Career change to Electrician

Aj_newbie

Hello Everyone

I am an IT professional working with a big corporate, and in my late forties. I have enough of commute, long hours and corporate politics and looking to eventually change career. Mortgage and family commitments mean I won't be able to retire before 68-70 (if I survive and not win a lottery).

I am thinking of changing career to become an Electrician/Domestic installer. The way I plan to do it is get the certification part-time, start working self-employed part-time and if and when income from this job makes me confident enough, I leave my IT corporate role.

I have a degree in electronics, but looks like the qualification is not good enough to be electrician.

Question - 
What qualification(s) do I need? I looked up on internet and the information is confusing. Not able to determine which exact qualification is considered generally valid across UK.

Thanks in advance

tacpot12

It depends on where you want to work, and who you want your customer's to be.

If you are happy just doing residential work in people's own homes, the qualifications needed to be a Domestic Installer are all you need. It would be best to review the qualifications required by NAPIT, ELECSA NICEIC for their Competent Person scheme as a Domestic Installer. If you want to do work for businsses, you will need more qualifications and experience. The experience in commercial/industrial work is difficult to get without being taken on as a trainee by a firm that does this type of work. Experience in domestic work can be gained in your own home, and many Domestic Installers replace their old consumer unit at home with a new one as part of their assessment for the Competent Person scheme. 

You also need to find what courses are being offered, and match these against the qualifications required by the Competent Person scheme. Be very careful if there isn't an exact match. (It's best to use a reference number for the course that is set by the body responsible for the syllabus, e.g. City & Guilds and match this to both the course provider and the scheme. Also check with the body that they are not about to withdraw the qualification for at least a year. You need to be sure you  can complete the course in the time available). 

Be very careful about paying up front for training, especially for a series of courses. Even if it costs extra, pay for each course when you are ready to start it and not before! Try to pay for the course with a personal credit card, to make the credit provider liable if the course provider folds while you are doing the training.

With your degree in Electronics and experience in IT, you will find the academic aspects of the study easier than most.  

That said, I do wonder if you have let it too late to change careers to be an Electrician. It's hard physcial work, often working in cramped areas, lofts, under floorboards, airing cupboards, cellars, etc. Most electricians that started in the trade as 17yo apprentices say they feel worn out by the time they are 55. It's not paid as well as your corporate IT work, given that you will be self employed and have to pay for your own holidays, sick pay, pension, vehicle, tools, professional development, Competent Person Scheme membership fees, liability insurance (you are working in people's homes), and health/life insurance for yourself to cover those committments you mention. You will earn more and be able to retire earlier if you stay in your current line of work.

lincroft1710

Also for the first year or so, you will be probably working at a slower pace than an established sparky. Electricians are always needed for basic household jobs, but whether this sort of work is plentiful and sufficiently remunerative is another matter. It could be several years before you can leave the IT job and you may be wondering in your mid 50s if it is still worth pursuing.

Aj_newbie

@tacpot12
Many thanks, really appreciate the detailed reply, including pros and cons. Checking with NAPIT, NICEIC is a very good starting point, really helpful. I am in touch with them, trying to figure out which training/certificate to opt for.

@lincroft1710
Many thanks, it's a valid point. TAcpot12 has raised similar. So, leaving IT career looks too ambitious and only time can tell. However, for now, getting the qualification and taking small jobs part-time will help me gauge things and at the same time give me money, may be a small holiday in the first year to begin with.

NAPIT advisor suggested me https://www.napittraining.co.uk/courses/18th-edition-course-3-day as a starting point, which I am considering. Opinions?

Mistral001

tacpot12 said:

It depends on where you want to work, and who you want your customer's to be.

If you are happy just doing residential work in people's own homes, the qualifications needed to be a Domestic Installer are all you need. It would be best to review the qualifications required by NAPIT, ELECSA NICEIC for their Competent Person scheme as a Domestic Installer. If you want to do work for businsses, you will need more qualifications and experience. The experience in commercial/industrial work is difficult to get without being taken on as a trainee by a firm that does this type of work. Experience in domestic work can be gained in your own home, and many Domestic Installers replace their old consumer unit at home with a new one as part of their assessment for the Competent Person scheme. 

You also need to find what courses are being offered, and match these against the qualifications required by the Competent Person scheme. Be very careful if there isn't an exact match. (It's best to use a reference number for the course that is set by the body responsible for the syllabus, e.g. City & Guilds and match this to both the course provider and the scheme. Also check with the body that they are not about to withdraw the qualification for at least a year. You need to be sure you  can complete the course in the time available). 

Be very careful about paying up front for training, especially for a series of courses. Even if it costs extra, pay for each course when you are ready to start it and not before! Try to pay for the course with a personal credit card, to make the credit provider liable if the course provider folds while you are doing the training.

With your degree in Electronics and experience in IT, you will find the academic aspects of the study easier than most.  

That said, I do wonder if you have let it too late to change careers to be an Electrician. It's hard physcial work, often working in cramped areas, lofts, under floorboards, airing cupboards, cellars, etc. Most electricians that started in the trade as 17yo apprentices say they feel worn out by the time they are 55. It's not paid as well as your corporate IT work, given that you will be self employed and have to pay for your own holidays, sick pay, pension, vehicle, tools, professional development, Competent Person Scheme membership fees, liability insurance (you are working in people's homes), and health/life insurance for yourself to cover those committments you mention. You will earn more and be able to retire earlier if you stay in your current line of work.

I agree with this.  Most of the work is tough physical work as said above.  I am not sure whether you can be qualified without having on-the-job training.  Even if you can, there is so much to learn that you will never learn from a course.  Note when you go it alone you will be totally alone.  You cannot ask another electrician to help out when you come across something a bit tricky.  That is where the experience of working with another electrician to learn the job will greatly help out.

BTB43

Excellent advice. I would just add that you might find it a lot easier to set up in business as an IT expert. Your employer has paid to train you and you already know what you're doing. The domestic market for electricians can be a tough one. Many householders don't want to pay a fair rate for your work, and just going on a training course won't be good enough to plunge in without working under supervision first. 

LMS123

My relative in his mid 30s took up sparky work after a career change. He was used to "grafting" in his previous job and finds electrical work just as hard, if not harder. 
As the previous post, in order to get the full range of experience  to qualify many have to work on sites or with a firm that would give you the varying experience, often starting at 6am and working a 12+ hour day, often away from home which makes attending courses very difficult. In fact, my relative still hasn't gained formal qualifications as he's away Mon-Fri and often weekends too and has spent 5 years as an electricians mate. He earns decent money but only because he works a 50 hour week. 
The grass isn't always greener.

Veteransaver

Nothing wrong with getting some relevant qualifications and then seeing how you get on whilst keeping your current job going. There's things such as EV chargepoint installations which are in demand and aren't necessarily hard graft. Or setting yourself up doing small local jobs. If you are good at electronics then electrics should come quite easy to you, and dealing with local domestic customers for simple jobs like tripping fuses, rodent damage etc could get you started, though you are unlikely to earn decent money to start with.
The trouble with trades like electrics and plumbers in my experience is that to make proper money you either have to work silly hours and do hard graft, or flit about from one job to the next making a half assed job at all of them.