Electrician 4 months in

[Saints man]

I have now been here for 4 months ans started work back in January and i'd have to say it's not good, the hardest part about being a sparky is the first question you get asked is do you have a licence not yet and there not interested, i was lucky enough to get a job but it's very hit and miss, in the 3 months iv'e only had 2 full weeks work some weeks 2 days this week 3 days. As i'm sure any spark's out there know you have to do some re-training either at tafe or a registered training organisation which is the route i am going down as you can do all the course work at home at your own pace, not hard just getting back into the calculations etc, managed to borrow a copy of the regs from one of the spark's and found a download of as 3008 so all good there. Also you have to keep a record of the work you have done and i have heard that somewhere it has to be a year, but the training i'm doing they have told me about a 1000 hours and then should be good to take a practical and theory exam, and good to get my licence by about June, the good thing with the course i am doing is that the guy who runs it used to work for the licensing board so getting the licence should be a formality. Pay not particularly good and this week have had my rate cut by $2.00 an hour they didn't even tell me so be interesting to see what they say when i ring up, trouble is can't rock the boat too much because i need to stay long enough to get my log book all signed off for work i have done. So all in all not easy but will carry on and then to look to get into the commercial sector where the pay is a lot better.

[paul1977]

Some of the lads I know work for the best electrical company in perth and have just had a $6 an hour pay cut, sign of the times I'm afraid

[calNgary]

Hi

Im not sure where you are located but a couple of guys here in QLD who are electricians traveled to NSW to get their licence as the process is quicker, sorry i don't know the in's and out's but it may be worth looking into.

 

Cal x

[Aaronspark]

I have now been here for 4 months ans started work back in January and i'd have to say it's not good, the hardest part about being a sparky is the first question you get asked is do you have a licence not yet and there not interested, i was lucky enough to get a job but it's very hit and miss, in the 3 months iv'e only had 2 full weeks work some weeks 2 days this week 3 days. As i'm sure any spark's out there know you have to do some re-training either at tafe or a registered training organisation which is the route i am going down as you can do all the course work at home at your own pace, not hard just getting back into the calculations etc, managed to borrow a copy of the regs from one of the spark's and found a download of as 3008 so all good there. Also you have to keep a record of the work you have done and i have heard that somewhere it has to be a year, but the training i'm doing they have told me about a 1000 hours and then should be good to take a practical and theory exam, and good to get my licence by about June, the good thing with the course i am doing is that the guy who runs it used to work for the licensing board so getting the licence should be a formality. Pay not particularly good and this week have had my rate cut by $2.00 an hour they didn't even tell me so be interesting to see what they say when i ring up, trouble is can't rock the boat too much because i need to stay long enough to get my log book all signed off for work i have done. So all in all not easy but will carry on and then to look to get into the commercial sector where the pay is a lot better.

 

Where about are you based Saints Man? I've just started enquiring about working towards my licence when I arrive on the Gold Coast in Sept. The course is run through a RTO called QET. Is this the same company your using as the guy who runs it used to work for the licensing board also. Would love to hear your experiences etc so far if it is

[AJ]

Hi

Im not sure where you are located but a couple of guys here in QLD who are electricians traveled to NSW to get their licence as the process is quicker, sorry i don't know the in's and out's but it may be worth looking into.

 

Cal x

He would then have to transfer it to a Queensland Licence. States are supposed to recognise each others but I know Victoria doesnt and makes you do their own training, I dont know about Queensland though.

[lismith25]

Unfortunately when you get here you have to jump through the hoops, pain in the arse but until you have a licence you can only work as a TA. Once you have your have it there are still some high paying jobs around, Oil and Gas pay pretty well and coal mine contractors are always looking for shutdown or install work? companys will sometimes put you through some training but Hazardous areas is always a good qualification to have, not everyones cup of tea but great money.

Town work normally pays $33 to $36/hr.

[calNgary]

He would then have to transfer it to a Queensland Licence. States are supposed to recognise each others but I know Victoria doesnt and makes you do their own training, I dont know about Queensland though.

