Nobody wants to be an apprentice these days.

[The real Andy]

Cant get one bite. No interest at all. Been looking but no one wants to be
an apprentice these days.

One lad rang up looking for work experience for a pre-vocational course, was
offered an apprenticeship and told to come in and sign the papers but never
showed. Whats the go with kids these days? When I was offered an
apprenticeship many years ago, I jumped at the opportunity and bent over
backwards to get the position. Appreticeships are quite rare these days, so
you would think there would be hundreds of inquiries.

 

[Apollo]

Cant get one bite. No interest at all. Been looking but no one wants to be
an apprentice these days.

One lad rang up looking for work experience for a pre-vocational course, was
offered an apprenticeship and told to come in and sign the papers but never
showed. Whats the go with kids these days? When I was offered an
apprenticeship many years ago, I jumped at the opportunity and bent over
backwards to get the position. Appreticeships are quite rare these days, so
you would think there would be hundreds of inquiries.

A client of mine run a flight simulator.
They also were advertising (for quite a while)
for an apprentice - with no applications.
I would have thought it was a dream job -
that one was in an out of the way location,
though.

 

[[email protected]]

Cant get one bite. No interest at all. Been looking but no one wants to be
an apprentice these days.

One lad rang up looking for work experience for a pre-vocational course, was
offered an apprenticeship and told to come in and sign the papers but never
showed. Whats the go with kids these days? When I was offered an
apprenticeship many years ago, I jumped at the opportunity and bent over
backwards to get the position. Appreticeships are quite rare these days, so
you would think there would be hundreds of inquiries.

What qualification would the apprentice finish with, and what would be the period
of apprenticeship? And the pay? Unfortunately there are other industries that
offer potentially more career choices and advancement which are very attractive
to students.

Where have you advertised, other than this ng? The local rag may not be the best place.
Has your company tried the local TAFE college?

Also, perhaps your company could offer a different carrot?

Trainee electronics technical officer, with a possibility to advance to a degree
qualification in the future, if the applicant is suitable?

 

[Andrew & Karina]

I wonder why ?
probably coz there's no money in *electronics*..........
I was an apprentice 16 years ago , got crap money ( after tax & compulsory
super was taken out , I was worse off than people on the dole ! )
got the crap jobs given to me......but.......
I did learn a lot........on-the-job training they call it , but now I'm in
my mid 30's and can't get a job coz I haven't got a *degree*.......
Can't blame young people for steering clear of apprenticeships........

Andrew

 

[Stephen]

I think what puts most young people off today is that its usually shit
money, and you get treated like shit to.

 

[cdb]

As a by the by, I was surprised when speaking to my neighbours 13 year old,
that they don't learn any advanced mathmatics until 16 or 17.

Nor do they have lessons that I'd recognise as Physics or Chemistry, rather
they have a sort of general science, which looks as thought it is at a very
slightly higher level than the 'Why' type of television programme.

I assume that the syllabus is the same for State and private school in Qld..

In many (but not all) state schools in the UK, electronics is part of one
the science subjects (subset of physics), I believe Germany may have a
similar course in their schools.

Even though electronics wasn't an available subject when I was at school, we
did trig and calculus from 2nd year onwards (12.5 to 13.5 years old) as well
physics, chemistry and biology - ahh the dead rats and rabbits for
dissection - lovely!

Colin

 

[Yobbo]

To :The real Andy

I sent you a email last week, asking if you would be intrested in a adult
apprentice (aged 33) but you have not replied, cheers Ian

 

[The real Andy]

The difference here ol' biiter eric, is that this is a reasonably well
paying INDUSTRIAL trade. We don't do consumer repairs. We repair expensive,
good quality equipment that is worth repairing.

From your numerous post over the years I figure you do domestic repairs. If
you can make a living out of that you either have a good bank manager or are
extremely fast at repairing stuff with nothing.

 

[The real Andy]

What qualification would the apprentice finish with, and what would be the period
of apprenticeship? And the pay? Unfortunately there are other industries that
offer potentially more career choices and advancement which are very attractive
to students.

The pay is the same as any apprenticeship. One of our second year
apprentices is nearly paid a tradesmans wage because he is extremely good at
what he does. Period is the same as any electronics apprenticeship, 4 years.
The company pays quite well.

Where have you advertised, other than this ng? The local rag may not be the best place.
Has your company tried the local TAFE college?

