Hello, I'm Benjamin. I am 16 years old. I've done a bit of electrical work before with my grandad, but I haven't done much, so everything's still a big mystery to me.
Prepare to be illuminated, Ben, as Dave Burt shows you the secrets of electrical engineering. He's been a sparky for 28 years and now manages 25 staff for the company he owns, Team Cabling. Time is money so they're off to the first job.
We definitely want to have people with a little bit of personality because they're working one on one with the customers. They need to have the ability to get on with people and certainly they've got to have an aptitude towards the academic side of the job as well the practical side of the job. We really want to get all rounders.
Okay, Benjamin we've got a couple of jobs we need to do in in this house today. First one we have to do is put a new PowerPoint up and behind this TV so they don't see the horrible cord hanging down, first thing we'll do is just disconnect everything.
Cool. It's off.
Great. Right, now that's isolated we can get started. Now, Benjamin you can see that when they've terminated that originally what they've done is they've actually instead of connecting onto the bare copper here they've actually screwed down hard onto the insulation and just picked up a little bit of copper there and you can see that there's a little bit of burning there. So, that's a potential fire risk, so that's something we'll need to fix up.
Okay.
Benjamin is going to have to be careful and thorough to make sure the job remains safe.
Brilliant. You have a huge responsibility as an electrician, if you don't happen to be in the right place at the right time or doing the right things or following the right safety precautions that can end your life. Or the life of your customer.
The first thing an apprentice learns on the job is how to strip a cable.
Cut that back. Let me show you again.
Yeah, maybe.
The second thing an apprentice learns on the job is how to strip a cable.
I can assure you after about 20000 it all gets easier.
[inaudible 00:02:01] get it now.
That's it. Perfect. You need to push that down a little bit further than that.
The wires are fixed to their corresponding contacts by color code and the socket is screwed to the wall and tested.
Hit the test button. That's good, we're in business.
Cool.
The type of personality or temperament to be an electrician can vary and there's so many different segments to the industry to suit all different personality types as well.
Okay, Benjamin you might as well wear this.
Okay.
I think you might need to bring it in a few notches though.
With the basics under his belt Ben is tasked with replacing suspended lights with new recessed halogens.
Great. That's it.
He's going so well Dave's willing to leave him to it while he sorts out the next job.
If you're going up there ...
Now we want to do the visual check, make sure that the connections are all nice and tight and in the right terminals.
Yeah.
And put the cover on and put it back up in the roof.
Cool.
Hit the switch.
It works, that's a good sign.
Yeah, well done. Good job.
Now on any job, particularly the commercial jobs we have to really take a lot of care about our health and safety.
Okay.
And you'll notice what we've got here is we've got a health and safety board.
Commercial sites have a wide range of hazards to deal with and a scale to the work not seen in most homes. This office has been gutted ready for refurbishing and Ben's first job is pre-wiring the lights.
This is the position that the light fitting's going go.
Yep.
So, what we'll need to do is put a little loop in here, pull that back up and put another cable tie right in hard up against that one there.
Right in there?
Right in there.
Okay, so I've shown you what to do, let's have a race, see if the best man win.
Bring it on.
Good luck. Not.
There's not enough people coming into our industry to replace the people who are leaving the industry, whether they leave to go overseas or retiring. Looking from that perspective huge opportunities for someone for a long term career.
Had to let you win. Look pretty bad if you didn't.
Well done.
He knows how to get on the good side of a boss but he's still looking for more tips from Josh, who has just become a qualified electrician.
How did you get an apprenticeship?
Basically I started out and did a little bit of work experience and then went from there, got offered an apprenticeship.
What's the best bit about being an apprentice?
About being an apprentice? I suppose it's just going to work and getting learning every day because you do in dealing with different things in your aspects of the job. How to fix things, how to get through things and also just dealing with people and meeting people and working through that type of thing. That's a big challenge and it's fun when you achieve that.
The third thing an apprentice learns is stripping cables. Big 400 volt cables.
I might give that one there to you.
There's quite a bit of technical learning required for things like sizing mains, electronics, wiring up transformers, there's a lot of formulas that you have to understand and you have to apply back to the practical work that you do each day.
Come on, heave. It's crimped that lug right down onto that cable so that's a nice, good, tight fit. That's never going to come off.
Cool.
That's the offices three phase distribution board installed which means it's the end of the experience for Ben.
Okay, Benjamin thanks for coming along.
Thank you for having me.
I hope that gives you a little bit of an idea of what it's like to be an electrical contractor and work within the electrical industry.
Sure did.
Is there anything in the job that sort of interested you the most?
Putting some holes in a clients wall and in the roof and putting the down lights in. Everything was very enjoyable.
Great. Ah well you finish that NCA level two and get practicing stripping those cables and then come back and see us in a years time.
I will do.
Good on you. Thanks for that.
Thank you.
Cheers.
The National Certificate in Electrical Engineering usually takes three to four years to complete and leads to registration as an electrician. You will need to find an apprenticeship with a local electrician and then contact ETITO. The apprenticeship involves a mixture of workplace training and learning at a training provider. You'll work with the latest technology, gain skills that are in demand and set yourself up for a rewarding career.
