The news I want to write about concerns my job and future, for the past ten years I have been working as a Landscape gardener and five of those years have been spent self-employed. I did not leave school with the goal of becoming a landscaper but rather a electrician and I did spend time at a local training center while looking for a apprenticeship, the deal was they would put me on a 20 week course which covered electrical and electronic engineering while I looked for a apprenticeship, if i found someone to take me on I would continue past the 20 weeks and be trained in a chosen profession, If I did not find a employer I would be turned out on my arse at the end.
Unfortunately out of the six or eight of us taking part in the 20 week course none of us found a apprenticeship, looking back now I realize it was a terrible time to have been looking for an employer as anyone wanting to take on apprentices would have already taken on people leaving behind very few people.
I did gain some qualifications from my time at the center in electrical testing and wiring so it was not all wasted, I concluded I would need a job to see me over while I looked for a apprenticeship and so I ended up being employed by a local landscape company, what should of been a short stint turned into 10 years in the industry.
Since my visit to Japan last November I started having doubts about this job, whilst staying at a inn run by monks in the mountains I sat down and drew up a list of pro's and con's for being a self employed landscaper and a employed electrician. The list was grossly in favor of being a employed electrician and I started wondering why I had remained a landscaper for so long, I decided I would start doing research about training opportunities for becoming a electrician but would give being a landscaper another chance in the new year to see if I changed my mind.
If I needed any more convincing I wanted to become a electrician the new year provided it. a prolonged winter caused a very quiet start of the year and even through the summer I have noticed a reduction in inquiries. I decided that any chances of remaining a landscaper had gone out the window and I firmly believed retraining was the best option.
A few months ago I stumbled upon Trade skills 4 U and their C&G 2365 course while looking at potential training centers and courses. they offered 16 weeks training for the price of £6995 but I could pay for £4000 using a 24+ loan meaning I would only have to pay about £3000 in cash, the £4000 covered by the loan is re-payed as 9% of anything I earn over £21,000 beyond the year 2016 which seems like a fair deal to me. It is very slimier to a student loan but is tailored towards people such as myself who are looking to cover training courses.
The best part of the course is where the training center is located, It is about 80 miles from where I live so travelling there and back twice a day is out of the question, I do however have a large portion of my fathers family living very close by whom I can stay with for the duration of the course. I don't see this half of my family too often so I am looking forward to spending some more time with them and especially my three younger cousins whom I am very fond of.
Depending how my job hunting goes I would have no complaints about moving closer to them on a permanent basis, The area I live in now is beautiful but I'm somewhat in the styx down here, Theres ocean less than two miles to the south of me, forest to the west and a estuary to the east which adds 15-20 miles onto any journey on the other side, the only civilization is a thin strip along the length of the estuary to the nearest town 15 miles away.
I start training as a electrician on the 13th of January, from then life will become very hard, My ability to earn a living wage will become severely restricted until I can find a employer. On the up side I do hope to post here more regularly from now on, I have two more posts to make after this about the digital clock and one more about Al the robotic arm for later.
Thats it for now and i'll leave you with this, my apologies for the quality.
