Rob Day

iTrader: (78)

Hi guys.

Now I know this might be a typical run of the mill question, but I'm going to tailor it for my requirements.

I'm 35, live in the North West, and I'm keen to learn a new trade/skill to change my current 10 years experience of Manufacturing/Warehouse Management. I enjoy what I do, but feel I have got to the end of the ladder at the moment in my current employment, and would like to pursue earning enough to get my misses out of work so that child care doesn't become an issue. She is curently only working part time due to family commtments, but loosing her earnings entirely would make things very difficult. So looking at my close friends who earn 10K per annul more than myself in engineering, I feel I need to turn my hands to a new trade.

Any suggestions?

I can pretty much turn my hands to anything, but Engineering?

Thanks
Rob

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Open university for an engineering degree seems the logical thing but that would lead more to an office job, whereas an old school apprenticeship gives you hands on experience.

I thought I was old at 25 being an apprentice with a load of 16 year olds

David Lock

Rob, your question is a little too broad for a specific answer. These days "engineering" covers so much from a Chartered status engineer in a specific discipline, say Civil, Electrical or Mechanical to the oik that comes round to repair your washing machine and insults the profession by calling himself an "engineer".

Try it the other way around. What sort of job in engineering would you fancy? What do your engineering mates do?

You made need some extra qualifications so can you handle that financially? Not easy with a young family.

Is there anything in your own work experience that can add value to an engineering path?

dl

john banks

What are you or could you be excellent at? What niches can you carve? Do you want to work for yourself? How much are you prepared to sacrifice in terms of income now to gain qualifications or start up a new business?

I have no engineering qualifications but through hobbyist skills developed over decades in parallel with education and work in another discipline entirely, and then honed to a specialist niche have had profitable employment and self employment when I've wanted it.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

I agree with David, it's important to be clear on what you mean by engineering.

In the correct sense of the word, engineering is a profession rather than a trade, and requires a degree. That's quite a commitment to make, though it does generally pay well once you're fully qualified and have managed to secure a job.

The term is frequently misused to cover a wide range of technical disciplines, though. For some reason there seems to be a stigma attached to the title of "technician", which is a great pity because a good technician is valuable and well respected.

The distinction between the two is fairly straightforward. Engineers design things, from circuit boards (my own area) to gearboxes to bridges. Anyone who doesn't actually design these things, but installs, maintains, repairs or inspects them is more likely to be a technician, and the people who sell them qualify for neither title.

Rob Day

iTrader: (78)

Thanks for the responses. Yes I was a little vague sorry about that, I was just rolling off words and figured why not put that into a few sentences on here to see what people's views were/are.

My friends work at a very large cooperation to do with Civilian and some Military Aircraft engine components. They do sometimes recruit via agency to which I have/are enrolling with hope, but as yet no interviews have take place so I feel as though I'm too old or experienced in the wrong field

Rob Day

iTrader: (78)

My history is this.

Left School 5 GCSE's
College City & Guilds Catering
Chef
Sign Writer
Labourer
Management (trained on the job)
Few other jobs too

I've renovated three houses in the last 10 years on my own, bar skilled requirements. I can plaster, plumb, tile, joinery, and with my mates "Part P assistance" for legal/safety reasons carry out basic electrics.

And I don't mind studying for qualifications, I've openly discussed with the misses, in turn means I have less family/play time, and less free cash, but I feel I need to do something.

Rob

john banks

That range of skills would surely make you ideal for hotel services management, but when I just looked at available jobs I don't think the salaries are too hot.

It sounds like you would also have the skills to setup a property maintenance company? Someone I know who is doing this is winning big contracts and doing very well from it.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Nail on head.

"Oh I'm a fridge/photocopier engineer".

"So you design fridges/photocopies?"

"No I fix them"



Does my head in that.

And I'm only a fitter (mechanical)

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Your going to need some sort of electrical,mechanical qualification/background to get anywhere that pays the sort of salary your after or as I had some specialist knowledge or specific field.

I did all sorts of engineering, started out in manufacturing forming and welding bespoke ornate gates and fences went to college did a diploma in mechanical and electrical engineering, then got a job in a tool hire firm servicing and repairing a wide range of tools and plant equipment and I do mean repairing not replacing for which the welding came in handy, then did a few years in factories because the money was better and was offered an apprenticeship as a tool setter which I declined to become a lift engineer, servicing and installing lifts which was fun but high risk, I then had a major falling out with one of the directors and told them to stuff it, went back to it a few years later and did a few small lifts on my own as a fully fledged engineer but the market was slow so went back to comms installation for the easy money.

Then I got a job installing car audio, alarms, central locking electric windows etc, which led me to cellnet and management of a service centre then orange installing and ran my own business for a few years then was made an offer I couldn't refuse by vodafone, with a good position and salary, top of the range car, 6 weeks holiday final salary pension and shares.

Then I arrived where you are now, waiting on dead mans shoes and I didn't fancy the jobs they were doing or the direction the company was heading so quit.

