# Interest group forums > Electrical Contracting Industry Forum > [Question] Required qualifications for electricians

## duncan drennan

What qualifications do you need to get to become a registered electrician in South Africa, and how do you go about getting them?

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## Dave A

> What qualifications do you need to get to become a registered electrician in South Africa, and how do you go about getting them?


Let's try to clean that up.

Would that be registered electrical contractor, qualified (trade tested) electrician, single phase tester, installation electrician or master installation electrician?

Are you looking at this from your qualification base of registered electrical engineer, Duncan?

I've attached Govenment notice R2920 below which might help you assess what you are shooting for.

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## duncan drennan

> Are you looking at this from your qualification base of registered electrical engineer, Duncan?


No, an acquaintance asked me what was involved in becoming an electrician. I have no idea about his background. He is a British national, so I am guessing he at least has his Matric equivalent (what do they have, A-levels or something like that?)




> Would that be registered electrical contractor, qualified (trade tested) electrician, single phase tester, installation electrician or master installation electrician?


I don't really know what the differences between all those things are (disclaimer, I didn't read the attached document), so I wouldn't know how to answer. What would you need to be to work for another electrician on domestic installations?

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## Dave A

> would you need to be to work for another electrician


Yep. He's going to need workplace experience along the way.

The trouble at the moment is there are a few ways to go about getting qualified - in broad terms the ESETA route and the MerSETA route. And there are material differences, both in the most "efficient" route to qualification and the quality of the final product.

In theory the exit standards for both routes should be similar, but they are definitely not. There is some interesting  :Fence:  been going on about this for a while now.

I would recommend he get placed with an electrical contractor under an apprenticeship/learnership with ESETA. That seems to be the level of qualification that has seen our SA electricians being so attractive in other parts of the world, let alone SA.

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## duncan drennan

So the way to start would be to ask an electrical contractor to take you on as an apprentice and enrol you in the ESETA training programme?

So look for a job first, and then start with the qualifications.

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## Dave A

He could alternatively enroll in a college and get some of the early training out of the way. I've got a document somewhere at the office that sets out the current requirements. I'll go scratching for it tomorrow.

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## skatingsparks

Answers galore, If had this a year ago......

http://www.ecbsa.co.za/EIR2009.pdf

Hope it help.....

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Dave A (19-Aug-09)

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