Okay, another career change thread so I’ll try and be brief. If anyone works in the industry I’d be glad to hear from you.

Early 30’s/misspent youth/dead end jobs/long string of redundancies/hurtling towards middle age with no money and no prospects.

Yesterday I found myself at an open day at a local college asking about their engineering courses. The first thing I did when I left school was an engineering GNVQ which involved lots of sheet metal work, engineering drawings, cutting, gas and mig welding etc.. It was all really hands on, interesting stuff and I enjoyed it. But it was only the first half of a traineeship laid on by Nissan and it was in preperation for standing on a production line pushing a foot pedal on a spot welder for 9 hours a day. Doing mind numbingly repetitive, brainless, monotonous labour while working shift patterns at the age of 17 scarred me for life and I went back to college to do arty farty stuff.

Now I’m thinking of going back to that kind of designing and fabrication work but wondering what else I could do with it. I don’t really know the industry so not sure what’s out there but willing to travel anywhere for something interesting.

These are the two full time courses they seemed to think would suit me;

Not very specific descriptions and I’m not sure what I could do with the qualifications. They’re both entitled ‘Pre-apprenticeship’ so does that mean I’d only be good for some £90 a week scheme or something? Pretty sure I’d have to do level 3 straight afterwards so we’re looking at two years full time at college which I don’t mind but it has to lead somewhere.

What kind of jobs are out there? Is this the right starting point?

LMI suggests these jobs are moving far east and we are making fewer and fewer things here
PEO is a catch all for engineering [ used to be very low level when i did this but this is 8 years ago – thing standing at a machine pressing a button levels rather than skilled] rather than a specific welder /fabricator qualification
Colleges are sales people ignore a great deal of what they say and ask them what % of people who do their course work in the industry who did not before doing the course

It is shockingly low way less than 50% is my guess.

Mail me if you want something specific but busy today

PS college make you do two years as that gets them the most money and you cannot get funding for the course at your age though you can fund a level 3. Not sure what the minimum guided learning hours is for that course but it is not going to be more than one year- see point above about them being sales people

Youll be in a class room with teenagers, some extremely funny and intresting and some bored as a drilled hole.

Teaching will vary and youll learn things you knew at 18, then there is the problem of getting a job with no experience in a workshop, been there and done it at 35.

Oh and i did a proper apprenticeship,when i was 16, and 4 years, and got paid by my company with great training and learning.

https://www.ukweldingjobs.com/VacancySearch.aspx?ID=56

I was on a welding and fabrication apprenticeship at British Steel. Even though I did all the required work for the NVQ level 3, they couldn’t give me that because you had to serve 4 years doing it. I ended up leaving after another job came up because I was told BS couldn’t guarantee me a job, and without a year’s on-site training (after the 4 years), my qualifications wouldn’t count for much!

In hindsight, I could have got a job if I’d finished my 4 years, but probably only with a small firm doing repetitive tasks, not doing the kind of work I’d have been doing at British Steel.

Those pre-apprenticeship courses you’ve posted must be very basic, especially for yourself who has studied engineering practices before.

Edit – I mean no disrespect to colleges either, but the welding stuff I did on day release was as basic as, especially for those of us who were working 4/5 days a week in an engineering firm’s training centre.

They’re very basic.
Those above are do-able in 10 weeks.
If you’re in any way self motivated, then you’d fly through them and then get bored waiting for the end of the year.
I’d guess that what you’ve done already would be equivalent.
Level 3 (or 4) is a different ball park and it would be well worth pushing the college to let you start there if at all possible.
Sell yourself, your experience, and your previous quals’.

One question, where are you based?

One question, where are you based?

The cultural and employment black hole that is the northeast. Very wiling to go elsewhere, in fact a big part of wanting a new set of qualifications is to facilitate my escape.

These courses do sound basic. Just not sure where else I could start. Yes, I did a similar thing out of school but that was nearly 15 years ago.

Sorry, but I just don’t know anyone local to ask about this stuff. I don’t know anyone who does anything related or I’d be picking their brains.

a minute googling found me this. http://www.specialwelds.com/services/welder-training.asp

for welding (and earning) you need to get coded.

