Best route for 18 Year old

[i-Plumber]

Hi all, ive just turned 18 and am due to finish college pretty soon (a levels) , i have been doing my research and have been looking at plumbing training centres, the courses are expensive but seem to be what you need? so i was just wondering do you guys think this is the best route or is an apprentceship the way forward or something else, setup costs and advertising dont really matter i just would like to know the best route that you would reccomend.

All replies will be greatly appreciated

thanks

 

[piperdave]

im 20 mate and would reccomend an apprenticeship its alot better in my opinion, We had a bloke join who done a course at a training centre and paid like 400 quid he came out of it knowing about as much as he did when he went in and was completely useless tbh yet had certificates saying he was a qualified! plumber! ,at the end of the day its all just a money making scheme , where as you do an apprenticeship you work along side someone who knows what there doing picking stuff up as you go along plus learning at college and its all completely free , goverment funded.

 

[WaterTight]

If you can find an apprenticeship consider yourself very lucky, they are extremely thin on the ground. That's not to say don't try, because it remains the best route, especially at your age. But if you can't find anything you can do the equivalent of an apprenticeship by doing the 6129 (official city and guilds qual, not some made up 400 quid jobby, expect to pay at least 5k and spend at least 12-20 weeks doing it) and then do a few years shadowing a plumber. This route is by no means easy to follow either because there are plenty of people out there fighting for the same positions you'll be fighting for. Nothing is guaranteed but if you want to do plumbing go for it. As long as you've got a reasonable brain in your head and are reasonably fit and healthy you've as good a chance as anyone.

 

[piperdave]

agreed apprenticeships are definately getting thin on the ground the best bet is to go into your local plumbcenter . city plumbing etc and ask to put a notice up for you , after all thats where your gonna find all the plumbers in your area... i was quite lucky because my mate worked in plumbcenter and told me about someone wanting an apprentice , good luck mate! hope all goes well

 

[moony]

apprenticeship

quick course give you the tech certs this is the equivalent of reading a book and revising and taking a test on it.

a qualified plumber is someone who has taken the nvq level 2 and 3 (these contain the tech certs but also a portfolio of work, it takes four years one day a week in college, and 4 days on the job, so someone coming out of an apprenticeship will have the qualifications and 4 yrs experience.