Starting Apprenticeship next week?!!?

Panda General

Hey all,
So i am starting an apprenticeship next week as an electrician after a long and tedious search, i may be mad also but hey i need to do something with my life! was just wondering if any current electricians or past apprentice's have any advice for me? do's and don'ts and what to look out for.....
any tips and what to expect in the apprenticeship??


Any advice or tips/feedback is helpful....Thanks!

CrinkElite

Don't lick the plug socket!

Outkast_IRE

Im from a plumbing trade myself but best advice i can give ya is work hard, keep the head down.

if your not sure about something ask , even if you asked it before ask it again, a good employer/boss will not mind telling you or showing you how to properly do a job.

Take pride in your work , whatever job you get asked to do , do it neatly and to the best of your ability, its a nice feeling when it all comes together correctly at the end of the job.

Also take your off the job phases in the ITs and training centers seriously, having good exam results and attendance stands to you. As you can get merits etc on exams.

Your at the start now but remember that with a trade you can go on as far as you want with the learning ...... im a qualified plumber with a few certs in short courses and am now doing a degree in building services engineering the upskilling only stops when you want it to.

puzzle factory

when some one sends you to the stores for a long stand, there messing with you.

puzzle factory

also great advice from Outkast_IRE above.

HoggyRS

Good luck with it kid! I'm about 5 months into an E&I apprenticeship myself, started late as im 23, best thing i ever done. Just never get caught with your hands in your pockets and always look busy and ul be grand haha!

Bruthal

Panda General wrote: »

Hey all,
So i am starting an apprenticeship next week as an electrician after a long and tedious search, i may be mad also but hey i need to do something with my life! was just wondering if any current electricians or past apprentice's have any advice for me? do's and don'ts and what to look out for.....
any tips and what to expect in the apprenticeship??


Any advice or tips/feedback is helpful....Thanks!

Id second HoggyRS about the hands and pockets:)

And try to understand rather than just remember stuff was my method, but everyone is different of course.

m.j.w

Part time courses are good to do during your apprenticeship, maybe at the end of 2nd or 3rd year you could look at plc course, instrumentation course.

Dufftronic

i was 26 when i started my electrical apprenticeship and like the advice of outkast_ire keep the head down and ask lots of questions from your boss and new work colleagues. There'll always be time for messin around but when you're on block release don't act the cock. Listen in class and study when you need it. I'll never forget when i was in phase 6 there were still about 5 guys in my class who thought it'd be great craic going to the students union bar every lunchtime. They didn't pass their exams... the dickheads.

while i had to move abroad after my time to get work, i love it over here and an irish electrical apprenticeship is just about the best there is. I know about 5 times what the english lads know.

best of luck

Panda General

HoggyRS wrote: »

Good luck with it kid! I'm about 5 months into an E&I apprenticeship myself, started late as im 23, best thing i ever done. Just never get caught with your hands in your pockets and always look busy and ul be grand haha!

yea plan to keep the head down and learn everything i can...cheers
best of luck with the rest of your apprenticeship!

Dufftronic wrote: »

i was 26 when i started my electrical apprenticeship and like the advice of outkast_ire keep the head down and ask lots of questions from your boss and new work colleagues. There'll always be time for messin around but when you're on block release don't act the cock. Listen in class and study when you need it. I'll never forget when i was in phase 6 there were still about 5 guys in my class who thought it'd be great craic going to the students union bar every lunchtime. They didn't pass their exams... the dickheads.


while i had to move abroad after my time to get work, i love it over here and an irish electrical apprenticeship is just about the best there is. I know about 5 times what the english lads know.

best of luck

yea i'll be taking this seriously no messing about and all......study study study!! Thanks

m.j.w wrote: »

Part time courses are good to do during your apprenticeship, maybe at the end of 2nd or 3rd year you could look at plc course, instrumentation course.

yea was thinking of that must look into it when the time comes up..cheers

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

Im from a plumbing trade myself but best advice i can give ya is work hard, keep the head down.

if your not sure about something ask , even if you asked it before ask it again, a good employer/boss will not mind telling you or showing you how to properly do a job.

Take pride in your work , whatever job you get asked to do , do it neatly and to the best of your ability, its a nice feeling when it all comes together correctly at the end of the job.

Also take your off the job phases in the ITs and training centers seriously, having good exam results and attendance stands to you. As you can get merits etc on exams.

Your at the start now but remember that with a trade you can go on as far as you want with the learning ...... im a qualified plumber with a few certs in short courses and am now doing a degree in building services engineering the upskilling only stops when you want it to.

good advice outkast_ire thanks for that !

Just An Opinion

Congrats Panda persistence paid off well done and good luck with it. Once your registered you shouldn't be waiting long for your first block release in phase 2 I would imagine. Not like the nearly 2 year back log of the mid 00's anyway.

What company you starting with?

m.j.w

Just An Opinion wrote: »

Congrats Panda persistence paid off well done and good luck with it. Once your registered you shouldn't be waiting long for your first block release in phase 2 I would imagine. Not like the nearly 2 year back log of the mid 00's anyway.