 

That is correct, but according to them it still works out quicker and cheaper to do it this way.

 

Cal x

[derren7]

Where about are you based Saints Man? I've just started enquiring about working towards my licence when I arrive on the Gold Coast in Sept. The course is run through a RTO called QET. Is this the same company your using as the guy who runs it used to work for the licensing board also. Would love to hear your experiences etc so far if it is

Hey mate,

I used QET to get my licence a few years back. It's a run by Chris Williamson, a good bloke, who runs the company from his home in Coopers Plains on Brisbane's south side. It's a correspondence course where you study at home and at your own pace, but Chris is available if you need help.

I had to fill in a log book for 4 months as I had, the now defunct, ARTC. If you have an OTSR then I think it takes a bit longer, and the 1000 hours mentioned above would equate to around 6 months. The log book itself was just a school exercise book I bought from Officeworks or some other shop.

I had a one day assessment at Chris' house where I did the theory in his office/study, and the practical in his garage.

The theory involved completing two fairly straightforward maximum demand calculations and finding clauses in the wiring regs pertaining to certain situations. Finding the clauses isn't that hard but it is time consuming flicking back and forth through the regs. There were a few other questions but I can't remember them. but I do remember they weren't overly tricky.

The practical involved going through the testing procedure and finding faults that Chris puts on his testing rig. Before this, he took me out into the street to a green pillar that supplies 2 houses with an underground supply (most houses here have an overhead supply).

He asked me which fuse I needed to remove to isolate his house from the supply. It isn't labelled so I had to work out which one to remove. A heads up, it isn't a case of just turning everything in the house off an using an ammeter to find which cable has no load.

Another heads up, before you do anything, risk assessment, risk assessment, risk assessment. Took me ten minutes to remember that little beauty. Chris told me he's had people standing there for nearly an hour before they remembered too.

Chris certainly won't spoon feed you any of the answers but he will encourage you and be patient.

The hardest part will be finding work. It took me 3 months to find work. Hopefully you'll find one sooner but persistence will pay off.

 

Best of luck

Any questions, feel free to ask.

 

Regards Derren

[Aaronspark]

Hey mate,

I used QET to get my licence a few years back. It's a run by Chris Williamson, a good bloke, who runs the company from his home in Coopers Plains on Brisbane's south side. It's a correspondence course where you study at home and at your own pace, but Chris is available if you need help.

I had to fill in a log book for 4 months as I had, the now defunct, ARTC. If you have an OTSR then I think it takes a bit longer, and the 1000 hours mentioned above would equate to around 6 months. The log book itself was just a school exercise book I bought from Officeworks or some other shop.

I had a one day assessment at Chris' house where I did the theory in his office/study, and the practical in his garage.

The theory involved completing two fairly straightforward maximum demand calculations and finding clauses in the wiring regs pertaining to certain situations. Finding the clauses isn't that hard but it is time consuming flicking back and forth through the regs. There were a few other questions but I can't remember them. but I do remember they weren't overly tricky.

The practical involved going through the testing procedure and finding faults that Chris puts on his testing rig. Before this, he took me out into the street to a green pillar that supplies 2 houses with an underground supply (most houses here have an overhead supply).

He asked me which fuse I needed to remove to isolate his house from the supply. It isn't labelled so I had to work out which one to remove. A heads up, it isn't a case of just turning everything in the house off an using an ammeter to find which cable has no load.

Another heads up, before you do anything, risk assessment, risk assessment, risk assessment. Took me ten minutes to remember that little beauty. Chris told me he's had people standing there for nearly an hour before they remembered too.

Chris certainly won't spoon feed you any of the answers but he will encourage you and be patient.

The hardest part will be finding work. It took me 3 months to find work. Hopefully you'll find one sooner but persistence will pay off.

 

Best of luck

Any questions, feel free to ask.

 

Regards Derren

 

Darren, great info thanks. Think using Chris at QET is going to be the way forward for me. He sounds like a good guy, and without the hassle of going to TAFE. I've emailed Chris to ask for more info on the course. Would be good to keep in touch, as I'm sure I'll have a few questions once I start.

