Any Electricians here?

[tigerstyle]

I'm looking to get qualified as one, using qualified as a loose term here too..

I understand that to be an 'electrician' and call yourself one takes being time served, and having work inspected and signed off etc. I don't want to setup up a company in the UK or do work for one really. 

What I'd like is just to be able to put 17th edition qualified on my CV, why? Because  I want to emigrate, and want as many decent qualifications as I can on there. 
It looks like a three day C&G 2382-15 course is all that is required for this? Walk in, study study study... take a test then boom put 17th qualified on my CV right? 

Is there a better way?
What is the next step of courses that people take?  
I have 6 months though not 2 years to do a long part time course.

[cully]

you wont walk into a 3 day coarse and pass if you have no experiance!
those courses are aimed at practicing electricians with relevant experience or a qualified electrician who needs to upgrade from say 16th to 17th ect

Ive done the 15th to 16th then again to the 17th
but by far the hardest ive done is the City and Guilds 2391 Certificate in Inspection and Testing

[tigerstyle]

Didn't want to make a massive thread, I have electrical, IT, data networking, (global) installation experience, just never did any of the qualification side of it... silly me!

The test is a 2 hour open book 60 question exam, 2.5 days of prep should get most people wanting to pass up to speed?
I know they want to make it sound easier to get you hooked but: https://www.traininginelectrical.co.uk/c...013-bs7671

regarding 2391 (superseded by 2395 2395 now?) What made them hard?
Do you have to retest as 2394/2395 now? Or does 2391 carry over to the new format?

[cully]

2395 This was previously known as the City and Guilds 2391
This qualification is not as easy as many people think and a lot of electricians say that this separates the men from the boys. The pass rate for this qualification in general is below the 50% mark,

when i did it it was a closed book 2.5 hour written paper + a practical assesment

now its
90 mins exam 6 questions
+ online test
+ practical

[Alan_M]

2395 This was previously known as the City and Guilds 2391
This qualification is not as easy as many people think and a lot of electricians say that this separates the men from the boys. The pass rate for this qualification in general is below the 50% mark,

when i did it it was a closed book 2.5 hour written paper + a practical assesment

now its
90 mins exam 6 questions
+ online test
+ practical

It's not f*cking easy..... But I passed :-D Whilst most found the written part the hardest, I actually found the practical part hardest. Just you and the examiner, who is looking over your shoulder the whole time just waiting for you to put a foot wrong!

I thought the AM2 practical assessment was a bit tricky too.

It used to be the C&G C course for sparkies but I think it's called something else now. If you're stuck for time, what about a Part P course?

You can't just walk into a Regs course and blag it. Some background of electrics will be needed. I've just completed a 16th to 17th upgrade course as part of my AP(E) re-appointment and that lasted 3 days. It's been a while since I've done wiring calcs!

[tigerstyle]

you wont walk into a 3 day coarse and pass if you have no experiance!

I'm not being argumentative, I appreciate all input from those in the know, but here is an online practice test, with no book to reference, no studying, rushing a 2 hour exam in 30 minutes, I got 40%, that's not too bad?

http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/stor...-simulator

With a 2-3 day course behind someone, the book, and a bit of reading up, I think any one with the will to pass could. 

I wholly appreciate this does not instantly make someone an electrician though, but it is a key step.

[cully]

being able to hold a clipboard don't make you a good supervisor either!

[tigerstyle]

being able to hold a clipboard don't make you a good supervisor either!

Of course!!!!

...need to be wearing a brand new fresh out the packet hi viz jacket...

[Paul_13]

Heating and vent far easier to get into.

I just find there's a lot of Bullshit around electrical qualifications

[Niall]

Im booked for my 17th in a few months time. Its apparently bloody hard and in reality the only reason im doing it is to support my college course and get my gold card.
If the only qualification you have is your 17th, most places will laugh you out the door. Its not a case of just doing that and you are an electrician unfortunately.

Alternatively, if you want to work in the electrical industry but dont want the 3-5 years of training, get involved in a particular pathway such as fire, cctv, access, BMS etc. Most of these if you can become well trained, you can earn more than your typical sparky, you still get involved in the electrical industry and at the moment, most of these trades are seriously understaffed. Im a fire engineer and i cant tell you how desperate the industry is at the moment for skilled staff. Companies are starting to pay silly money for a skilled senior engineer. To give you an idea, i was offered a interview with a national company the other week with a OTE of 72k. You wont get that as a house basher!

[tigerstyle]

Im booked for my 17th in a few months time. Its apparently bloody hard and in reality the only reason im doing it is to support my college course and get my gold card.
If the only qualification you have is your 17th, most places will laugh you out the door. Its not a case of just doing that and you are an electrician unfortunately.

Alternatively, , BMS 

Yup, not ever going to call myself an electrician of the back of a 3 day course (booked for Monday btw will update how that turns out!) 
It is seen as a great thing to have for project manager roles that you've kind of highlighted Niall. 

Bloody hard? 2 minutes per question with the answer book infront of you? You have to know your beans for sure! But keep a cool head and you should not be calling it bloody hard? That's reserved for the further courses Cully has done! 

I'm doing BMS kind of work currently, and can see that moving further into this area opens loads of doors, there are no  good people going through them currently! good to build on a strong base of 'known' qualifications, no-one has heard of the BMS quals (if there are any)

[Niall]

Not saying you were going to just assume you were an electrician from your 17th btw, its just i know a lot of people are genuinely under the impression that if you're 17th, you can do anything electrical.
And i know its open book so its easy in theory but the last i heard the pass rate was less than 50% so clearly a lot of people do struggle with it haha.

[tigerstyle]

91.6% in the exam, after a 2.5 day course.