What's the best Trade to get into???

evand said:
Life's what you make it. Not much good your hubbie complaining about pay or conditions. Just get on with it.
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Sheesh, isn't that what my Hubby did. By doing an MBA it opened up a whole new world.
Hi did get his MBA tho, good stuff. Even tho i think its not much use myself, but thats just my opinion and i've mad a lot of money in business without one.
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Of course it wouldn't be much use if you want to be an electrician, but if you want more than that, then, yes, it has been worth it.

And sure there are better paying professions. But not a lot for the average person that leaves school in year 10, is good with their hands, likes working outdoors and wants to make ago of their life and become a trades person.
If you are taking the average person, which clearly you are not as you are NOT the average sparky. Here are the facts of what the AVERAGE sparky earns.

http://www.workplace.gov.au/ims/NSW/Awards/12/01/92/support/AN120192_TOC_EX.htm

This is the current award. Pretty dismal if you ask me. Out of that line up, the best paid is the Electronics Tradesman @ $17.39 per hour. Now, you can earn more if you want to work all weekend AND there are plenty who pay above the award too, but you won't get many that pay double the award.

I will add that Hubby left school in year 10 to do his apprenticeship. He was VERY good at it & promoted to foreman at an early age. He earnt GOOD money for an electrician as every employer paid more than the award, but wanted better, so he did Uni as a mature age student & now earns more than double what he would have been earning as an electrical foreman, AND he only works 5 days per week.

He could have become a contractor, but decided that he would put his talent elsewhere. These days he is a project manager for a large corporate company. He travels around to different sites as well as spending time at the office. It is a job he is good at and one that he enjoys.
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hi flatlinerz
do a trade you like
I was and still am a electrical and electronic engineer 5 year appreticeship. first year full 6 weeks each trade and still use some of those I learnt.
I own a national food service company that does service on commercial catering equipment and I set it up.
and most of my techs are electricians
and they get paid very well some run there own business and subcontract.
the main thing is to do a trade you like and you find is enjoyable for you. and the money comes second
as all trades make money the best make money of others while you run and make sure they do a good job.
I like to sleep well at night in that if all my things came crashing down tomorrow.
I could walk out and go to about 15 or 20 companies and start tomorrow on a site in a company or start a service company all over again with not alot of sweat.
for me service companies are where the money is and have 30 warranty 70% out of warranty charges and the companies hold parts not you.

I hope you well there is so many to think about but remember you excell best when you do something you like.
 
Which goes back to my point about being just an electrician is not for everybody. And obviously not your hubby, otherwise he wouldn't have done his MBA.

As fas as being an average person, I just changed the way i looked at my business from being an electrician to being a business owner who just happened to own an electrical business. Thats all it took for it to take off and is the reason why most small businesses struggle.

And i know you don't believe those award rates on the workplace site. Google can give the wrong answers sometimes.

Anyway, good on your hubby. If he has the discipline to go from being an electrician to doing an MBA as a mature age student, i think he can achieve anything he likes.

skater said:
Sheesh, isn't that what my Hubby did. By doing an MBA it opened up a whole new world. Of course it wouldn't be much use if you want to be an electrician, but if you want more than that, then, yes, it has been worth it.

If you are taking the average person, which clearly you are not as you are NOT the average sparky. Here are the facts of what the AVERAGE sparky earns.

http://www.workplace.gov.au/ims/NSW/Awards/12/01/92/support/AN120192_TOC_EX.htm

This is the current award. Pretty dismal if you ask me. Out of that line up, the best paid is the Electronics Tradesman @ $17.39 per hour. Now, you can earn more if you want to work all weekend AND there are plenty who pay above the award too, but you won't get many that pay double the award.

I will add that Hubby left school in year 10 to do his apprenticeship. He was VERY good at it & promoted to foreman at an early age. He earnt GOOD money for an electrician as every employer paid more than the award, but wanted better, so he did Uni as a mature age student & now earns more than double what he would have been earning as an electrical foreman, AND he only works 5 days per week.