Prepare to be illuminated, Ben, as Dave Burt shows you the secrets of electrical engineering. He's been a sparky for 28 years and now manages 25 staff for the company he owns, Team Cabling. Time is money so they're off to the first job.
We definitely want to have people with a little bit of personality because they're working one on one with the customers. They need to have the ability to get on with people and certainly they've got to have an aptitude towards the academic side of the job as well the practical side of the job. We really want to get all rounders.
Okay, Benjamin we've got a couple of jobs we need to do in in this house today. First one we have to do is put a new PowerPoint up and behind this TV so they don't see the horrible cord hanging down, first thing we'll do is just disconnect everything.
Cool. It's off.
Great. Right, now that's isolated we can get started. Now, Benjamin you can see that when they've terminated that originally what they've done is they've actually instead of connecting onto the bare copper here they've actually screwed down hard onto the insulation and just picked up a little bit of copper there and you can see that there's a little bit of burning there. So, that's a potential fire risk, so that's something we'll need to fix up.
Okay.
Benjamin is going to have to be careful and thorough to make sure the job remains safe.
Brilliant. You have a huge responsibility as an electrician, if you don't happen to be in the right place at the right time or doing the right things or following the right safety precautions that can end your life. Or the life of your customer.
The first thing an apprentice learns on the job is how to strip a cable.
Cut that back. Let me show you again.
Yeah, maybe.
The second thing an apprentice learns on the job is how to strip a cable.
I can assure you after about 20000 it all gets easier.
[inaudible 00:02:01] get it now.
That's it. Perfect. You need to push that down a little bit further than that.
The wires are fixed to their corresponding contacts by color code and the socket is screwed to the wall and tested.
Hit the test button. That's good, we're in business.
Cool.
The type of personality or temperament to be an electrician can vary and there's so many different segments to the industry to suit all different personality types as well.
Okay, Benjamin you might as well wear this.
Okay.
I think you might need to bring it in a few notches though.
With the basics under his belt Ben is tasked with replacing suspended lights with new recessed halogens.
Great. That's it.
He's going so well Dave's willing to leave him to it while he sorts out the next job.
If you're going up there ...
Now we want to do the visual check, make sure that the connections are all nice and tight and in the right terminals.
Yeah.
And put the cover on and put it back up in the roof.
Cool.
Hit the switch.
It works, that's a good sign.
Yeah, well done. Good job.
Now on any job, particularly the commercial jobs we have to really take a lot of care about our health and safety.
Okay.
And you'll notice what we've got here is we've got a health and safety board.
Commercial sites have a wide range of hazards to deal with and a scale to the work not seen in most homes. This office has been gutted ready for refurbishing and Ben's first job is pre-wiring the lights.
This is the position that the light fitting's going go.
Yep.
So, what we'll need to do is put a little loop in here, pull that back up and put another cable tie right in hard up against that one there.
Right in there?
Right in there.
Okay, so I've shown you what to do, let's have a race, see if the best man win.
Bring it on.
Good luck. Not.
There's not enough people coming into our industry to replace the people who are leaving the industry, whether they leave to go overseas or retiring. Looking from that perspective huge opportunities for someone for a long term career.
Had to let you win. Look pretty bad if you didn't.
Well done.
He knows how to get on the good side of a boss but he's still looking for more tips from Josh, who has just become a qualified electrician.
How did you get an apprenticeship?
Basically I started out and did a little bit of work experience and then went from there, got offered an apprenticeship.
What's the best bit about being an apprentice?
About being an apprentice? I suppose it's just going to work and getting learning every day because you do in dealing with different things in your aspects of the job. How to fix things, how to get through things and also just dealing with people and meeting people and working through that type of thing. That's a big challenge and it's fun when you achieve that.
The third thing an apprentice learns is stripping cables. Big 400 volt cables.
I might give that one there to you.
There's quite a bit of technical learning required for things like sizing mains, electronics, wiring up transformers, there's a lot of formulas that you have to understand and you have to apply back to the practical work that you do each day.
Come on, heave. It's crimped that lug right down onto that cable so that's a nice, good, tight fit. That's never going to come off.
Cool.
That's the offices three phase distribution board installed which means it's the end of the experience for Ben.
Okay, Benjamin thanks for coming along.
Thank you for having me.
I hope that gives you a little bit of an idea of what it's like to be an electrical contractor and work within the electrical industry.
Sure did.
Is there anything in the job that sort of interested you the most?
Putting some holes in a clients wall and in the roof and putting the down lights in. Everything was very enjoyable.
Great. Ah well you finish that NCA level two and get practicing stripping those cables and then come back and see us in a years time.
I will do.
Good on you. Thanks for that.
Thank you.
Cheers.
The National Certificate in Electrical Engineering usually takes three to four years to complete and leads to registration as an electrician. You will need to find an apprenticeship with a local electrician and then contact ETITO. The apprenticeship involves a mixture of workplace training and learning at a training provider. You'll work with the latest technology, gain skills that are in demand and set yourself up for a rewarding career.