Electricians Thread !!!!!

[James.S]

Hello, i figured it may be useful to start a thread that would pull together peoples experiances of trying to gt to Oz as a spark, or what it's like over there as one..!

It seems there are a lot of us out there! i am mainly domestic, but with a good measure of 3-phase and light commercial thrown in!

I am on my way to Oz, have let our property in London and are travelling around to get a feel of where to live, probably somewhere north of Sydney.

I did the Vetassess in the summer of 2008, i am waiting for the 175 to come through and will then be applying for the ARTC, i am going to try to do the wiring reg's asap and then apply for the license without much on shore experinace as i have been told it is possible.... well worth a punt anyhow..!

To start the 'helpful' bit of this thread off the following is what my Vetassess day was like;

Vetassess assesment is very broad, it seems to look at electronics, domestic wiring as well as light industrial, they seem to be looking for a general level of competance and an understanding of most things.

Electrical units you are quite right in that they expect you to know all of the basic definitions (V, I, R, Z, etc) this will ensure you can understand / answer the paper based question...

ELV, yes 50v in a AC circuit and 120v in a DC... etc etc..

As far as learning all of the formulas off by heart it can do your head in slightly, what i did was refresh myself with all of the basics, ohm's law, reisitance & reactance calculations, RMS etc, i did take a few notes in with me but to honest never needed them..

What did come up that i didn't expect though was transformer winds ratio's and quite a lot of health and safety stuff.

One thing to note (which did worry me a bit!) is that it is all done to our reg's not the AUS/NZ reg's as they are quite different in some respects..

If it helps i will just quickly run through my day for you;

07.45 regsitration, we had to show passports for id etc.

08.00 paper based test, we had to do a few ohms law calculations, resisitance calculations showing overall resistance of circuits with resistors connected in series and/or connected in parrallel, transformer wind ratio's and some general health and safety stuff.

09.00 we were taken into the main practicle room, here we were each given our own boothe, we had to then instal from a paper diagram a consumer unit with x2 circuits, one was for a socket outlet, one was for a lighting circuit with a two way lighting arrangement. the installation used all methods of wirng, T&E clipped, in plastic conduit, metal conduit and loose cable also... this took all day as whilst this was going on we were each individually taken off to do the following;

1, wire up a DOL motor control circuit with thermal overload and on/off switching, we could choose whether to wire it in star or delta.

2, had to connect up a simple pin board with resistors and then calculate the overall resistance of the circuit one arrangement being with the resistors in parrallel and one with a couple in series as well, we also had to test it to prove our calculations.

3, we then had to safely isolate and disconnect a dummy motor, we had to lock it off, apply safety tag's and notices, note down the direction of rotation, power rating, etc, we then had to reconnect it. prior to doing this though we had to write down the whole of the isolation and disconnection process as if we were on site, and the reconnection process, we then also had to test to prove all was safe.

finally we then had to test our main installtion, all of the basic domestic tests you would expect, we all aslo had to prove our 2 way lighting worked!

The day ended around 4pm, we had all had a 1hr lunch break.

There were 8 guys on my test day including myself, all of us bar one had brought our own tools, the guy who hadn't was lent some so it didn't seem to matter either way...

I hope this thread proves useful, if not then... at least i tried..!

If anyone has any useful infor about the ARTC, wiring reg's, on shore experiance or contractor license i would greatly appreciate it..

All the best and hppy sparkin...

James...

[leeob77]

good idea for a thread.
the best advice i can offer is to look into the whole process in as much detail as possible before you go over there. do not assume that once you have your visa then your sorted for moving to oz and getting work. you have to be licensed to carry out any electrical work unsupervised.
research what you will need to get your license for the state you will be working in and do as much as possible from the uk before you go. also become familiar with the different classifications for electricians (electrical mechanic or electrical fitter) and decide which one describes the work you do.
be prepared for the fact that it could take up to a year from arriving in oz to getting your unrestricted license. check if you have to sit any practical or theory exams and what they entail. i was going to do my license in WA but it would have taken between two and six months. im now doing it in South Australia where it will take me three days!
i thought that once i had my visa i was sorted and that people would be throwing job offers at me! i would have been completely knackered if i had gone over wearing blinkers.

lee.

