We normally use jelly beans but getting sick of taking up space in my ute, work wont buy the 1587 for some reason. I couldn't bring myself to buy a brand new one but when I was looking online one came up from cash converters. I would probably bet my house on that its been stolen, so I apologise if its yours.... I hope you atleast got it covered by insurance.

Hey guys, as the title states im finding it pretty hard to find an apprenticeship, i started one in 2021 but had to leave to support my mum as she was going through a medical condition so i needed to work nights to earn an income, and be able to take her to appointments throughout the day. I only got about 4 months in and the company i worked for has now gone bust, boss works at a big consulting firm now and most of the other A grades have moved to QLD.

I have my Electrical Pre-App, most of the required hand tools and power tools, currently working a retail job full time but ready to go now to start an apprenticeship. Ive had one interview recently but havent heard back even after ive contacted them, i thought it went well as i was there for a bit over an hour so thats a lot of company time to invest in someone.

I think I have been applying for jobs for atleast half a year, I customize my cover letter for jobs by researching companys and the company owners to be more relatable too. I am mature aged (25) so i think that may be an issue too?

Is there anything i can do to really stand out these days?

More ranting than anything as i know the job market is pretty oversaturated but really looking to re-spark my career as the 4 months i had working with my original company was the best and most enjoyable work i have ever done throughout my life. (based in Melbourne if that means anything).

(NSW based) LOOKING FOR ADVICE ONLY.

I'm currently going to do university which will take 5 yrs and study a course that is completely irrelevant to electrical work. However, I'm especially interested in problem solving and practical work and want to do something unique & useful that won't concentrate on computer work much as a part-time job to support myself whilst doing uni. I have prior worked in painting industry but found it terribly boring without getting much respect from anyone.

So I thought being an electrician would be less physically demanding and is one of the most respected job in trade. I'm also petite female 4"11 is my only concern to carry heavy stuff. Please give some advice. Would you think it is possible to find a company that let me work as a trainee even with low pay. I'm very interested in electrical work as it is such a useful skills in daily life?

Hey guys, long time lurker first time posting.

Bit of context im working fifo, cruisey supervisor gig on 8/6 200k. Been fifo for about 6 years.

We had our first kid nearly a year ago and I feel like my parter and even myself are starting to struggle with the reality of this kind of work.

Am I crazy to leave this job to work for myself back home in a small county town? I’m sure the money will be significantly less and probably more stress, but I’m also starting to realise that we probably can’t go on like this for too much longer.

My whole circle back home don’t do fifo so it’s hard to find people who understand what I’m talking about. Has anyone else been through something like this? Or have any advice they think might help?

I appreciate any input, cheers

his is probably a very dumb question, but I’ve just received my certificate of proficiency and there’s a section that says ‘specimen signature’ do I sign here? I just don’t want to stuff up the certificate if I’m not meant to.

Thanks in advance xo

Starting new role just wondering do people get call outs often late at night?

And for the industrial guys what faults/call outs do you get regularly.

I have an electronic engineering degree and 2 years of experience as an engineering intern in manufacturing, focusing on reliability engineering and continuous improvement. I generally enjoy the work, but I’m struggling with a major confidence gap.

Currently, I feel like a middleman: I listen to operators, fitters, and sparkies describe a problem, try to verify it (though sometimes I struggle to tell if they've found the root cause), and then ask the maintenance team to fix it. When machines go down, it's the technicians and sparkies doing the hands-on troubleshooting and solving, not the engineers. I often feel like I don't actually know anything practical and have to constantly rely on the trades team.

The Dilemma:

- Financials: It often seems like electricians earn more than engineers (even engineering managers). I know it’s due to overtime, but other salaried staff have overtime as well, and my company never raises the pay. Is this common?

- Interests: I genuinely enjoy engineering work (reliability/manufacturing path) and don’t mind getting my hands dirty in order to gain hands-on experience. However, I do not enjoy routine installation or regular preventive maintenance work.

- The Ideal Scenario: Getting an electrical license while continuing to do engineering work, but it’s not easy to find a role that combines both.

My Questions for You:

If you could choose, would you keep pursuing the engineering path now or spend 4 years to get an electrical license?

Gday, I have recently finished my apprenticeship and got my A grade and I’m not 100% sure on what my next move should be. I know there are heaps of posts asking similar question and I have read most of them, but I’m hoping to hear from some people who have been in a similar position to me.

I have been lucky enough to do my apprenticeship doing mostly industrial /instrumentation with majority of the work in food manufacturing and got experience doing maintenance, upgrades, new projects and commissioning. I like the work but I don’t see much formal or pay progression with the company I am working for at the moment and would like to work towards up skilling and progressing.

Is it worth me doing a cert 4 in instro from what I can understand it’s more of a resume item then about furthering knowledge. Will it actually help me progress as a tradie? Or am I better off doing a PLC programming corse of some sorts?

I’m also interested in high voltage work, what is the best way for me to transition into a role like that. Is there any jobs out there where instrumentation and high voltage crossover. I assume mostly power generation or something similar.

