[Question] To be a Sparky or not to be

[Stompie]

hi Guys

I found this awesome forum and have read a lot of the threads,but noting that I'm looking for so ill ask you guys.
I am in admin an decided that i need to change my life around as i am quite handy with my hands,so I enrolled into a Megatronics course which is awesome and im doing well.
my problem is that i really want to be an Electrician but dont know where to go or what to do.

can you guys please give me a little advise.

thanks

[Citizen X]

Hi Stompie,

Welcome to TFSA

If it's electricians exams, compliance etc. that you looking for, you've come to the right forum. I'm not entirely certain how to direct you to each individual post, but they are there! I've seen them!

[Stompie]

Morning Guys

Thanks for welcoming me to your forum.
I have read almost every post under this sub and all i can say is wow ive lernt alot.
With regard to my initial post Ive found out that I have to get a company to employ me as an apprentice and register me in order to gain the needed experience and requirement and then only may i apply to write these exams.

my question is this do i have to go to a college to study or will the employer have to send me ,who's responsibility is it? or must i go study first
as i am prepaired to pay for my own development but am unsure of where to go.as most of the schools near me look suspect.any seem to be in it for money and not quality of education.
I don't want to waste my money.

Thanks any once again you have an awesome forum.

[Dave A]

any seem to be in it for money and not quality of education.

Certainly seems like that sometimes

If you can get an apprenticeship with a company, and you're OK earning a fairly low pay, then that's the "most typical" route.

However, doing the college first and getting to N3 or N4 doesn't hurt either.

I have to say, when you asked the question about whether to become a sparky or not, I was curious as to what the current sparkies might have to say about it.

Not much by the looks of things.

[Stompie]

Hi Dave A
Thanks for the response,I applied for a quote today from a training provider who offerd me Phase one to three ,preperation,trade test and N1-N2 for arround roughly R40.000.
My question now is this how to check if this training provider is registered with the correct authorities and if there qualification will carry weight.

Yes i thought i would get loads of advise aswell.

[Dave A]

Yes i thought i would get loads of advise aswell.

It's a trade with mixed blessings, I guess.

PM me the details of the training provider and I'll do a scout on their credentials.

[ericlowry]

To train formally as a electrician nowadays in this country is a waste of time, every guy who's done a six week course calls himself a sparky. Rather do PLC programming or study as a millwright. You will be better off financially. I studied and suffered to become a Master electrician, registered contractor and still get treated as s$$t.

[Stompie]

Hi ericlowry
Thanks for your point of view it is appreciated.I have found what you say true and have encountered these so called qualified people.I am currently studying PLC programing,Phnematics,AC Drives etc it called a Megatronics Course.the question for me is where to now.

[ghostwriter]

keep your job findout where you can get N1 N2 and N3 qualifications
parttime or nighstudies ask them what you need for a sparky

cardinal subjects are math engineering science when you get that
then only apply for apprenticeship bobs your uncle

[mikilianis]

Hi ericlowry
I tend to agree with you ericlowry.But then again life is what you make of it I've had ups and downs. My advise to anyone wanting to enter the electrical trade is to do it thoroughly and properly, there are no short cuts that work.

[Sparks]

Both correct, the electrical trade is a bummer. There are regs but exist only on paper. As Mikilianis said: thoroughly and properly, but don't expect to find that when you get on site. There are only a handful of sparkies' that still work according to the book. It gets worse every day , but you cannot blame them. You can only bang your head against a brick wall so many times.

[Dave A]

It gets worse every day , but you cannot blame them.

Someone's responsible

If you don't blame the sparky doing a bad job, who do you blame?

[ians]

The customers paying peanuts to get monkeys to do the work.

[Dave A]

The customers paying peanuts to get monkeys to do the work.

But the customer doesn't set the price, even then.