corsa - gus
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Registered: 8th Jan 07
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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If you want to go and do a trade, is there an age limit for starting??
At the moment Iam 20 and have just finished my degree however I hate what I'm doing and have decided I would quite like to do a trade. I have been told by a couple of people that you are very unlikely to get an apprenticeship at my age. Is this true? Also what are the wages like in the first year for an apprentice electrican or joiner as those are the two I'm most interested in?
Cheers Gus
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Hammer
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Registered: 11th Feb 04
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Are you not working as a trainee QS mate?
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DannyB
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Registered: 6th Feb 08
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Theres a few people on here that can give you better answers but, ther money is pap until you are fully qualified.Think they also prefer to take on people under 20 for apprenticeships but i could be wrong.
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corsa - gus
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Registered: 8th Jan 07
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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Yes mate, just got my results yesterday. I always had planned on completing the course before doing something else so I have something to fall back on.
I just don't really enjoy what I'm doing and would prefer to be out on site having the banter and no worries rather than being percieved as a pen pushing wank
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Hammer
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Registered: 11th Feb 04
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Fair play, i know there's good money in Quantity Surverying.
If you're willing to go back to earning crap money for 4 years i'd assume it would be hard but not impossible to find someone to take you on at 20!
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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Out of me and hammer and the rest of us that are old enough, including the minted plumber, the QS is the only one with his own flat.
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Planty02
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Registered: 5th Mar 05
Location: Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent
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im in the same boat mate, but I'm 22.
Very difficult after you hit 18 and I'm having no luck what so ever. Its to do with pay and minimum wage I'm told
I'm just about ready to give up and get a job in IT 
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nova_gteuk
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Registered: 15th May 02
Location: South Wales Drives: The Bandwagon
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Wouldnt sa its impossible,my mates doing an apprenticeship in web design and he was 24 when he started it.
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corsa - gus
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Registered: 8th Jan 07
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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Yeh, I know that there is alot of money in the QS side of the industry but there is alot to be said for a bit of personal happiness. I have been doing this job for three years now and I don't like it and tbh, I'm prepared to cut back financially for a couple of years. Money isn't going to be everything for me for the next few years anyway, it would however be nice!!
I can also fall back on my degree in the future if I decide I have made a mistake.
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Hammer
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Registered: 11th Feb 04
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You sound very like myself apart from the fact you actually stuck out your degree to the end
I realised i hated what i was doing even though i knew there was plenty of potential to earn decent money and left, money is definetly not the be all and end all 
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corsa - gus
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Registered: 8th Jan 07
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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What did you do and what do you do now Hammer?
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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I'd rather be slightly unhappy earning loads of money at work than happy as a pig in shite and earning little
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corsa - gus
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Registered: 8th Jan 07
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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quote:
Originally posted by John
I'd rather be slightly unhappy earning loads of money at work than happy as a pig in shite and earning little
I thought this aswell, but trust me its not as easy to do as you may think
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Hammer
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Registered: 11th Feb 04
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quote:
Originally posted by corsa - gus
What did you do and what do you do now Hammer?
Accountancy then Business Law.
Running the admin side of a small mobility company in Falkirk just now and i'll hopefully be going to start offshore training in September doing the same thing as Colin off here, fingers crossed!
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corsa - gus
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Registered: 8th Jan 07
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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Theres really good money in off-shore work isn't there. I don't think it would be my cup of tea tbh, I would miss my mums cooking
Accountancy is similar in some ways to being a QS. All my mates say I'm a brickie accountant
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Hammer
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Registered: 11th Feb 04
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I can relate to the boredom factor then it would literally drive me cuckoo to do the same tedious shit in an office everyday.
Yip there's decent money off shore, if i had went for this ECITB course at 16 i would have been earning 40k+ at 19 years of age 
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corsa - gus
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Registered: 8th Jan 07
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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Thats good going!!! I would maybe be on similar money in 3/4 years but I would probably top myself before then
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smack
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Registered: 7th Jul 04
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good luck to finding a aprentership mate, i found after you turn over 18 they dont give a fuck about you , due to the governement not helping fund them. i found it impossible to find anything at the age of 20 and am now doing something which is a waste of time
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C2RL R
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Registered: 28th Mar 02
Location: Redcliffe, QLD
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i know of a few people that have been taken on at 25+. people just get lucky i suppose. you could maybe apply for a job as an electricians mate, that way you dont need qualifications but you can learn the job. then you can go to college in your own time which should be easy as you'll already know most of the job.
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NanaFied
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Registered: 25th Nov 07
Location: Scotland
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I know the feeling, I left school asap and now regret it, Shitty job and a shitty car
Now looking for an apprenticeship in anything at all just to earn some decent money, Even more depressing living in the back of beyond and meaning we have to travel which is royally G A S H
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ianic SRi
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Registered: 12th Apr 08
Location: Newark/Nottingham
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i want to be an electrician and this is what i have found out so far (i am 18 btw) so still a little late
government will fund you till your 19.
companies are reluctant to take me on as an apprentice due to my age
average starting pay as an apprentice for an electrician up here is £120 per week
i have been offered a job as an electricians mate (basically an older apprentice) but i have to pay my college fee's of £750 (i am under 19 so not a problem)
good thing about not being an apprentice (mate instead) is i get national minimum wage or higher (which obviously means more money)
some companies would prefer to take me on at 18 due to health and safety laws.
many comanyies aren't taking on now anyway, work is starting to dry up so instead of trying to employ apprentices there now trying to keep the lads they've got.
my advice, if you have enough money, move to Australia, they'll take you on at 50 out there, they just want skilled tradesman. Plus cost and quality of living out there is soooo much better.
i may be moving to austrlia on july 19th so watch this space
hope thats helped you out mate lol
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corsa - gus
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Registered: 8th Jan 07
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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I'm kinda hoping the fact that I already have a degree shows I have a reasonably sensible head on my shoulders so would be a more appealing employee than some little shit thats just left school. Heres hoping anyway
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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If you tell them you have a degree and go for an apprenticeship i'd think they'd say no to you.
I'd be thinking he's got a degree, could go out and earn some decent money just now but is coming here to earn minimum wage for 4 years, something a bit fishy.
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ianic SRi
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Registered: 12th Apr 08
Location: Newark/Nottingham
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quote:
Originally posted by corsa - gus
I'm kinda hoping the fact that I already have a degree shows I have a reasonably sensible head on my shoulders so would be a more appealing employee than some little shit thats just left school. Heres hoping anyway
true mate, i have very good GCSE's considering half the people that are entering the trade. A levels haven't gone quite as well though
I've rang probrably 60 companies up asking them for a job and only 1 has said there interested and willing to give me a trial in September.
I'm getting so many setbacks its really disheartening and depressing, got nothing to do with my day times now apart from drink and be on. Got no income whatsoever and no car atm. Really getting me down
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Ian W
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Registered: 8th Nov 03
Location: Wirral, Merseyside
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I was working in a garage until I was 20 when I decided to go in to IT to make more money, I had no formal qualifications but I had the knowlesge.
I started my IT apprentiship at 21 in a good company with a sound IT manager who just let me have a crack at anything I thought I could handle.
I was on awful money and was having to work a second job but it paid off now as im 25 and earning pretty decent money as an IT manager.
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