[Mark and Ginny]

Hi guys, I have just arrived in NSW on a 175 visa. I did the Vetassess route too. By doing this route I don't think you get an ARTC, you get an Offshore Technical Skills Record (OTSR) which enables you to get the Provisional License that lets you work and run jobs but not sign them off, that has to be done by an A Licensed sparky working above you. I have enrolled at college and do the exams in September. You also need 12 months Australian wiring experience before you can apply for the full A license.
Just getting the Prov. License was a ball ache as I was the first Vetassess sparky to come into NSW and no one new what the hell I was talking about, they do now!
Mark

[James.S]

Hi guys, I have just arrived in NSW on a 175 visa. I did the Vetassess route too. By doing this route I don't think you get an ARTC, you get an Offshore Technical Skills Record (OTSR) which enables you to get the Provisional License that lets you work and run jobs but not sign them off, that has to be done by an A Licensed sparky working above you. I have enrolled at college and do the exams in September. You also need 12 months Australian wiring experience before you can apply for the full A license.
Just getting the Prov. License was a ball ache as I was the first Vetassess sparky to come into NSW and no one new what the hell I was talking about, they do now!
Mark

Hi Mark, dam useful stuff as i was wondering why on the NSW Office of Fair Trading website there is a link on the applying for a license that mentions the Vetassess applicants, but then it just reverts to the same info as the normal license application page...(doesn't make any sense..?)...

I figured it may be because with the OTSR you could go straight for the provisional and then get the A license once you have done the wiring reg's course, had a years worth of on site experiance and had a A license holder or supervisor sign you off or act as a referee... and not bother with the ARTC...

It's all quite confusing from this end as there doesn't seem to be a clear route...!

Where are you based..? I am thinking of heading to Coffs Harbour or somewhere around there...

All the best,

James...

[Mark and Ginny]

Hi James, we are staying with family at the moment in a beutiful part of the Hunter Valley. We had originally planned to live on the Central Coast but this country living is great at the moment, but I will find some work after Christmas so that will decide upon where. I thought by living on the Central Coast I could commute to either Sydney or Newcastle area depending where the work is. I have a few CV's to send over the hols!
Mark

[WarrenG]

Hi guys!

Hopefully this will push this thead back up!

I have been searching the forum for electrician's to try and get some info and found this thread. All seems confusing to say the least, however I am just putting the paperwork assessment Vetassess to get things rolling and and looking to apply for a 176 visa so any tips would be appreciated.

Thank you for the tips for the practical, its very handy to know what your up against even though its probably not new stuff, its stuff that may need refreshing.

New to the site so I will start to add bits to my profile as I go and keep checking this thread!

Regards

Warren
Electrician

[scottntina]

Hi James, thanks for the info... It really does get very confusing!! My OH scott is doing his practical in feb, so this thread will help him with some revision that i keep trying to push him to do, but you know what you men are like, he just keeps saying " dont worry, everything will be fine !" yeah right ! How can i not worry, cant wait to leave this place . Hehe... Anyway thanks for the help, and good luck to all you sparkies out there, its a long road but well worth it we hope !! Tina.

[Mark and Ginny]

Hi guys, I just wanted to wish you all the best with the applications and the skills test. If you require any info, just post on here and I'm sure someone will be able to answer any queeries.
Mark

[scottntina]

Hi Mark, was checking how long your application took after passing vetasses... It was really quick!! only bout three months. How come so quick, or was you just one of the lucky ones. hehe..
It was a 175 skilled visa you applied for wasnt it ??
Tina

[Mark and Ginny]

Hi Tina, we have no idea why it was so quick, just lucky and very grateful!
Mark