There is and always has been a route for the experienced to pass on their expertise and knowledge. An apprenticeship. Firms have always taken on apprentices to meet the demand for the work. Unfortunately this means there are a limited amount of placements and certainly far below the numbers who now seem to want into the trade but like every other skill there can only ever be limited numbers to suit the demand. The trade is now saturated by unskilled badly trained people calling themselves plumbers and the biggest beneficiaries have been the course providers who have cashed in on peoples hopes with little chance of those who pay the money actually succeeding long term. It would be interesting to know how many of those who have gone through the training courses are still at it a year or two down the line.
Learning a trade is more than just having a piece of paper saying you know how things should be done. Actually having the skills to do it is the hard bit. These skills are taught and learned and practiced over many years. Plumbing skills are only a small part of what you need to know. A good understanding of other construction skills and how buildings are actually built is essential.
I am not just saying that plumbing jobs should only be for fully time served tradesmen as they are the best. I've worked alongside enough of them to know that some are just dreadful. You get good and bad in every job but the majority do know better even though they might not always do their best. There will be many retrained guys who are capable and conscientious enough to leave a very good job. Just ask yourself (and answer honestly) would accept that standard of work you just did in your own house? (that rules out plastic pipe and flexi's for most then
)
In Scotland, Snipef (the plumbers federation), have been lobbying for years to make the licensing of all plumbers compulsory (as i suspect the relative bodies in England and Wales have too) and have a licensing scheme in place at the moment. One of the conditions of which is
"USE OF COMPETENT OPERATIVES
All operatives carrying out plumbing work should hold a current SNIJIB Registration Card (or provide other evidence of competence acceptable to the Licensing Board)".
Which basically means without a JIB card you probably won't get a job with a registered firm.
Without the correct training AND experience you will not get a JIB card.
A level 2 NVQ is not a recognised plumbing qualification in Scotland, you need a minimum of level 3.
As Bernie also said even if you have the skills and the knowledge it is sometimes not enough if you are placed in an environment alongside other skilled tradesmen especially on heating, who may have done the job for years and can do things at a much faster pace constantly. 4-5 heating jobs a week between 2 men with hopefully a boy (who's wages comes off your wages), lifting and laying carpets and boards moving furniture etc. Takes some doing and certainly isn't for the faint hearted.
If you think you can do that week in week out you'll make around 55 - 65k a year. Easy money