Advertised in this NG, Brisbane Paper, Local TAFE (thats how we nearly got
one lad who never turned up) through a few schools with TAFE programs.

Also, perhaps your company could offer a different carrot?

Trainee electronics technical officer, with a possibility to advance to a degree
qualification in the future, if the applicant is suitable?

Its an apprenticeship, you get trained to do repairs. If you wanted to go
further, the company would be more than happy to support you.

 

[The real Andy]

I don think it's the money, I think it's the enormous knowledge require to
perform your tasks (e.g. maths, read datasheet, learn various computer
software packages and etc) and lack of jobs around that is putting young
people off. An electrician on the other hand requires very little knowledge
to perform their tasks and there is lot of jobs around.

The money I think is around $200/38hour week for a first year apprentice.
RDO every 4 weeeks (same as electrical trade). When I was an apprentice I
think I got near the $100 mark, and I was not living with my parents. I got
treated like shit. These days, the worst thing a 1st year apprentice does is
take the rubbish out. If the apprentice is fixing stuff, then he makes the
company $100 bucks an hour. Now if that isn't encouragement to train them
fast then nothing is.

 

[The real Andy]

To :The real Andy

I sent you a email last week, asking if you would be intrested in a adult
apprentice (aged 33) but you have not replied, cheers Ian

Actually, I did not get an email from you. IF you replied to the newsgroup
email address then you probably did not make it into the inbox. That virus
has been killing the yahoo address.

 

[David Sauer]

The money I think is around $200/38hour week for a first year apprentice.

And the money you get when you finish isn't that great either.

As a youngster wanting to get into electronics I'd suggest go for the
electrical trade and try and get into something like PLC work or home
automation where you get to do electronics, good pay and always a
demand for people. Look in the newspapers.

Only problem is getting your foot in the door.

 

[The real Andy]

And the money you get when you finish isn't that great either.

As a youngster wanting to get into electronics I'd suggest go for the
electrical trade and try and get into something like PLC work or home
automation where you get to do electronics, good pay and always a
demand for people. Look in the newspapers.

Only problem is getting your foot in the door.

We are paying the same as the electrical trade, in fact, we are paying under
the same award.

 

[Terry Collins]

Adding my 2c out of thread place because my news server is snafu.

: : : Cant get one bite. No interest at all. Been looking but no one wants to
be
: : an apprentice these days.
: :
: : One lad rang up looking for work experience for a pre-vocational course,
: was
: : offered an apprenticeship and told to come in and sign the papers but
: never
: : showed. Whats the go with kids these days? When I was offered an
: : apprenticeship many years ago, I jumped at the opportunity and bent over
: : backwards to get the position. Appreticeships are quite rare these days,
: so
: : you would think there would be hundreds of inquiries.

Sorry for repetition, but hear goes my 2c on why young people are not in
interested in electronic/electrical apprenticeships today.

Money; why work for $250 a week as an apprentice, when I can get $500+
per week as a builders labourer. Yep, I hear this regularly (yer, they
are not actually working either lol).

IT/computers: There is more money in being in IT (that belief still has
to change as IT starting wages are not much better than apprenticeship
these days). Yet, schools, colleges and universities are still plowing
more and more people into this already overcrowded area.


Most apprenticeships are bullshit now. In the 70's an apprenticeship
meant learning a real trade and having skills that could earn you a
living for life. Okay, stop rolling on the floor laughing at how naieve
that was in hindsight.

Nowadays you read of apprentice nail technician (to paint finger
nails?), apprentice barista (pour coffee?), etc, etc. What this all
means is shit money whilst you are trained in some nebulous activity,
then you get turfed because you are too expensive. So there is no longer
a positive value carried by the word "apprentice" these days.


IT/computers had also shown that four years of training is far too long,
because in 4 yours, most of your IT training is no longer needed.
Similar cycles are being seen in other industries. So your people just
do not see the need for this long training period.

It is hard to get through an apprenticeship without having to find
another employer. This is a common problem encountered by many
apprentices these days. If you work for a small concern, they are liable
to go bankrupt and you have to find someone else to take you on. If you
work for a large concern, they can be taken over and who sections sold
off/retrenched as non-core business, etc.


Lastly, the whole apprentice training scheme is really middle ages in
attitude. It is heavily restricted to an intake of immature kids
undertaking training of the lowest common denominator at a slow pace.
Very few area have mature age entry opportunites and some a re
completely closed unless you do it one way only.

