Good time to start an apprenticeship??

[theapprentice]

Hi All!

I'm 30 and doing quite well in my current job even though it bores me to death but feel its time to change. Plumbing is something i've always wanted to do but want some advice. I have looked at threads on this subject but wanted your input. I've been offered work with a local plumber (£2.65p/h) and got onto the apprenticeship program with the local college but wondered if this is a good time to do it. I've read many posts about how tough it is to find work and how people are struggling so it makes me hesitant to take the plunge.

What are your thoughts?

 

[northstar]

what is your current job and where do you live ?

 

[theapprentice]

Hi Northstar. I live in Doncaster and work in sales. My job is tedious but safe however it's not what i want to do until i retire! I'm practical and can Tile and again plumbing is the path I should have chosen years ago.

 

[lame plumber]

construction industry still in the doldrums so you are already competing with all the ex site workers for general plumbing work and unless you are able to get gas or oil quals quickly you limit your market to one that seems to have become rather competetive at present. If I only ever did plumbing work I would be looking for a job in sales.

 

[Howsie]

Do it. I came some the software industry years ago and it is the best thing I've ever done. Money is poor by comparison but the people make the difference.

Plumbers are the new gods.

 

[chris watkins]

Hi Northstar. I live in Doncaster and work in sales. My job is tedious but safe however it's not what i want to do until i retire! I'm practical and can Tile and again plumbing is the path I should have chosen years ago.

You have summed it up perfectly above, your dream is just that, you are in a good job in a time of recession by good I mean it is safe, regular & not badly paid for what you have to do but it's boring. Well most of the worlds works feel like that at one stage or another & you are probably right you should have chosen plumbing or the like years ago but you didn't hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it ?

The fact that you are questioning your decision is enough to tell me that you should not be doing it, how many years are you going to be on £2.65 for how long do you think it will take you to train fully as a plumber ???

Find a hobby or study or something to interest you after work !

 

[Ray Stafford]

Hi Northstar. I live in Doncaster and work in sales. My job is tedious but safe however it's not what i want to do until i retire! I'm practical and can Tile and again plumbing is the path I should have chosen years ago.

A lot depends on your current commitments.

If you have a mortgage, wife and 3 kids, then now probably isn't a great time to give up a safe job, and feeding your kids is more important than whether you enjoy your job.

If there is only you to worry about, and you don't mind living on beans on toast for a while, then follow your dream. You only get one life - this is not a dress rehearsal.

They say that on your deathbed, you won't regret the things you have done nearly so much as the things you haven't done.

 

[lame plumber]

if your getting £2.65 an hr whats the boss being paid per hour, it cant be too much or youd be getting minimum wage, which as far as I understand is the lowest you can be paid at 30 trainee or not.

 

[chris watkins]

A lot depends on your current commitments.

If you have a mortgage, wife and 3 kids, then now probably isn't a great time to give up a safe job, and feeding your kids is more important than whether you enjoy your job.

If there is only you to worry about, and you don't mind living on beans on toast for a while, then follow your dream. You only get one life - this is not a dress rehearsal.

They say that on your deathbed, you won't regret the things you have done nearly so much as the things you haven't done.

Very true Ray but spare a thought for the lives ruined by those who constantly believe the grass to greener on the other side, those who constantly think that it there right to have a full & rewarding job & it is their right to have access to free training, free to them that is while we have to pay for it in the form of taxes. I wonder what tax support the OP will be receiving while this bloke pays him £2.65?

Why can't we leave this training vacancy for an un-empolyed school leaver who does not have a job & would like to follow there dream, of some form of life in work !!!!!

 

[Ray Stafford]

Very true Ray but spare a thought for the lives ruined by those who constantly believe the grass to greener on the other side, those who constantly think that it there right to have a full & rewarding job & it is their right to have access to free training, free to them that is while we have to pay for it in the form of taxes. I wonder what tax support the OP will be receiving while this bloke pays him £2.65?

Hi Chris

Obviously I don't know enough about the OP's situation to be sure, but it sounds like he has been paying tax for a while at least. The £2.65 rate is only applicable for 1 year, and maybe he will be on top up benefits, or maybe he will work an evening job, but I am much happier with paying a short-term training benefit to someone who has already paid into the system, than just doling it out indefinitely to someone who has never worked, and no intention of trying to.

Why can't we leave this training vacancy for an un-empolyed school leaver who does not have a job & would like to follow there dream, of some form of life in work !!!!!

Assuming for the sake of argument that employment is a zero-sum game, then surely when the OP leaves his sales job, that creates another vacancy which can be occupied by the school leaver, or by someone else who in turn will create a vacancy for the school leaver further down the chain? There's nothing wrong with a career in sales - apart from plumbers merchanting, obviously - they are a weird bunch.

From talking to customers on our trade counters, youngsters (about 16 to 19yr olds) don't seem to stick it as well as slightly older people who have already had a job, and are at least used to getting up in the morning and working all day.
But maybe thats just me being a grumpy old man, talking to grumpy old plumbers.

I guess its also dangerous to generalise. People are individuals, not statistics.

 

[lame plumber]

anyone who is thirty has to be paid minimum wage! you cant pay them as an apprentice, hence why you dont see 30 yr old apprentices

 

[Ray Stafford]

anyone who is thirty has to be paid minimum wage! you cant pay them as an apprentice, hence why you dont see 30 yr old apprentices

For the first year of the apprenticeship, the apprentice rate applies regardless of age. See this link

At least, thats how I read it.

 

[chris watkins]

For the first year of the apprenticeship, the apprentice rate applies regardless of age. See this link

At least, thats how I read it.

It is more likely to be that if you start an apprenticeship aged 18 but during that first year you have your birthday then you can continue to be paid that lower rate, otherwise why have the high age rates.

As you say Ray we don't know enough about the OP's situation & so I can only talk generally & given that it is just not possible for everybody who would like to join the plumbing & heating fraternity to do so, I would much rather the one opportunity goes to a 16 -17 -18 year old starting out rather than somebody who is already employed. (if things improve in the industry, work whys, then by all means start allowing older entries)
I think you are being a bit unfair towards the youngsters, we have a susses rate of around 85% completing the level 2 & 3 program at our place, I don't know what they are like in the work place only that they are like all others of that age, they need to learn what working is all about. It sounds like you (or the grumpy old plumbers in your shop, anyway) are suggesting that they should go & prove themselves first by doing some form of other work before being the given gracious honour to come to train as plumbers ?

 

[lame plumber]

For the first year of the apprenticeship, the apprentice rate applies regardless of age. See this link

At least, thats how I read it.

if you read the link only apprentices under 19 get the apprentice rate

 

[Ray Stafford]

if you read the link only apprentices under 19 get the apprentice rate

This rate is for apprentices under 19 or those in their first year. If you’re 19 or over and past your first year you get the rate that applies to your age.

I read that as saying:

If you are under 19, you get the apprentice rate.
If you are 19 or over, and still in your first year, you get the apprentice rate
If you are 19 or over and past your first year, you get the normal NMW.

I might be misreading it, but thats how I interpreted it.

 

[Ray Stafford]

... are suggesting that they should go & prove themselves first by doing some form of other work before being the given gracious honour to come to train as plumbers ?

I'm not really suggesting anything specific Chris tbh, but I don't see why people shouldn't retrain later in life - the important thing is that they get good, thorough training.