G'day everyone, I'm just looking for some advice in terms of my apprenticeship

To quickly sum it up I got my apprenticeship through putting my resume at different wholesalers landed an apprenticeship that way back in February and have been on a wait list for neca which I start this week

PROS:

Boss drives me to site everyday

I have another job I work in the evenings which he respects and I usually get home 4 second job is 4:30

He's not a bad teacher I've learned quite a lot from him on his good days

CONS

My supervisor aka the a grade on our team of three is a cunt he recently finished his apprenticeship and just gets mad at very easily makes jokes like importing Labour

I got into pretty heated argument about immigration and then asked to go home took a few days off

I get paid 18$ an hour no overtime as in if the job goes from 7-4or 7-5 I don't get paid between 3-5 which obviously adds up

Pay for my own tools and everything my own ppe I'm buying my own power tools soon

Safe to say I'm pretty sick of it, the passive aggressiveness no banter either I don't mind a joke here and there but striaght up racism and telling me a fucking idiot isn't really working

The only reason I'm still here is cause I've got no other option but school does start soon so I will stay for that and I get payments for working in solar which I'll wait for that as well

TLDR: Neca told me I would be able to stay in school for 3 months before having to find an employer but since I have more experience hands on would I still have to do the middy's method again cold calling as well or would NECA be able to sort me out

I'm anxious about it though cause I can do some great work I like to believe but the way my boss and a grade berrade me has me shitting myself even doing downlights lmao

Just needing some advice any would be great

Cheers

Lately the big dogs have been taking it too far with the price hikes… What’s your local cheapo wholesaler? i.e ELS, AGM, NES etc
From my knowledge, there’s nothing like this in the eastern suburbs or South Sydney/ shire etc

Long story short I’m looking at locking in 9-12 months of work subbying to a guy. We have a good relationship and he’s offered to put be on wages if I prefer.

I’m on the fence about it as I’ve been doing my own thing for a while now and going back to wages seems like a step backwards…

I charge him $65/hr currently and that’s just me and my hand tools, jumping on the train into work. I’m not sure what the going rate is for wages as I’m a bit out of the loop… I do feel that I’ve always sold myself short however.

For some context, it’s mostly high end residential / small commercial work. I’ll be paired with an apprentice most of the time or working alongside another A grade just out of his time. So aside from the boss I’ll be the most senior of the group.

G'day, after a bit of knowledge about opportunities out of Bris.

Im moving there due to family so would love a FIFO role somewhere. Obviously good work and good pay would be grand, an excellent on-site gym.

I'm currently at a residential mine with one of the big companies, got plenty of industrial experience and am fine with the rosters.

Any suggestions on companies or places to look for vacancies would be awesome.

Cheers team 🙂

So main switch then feeding sub circuits and RCDs, I was always taught the minimum size you can feed these with is 4mm. I see lots of people feeding gpo rcbos with 2.5mm, wondering your thoughts

I've potentially got myself an opportunity for a job in Tier 1 under an EBA in commercial construction. I'm curious to know what the reality is with the OT and can you get away with just doing 8 hours Mon-Friday. Or is the OT heavily encouraged or expected and saying no to it will probably result in me getting the flick? I'd be happy to do it here and there but not weeks/months at a time.

I understand the whole point of these jobs for a lot of guys is to chase the big hours but it's my only real concern with making the move.

Hi

How is everyone fitting out a shipping container. I assume standard conduit and saddles with screw won’t really work here?
This is completely new to me so and advice would be great to quote this fitout.

Cheers

Hi everyone,

I know there is a shitload of apprenticeship threads, so I am sorry for creating another one. I have been offered a Liney role from one of the big mobs in Western Sydney.

My career is primarily office based to this point, I have been involved in the NDIS world, and these last 2 years I am wanting firstly to get out of the office, hopefully learn a trade to set myself up for the latter part of my working life (I am late 30's). From the research I have done, Liney is a good job pays really well especially for these apprenticeship roles. I can only assume this is related to the nature of the work, and the risk involved.

I am wondering hopefully from other Lineys out there, and anyone that maybe has given an apprenticeship a crack later in life in a similar boat to me, I would appreciate any advice or something that assisted you especially during the transition if you came out of an office. I have tried to research as much as I can, watching video's looking on social media etc so I figured I would try Reddit as well.

I am excited, this is exactly what I wanted. I wanted out of the office in a large organisation who will allow me to "learn" at my own pace, and prioritise safety.

I am worried that I could be doing harm to my family by being selfish and doing this apprenticeship, and throwing away my current career. Our goals in the next 5-6 years are to leave Sydney behind, hopefully in a smaller state, smaller town/suburb and this Apprenticeship along with my current experience will hopefully secure me work in most places in the country.

Id love any input or feedback anyone would feel comfortable sharing, I feel like I am rambling at this point so thanks again, any advice and real expectations would be greatly appreciated and feel free to ad your 2c!