Now the main point of this protracted post is, even with all my experience I wouldn't stand a cat in hells chance of getting the kind of job you describe, so sorry to **** on your strawberries, but if you want a job like the one you describe your about 25yrs behind me, and I really can turn my hand to just about anything, now i'm doing full on renovation / building from the ground up, but for ME, I suggest you look for something you can be the boss in/of if you want to find the rewards you seek, and it's not all about money.

Oh and as above I was a vehicle accessory installation Technician, although my diploma would have lead me to bridge design and building if i'd have continued but I decided it wasn't for me.

theboy

So your only a engineer if you design the piece/part

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

^^ yep popular misconception, I was in engineering and the term was used to describe part of what I did by way of people being able to understand it, but in reality I was only ever an installer or a technician.

And for the record I quite liked being an installer and a technician, as your at the business end of the job, unfortunately most these days who describe themselves as engineers are neither of the above but mere fitters.

theboy

In that case i will have to remember what a old man told me when i was 16 and just starting "Dont call yourself a engineer kid, because you are training to be a toolmaker. And they are a class above"

Osimabu

iTrader: (2)

If I were you, I'd perhaps consider training as a plumber. It's a job where, despite the recession, you'll always have work because things go wrong in people's houses and they have no choice but to get them repaired. The same can't be said for some other trades which are 'nice to have' rather than 'got to have' disciplines (plasterers, tilers, carpenters, painters and decorators, etc).

You can make a reasonable living in plumbing and once you're ready, if you want to add some credibility to your business, apply to join the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) which will help give your customers confidence that you're not just some cowboy.

If you do go down the plumbing route, make sure your read and comply with every clause of your public liability insurance for the use of heat, because if you don't, it could lead to disaster.

I hope this is of interest.

Rob Day

iTrader: (78)

Cheers all, some very interesting and useful info above.

Rob

davegtt

An engineer - Latin = Ingeniare = "to contrive, devise"

David Lock

Yep I wondered about that too. Can you double up as a registered gas engineer as well? Can't be that hard to understand how boilers work surely. As long as you can talk a lot and drink gallons of tea

dl

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Shame the salary didn't/doesn't reflect that

PaulC72

Did I miss it, what do you do in engineering?

c_maguire

Plumber or electrician based on your previous experience.
I would go plumber because, as already said, water always wants to leak and so demand is always there for repair if no install work is available. And electricity is dangerous, water usually isn't.

As for the 'engineer' definitions, the dictionary says 'a person who designs, builds or maintains engines, machines or structures'. So although somebody who rolls up to fix your washing machine or photocopier might be pushing it a bit, if you have a printing press (heavy machinery) then a service engineer is not mis-representing himself.

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

I know a plumber who runs his own plumbing business and has another person working for him, and they both seem to be doing very well for themselves. They are very skilled though and know exactly what they're doing.

500

I don't drink tea or coffee, nor do I talk a lot.

How boilers work isn't hard either but the amount of RGIs that can't diagnose simple system faults is very high.

There are also a lot of RGIs that can't design a system properly, most just guess the radiator sizes rather than do a proper heat loss calculation. This is not good for efficiency.

Osimabu

iTrader: (2)

Whichever trade you go for, register as a Limited Company, because that way, if you do have a disaster for which you end up personally liable, all they can go after is your business, not your personal assets.

DYK

An old mate of mine,his brother has been a plumber for years,basically since leaving school/college,always done quite well out of it.I know he was working for the council for sometime,not sure if he still does but is still plumbing anyhow and never known for him to be out of work..

Chip

A lot of the engineering grads I see are more adept at pushing a pen around than putting a nut on a bolt which is all well and good if they know how to put the nut on, but most of them don't.

What do they teach them in Uni's these days?

Chip

A lot of the engineering grads I see are more adept at pushing a pen around than putting a nut on a bolt which is all well and good if they know how to put the nut on, but most of them don't.

What do they teach them in Uni's these days?

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

How to choose the correct nut and bolt to use in that particular application.

That's the main difference between an engineer (in the correct sense of the word) and a technician or operator. The engineer is the person who is able to analyse and understand the loads to which the nut and bolt will be subjected in service, and based on that information can choose the proper size, material and tightening torque.

A technician, on the other hand, is likely to have had much more hands-on practice at actually doing up nuts and bolts, and would be the person to call upon if access is tight, joining the two is awkward and a greater degree of mechanical dexterity is required.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Andy has it bang on again.

Chip

Yes I suppose so. The point I should have made is that I nearly always find that those who have worked their way up through ranks and have a mechanical background and have then gone on to get a degree rather than have just attended uni seem to have a better grasp of how things work and are therefore better at what they do.

I don't have an engineering degree but am more mechanically and technically minded than a lot of the engineers that I see some of whom have not got a clue.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

So, someone with a degree and experience is more capable than someone who has a degree but no experience? I doubt you'll get too many people arguing with you over that one.

What I'm getting at, though, is that experience isn't a substitute for a degree. It can't be; experience teaches you how to recognise and solve problems that are like ones you've seen before, but only a sound understanding of the underlying science can prepare someone for problems that they've not seen before.