job. I wouldn't change a thing.

Go for it, you really won't regret it.

eire-kp

Id say go for it, In regards to the maths aspect of the course its grand once you manipulate formulas and understand basic trigonometry you will be sound. (You will be thought this from the basics anyway.

If your finding it hard to get an employer here you could allways go to England and do it the city and guilds route (a common solution in the last recession for a lot of lads)

I don't know you situation but you might like to get away:D.

2011

eire-kp wrote: »

Id say go for it, In regards to the maths aspect of the course its grand once you manipulate formulas and understand basic trigonometry you will be sound.

+1
The maths does not go beyond pass leaving cert. maths and I see that you are currently doing your leaving.

I know many people that successfully completed an electrical apprentiship having left school after their inter or junior cert.

However this is the worst time to try to become an apprentice that I can remember.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Bruthal

2011 wrote: »

+1


I know many people that successfully completed an electrical apprentiship having left school after their inter or junior cert.

Thats what i did, thats how im still only a young fella after all these years:D

paddymick

2011 wrote: »

I know many people that successfully completed an electrical apprentiship having left school after their inter or junior cert.

I failed maths in both junior and leaving cert but passed every maths/science exam in my apprentiship with credits and merits first time.
Me and numbers never really got on in school but I found during my apprentiship because I actually had an interest unlike in school in what was going on I could make sense of the maths end of it and therefore studying and learning it wasnt an issue like back in my school days.

So you dont have to be a maths wizz to be an electrician(it helps!)You just need to have an interest and the want to learn..

hmf300

im definetly going to go for it! just need to find someone to take me on now.

Max_Charger

Dufftronic wrote: »

I got trained to be a spark in a large manufacturing facility in Monaghan. Fair enough i had to do shift work but it was the same place everyday. You should look at some of the large manufacturers in your area and call in and ask to speak to someone in engineering about apprenticeships. You will be far more employable having industrial experience than someone who has essentially just chased walls for 2 years before they got to actually wire anything.

I'm qualified 2 years and if i could go back in time and change something about my training,it would of been to start off doing industrial work like Dufftronic did rather then domestic and commercial stuff, I find it much more interesting.

hmf300

Max_Charger wrote: »

I'm qualified 2 years and if i could go back in time and change something about my training,it would of been to start off doing industrial work like Dufftronic did rather then domestic and commercial stuff, I find it much more interesting.

great to hear from ye, does anyone know how i would go about getting an apprentiship or could i do some courses at fas to help me?

mattjack

hmf300 wrote: »

great to hear from ye, does anyone know how i would go about getting an apprentiship or could i do some courses at fas to help me?

Concentrate on your maths and physics and look into getting your Safe Pass off Fas.Register with them when you leave school and maybe look to do a few courses related towards the electrical trade PLC'S,electronics,fire alarm installation maybe even a few electrical City and Guilds.
Even a MEWP licence or a PTS card might help you.
Its difficult now to find work ,but who knows in a couple of years things may pick up a little.

Good luck.

bassey

Its hard to get but I'd try and get the apprenticeship with the ESB with the option to going on to do an engineering degree.

2011

bassey wrote: »

Its hard to get but I'd try and get the apprenticeship with the ESB with the option to going on to do an engineering degree.

+1. Go for it Bassey

OP I think this is what you should aim at. You would gain the benifit of being an electrician and end up as an electrical engineer. This would make you very employable and dramatically increase your earning capacity. There is a massive demand for such a person at the moment.

Max_Charger

There is a catch of course, your grades and attendance while at FAS have to be as good as perfect to be even considered. One of the lads who I went to fas with,who is in the ESB, is in CIT at the moment followed that route, he got 590 points on the leaving cert...

bassey

I'm currently in DIT after going the ESB route, getting merits in all your phase 2 and 4 exams really isn't that hard.

2011

Max_Charger wrote: »

There is a catch of course, your grades and attendance while at FAS have to be as good as perfect to be even considered.

Good attendance is easy, just turn up.
Excellent grades are achievable, if you study hard enough.
It is all down to how dedicated an individual is.

Max_Charger

hmf300 wrote: »

great to hear from ye, does anyone know how i would go about getting an apprentiship or could i do some courses at fas to help me?

ESB are recruiting soon,this will make you stand out:
http://careerservices.ie/e-s-b

HoggyRS

I say go for it if its what you wanna do OP. When I was your age I wanted to go sparking, even thought about dropping out before the LC but ended up staying. Was talked out of doing the apprenticeship by all sorts of people and have spent 4 years in college doing courses I hate. Regret not going for an apprenticeship when I finished school and probably too old now unfortunately.

Try the ESB when it comes around (in march I think) and keep an eye on the fás jobseeker website for apprenticeships. Good luck with it kid.

.G.

