Starting an apprenticeship

Paul Aaron x

Hi, I'm starting an electrical apprenticeship next week and I'm wondering what the first year of work will involve? thanks

2011

Paul Aaron x wrote: »

Hi, I'm starting an electrical apprenticeship next week and I'm wondering what the first year of work will involve? thanks

What type of work does the electrical contractor do (domestic, industrial, maintenance etc..) ?

scudo2

Paul Aaron x wrote: »

Hi, I'm starting an electrical apprenticeship next week and I'm wondering what the first year of work will involve? thanks

Going to the shop for:
Elbow grease
Bubble for a spirit level
A long wait.


Congratulations and best of luck with your apprenticeship. Stick to it.

Paul Aaron x

2011 wrote: »

What type of work does the electrical contractor do (domestic, industrial, maintenance etc..) ?

Its industrial, working on new Microsoft offices as far as I know.

Paul Aaron x

scudo2 wrote: »

Going to the shop for:
Elbow grease
Bubble for a spirit level
A long wait.


Congratulations and best of luck with your apprenticeship. Stick to it.

Haha! Thank you

D_turbo

Runngn around For Other Sparks.
Doing containment, Tray, Trunking, Conduit.

Cutting Strut etc.

Mine incuded a lot of tidying containers etc aswell...Crap really.

Diggerdunne

if its a big contractor you may spend a lot of time standing around watching your spark work. It will depend on your sparks if he lets ya bend conduit or do offsets in trunkin and tray. You could end up pulling in cables for your first year, all depends on the site and company... All really depends on site, company size and luck....

Paul Aaron x

Thanks for the info just wanted to know what I was in for not to be completely useless, thanks!

Paul Aaron x

Also just wanted to ask what tools I'd need got a 14 peice electrical set to start wire cutters,pliers,flatheads,screwdrivers phase testers anything else I should pick up?

Par1

Congratulations on your first day. Id advise to have workboots gloves and a good lunch. Dont worry about anything else as you will soon find out what you need. Im only suggesting to maybe get a lend of the PPE gear for now as your employer will more than likely provide you with yours. You will probably only require a pliers or snips for now as you will not do much technical stuff so you will not need hand tools. If your employer is decent then he will lend you some of his tools as he generally will have a couple of spare tools.

Finally dont be too worried about what you 'Need to know' as you are only starting out so therefore you dont need to know anything technical at this stage but you are expected to learn. Ask questions as thats how you learn and dont try to impress anyone by taking silly risks - if you see any exposed wires then keep your distance WELL AWAY FROM THEM. Theres lots or people on here that can help you out along the way so feel free to shout if you need future advice....Good Luck!!

Paul Aaron x

Par1 wrote: »

Congratulations on your first day. Id advise to have workboots gloves and a good lunch. Dont worry about anything else as you will soon find out what you need. Im only suggesting to maybe get a lend of the PPE gear for now as your employer will more than likely provide you with yours. You will probably only require a pliers or snips for now as you will not do much technical stuff so you will not need hand tools. If your employer is decent then he will lend you some of his tools as he generally will have a couple of spare tools.

Finally dont be too worried about what you 'Need to know' as you are only starting out so therefore you dont need to know anything technical at this stage but you are expected to learn. Ask questions as thats how you learn and dont try to impress anyone by taking silly risks - if you see any exposed wires then keep your distance WELL AWAY FROM THEM. Theres lots or people on here that can help you out along the way so feel free to shout if you need future advice....Good Luck!!

Got all my PPE gear sorted out employer said its there for me to collect, thanks I was half expecting to be thrown in the deep end expected to know stuff but feel better now haha! Thanks for the help and I'm sure I'll ask a few questions in the future.

Sir Arthur Daley

A head torch be a very handy piece of kit, a multimeter be no harm to invest in. And the old favourite the persuader is a must.

Par1

Paul Aaron x wrote: »

Got all my PPE gear sorted out employer said its there for me to collect, thanks I was half expecting to be thrown in the deep end expected to know stuff but feel better now haha! Thanks for the help and I'm sure I'll ask a few questions in the future.

No problem..get your first few weeks under your belt and you will be grand, again dont waste money on tools for now - see what you need first then come on here and ask for recommendations about brands/quality etc

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Sir Arthur Daley wrote: »

A head torch be a very handy piece of kit, a multimeter be no harm to invest in. And the old favourite the persuader is a must.

Clown! Multimeter on day one..

I'd bring a measuring tape and pencil, that's it. Buy the rest of your tools each week. Start with a hacksaw and screwdrivers, and a spirit level. Snips, pliers, cable strippers after. Best of luck.

Sir Arthur Daley

The Cunning Linguist wrote: »

Clown! Multimeter on day one..

Why not it wont go out of date, it will show that the op is keen to learn, he can be given basic continuity tests to do etc. A middle of the road multi meter is not expensive.

Bpmull

A few markers you'll appreciate them for all the conduit, tray trunking pencil is crap for marking that kind of stuff. Other than that I'd say measuring tape, screwdrivers, pliers and snips, a good investment would be a pen tester the likes of the fluke one is good it will save you a few shocks. Mini spirit level handy for when your mounting boxes and doing conduit. Pad saw for cutting plasterboard.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Sir Arthur Daley wrote: »

Why not..

Because he's a first year apprentice and it'll still cost a 1/4 of his weeks wages. He can borrow one if needs be. There's other tools he can get first that he'd get more use out of.

Diggerdunne

yeah go in and get the lie of the land before you purchase anything.. Depending on what u r doing then u can purchase the tools needed as u progress and u will then eventually build up your toolbox... If and when u do get a toolbox, get a good strong one with a good pad lock, tools are expensive enough without lads takin/ borrowing them on ya when ya not in or sick etc...
Ask as many questions as possible, don't do anything your not sure about, always check something is not live, electricity kills, you may only get one chance....

Dufftronic

Some good advice here already. A couple of decent handtools and PPE. But most importantly, a good attitude is a necessity. You don't know anything, you're not expected to know anything so don't pretend you do. If you can wire a plug you're off to a flyer! Best of luck to you. It's a great trade so knuckle down on block release and let the messers mess. Don't get involved with them.

Bpmull

Bpmull wrote: »

A few markers you'll appreciate them for all the conduit, tray trunking pencil is crap for marking that kind of stuff. Other than that I'd say measuring tape, screwdrivers, pliers and snips, a good investment would be a pen tester the likes of the fluke one is good it will save you a few shocks. Mini spirit level handy for when your mounting boxes and doing conduit. Pad saw for cutting plasterboard.

A flat and round file too. You will need them. Later on you might want to consider a spanner set and a box spanner set for assembling strut.

A sound piece of advice I got on my first week as a first year was to buy one good tool a week. I did that (most weeks) and had a fine toolbox after a few months. EBay is great for tools