Advice on training

[Johnabbs]

Post Gas training Lomax wallsend
Hi everyone I am John. 33 from newcastle with little experiance I am currently deciding weather or not to take up a 6 mth course to become gas safe.
After 22 week course you get awarded BPEC gas foundation certificate.
ACS ccn1 & Cenwat certification.
After that you get a redused cost for further certification courses for appliances meters ect..
They pair you up with a corgi regestered gas fitter to complete your portfolio and at the end help you find employment.
Only thing is it's a £4500 course and a very big dission to leave my current employment and financial risk.
If there was any other way of getting the training I would happy do it.
I have always wanted to do this and will succeed no matter the time scale.
So now you know my story any feed back to weather this is a viable course and If others have been down this route.

They say they have a 100% pass rate with 97% of ex students in employment.
Any advice would be very much appreciated thanks. John.

 

[SimonG]

Welcome to the forum John

Do you have any plumbing experience to go with the gas?

 

[Masood]

Welcome to the forum and good luck. Your training course will not give you any real-life experience. Your best bet is to find a local engineer who will let you tag along with him/her and learn the ropes. You'll most likely have to do this for free.

 

[Johnabbs]

Just fitting bathrooms and Tolets few radiators !
Nothing major the course puts you with a qualified gas fitter to complete your portfolio !
I know of other guys who have done this course and got a job replacing meters. That's the route I want to go down.
Thanks for the feed back !

 

[Rickster123]

What job do you currently do john? And welcome to the forum

 

[village idiot]

They pair you up with a corgi regestered gas fitter to complete your portfolio and at the end help you find employment.

They say they have a 100% pass rate with 97% of ex students in employment.
Any advice would be very much appreciated thanks. John.

Why are they using a corgi registered gas fitter?



Pass rate of 100% easily achievable in these institutions. 97% employment rate is not remotely true. Only undertake the course if is what your heart wants to follow.

 

[Johnabbs]

Sales every day I vist sites and wish I was one of them ! and I hate it I want to get back on the tools I worked for ten year with a builder doing all sorts I miss it like mad!
I was always envious of the gas lad.

 

[hammers4spanner]

Welcome to the forum

Have you thought about just doing jobbing plumbing ?

 

[Johnabbs]

Sales every day I vist sites and wish I was one of them ! and I hate it I want to get back on the tools I worked for ten year with a builder doing all sorts I miss it like mad!
I was always envious of the gas lad.
My hart is defiantly in it and my mistake a gas safe engineer. Local councils use this training provider aswell as a member of my family over ten year ago so I don't think they are a fly buy company thats just after money! I pray there not any way!
I will start to contact local guys to see if any will let me shadow them for free!

 

[Johnabbs]

Doing jobbing would get me no further aheadThat's nothing against lads that do jobbing I just feel if I am going to do this I want to aim high and hope to get there sometime in the ten year!

 

[tomplumb83]

Imo you would be better doing jobs. If you cant make a go of it as a plumber whats the point of spending 5k and doing your gas?
Somebody might say different but I thought they went hand in hand. If your serious like you say you'd be better off doing your plumbing qualifications. Probably take you afew years.

 

[tomplumb83]

Can people really change gas meters all there lives

 

[Rickster123]

Can people really change gas meters all there lives

I thought the same thing. Couldn't think of anything more boring and soul destroying.

Oh wait, yes I can, powerflushing!

 

[Dotty]

I thought the same thing. Couldn't think of anything more boring and soul destroying.

Oh wait, yes I can, powerflushing!

Ever tried portable appliance testing? Makes a pf seem positively adventurous!

I did pat testing for 2 weeks once, it broke me.

The electrickery department manager asked if I fancied doing another week.

I asked him if he fancied having the pat machine inserted in him then getting stabbed in the jaw...

 

[tomplumb83]

Financial side though, could you make it pay for the next 20years? Is there enough work.
If its good enough for somebody to jack their job in and spend all that money on training, I might as well give it a go

 

[Johnabbs]

Canit see why not but I never said I wanted to do it all my life?
There could be a job for me once I get my tickets then after a bit of time move on to other things as I get more experiance!

 

[Johnabbs]

I have to do something I can not stay in a job I don't want to do.
You canit get a job without training. No one will take on a 33 yr old with out experiance!
What is your advice suck it up stay in the job you hate and get on with it?
I know I am capable of a lot more! Having a skilled trade that I can devolope over time That with hard work will pay a lot more than I am on at the momment. I know of lads making £800 a week which is Double that I make at the moment!

 

[village idiot]

Go for it. If you don't, you may never forgive yourself in some years down the line.
Good luck and may it work out well for you.

 

[stevetheplumber]

Can people really change gas meters all there lives

many years ago i cleared a small factory in islington all they had made for the last forty years was the steel frames for suitcases there were three blokes there the first one put 4 bends in a piece of 1/4 diameter steel rod to form the square the on a hand operated flypress the next guy put the two ends together and welded it closed and the last guy put the weld onto a small anvil and hammered the weld flat
the handle on his hamer was moulded to his hand and was no more than a quarter inch thick between where his thumb and finger gripped the shaft all three had worked there for over 30 years
makes fitting meters sound varied and interesting

 

[Rickster123]

I have to do something I can not stay in a job I don't want to do.
You canit get a job without training. No one will take on a 33 yr old with out experiance!
What is your advice suck it up stay in the job you hate and get on with it?
I know I am capable of a lot more! Having a skilled trade that I can devolope over time That with hard work will pay a lot more than I am on at the momment. I know of lads making £800 a week which is Double that I make at the moment!

If you're making this decision based on what you've heard other people are earning I'd have a long hard think about it. Use the search function on this forum and you will find literally hundreds of posts from people who have shelled out big money on training only to find there's no work and no pot of gold at the end of it.

 

[Johnabbs]

I started life off working on CNC machine mind numbing watching different little parts coming off and putting them in bags of 100.
Then I went Nissan and worked on the production line I have had boaring jobs with no progression! I can do it it but I have a feeling this won't be that bad by a long way ! Love the story about the factory reminds me of Nissan actually !

 

[Johnabbs]

I am making the dession on this is what I want to do.
All I am hoping for is a descent wage 400/500 wk I would more than happy with !
and a trade behind me so I can find work for the rest of my working life and feel like I have achieved something !

 

[Dotty]

John, we're not trying to put you off.

All we want you to do is take a good hard look through old threads on here before making your decision and taking a leap. Not saying that it wouldn't work for you, it very well might.

But for every success story there's a hundred or so fallen by the wayside having wasted thousands.

The other reality is you won't get trained then straight onto 4/500 a week, you'll find that you'll be earning a pittance to begin with.

But if it's what you want to do, and you're absolutely set on it, go for it.

We'll give you as many tips and advice as we can.

 

[carlos321]

Rather than jump straight into the gas and put yourself in a position of uncertainty, I old consider staying in your current role and talking to a local college about getting your lev 2 c&g plumbing course/Diploma.
I did a course to get my lev 2 certification and found out the hard way after being misold etc. I'm now in a very fortunate position because I was in the builders merchant industry, of building up a great relationship with many builders and plumbers that 2 have offered me a job, the plumber is already oil registered and will be doing his gas by the end of this year and we have a agreed in 18months I will do mine too.
It's been a long time coming, I've waited over 3 years to get this chance in a job I knew I wanted out of but supported me financially until it came up, I'm now 32.
I wish you all the best for your future.

 

[thomas donovan]

year before last i lived in wallsend, worked in north shields and grafted my arse of for about 450 a week after tax, installing boilers, id be shocked if you could make more changing meters, dont waste best part of 5 grand to change meters!