Average salary of a fully qualified tradesman

sam20028

Thinking about doing either an apprenticeship with the ESB or an air traffic control course in the airport ( due to having connections in both places) but have also considered a barber course, aerospace Engineering in Carlow and also a mechanics course with fás. I have an interest in all of these but trying to narrow down my choices going into 5th year as could not do transition year due to limited places in my school. Since I have an interest in all of these courses I’m wondering which would earn the most as I will do more research into that course first. I know the pay in being a barber is not meant to be great but my mam’s cousin owns 2 barber shops and seems to be doing well.

SpannerMonkey

sam20028 wrote: »

Thinking about doing either an apprenticeship with the ESB or an air traffic control course in the airport ( due to having connections in both places) but have also considered a barber course, aerospace Engineering in Carlow and also a mechanics course with fás. I have an interest in all of these but trying to narrow down my choices going into 5th year as could not do transition year due to limited places in my school. Since I have an interest in all of these courses I’m wondering which would earn the most as I will do more research into that course first. I know the pay in being a barber is not meant to be great but my mam’s cousin owns 2 barber shops and seems to be doing well.

I did an appreticeship . But the wages wildly depend on your trade . Im a fitter. If your looking at an esb apprenticeship you will probably be looking at either Fitter or Electrician.
Again the wages vary wildly depending on where you work . Some fitters on construction sites are on 30k a year others in pharmaceutical could be on well over 100k . The same for electricians. One of the most in demand trades at the moment is E&I . Electrical and instrumentation. They are literally crying out for them but even then the wages vary massively .

doolox

Especially if you are good at maths and can work at heights easily. Also you need to have good colour vision as this rules out some people who do not realise they are colour blind. Electrical work is legally protected and an employer must hire and use a qualified electrician in all electrical work so cheap labour substitutes are not possible or legal.

Unlike mechanical work electrical work is relatively clean and not as physically demanding, something to consider in your later work life, you want to able to work at something rewarding when you are in your 50's and 60's.

Barber work is all dependent on customer base and location, you need to be very good at dealing with a wide range of people and good barbers can make good money but I would imagine the hours are long and rents high so you need to be in top form all the time. Good operators usually have a talent of picking and training good workers and spotting and getting rid of duds fast, otherwise you lose business if you don't. If you enjoy working with people of a wide variety of backgrounds and are good breaking the ice with strangers a barber is a good choice.

If you have leaving cert level maths and find it relatively easy then being an electrician is a good choice as the work is highly varied. Old house or factory retrofits and rewires can be challenging as you have to chase holes in walls, clamber through old often dusty and dirty attics or encounter all kinds of industrial dirt and crud in old factories but Irelands workplaces have improved dramatically in the last few decades.

Safety is the number one priority in electrical work and chancers will be weeded out ruthlessly by a foreman as a company cannot take chances with shoddy work killing someone. Attention to detail and ability to explain clearly to a fellow worker what needs to be done is absolutely vital, as is spotting and getting dangerous stuff, loose wires, broken devices etc fixed or at least contained to be fixed later. If you work in a warehouse or a farm you will see a lot of broken fixtures and stuff that would not be tolerated in a multinational factory setting. Strictest of all are buildings like schools, hospitals, nursing homes etc subject to constant outside inspection and open to the public at all times.

The hardest to get into are apprenticeships in the ESB but you are secure. I come from a manufacturing background with a technical degree in electronics but have trained with time served electricians and the biggest hurdle some have experienced is working for small firms who go bust in the middle of their apprenticeships, some people have had to repeat years in another company. An apprenticeship takes 4 years and you do it in phases, each taking 6 months.
There are 4 theory phases in an institute of technology and 3 or 4 phases of on the job training in your company. You must find a company willing to take you on as an apprentice. 1st yr wages are about €180 pw and 4th year about €400 or so. Wages and overtime payments depend on the company and sector. Many construction companies have different pay systems and are not as secure as industrial companies etc. Security and tool theft is a huge problem in construction electrician work as is avoiding bankruptcies leaving you without pay for a certain job. You need plenty of street smarts and vigilance to stay ahead of the game.

The big snag with outdoor electrical work is keeping your hands warm doing intricate fiddly work and avoiding cuts when working with armoured cable.
Best of luck in what you decide to do.

sam20028

Thanks Doolox for the reply, so would you recommend the electrician course with ESB over Barber and mechanic course. Also do you have any information on the air traffic control type of environment and also on the aerospace Engineering course.

salmocab

Sparks fully qualified is currently on about 47,000 a year flat. That’s union rates. Some smaller crowds especially outside Dublin will pay a bit less but in general that’s the pay. They are due another increase this later this year pushing to the guts of 50k.

Oh by the way ESB is a good shout, they turn out well respected sparks.

eurokev

If you were going to do a barber, I'd say do women's hairdressing instead. I know two men doing it and making an absolute fortune. Women could spend 100 or more every couple of weeks on their hair. Men might spend a tenner a month on a haircut.

Thankfully I think nepotism no longer exists in the ESB, so will be very difficult to get in to it, just by knowing people. They also keep on few apprentices. Getting taken on by the air traffic control crowd is exceptionally difficult - you really would want to be outstanding.

Personally I'm in the last year of an e&I apprenticeship. I'm 31 and got in to it late. I have never been making so much money. I'm with a very good company though. If you go down the trade route, only try and get in with good companies who train you well more than anything. Some companies just use lads as dogs bodies.

An option would be to do a college course and then do a trade, more and more lads are doing this. Good trades are in serious demand and if you're good you can easily earn 6 figures when qualified.

Pick what you pick for the right reasons though. You can make money at anything you are good at - the trick is having the interest to get good at something.

GalwayGrrrrrl

I’m not an expert in any of these areas but here’s my two penny’s worth-

You’ve a very wide range of training options listed from engineering degrees (need good leaving cert and very good maths, four year course) to barbering (don’t need to speak English, can learn the basics in a few months). If you’ve the brain to get the engineering degree I’d go for that as it will open lots of career options for you - and you could also train to be a barber over the summer to do weekend work. I work with a nurse who is also a trained barber. If your maths isn’t good enough for engineering then go for the ESB apprenticeship. Air traffic control is the most stressful job of all jobs. If you’ve nerves of steel go for it! You might need a degree first to do the training but check that out.