New career path, trades people who have done something else?

[cracker]

Not so much a trade. I was in the army as a grunt. After being med discharged I did my Bach of Bus Mgmt. I am about to start my masters. Wages are limitless, I am about to take on a new national role within the business I work in which will see a very nice pay increase (so much so the wife can finish working as a teacher if she desires) as well as the business paying for the masters.

Take your time and think how you may find something in 5, 10, 15, 30 years time.

yeah thats kinda what im thinking, in 5-10 years if im still pulling cables and dealing with faults on lights, ill kill myself.
really cant see myself being on the tools for the rest of my life nor can i see any great potential too achieve anything else without huge amounts of stress, eg running your own business.

 

[cracker]

There is plenty of room in the electrical industry for a change of scenery, in 8 years I have worked in new houses, old houses, CBUS automation, commercial construction (schools, hospitals, high rises etc) and I now work in the service field specialising in high speed data networks and fibre optic splicing/testing, which takes me from construction sites to high rises, car manufacturing environments, airports etc, really good work.

And to be honest I wont stop here, after this Im thinking of getting into the high voltage industry, and im going to start my certificate 4 in electrotechnology in the next 6 months specialising in automation/PLC control.

Aside from that theres other ways to go as well, fire/security/HVAC control/industrial, then theres project management, estimation.

Bit of food for though? Theres more out there than just running cables through studs in a house

yeah iv done plenty of different things, worked at the airport airside, working on commercial boats, hospitals not a great deal of places i havent seen i guess, just leaves me wondering where do i go from here?
cert 4 might be a serious consideration though, how ever i have little to no experiance with it
theres only so many downlights and power point you can do though, all seems to get very boring want something more challenging that will make me think, id hate to get to my 50's and think wow thats all i ever done become an electrician.

thanks for all the replies gives an interesting idea of where people start and end up, appreciated.

 

[commodore665]

Started out life in the South African Navy , stayed four years , then joined the South African Police force , now in NZ as Police Officer , but I am considering getting out .

 

[Darren_L]

I'm a qualified mechanic, stayed with the trade for 10 years
did a few short stints in random jobs after that while I decided what I wanted to do
after that spent a few years as a motor assessor for IAG/NRMA
for the past 5 years I've been working as a Transport Inspector for Dept Transport

 

[Drawnnite]

btw cert 4 in electrotech isn't exactly the best idea. to obtain.

im currently studying for it. done 2 units in motor control. about to finish 1 unit PLC's and then do the 2nd unit in PLC's
basically you get 5 units then you apply for the cert 4 qual, and then its no more govco funding for courses.

by all means go have a try of it, its good. But as ive been told have a crack at it, save 1 unit of it and go onto the next level of study (ie engineering)
the issue many teachers have told me is, most of the courses for electricians, are all cert 4 levels (solar, Automation, etc) and once you loose the funding the price goes up considerably.

have you ever maybe considered doing something else in construction
such as becoming one of the safety officers or a supervisor of some descript?

or just something completely random like becoming a pilot.
which is, if I ever get bored, I know ill be aiming at

 

[Loaded Dice]

I remember a Quentin Tarver (sp?) song from the 90's called 'sunscreen' it was s **** song, but I remember one line from it.... if you don't know what you want to do for a living, thats alright, some people are in their 40s and 50s before they work out what they want to do.... or words to that affect - I truly agree, I seem to change employment for something entirely different every 10 years, I've had military, IT, retail and now driving, with a host of other things I've tried my hand at along the way, every time when I've had enough of what I was doing, I just take that leap of faith and grasp onto the next good thing I want to do - I highly recommend it to anybody who is stuck in a hamster wheel.