Transferring Skills From CEng to be Qualified Electrician

Hi Paul



There are no specific qualifications, and are in principle more qualified than almost all electricians. You should develop your practical skills (if not excellent already) probably by some text book study, and consider C&G2395. You should easily get NICEIC or other part P provider recognitian, should you wish to do domestic work. Following the IET wiring regulations forum for a few months will pick up many points which you may otherwise find difficult to study, and will act as considerable useful experience.



You may wish to study some design texts, and of course a complete and accurate knowledge of BS7671 is useful, there is a lot more than 2382 requires! Some others have done this change, I hope it works for you.



Regards

David

 I recently made the somewhat reluctant decision to employ an Electrician for a partial home rebuild. I was apprentice trained and later responsible for apprentice training, so I have always maintained a working knowledge of the current wiring regulations since the 14^th edition (including the 16^th edition C&G exam) such that I could “swot up” easily if required.  I was glad that I did, because he was much more productive and neater than I could have been (youth, practice & physical flexibility) brought some fresh ideas and techniques, plus part P certification for the Building Regs Inspector.  

 

My previous role was in large scale construction and electricians were employed using  an incentive bonus scheme , with tasks having been carefully estimated and timed by a work study engineer.  Much of the work was quite physically demanding and conducted in building site conditions alongside other trades.  With overtime and bonus many Electricians could regularly earn more than the average Chartered Engineer during good times.

 

If you are able to pick and choose what work to take then I completely understand your decision since “working on the tools” can be enjoyable challenging and interesting, with plenty of opportunity for initiative and practical inventiveness. 

 

Electricians & Electrical Technicians  typically tend to specialise in particular areas of work, although most could move around with a familiarisation period.  In the same way that a typical Chartered Engineer will only apply a fraction of the syllabus that they learned at university, an Electrician/Technician with  a top craft/technician apprenticeship/experience often uses only a fraction of their practical knowledge and skills on simpler work.  Unfortunately this practical know-how isn’t so well recognised by academic awards, so for a “clever sparks”  the direction of career travel is often in the opposite direction, towards IEng & CEng.   

 

For example a few years ago, I met an Electrician with over 100 university degrees (and a Nobel Prize). When I asked him what it was in his Electricians career that propelled him, the answer was “hard work and belief in god”. I’m not particularly religious myself, but a hard working Engineer, Technician or Craftsperson is unlikely to be poor or unhappy in their work.  PS Both Electricians in the story were Polish and the second one was called Lech.            

 

Good luck!

 

I am a J.I.B approved electrician of 20 years. This is the best route.....



To build up your knowledge obviously takes many years on different environments and projects. When you're are confident in a range of installation techniques, wiring systems and equipment etc then head down the testing and commissioning route. The testing and commisssioning gives you a better overall understanding of the "bigger picture". When you are confident and time efficient then you should go sub-contracting. This gives you a better understanding of the commericial pressures and issues such as tax, accounting, project time frames  etc.

With all this under your belt then you should think about heading down the domestic route and setting up your own company.

This will build up your knowledge of how to comply with the BS7671 regs but still price work competitively against other electricians and companies.

With this knowledge under you're belt you can then move on to bigger projects i.e small comercial and take it from there.............

Hope this may help in some way.........good luck

Just a thought on Declan's posting "why would you want to go from CEng to an Electrician": I have a good friend who is an electrician, I am a CEng. They have a huge house with an indoor swimming pool and take several exotic holidays a year, we have a three bed end-of-terrace and tend to go camping in Cornwall. (P.S. We live in Cornwall!) So my wife tends to phrase the question differently: "why would you want to be a CEng rather than an Electrician?"!!! Now, of course really the reason he has all that is that he owns his own business, the fact that it is a electrical contracting company is neither here nor there. (And, of course, they run the risk of losing everything if the business fails.) But it just goes to show it is no "better" being a CEng or "better" being an electrician, they're different, and it's what suits you and where you want to take it. Sorry that's a bit off topic...but an interesting thought...I wouldn't be surprised if (in the UK at least) there are more multi-millionaires who are electricians than are CEngs. Don't suppose anyone's ever surveyed this?



More on topic, I would agree totally with David that it is a long process of experience to become both qualified and competent as an electrician, being a CEng will almost certainly mean that pick up the theory side very quickly, but doesn't neccesarily mean that it won't all be new. But I'd support anyone who wants to go for it - I think almost the number one requirement is to have the humility to accept that I time served electrician with possibly very few qualifications will have a huge amount to teach you. And that's got to be a good thing.

To simplify my message.
If you want to earn good money you need to be streetwise.
To be streetwise you need alot of experience, contacts and constant continuation of keeping your knowledge (practical and academic) up to date.
And a big slice of luck