HoggyRS wrote: »

I say go for it if its what you wanna do OP. When I was your age I wanted to go sparking, even thought about dropping out before the LC but ended up staying. Was talked out of doing the apprenticeship by all sorts of people and have spent 4 years in college doing courses I hate. Regret not going for an apprenticeship when I finished school and probably too old now unfortunately.

Try the ESB when it comes around (in march I think) and keep an eye on the fás jobseeker website for apprenticeships. Good luck with it kid.

Never too old,I started mine at the age of 31,Qualified recently.

Age should not hold you back,sadly the current state of the nation may well be the thing that does

meercat

HoggyRS wrote: »

probably too old now unfortunately.

never too old
when i was a first year,there was a lad 31 just starting too
35 by the time he qualified
still 30 years till retirement

like you say "go for it":D

meercat

superg wrote: »

Never too old,I started mine at the age of 31,Qualified recently.

Age should not hold you back,sadly the current state of the nation may well be the thing that does

is that you gary:D:D:D:D:D:D

.G.

meercat wrote: »

is that you gary:D:D:D:D:D:D

Starts with a G alright but no,not Gary:D

Bruthal

Graham, is that you:D:D

meercat

superg wrote: »

Starts with a G alright but no,not Gary:D

we posted at the same time about a 31 year old
i really knew it wasnt you;)

.G.

robbie7730 wrote: »

Graham, is that you:D:D

hmf300

Thanks for all the help lads. very much appreciated

hunter164

Sorry bit of a hijack but can't see threads about it anywhere else. I see the ESB are recruiting again now does anyone know if they take on 2nd years that want to go on and do electrical engineering? Or do they only do that through you starting as a 1st year?
Thanks.

bassey

They'll only take on guys starting from scratch

Stoner

paddymick wrote: »

I failed maths in both junior and leaving cert but passed every maths/science exam in my apprentiship with credits and merits first time.
Me and numbers never really got on in school but I found during my apprentiship because I actually had an interest unlike in school in what was going on I could make sense of the maths end of it and therefore studying and learning it wasnt an issue like back in my school days.

So you dont have to be a maths wizz to be an electrician(it helps!)You just need to have an interest and the want to learn..

how were you registered so? I thought maths was required as one of the five passes in the junior cert? genuinely interested BTW.:)

paddymick

Stoner wrote: »

how were you registered so? I thought maths was required as one of the five passes in the junior cert? genuinely interested BTW.:)

I Honestly dont know maybe it was a bit different then,I got registered in 1998 before the flood of Boom apprentices so there wasnt hundreds of people applying to get registered around then.I think it was more to do with having some potential as oppose to school results at that time.
And i didnt sneak in the back door or have someone pull some strings either,When I had decide to become an electrician I went to a fas office told them what I wanted to do,Done an interview,gave my details and a week later they rang me and said they had 2 apprenticeships available one was with Mercury who I knew nothing about only that they where a big industrial company in Dublin so that didnt interest me at all and the other job was with a small contractor who did a bit of everthing not to far from me which suited me better.
I worked for him for 9 years and Ive been self-employed for 5 years.

And dont get me wrong Im not a complete thick when it comes to maths now,I was trying to make the point too people who are a bit put off becoming a electrician because of not being good at maths in school like i was but that I found as I was that bit older doing my apprenticeship and actully had an interest in what I was doing I found maths alot easier to get my head around.I hope makes sense:)

unit 1

Always remember, never forget, never ever touch the brown wire.

paddymick

unit 1 wrote: »

Always remember, never forget, never ever touch the brown wire.

Dont forget the blue wire either that little fella can be just as nasty as the brown wire;)

mattjack

unit 1 wrote: »

Always remember, never forget, never ever touch the brown wire.

paddymick wrote: »

Dont forget the blue wire either that little fella can be just as nasty as the brown wire;)

Also 1 m 350 to the centre of the switch box and 450 mm to the centre of the socket box.

paddymick

mattjack wrote: »

Also 1 m 350 to the centre of the switch box .

Thats against the regs max hight is 1200mm;)

mattjack

paddymick wrote: »

Thats against the regs max hight is 1200mm;)

I knew somebody would have something to say 'bout that.I've to start apologising to loads of apprentices.

paddymick

mattjack wrote: »

I knew somebody would have something to say 'bout that.I've to start apologising to loads of apprentices.

You will get away with your socket heights so you are not all bad:D

mattjack

paddymick wrote: »

You will get away with your socket heights so you are not all bad:D

Em, Its been a few years since I did any sparking,but is 1200mm a new disability height ? domestic ?

2011

This may be of interest. Nice way to take things further and gain real hands on experience.

mac_iomhair

apply to do Electrical Engineering in University and save yourself hours crawling around dirty attics!

meercat

mac_iomhair wrote: »

save yourself hours crawling around dirty attics!

That's half the fun

.G.

Plus you might find something up there and end up on antiques roadshow:D