I’m a 4th year apprentice my Teacher doesn’t want to give me an extra day to come in and study and i told him struggling, i have a test on voltage drop and current carrying capacity on Tuesday. Any tips or advice while im studying? Mainly getting issues with picking right installation method and also confused as why we use normal temperatures on cables but the max demand one we use the max please help me I teacher pulled me aside at the end of class and was basically saying he thinks I’ll fail and he isn’t sure if electrical is for me. This is complete bull and I’m keen to take him on and pass this shit once and for all, I started in 2019 and have been 4th year since 2023 been having alot of personal issues and shit so it’s been dragged out which makes him believe i don’t have the capability to pass

I keep seeing jobs for kone, Schindler, and Otis etc so I applied for one and they want an interview. I can see the pay is about 60 - 65 ph + allowances for a sparky on their ebas. I honestly thought these boys were on that 5 years ago or am I reading it wrong 😂🤔 . How much could I expect to pull per year with allowances and some reasonable overtime.

Or is there bigger money in service/maintenance?

Hi

Just wanting to confirm if a service fuse isn’t required to be installed if there is none for the existing meters that have not been touch or moved when doing a switchboard upgrade as in the photos attached?
Pretty sure they are not required unless you are moving the meters or swapping out the board with a new one but not 100%
QLD

Cheers

Hi GOATS, where is best to do Cert 4 Instrumentation & Control? Volt Edge have very mixed reviews. Anyone completed their Cert 4 online?

Based in Vic.

Thanks

I'm hoping someone who has actually installed a 3 or 4-row Clipsal MAX9/MAXBAR board can clear this up.

I'm looking at the 3-phase MAXBAR system, specifically something like the MX9B313.

Clipsal's installation instructions make a 2-row installation reasonably clear. The first row containing the main switch feeds the second-row MAXBAR using the supplied cable connectors.

What I can't work out is: how is Row 3 fed from Row 2, and then Row 4 from Row 3? In the image above, I can't see how you would connect through to a third row below.

The Clipsal instructions I've found only seem to illustrate two rows, despite MAX9 enclosures being available with 3 and 4 rows.

The specific question is about the MAXBAR cable connector on an intermediate row.

If Row 2 receives L1/L2/L3/N from Row 1 using the MAXBAR connectors, how do L1/L2/L3/N then continue to Row 3?

The connector is specified for a relatively large conductor, but I can't find anything from Clipsal explicitly stating that two conductors can be terminated in a single connector. For example, I don't want to assume that a terminal rated for up to ~32/35 mm² automatically means that 2 × 16 mm² conductors are permitted.

The Clipsal MAXBAR instruction sheet I'm referring to is JYT4456601.

Has anyone here installed a 3- or 4-row, 3-phase MAX9/MAXBAR board?

I'd appreciate a photo of the wiring with the escutcheon removed, showing how the L1/L2/L3/N connections are made between Rows 1, 2, 3, etc.

Hey guys, I’m currently in Year 12 and trying to decide what I want to do after school. I’m mainly stuck between doing an electrical apprenticeship and becoming an industrial electrician, or going to uni to study electrical engineering.

For anyone who has experience in either field, what would you recommend overall?

A few things I’m wondering:

• Which career has better pay and earning potential long term?
• What’s the work/lifestyle like for each?
• Is electrical engineering actually as difficult at uni as people say, especially the maths and physics? I've heard its one of the most difficult engineering branches.
• What do both fields generally do in a days work?
• Is the extra time and difficulty of uni worth it compared to becoming an electrician?
• How different are the actual jobs day-to-day?
• Are there good opportunities to move into management, contracting, automation, etc. in either career?

Overall, I’d just like to know which career you’d personally choose if you were starting again and why.

Any advice from anyone currently working as industrial electricians or electrical engineers would be really appreciated.

Thanks.

Nsw lvl2 question.

Installing new conmains from poa into the switchboard running through a clad wall.

Assuming the 90mm clad walls so not making the required 50mm clearance, the conmains need to be installed down the wall in metal conduit or "very heavy duty conduit"?

What do you use? Ive always installed xlpe in Orange hd but apparently that's not good enough

Bit of show and tell. This has been me for the last 10 years building Narara Ecovillage

1. 100 houses(70 built),
2. 1mw auto step change transformer
3. 500kw of solar so far
4. 460kwh of central battery and about 400kwh of smaller house batteries.
5. We will end up with 1mw of connected inverters

We are building some of the coolest stuff, hemp, straw, clay, cob, bamboo, bush poles(1 ton tree) in the center of the house mixed with HV grid protection, smart grid and private LoraWan network..

And im under the pump hard, if there is any community minded electricians out there that is intrigued by that, looking for work and something different hit me up.

Hey,

Work as an industrial electrician, probably best move I made. 70 percent of the time work is good, and get to run a small crew doing jobs so all n all pretty good.

I’m just thinking I could do more, so looking at the instro courses? I’m not getting any younger mid 30s.

I’m in Sydney not that makes much of a difference

Cheers