Work out how to get there. the guys at our local training centre are really helpful.

a minute googling found me this. http://www.specialwelds.com/services/welder-training.asp

I’m already aware of a handful of local training centres but waiting for replies to emails. I want to visit them and ask about what they do and about the route into employment. They all seem to be warehouses on dingy industrial estates though, where as the college was big and posh and full of cool stuff. It looked like Gas Monkey Garage. Cool cars and engines everywhere. I went to a car show there a few weeks ago and there was a few local businesses exhibiting stuff (like rally cars and roll cages) that were all connected to the college in some way. Employing students for example.

http://careers.doosanpowersystems.com/careers/TGSAdvancedApprenticeship.aspx

http://www.ecitb.org.uk/apprenticeships/

Bump for anyone that has been busy welding and fabricating.

I’ve heard nothing encouraging about those college courses. With them being ‘pre-apprenticeships’ all they would qualify me to do is get an apprenticeship. Which means I’d be spending two years getting qualified to then go and start from zero anyway. Getting straight onto an apprenticeship is apparently the way to go but finding one if another story. I’m too old for most of them.

Kind of the reverse story for me.

Thinking about going further as the industry is changing. At the moment small fabricators (depending on actual job) don’t require ISO and coded certs for a lot of work.
Large companies will.

I sort of fell into working for a fabricator as a part time fitter, i go out and install/fit items made.
I do the cutting/drilling and prep work, and some of the welding on smaller parts. Bit of a catch22, because i don’t do loads of welding i am not super fast so a lot of what i could do is moved onto others for costing reasons…..but a bit of training and doing more would up my skill set.
Not qualified but gaining experience and confidence and spatter burns 🙂

Watching your thread with interest, to go through the links later.

It’s definitely not my area of expertise, but the course on the right appears too generalised. Just picking up on the ‘electrical wiring’ side of things – I know an electrician or two, and the courses required to become an ‘approved electrician’ go into a lot of detail.

On the welding side, I attended a beginners’ night class year, run by a company which runs training courses for industry. (I had the fanciful notion that I might be able to build a bicycle frame, but after 6 weeks I still wasn’t really able to do anything!) However, it sounds like you have skills and aptitude in that area, so if you can already weld to a decent standard it might be worth finding out what exams you need to sit to become a coded welder, and then attend courses which allow you to (relatively) quickly train to that level. You’ll probably have to pay for these courses, but it might be possible to get a government or local enterprise grant to cover the cost.

Hey sharkattack,

I made a career change from design based office job to fabricator in my early thirties following a couple of redundancies and a spell of unemployment, so it can be done.

I was lucky enough to get on a two week TIG welding course funded through a vocational retraining scheme. I learnt the basics of TIG on the course and got a couple of codings by the end, but then it was a case of practicing loads with my own welder back at home, and making a few things (saw-horse, a small set of steps and some sculptures) to stick in a portfolio/CV to show potential employers I was keen to learn and develop skills.

I then searched the internet for interesting looking fabrication/engineering companies (Googled things like ‘creative fabrication’ ‘bespoke fabrication’ ‘custom engineering’ etc..) where they make a variety of things rather than a production line. It took a while and quite a few unanswered job enquiries but eventually I got a break at a small architectural metalwork place.

The pay was pretty poor but in return they threw me in the deep end and gave me a crash course in fabrication – welding, milling, turning etc.. Mega steep leaning curve, and so different from and office job – theres no ‘undo’ button if something goes wrong, so you have to pay attention and take everything in.

That’s where your age is probably an advantage – you’ve already got some past experience, and if you’re keen to make a career change you’re going to be up for learning new stuff, and that in turn means you should be quick on the uptake, which some of the younger apprentices aren’t.

As an alternative to the formal college course you might consider the following:

1) Firstly, have a look around the Mig Welding Forum – ask the same questions there, hopefully you should get some useful feedback.

2) Try to learn the basics of welding. Attend a short course if possible, or maybe you know someone who could show you (again the Mig welding forum might throw up a few leads). And then if possible a bit of practising in your own time.