He could have become a contractor, but decided that he would put his talent elsewhere. These days he is a project manager for a large corporate company. He travels around to different sites as well as spending time at the office. It is a job he is good at and one that he enjoys.
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OMG, $17.39/hr!!!!!!!!!:eek:

I don't know if any electrician would actually earn so little in real life (?), but i suppose if it's true, then it goes to show how overpaid most other professions are.
 
Here in Perth two years ago, the black market weekend cash rate for an electrician who had just graduated was $25 an hour.

Of course, not that I would have hired him......:eek:
 
Those are the rates for just an average Electrical Fitter in NSW. Of course there are plenty of places that earn much better than that. The mining sector especially.

I think the important thing to remember is to do something you enjoy and that you are good at. If that is a trade & you can rise above the masses that are happy on the average, well and good. Or if it is a profession that requires further education, that's good too. BUT do not make the mistake of doing a trade just because you think you will earn a good wage, because maybe you won't. Maybe your not disiplined enough, or motivated, or are just not good with your hands. At the end of the day if it is something that you love and are good at, whatever your choice, you will do better than the average man that takes up that same line of work.
 
[QUOTE.... At the end of the day if it is something that you love and are good at, whatever your choice, you will do better than the average man that takes up that same line of work.[/QUOTE]

Couldn't agree more skater. You need to choose work in life that has some meaning for you. It would be very hard to work just for the pay. There has to be some intrinsic enjoyment in work.
 
Ever fitter I've known that's talked about if they could start over again has said they wish they chose an electrical apprenticeship. This is all industrial though, which does have a broad range of different fields in its self HV installs, building maintenance, food and packaging industry, instrumentation, automation, mining, construction, commercial installs - the list goes on.

Of course the domestic side is pretty crap crawling around in small spaces, hot summers etc, so maybe steer clear of that... In saying that, I have some hard working mates that own their own businesses and do pretty well.... I'll just be sticking to maintenance.. a little slow at times, but lets me cruise on here :)
 
If I had my time again I would;

Do a trade doesnt really matter which one, try and get a mixture of residential and commercial work.

Look and watch, ask questions all the time about what is going on around you and pick up as much as you can.

Do your builder licence after completeing trade.

Get a job in the office of a developer doing estimating / scheduling, planning etc...

If you have the drive start up your company, if not work full time and on the side build your own smaller projects using all the contacts you have made.
 
Chomp said:
If I had my time again I would;

Do a trade doesnt really matter which one, try and get a mixture of residential and commercial work.

Look and watch, ask questions all the time about what is going on around you and pick up as much as you can.

Do your builder licence after completeing trade.

Get a job in the office of a developer doing estimating / scheduling, planning etc...

If you have the drive start up your company, if not work full time and on the side build your own smaller projects using all the contacts you have made.
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have you worked for a planning company or a builder?

trust me, i would rather be fixing colorbond to a steel roof in a thunderstorm than work in that environment again.
 
There are lots of mature age people starting apprenticeships, which is a wonderful thing I think.

In fact, I thought my 15 (nearly 16) year old son may struggle to get an apprenticeship because it is hard to be competitive against someone with more experience/ maturity.

However, he arranged a week of work experience with a local plumber and was offered a plumbing and gas fitting apprenticeship straight away. Just what I hoped for him. A nice local / family business. Really exciting times around here :D
 
If you have a carpenter trade you can make money buying decrepit properties and renovating them. My mate does that in NZ. I am envious because i dont have a trades background and can only do superficial renovations.
 
I'm not aware of any courses that need to be done before an apprenticeship other than ones from the actual employer when applying. If you go through a small employer there probably wouldn't be one.

Even if there is a test it would be a breeze as trade courses a very hard to fail. Believe me I know some very stupid electricians (and a couple smart ones)
 
Blue Card! said:
have you worked for a planning company or a builder?

trust me, i would rather be fixing colorbond to a steel roof in a thunderstorm than work in that environment again.
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Yeah , I'm working as an estimator for a company doing a mixture of commercial and residential.

I only spent 15 yrs on the tools but trust me I would rather be doing this?
 
I've got the test next friday to get into the pre-app I hope I pass but the test looks pretty hard...you gotta know transposing equations, SOH CAH TOA, bodmas
 
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