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The pros and cons of a career as an electrician

by

Simon Ross

Getting qualified and training up properly as an electrician requires plenty of time and commitment, so with all of that at stake it s worth knowing the good and the bad sides of being in the trade. More and more people are becoming interested in electrical services as a career, particularly with the recession beginning to bite and many people being made redundant.

A career as an electrician could in fact prove to be a somewhat recession-proof choice as there s a demand for electrical installation and maintenance services that will never go away as long as civilization remains. Let s take a look at the good and bad things about being an electrician.

THE PROS

A pretty stable stream of work

As we ve already said, demand for electricians will continue to be steady or even increasing as the government builds more houses and companies expand. In the UK there is actually a skills shortage for qualified electricians, and other tradesmen incidentally, and the government is consequently trying to encourage more young people into training. A qualified electrician represents a huge asset to a company and the wider economy at large because the skills he or she has are sought after and take time to achieve. This means steady work in principle and a good rate of pay.

Variety of work

A qualified leccie should find plenty of different and interesting career options open to him or her. There are so many job opportunities open in electrotechnical services because just about every big company or industry requires different types of electrical work to be carried out. Just think of the jobs you could be doing an installer in a TV studios, a wiring officer for a nuclear submarine or in a shipyard, a groundstaff operative at Heathrow airport, an oil rig technical electrician

Good pay

As we ve said, getting qualified and keeping up to date with crucial safety certification means you can expect a decent rate of pay for your services. Most people don t have a clue about their electrics and so you ll be called out sometimes for relatively quick and easy jobs and afforded a ton of respect because of your experience and expertise. Along with this is the fact that with experience your earning potential will grow you ll get faster at jobs, develop more acumen with customers or possibly get into higher level jobs if you work for a company.

THE CONS

Tricky jobs

An electrician sometimes has to face and deal with tricky jobs. What do we mean by tricky? Well, often doing the electrics, particularly in a domestic setting will mean operating in some pretty awkward confined spaces. Many people have their consumer boxes under the stairs, and you ll need to feed wiring under the floorboards on many occasions. So, there s certainly a physical aspect. The job can also be tricky in terms of sorting out wiring and electrical problems. You ll often have to test a load of different things to identify which circuit is which and you may come across previous work which has been shoddily done, and it s your job to sort it all out!

Tricky customers

This applies mainly to domestic electricians. Customers can be incredibly fickle and before long you ll get one that ll mess you around. They may not be able to make their minds up about what they want doing, argue over the cost or be slow to pay up when it comes to settling accounts. Dealing with people and communicating effectively are skills you ll need to develop.

Much more on

Electrician Training and Apprenticeships

here.

Article Source:

ArticleRich.com