Evening everyone
Probably going to get slaughtered for this but it's worth asking. Nothin' ventured nothin' gained and all that.
So as the title suggests, I'm after a career change. It's a fairly drastic one as I've been in retail management for the last 6/7 years(!). It's a fairly thankless job with very unsocial hours and now with zero scope for any progression. As I turn 31, and with my first child on the way I've realised I need to do something, and get focused on a more positive and progressive career path.
I'm looking to retrain in Gas fitting/Engineering but I've got a few concerns. Firstly, I've absolutely zero qualifications or past experience in the field so I'm starting out from the very beginning - how many years would it take to gain the necessary qualifications to be taken seriously by employers? There's a 'Gas foundations course' starting next month in a Gas Assessment and Training Centre in South Wales near me. It's a 6 month course which is divided into a few sections. I was told it's a month in college 5 days a week, then 4 months divided into 3 weeks on sites with an assigned mentor, followed by 1 week in college, then back out for 3 weeks etc. Then the final month is dedicated to exams. If successful then I'd be able get Gas Safe registered. All this to the tune of around £5,000.
I'm under no impression that 6 months of training would put me in a position where employers would be welcoming me with open arms. How far along the road will a 6 month course like that get me, so-to-speak. I see jobs advertised which require a whole chapter of qualifications. Things like CCN1, CEN1, CPA1, HTR1 which I would guess take quite a bit of time and money to get qualified in.
Another concern is how easy is it to get work in this sort of field? I suppose it varies quite a lot depending on the area, I'm based in South Wales. What I don't want is to spend years getting qualifications to find the field is far too competitive where employers can pick from way over-qualified/over-experienced people and effectively underpay them simply because there isn't enough work to go around. I've been burnt by that sort of thing before.
Any advice on the most effective ways to get into the gas fitting/engineering field? And before anyone jumps in with some nightmare stories of how its not worth it, the job sucks etc... nothing. can be worse than retail!
Probably going to get slaughtered for this but it's worth asking. Nothin' ventured nothin' gained and all that.
So as the title suggests, I'm after a career change. It's a fairly drastic one as I've been in retail management for the last 6/7 years(!). It's a fairly thankless job with very unsocial hours and now with zero scope for any progression. As I turn 31, and with my first child on the way I've realised I need to do something, and get focused on a more positive and progressive career path.
I'm looking to retrain in Gas fitting/Engineering but I've got a few concerns. Firstly, I've absolutely zero qualifications or past experience in the field so I'm starting out from the very beginning - how many years would it take to gain the necessary qualifications to be taken seriously by employers? There's a 'Gas foundations course' starting next month in a Gas Assessment and Training Centre in South Wales near me. It's a 6 month course which is divided into a few sections. I was told it's a month in college 5 days a week, then 4 months divided into 3 weeks on sites with an assigned mentor, followed by 1 week in college, then back out for 3 weeks etc. Then the final month is dedicated to exams. If successful then I'd be able get Gas Safe registered. All this to the tune of around £5,000.
I'm under no impression that 6 months of training would put me in a position where employers would be welcoming me with open arms. How far along the road will a 6 month course like that get me, so-to-speak. I see jobs advertised which require a whole chapter of qualifications. Things like CCN1, CEN1, CPA1, HTR1 which I would guess take quite a bit of time and money to get qualified in.
Another concern is how easy is it to get work in this sort of field? I suppose it varies quite a lot depending on the area, I'm based in South Wales. What I don't want is to spend years getting qualifications to find the field is far too competitive where employers can pick from way over-qualified/over-experienced people and effectively underpay them simply because there isn't enough work to go around. I've been burnt by that sort of thing before.
Any advice on the most effective ways to get into the gas fitting/engineering field? And before anyone jumps in with some nightmare stories of how its not worth it, the job sucks etc... nothing. can be worse than retail!
