February 9, 2010
A Guide To Electrician Qualifications
For many people, an interesting and varied choice often means a career within the electrical industry. Whilst the original term is \’Electro-Mechanical Engineering\’ we will simply refer to the subject as the Electrical Industry. As there are a wide variety of global standards, we will focus on those from the UK and in particular those relating to the domestic and commercial markets. As this is such a wide ranging subject matter we\’ll begin by sticking to the main area first and come back to the \’add-ons\’ later.
Essentially, we see two distinct forms of entry into the electrical market. To being with we have the older apprentice course and then secondly we have the option for those who wish to make a career change to join the industry. To clarify, we\’ll label each of them as the \’Mature Entrants\’ and the \’Junior Entrants\’.
Mature Entrants who join the industry later on do so with the aim of working for themselves, usually as a one person business. Those who join as Junior Entrants, on the other hand, appear to do so with the aim of joining an established electrical firm – in order to gain further qualifications and experience whilst picking up practical and other work-place skills. To be fair, young apprentices leaving school will have a lot of supplementary skills to learn during their early years as a working adult.
These two distinct types of entry have two separate modes of training: In essence, the Junior Entrants follow an NVQ syllabus, or SVQ syllabus in Scotland. An NVQ qualification would need to be obtained as part of the training program. \’Junior Entrants\’ will have to be in an apprenticeship of some sort in order to achieve the testing and course work required.
Mature Entrants, with the possible aim of entering the market from a self-employed perspective, seem to focus on attaining the most commercially viable qualifications (without the need for the NVQ element.) Having said that, the mature student does aim to gain the necessary skills to do the job, whilst at the same time reducing their training costs at all times. Although this may offer quicker and more commercial options, it does reduce the official requirements set for certain areas of the industry.
In terms of typical earnings, we have two clear routes – those relating to employment and those for self-employment. The question remains as to how much work per week a self-employed person puts in – for the sake of this review we assume that it is full time. It is recognised that competence and qualifications add to income levels as well as experience and information gained.
Although starting wages for \’Junior Entrants\’ are around 13k p.a. they can rise above 30k p.a. but this does depend on their level of experience. \’Mature Entrants\’ salaries though are often more difficult to work out, but can rise to 70.000 and above as reported in UK newspapers. Regardless of all that is the need to cover off additional costs such as tools, clothes and even a vehicle and all that goes along with that. In addition to this they will also have to allow for items such as accountancy and personal/professional insurance. That aside, whilst the work is open to market-forces to some degree, the current skills shortage in the UK means that there\’s a high work-load available. Working 7 days a week is totally achievable for most people if they want it. It should be understood that the 70-100k figures that we see thrown around in newspapers are not easily achieved, and would either require working long hours or having assistants (or both.)
There is often a considerable differential between the working expectations of Mature or Junior Entrants. \’Junior Entrants\’ would normally be required to work Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. But due to the needs of the domestic market the Mature Entrant is often more reliant upon when their client base gets back from work. Although by testing and installing various business systems, many self-employed electricians manage to work during a normal working week.
Once a Junior Entrant is employed within a company, then any follow-on knowledge they gain is often down to the employers\’ activity as opposed to anything else. However, many mature entrants gain extra skills by learning those trades such as gas and plumbing work. Without a doubt the extra skills help them in their overall employ whether this is commercial or domestic work.
\’Green Engineering\’ is another area to consider. This requires new skills and working knowledge and is one of the fastest growing areas today. The chance to win some big employment and business advantages within the governmental as well as the traditional growth sector means that this area could be attractive to both Junior and Mature Entrants alike.
(C) Scott Edwards 2009. Check out Electrician Courses or CLICK HERE.
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