Following a year and a half of an un-successful job search for an I.T position (surprise, suprise!!)I have decided to jump ship and try and re-train myself as an Electrician, I am intending to enroll myself with my local college for a City & Guilds NVQ course Two evenings a week and also intend to go through the yellow pages and start sending off letters to electrical companies enquiring about trainee positions.
Is this the best way of going about it?, how have other people found it getting into the Electronics business? and also I am currently 34 years of age and live in the UK would this be a problem??.
There is a big difference between electrician and an electronics technician. Here in the states you'd make a lot more money as an electrician, especially if you got a masters license and set up shop. If your college educated you'd find being an electrician somewhat unchallenging. My brother is a master electrican - he makes good money, his career is flexible but he spends lots of time in the dirt, climbing things and ripping walls apart. He is gainfully employed. I'm an EE with a masters degree - I'm not, I can empathize with you somewhat.
Both electronics technician and electrician are vocational programs here in the states. You take a 1000-2000 hour course and get a certificate, the schools have placement programs that give you help finding a job - after that your on your way.
Good luck, I know many people in your position here in the states.
Why not look at the structured cable side of it? You know the Software, learn more about the hardware. There are thousands of small businesses who don't have IT people on site, but still require the management of it. I originally started in the security industry, but I too had to become diverse in nature. I'm in the US, but I assume you have small businesses there as well? Start your own business, and help the smaller ones. Just a thought.
Evil Genius Consulting, L.L.C. (of which I am primary shareholder, and overlord) has been in existence now for 1 1/2 years... Soon it will have busted the odds entirely (it is common knowledge, of course, that 90% of new businesses fail within the first two years - which is why no one will give me any loans, naturally - SBA funded, my eye!).
Nowadays, I'm a really unsettling cross between a general technical consultant, a cabling installer, an electronics technician, project manager, drafting person, secretary, gopher,and a remote network/informatioon security administrator/engineer/ high-level policy writer, and a desktop computer technician, to boot.
I'm sure that there's about a kajillion other hats that I wear regularly that I'm forgetting to mention.
I can't imagine ANYTHING not being challenging to do as a small business. it is probably best to start in an area that you know well already, so you'll have resources to do all the emergency learning, mistake fixing, and soul-searching that goes into running a fledgling business
And I'm STILL cackling over the name of the company. I have, however received enough offhand negative comments related to the name, but impacting the actual WORK to convince me to register the DBA "eGenius Consulting," so that I don't wind up getting creamed by pre- (and post-) conceptions.
Yes, it's corny. Isn't that the point?
*SIGH* Why do so few people comprehend humor in marketing?
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.