Looking to become a gas engineer - advice needed

[Unregistered]

Hi everyone,

I am looking to become a gas engineer. I am 23 so i have missed the boat for apprenticeships. I am sick of my job working in finance and want to retrain. Kier north tyneside do a course which costs £5,500 for 3 months. After this will i have all quals necessary to work as a gas engineer? Is it just my ACS i need to do? 8 weeks work experience hands on doesnt seem long enough to me. I dont want to spend a large sum of money to be left under qualified and unable to get a job in the field.

 

[Ch4 plumbing]

Who told you you've missed the boat on apprenticeships? I started mine when I was 22 and had the first two years funded then had to get the second two funded by the firm I worked for.

 

[julesverne]

24 and under for apprenticeships IIRC

 

[jtsplumbing]

£5,500 for 12 weeks, then the cost of doing ACS courses + other things you will require , looking at a minimum spend of £10,000 , with no experience , don't want to put you off but you will be competing for jobs against guys with years of working in the gas industry, Do you have any knowledge of what the job entails ? Just because you are fed-up of your currant position is a poor reason for wanting to get into the gas industry ! What is your main reason for wanting to work with gas ?

 

[shyguy2005]

What is your main reason for wanting to work with gas ?

Prob seen you avatar picture and thought..... Yep I want one of them! Lol

 

[jtsplumbing]

Prob seen you avatar picture and thought..... Yep I want one of them! Lol

Only took 40 years, so you have a long way to go !!

 

[cr0ft]

Best advice I can give you is get qualified as a plumber first and build up a good few years of experience before hand. £5,500 will get you qualified on paper. In practise, you won't have a clue and you will be one of many people out there who doesn't have a clue what they are doing.

When you go into customer's houses to quote, it will be obvious you don't know your stuff and someone like one of the regulars on this forum will get the job over you every time. I think you will struggle to gain employment coming off of one of these 'fast track' courses.

With a good 5 years or so of experience behind you as a plumber you will make a much better gas fitter and will be able to fit boilers other than combi boilers and actually understand how the complete system works.

 

[Millsy 82]

There's plenty of posts like this try a search and it will bring them all up.

3 months won't give you any experience. I did a 4 year apprenticeship and after that the learning curve was still extremely steep.

Why is it that you want to become a gas engineer?

If it's for the money then remember that there are a lot of people out there that do this job for peanuts and all the customer sees is the fact they are x amount cheaper!

Give it 10 years in the trade (or most trades in fact) your body will be pretty much ruined! I'm 33 and my left knee has virtually had it, after a long day my back turns stiff so I can hardly move.

If you do get a job be prepared to work for minimum wage for a few years and then it will gradually increase with experience.

And then most of all you have the customers that think you should not be earning any more than £10.00 an hour and should work all hours that God sends just so they do not have to be inconvenienced.

Apart from that it isn't too bad a job to be in.

 

[gizmolang]

I started my gas training at 25 i could not afford to do a apprenticeship it just wouldnt pay the bills i did a fast track course then worked for free during the day to get experience and worked nights to pay the mortgage its possible to do it if you really want it, hard to get into but once your in you wont regret it good luck.

 

[Unregistered]

I second that about the learning curve. I have been doing plumbing and heating for the last 7 years. I got my Gas last year and all I can say is even with loads of experience the learning curve was almost vertical. It's a whole different ballgame when you have been doing it for years let alone 8 weeks!!

 

[KingDoey]

I second that about the learning curve. I have been doing plumbing and heating for the last 7 years. I got my Gas last year and all I can say is even with loads of experience the learning curve was almost vertical. It's a whole different ballgame when you have been doing it for years let alone 8 weeks!!


Edit. Double post don't know what happened there!

 

[Rckape]

I was a plumber for 12 years before I took my gas. It's definitely the right way to go.

Steer clear of the ridiculously priced 'all in one' instant gas engineer courses! The only thing they help is the training providers bank balance.

 

[Boilerbud]

:90:Everybody that wants to retrain wants to be a plumber or electrician. Electrician won't flood someones house, cause gas leaks/Explosion or CO poisining/death, generally earn same or more than plumber. Shortage of Diesel mechanics at the Moment and pays better than plumber or electrician.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

:90:Everybody that wants to retrain wants to be a plumber or electrician. Electrician won't flood someones house, cause gas leaks/Explosion or CO poisining/death, generally earn same or more than plumber. Shortage of Diesel mechanics at the Moment and pays better than plumber or electrician.

no but they can cause fires and kill people, any trade has its ups and downs