 

Quite worrying it took you 3 months to find work? Where bouts are you working now?

 

Aaron

[derren7]

Darren, great info thanks. Think using Chris at QET is going to be the way forward for me. He sounds like a good guy, and without the hassle of going to TAFE. I've emailed Chris to ask for more info on the course. Would be good to keep in touch, as I'm sure I'll have a few questions once I start.

 

Quite worrying it took you 3 months to find work? Where bouts are you working now?

 

Aaron

 

Hi Aaron,

Well, the first month was a write off because as my wife got a job almost immediately I was tasked with getting us set up ie finding somewhere to live, bank accounts, tax file numbers, getting the kids into school etc. I had to turn down a job offer as I had no cover for the kids. I was also being a bit picky because I don't like domestic or service work. Commercial and industrial installation work is my thing.

I eventually found work with a small company called Wire Not electrical who took me on for a specific project of modifying shipping containers for use as offices, kitchens, laundries, toilets etc on mining campsites. In between these projects I did have to do their domestic service work. That work dried up after about 18 months and then I was out of work for a further 3 months with a full licence.

Eventually I found work through an agency for 1 weeks work which turned into 10 months worth of work. The company I was hosted with were keen to take me on, but they lost 2 big tenders and they had to lay off a lot of their own staff. That was at the beginning of this year.

I was then out of work for a further 2 months but as my Mum was over from the UK for a visit then I wasn't trying too hard for about a month. In March I got another 4 weeks worth of work with another agency and I'm still working there now with the prospect of another 2 months of work there. The company I am hosted with, Arnold's, have asked to submit my Resume/CV with the prospect of long term employment and the company I was hosted with last year, Ryan Wilks, have recently contacted me with the prospect of taking me on.

I don't want to worry you, as Chris at QET explained to me, some people find a job straight away and others have to be more persistent. It did get me down a bit when I was out of work but when I did get back to work I found there were a lot more people in the same boat as me, so I knew it wasn't just me.

It has been quiet in Brisbane for the last couple of years but there does seem to be more activity now and with some large scale projects being rolled out, including the Commonwealth games being held on the Gold Coast in a few years time then I think you should be OK. Also, what I think has been happening over the last few years is that as the mining boom has eased, mining personnel have been flooding the local markets.

Again, don't stress too much as I'm sure you will find work. Do what I did and register with every agency going, apply to as many companies as possible even if they're not advertising and whilst I didn't harass the agencies I certainly kept in constant contact with them. The squeaky wheel gets the oil and all that.

It's unlikely that you will secure anything from the UK but you can use sites like seek.com.au, indeed.com.au and gumtree to gauge the market.

One thing you will need to get will be a construction induction card (white or blue card). You won't get any work without it. Costs about $80 and can be done online. Also, once you get your full licence you'll have to do a CPR/LVR course which costs around $100 and has to be done annually, although, if you find work with a company then they usually pay for this.

also, I think I paid around $1400 for the course with QET but that was 3 years ago.

Again, best of luck and feel free to keep asking questions.

Regards Derren

[Aaronspark]

Darren

 

Thanks for being open and honest, some really good info there. Answered a lot of questions. Going to get back in touch with Chris and try and get the ball rolling. Not sure if there is anything I can do before I get there, other than brushing up and college work etc.

 

Do you have a list of agencies numbers you could pass on? Be handy if I can get registered before I head out.

 

I thought some work would pick up on the coast with the commonwealth games. Heard they plan to build a new town centre in coomera too.

[Saints man]

Been a while since I've been on here as moved out of our rental into our own place but thing are looking a lot better now. Work wise I have now been take on full time and kept on the same rate that I was on as a casual.

[Aaronspark]

Been a while since I've been on here as moved out of our rental into our own place but thing are looking a lot better now. Work wise I have now been take on full time and kept on the same rate that I was on as a casual.

 

Where you working now mate? I'm living on the GC now, working in Brisbane. Started my training with Chris form QET. Just need to box off this training and look at getting work closer to home