What company you starting with?

yea the last couple of first years in our place get called after about 6 months. took me a year and a half to get to phase 2!

hufpc8w3adnk65

Watch EVERYTHING!If your helping an electrician say fit lights etc watch the order he does things in and tools he needs.For example it might be plyers too strip cables.Then junction box.Then connecters then phase tester too screw connectors closed.

So when ye move onto light 2 you know the order is
Plyers
Junction box
connectors
Screwdriver
Have these items ready in your hand before the electrician needs too ask for them.

Also i think in Electric's your tools are everything.Nothing worse then not having the right size screwdriver too fit a terminal (too small you wreck the screw or too big you break the terminal)or a blunt snips that you need too wiggle too cut some 6sq.
A good plyers, snip's and set of quaility screwdrivers (wiha are my fav's) will get you started!
Id ask your boss then after a few months can you get tool's from the wholesaler on his account and when he gets the bill you pay him back (less the VAT) and start picking up 1r2 things a month as you go along

Also a good meter is handy as sometimes phase testers arent realiable i use one of this for day too tests
http://www.fluke.com/fluke/ieen/Clamp-Meters/Fluke-323-True-rms-Clamp-Meter.htm?PID=74603

dpofloinn

Keep a small notebook and a pencil in your pocket and write down notes for yourself such as standard measurements,what type of cable is used for things in case you find yourself working alone for some reason at least you will have a reference point to work with,but most importantly ask a question 100 times if you are unsure about anything and never get caught with your hands in your pockets or say you have nothing to do

meercat

congratulations

cant add much to the advise you have already received
be nice to everybody(people will remember you)

good luck with your career
remember ,it can take you as far as you want it to

Davy

Use a cable strippers from the start rather than a pliers, then you will get so used to it, you will be as quick as using a pliers without damaging strands.

hufpc8w3adnk65

Davy wrote: »

Use a cable strippers from the start rather than a pliers, then you will get so used to it, you will be as quick as using a pliers without damaging strands.

One thing i hate about a stripper's is if you are double back cores its a pain too swap from strippers too pliers



Also @OP Never EVER take any ones word that a cable is dead with out checking first your self.Many a good plier's or snip's was ruined that way ha ha!

Bruthal

MrMac84 wrote: »

Also @OP Never EVER take any ones word that a cable is dead with out checking first your self.Many a good plier's or snip's was ruined that way ha ha!

Use the fella`s snips that said it was dead.

Just An Opinion

m.j.w wrote: »

yea the last couple of first years in our place get called after about 6 months. took me a year and a half to get to phase 2!

Same as myself, I was a third year coming out of phase 2.

Panda General

MrMac84 wrote: »

Watch EVERYTHING!If your helping an electrician say fit lights etc watch the order he does things in and tools he needs.For example it might be plyers too strip cables.Then junction box.Then connecters then phase tester too screw connectors closed.

So when ye move onto light 2 you know the order is
Plyers
Junction box
connectors
Screwdriver
Have these items ready in your hand before the electrician needs too ask for them.

Also i think in Electric's your tools are everything.Nothing worse then not having the right size screwdriver too fit a terminal (too small you wreck the screw or too big you break the terminal)or a blunt snips that you need too wiggle too cut some 6sq.
A good plyers, snip's and set of quaility screwdrivers (wiha are my fav's) will get you started!
Id ask your boss then after a few months can you get tool's from the wholesaler on his account and when he gets the bill you pay him back (less the VAT) and start picking up 1r2 things a month as you go along

Also a good meter is handy as sometimes phase testers arent realiable i use one of this for day too tests
http://www.fluke.com/fluke/ieen/Clamp-Meters/Fluke-323-True-rms-Clamp-Meter.htm?PID=74603

dpofloinn wrote: »

Keep a small notebook and a pencil in your pocket and write down notes for yourself such as standard measurements,what type of cable is used for things in case you find yourself working alone for some reason at least you will have a reference point to work with,but most importantly ask a question 100 times if you are unsure about anything and never get caught with your hands in your pockets or say you have nothing to do

Cheers for the advice lads much appreciated and to everyone else as-well, feel more confident now when i go in now with all the advice.....:D

Panda General

m.j.w wrote: »

yea the last couple of first years in our place get called after about 6 months. took me a year and a half to get to phase 2!

Why did it take so long for you to get to phase 2?

hufpc8w3adnk65

Panda General wrote: »

Why did it take so long for you to get to phase 2?

Im guessing like with us all who done our time during the 00's in the boom that there was a LONG waiting list.I was 17 months before i got called!

Panda General

MrMac84 wrote: »

Im guessing like with us all who done our time during the 00's in the boom that there was a LONG waiting list.I was 17 months before i got called!

jesus lets hope i'll not be waiting that long...i''l go mad...

HoggyRS

Panda General wrote: »

jesus lets hope i'll not be waiting that long...i''l go mad...

I doubt it man, classes are pretty small these days. Was at an apprentice presentation yoke in fás a few weeks ago for newly registered apprentices (i was working 3 ish months before being registered) across all trades in the cork area. About 50 lads there and they reckoned it was the biggest group they'd had in a long time.

el diablo

Don't forget the foreman's blueberry muffin at the 10AM break.