3) Search internet for fabrication/engineering companies that you find interesting and contact them stating what you’re after, hopefully with some examples of stuff that you’ve made (may not even be metalwork), to get their attention and show your practical side. Maybe even try to get a few weeks work experience – unpaid in return for welding tuition? Plus you get to see if the work/environment suits you.

4) Alongside stage 2, is self education – there’s loads of information out there both on the internet and in books. Below are some links to some metalworking related websites and books that I have found really useful/interesting.

Metalwork websites:

Mig Welding Forum: http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/ one of the most helpful and friendly forums around.

Welding tips and tricks: http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/ full of useful info, and videos of welding from the welders viewpoint so you can see the techniques/weld puddle.

Tom Lipton – Ox tools: http://oxtool.blogspot.co.uk/ old skool fabricator/machinist/engineer (see his book below and check out his YouTube channel)

Monkey like shiny: http://monkeylikeshiny.blogspot.co.uk/ new skool fabricator/machinist.

Books:

Metalworking sink or swim in the machine shop: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Metalworking-Sink-Swim-Machine-Shop/dp/0831133627

Machine shop trade secrets: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Machine-Shop-Trade-Secrets-Manufacturing/dp/0831134771/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403724994&sr=1-1&keywords=machine+shop+trade+secrets

Sorry for the ramblings, hopefully some of the above is of use, and good luck.

Lastly, there’s a company called Bisca Ltd that do high end architectural metal work, based south of the Yorkshire moors. A couple of months ago they were advertising for a couple of craftsmen/fabricators. It sounded like they didn’t necessarily need time served journeymen but rather individuals who could prove they had a creative/practical bent (through stuff they had made themselves e.g. sculpture, furniture etc) and had a willingness and aptitude to learn their methods. The positions will probably be filled by now but they would still be worth contacting them, see if you can have a chat.

sharkattack – Member

They all seem to be warehouses on dingy industrial estates though, where as the college was big and posh and full of cool stuff. It looked like Gas Monkey Garage. Cool cars and engines everywhere. I went to a car show there a few weeks ago and there was a few local businesses exhibiting stuff (like rally cars and roll cages) that were all connected to the college in some way

Be wary of this nonsense that colleges and universities always do.
When I was looking at universities, they all show you around the engineering workshops and wheel out the facilities and the projects being ‘worked on’.
At Brunel, they showed us the anechoic chamber, the wind tunnels (normal & supersonic), the engine test bays including a Rover gas turbine, a hovercraft that someone was doing as their final year project, various other machines that pull stuff apart etc.

We didn’t use any of it. Well, actually we did but only the Rover gas turbine for an experiment and it was literally a question of turn this dial until that gauge reads X, and note down the value on another gauge etc…

There are plenty of metal fabricators round our way and they all seem busy.
Perhaps look up some local places and give them a ring. Most people in places like this are pretty friendly and happy to chat. They might give you some useful advice about the best path to take and you never know where that might lead.

Sorry for the ramblings, hopefully some of the above is of use, and good luck.

Don’t apologize, that’s amazing thanks! I’ll get through those links today.

There are plenty of metal fabricators round our way and they all seem busy.

I think this is the way to go.

I’ll try and get my foot in the door somewhere local. A bit of Googling brings up loads of local metalwork places. I’ll try to find one that I can visit. I think if I get the opportunity to sit down with someone end explain what I want to do and why I’ll have a much better chance than sending emails. It will be good to just pick someones brains in person as well and get some insider knowledge.

I have been a fabricator for the last twenty years. I’ve been all over the world with this. It’s been great for me. not as good as it was in the glory days, being flown first class to the South Pacific, USA, South East Asia. Back then the women loved us, really the days of champagne and caviar are over now. I sometimes look back on the times i spent with Tom Cruise, Meg Ryan and Kiefer Sutherland, with some real nostalgia. It may not be like that anymore, but with some decent fabrication skills, the things you could have done and the people you could have met are without limit.

I have no idea if it’s of interest but EDF Energy are screaming for people in advance of building Hinkley C power station and there’s been a big investment in engineering training at Bridgwater College in Somerset?

Army metalsmith an option?

Wondering if the op got anywhere with this?