There must be another way? Advice would be great

[toast]

Hi all!

Heres my story... :sleep1:

24 years old, changing career from mechanic in the army with an NVQ level 3 in mechanical maintenance to a plumber. Left the forces last month and started my apprenticeship last week nvq level 2 c&g 6189, 3 days of college for the first month for the health and safety side and then one day a week for 2 years then level 3 for another 2. The guy who is taking me on does a range of work from wood stoves to heating systems to bathrooms, hes gas safe and has trained people before so im lucky and in good hands. My goal is to become gas safe and continue and do courses for things like oil cert.

From what I understand, to be a fully qualified plumber, this route is best... it may even be the only route i dont know. The problem i have here is that like most people who change their career and require training, money is a problem. Of course i cant expect a massive wage when im just starting out but 4 years training on a low income is going to be tuff trying to pay a mortgage at the same time. Its not that i think im worth more but coming from a mechanical background working with hydraulics, pumps, technical drawings, electrics, fault finding and getting hands on the tools everyday i can relate more and pick things up faster. What i mean is the college course has a set time frame that i will have to stick to and its designed for guys/girls that have just come from school, i want to speed up the process with more hands on on the job but i don't want to be a cowboy.

My employer mentioned something about chinning off the apprenticeship and working with him for a year or so as a trainee, getting clued up and then going for a 5 day course with exams to become gas safe registered, much faster then 4 years. Ive scanned the internet and seen that you can become gas safe without the nvq as long as you have been working along side a gas safe engineer for a certain period of time. If i take the no qualification route am i limited to extra courses i can attend? Can i do the oil? No matter how good am i employable without that qualification? This route surely makes me a gas engineer not a plumber in a sense but i will have plumbing experience through his work.

Im not sure on the route to take but i've already done a 5 year apprenticeship in mechanics, I've done health and safety loads before and sitting at college doing h&s again with 16 year olds pis5ing about is painful. The way i see it is i will learn more 4 days of the week working with that one day being an attendance course for a bit of paper. I just don't know what to do. I'm trying to research it all but there is so many course codes within gas I don't know whats what :dizzy2:

Any advice is much appreciated.

 

[SafeGasInstall]

Hi and welcome to the forum !

It is posible to become GSR in 2 weeks , but pls explain to me how would you be able to do your job if you have not got a clue where to start from , or any mistake in customers house and they can take you to court if you have not done the job correctly and flooded the house .
I would suggest keep working with the gas engineer and keep your eyes open so every day you learn .
You probably dont need to go college with the 16 years old but then you will learn a lot from it , unfortunately the first part is H&S and its a long object ( you will need to be able to work safe ) , it gets interesting after .
Keep up the good work and dont try to get to the top of the ladder so quick .....

 

[Alex Pelton]

you can do as your boss says and that is one route. But if you ever want to work for anyone who is not a one man band or small company even if you have the gas qualifications they will ask for a minimum of an nvq level 2

 

[toast]

Thanks for the advice guys and sorry about the long post, wanted to get as much info in there as i could.

I didn't mean get trained fast and leave the boss and go it alone, i wouldn't have enough experience for that not and certainly not in this sector. I ment more get trained faster for pay reasons and the extra days pay in work instead of college.

Been at college today and spoken to many instructors about what is the best way and they all agreed NVQ level 2 is a must. Get that and then gain enough experience and go for gas. Not only that but to be honest i didnt realise i could complete the modules quicker and get it done in a year.

I just wanted some info about any other routes into this area but it seems college is the only proper way.

Can imagine there would be nothing worse than plumbing for years with no quals and then finding out the law changes and you have to go and do it all!

 

[stoica85]

*
Why don’t you just go to a private training provider how can get you through it quicker? Do your tech cert with them, and as you are already working with a plumber you can take your time on your NVQ portfolio?
*

 

[deandive]

I went down the gas route it took me a bit longer than I expected but I was able to earn pretty decent money within a shorter timeframe. Just like you I had a mortgage to pay and could not afford to work for peanuts for too long. I have worked ( and continue to work ) for two of the big six contracting on installations, and have also worked on service and repair. You can make it work that way but you will never be a plumber, at a push you could call yourself a gas engineer. Im considering going to college to get an NVQ so I can call myself fully qualified. The trouble is once you have been in the game a while being taught to bend pipe, solder and fit a bathroom, smacks of being taught to suck eggs. If I was starting down this road again and could afford to do it I would go the NVQ route.

 

[Killy Bing]

Try to do an nvq level 3 in gas.

thats what i did with no prior plumbing qualifications or experience. 21 just finished my apprenticeship.

Just because you're doing an apprenticeship doesn't mean thats all they have to pay you!

a reasonable employer will pay you what you're worth! Not the minimum.

 

[basildog]

I went down the gas route it took me a bit longer than I expected but I was able to earn pretty decent money within a shorter timeframe. Just like you I had a mortgage to pay and could not afford to work for peanuts for too long. I have worked ( and continue to work ) for two of the big six contracting on installations, and have also worked on service and repair. You can make it work that way but you will never be a plumber, at a push you could call yourself a gas engineer. Im considering going to college to get an NVQ so I can call myself fully qualified. The trouble is once you have been in the game a while being taught to bend pipe, solder and fit a bathroom, smacks of being taught to suck eggs. If I was starting down this road again and could afford to do it I would go the NVQ route.

You might well find you can do your NVQ part time with a local college ?
Might sound a bit harsh but the exams are a joke all on a computer and you are given something like 45 minutes to complete them but I was out in 5 on all of them !
The examiner asked if I had a problem when I walked out !
Rest of the class went on a mission to beat me to first out but never managed !
Not the way I know but was so easy it did make me think !

 

[Stu3y]

im going down the NVQ route at the minute, im 28, have a house, car etc! lukily im self employed and have a business in a different area other than plumbing, so im working that 9am until around 1-2pm, to make my money, then meeting up with my "employer" (luckily for me my dad) to do the NVQ side of the plumbing then 1 day a week at college. i just work some weekends to make up the extra time for the plumbing qualification. college have also told me i can complete level 2 with in 1 year, and enrol on Level 3 gas and renewable next sept! level 3 at our college also includes the unvented cert