 

[Andrew Howard]

Cant get one bite. No interest at all. Been looking but no one wants to be
an apprentice these days.

Well, if anyone is offering an apprenticeship in Electronics in the Sydney
area, I would be happy to check it out.

I'm a 17 year old student who is about to start year 11. I've been doing
electronics as a hobby for about 3-4 years, and am interested in doing it as
a career. I would be willing to leave school to do this if it came to that.

Andrew Howard

 

[David L. Jones]

Well, if anyone is offering an apprenticeship in Electronics in the Sydney
area, I would be happy to check it out.

I'm a 17 year old student who is about to start year 11. I've been doing
electronics as a hobby for about 3-4 years, and am interested in doing it as
a career. I would be willing to leave school to do this if it came to that.

Andrew Howard

Crikey!
A real live young and keen electronics hobbyist with good spelling and
grammar - someone snap him up quick!

Do you know what area of electronics you want to get into Andrew?
Have you thought about doing Tafe or Uni classes part time while you
are still at school?, it will give you an even better head start.

Regards
Dave

 

[Ken Taylor]

Crikey!
A real live young and keen electronics hobbyist with good spelling and
grammar - someone snap him up quick!

Do you know what area of electronics you want to get into Andrew?
Have you thought about doing Tafe or Uni classes part time while you
are still at school?, it will give you an even better head start.

Regards
Dave

Ditto the 'remain-at-school' thought. Don't limit your options - you're
unlikely to really know which way you want to go in the field until you've
done some 'live' work for a while, and many require more time in a
classroom. However the desire to get out and 'do things' is great and bodes
well.

If you want some direction on how to get a qualification and training I can
put you on to some old chums in Sydney who still take on occasional trainees
(but you have to have done most of the TAFE course already). It may be worth
a chat anyway to get an idea of how to go about getting a qualification.

Ken

 

[Andrew Howard]

Do you know what area of electronics you want to get into Andrew?

I'm not completly sure, possibly audio electronics?

Have you thought about doing Tafe or Uni classes part time while you
are still at school?, it will give you an even better head start.

There seems to be 2 Tafe courses available, one is an absolute beginner's
introduction to electronics (learning about basics like ohm's law, dc and ac
theory, etc.) The next one is a more advanced one that you do while being an
apprentice.

I was planning on doing the beginners one during year 12, so I can wave it
at people to help convince them to take me as an apprentice. Then during
that, I could take the second course.

If anyone's got anything to say about this, I would be happy to hear it.

Andrew Howard

 

[Ken Taylor]

I'm not completly sure, possibly audio electronics?


There seems to be 2 Tafe courses available, one is an absolute beginner's
introduction to electronics (learning about basics like ohm's law, dc and ac
theory, etc.) The next one is a more advanced one that you do while being an
apprentice.

I was planning on doing the beginners one during year 12, so I can wave it
at people to help convince them to take me as an apprentice. Then during
that, I could take the second course.

If anyone's got anything to say about this, I would be happy to hear it.

Andrew Howard

Those are probably good ideas if you want to go the apprentice path
immediately, but could I suggest you at least look at the higher level
courses - what do they call the damn thing now, an Associate Diploma?? I'm
not sure which NSW institutions offer it, hopefully someone can enlighten
us. You could do these part-time while working if it better suited you.

Ken

 

[Alex Gibson]

I'm not completly sure, possibly audio electronics?


There seems to be 2 Tafe courses available, one is an absolute beginner's
introduction to electronics (learning about basics like ohm's law, dc and ac
theory, etc.) The next one is a more advanced one that you do while being an
apprentice.

I was planning on doing the beginners one during year 12, so I can wave it
at people to help convince them to take me as an apprentice. Then during
that, I could take the second course.

If anyone's got anything to say about this, I would be happy to hear it.

Andrew Howard

I agree with what Ken said.

I'm at uni now - UTS (+ part time contract design and programming work).
Did an apprenticeship with Qantas as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer Avionics.
Doing Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering, 4 years down with at least 2 years to go.
(supposed to be six years full time).

You will find most of the teachers / lecturers at tafe are a lot lot better
and have a hell of a lot more(usually) practical knowledge than most
uni lecturers.

If in the future you want to go to uni, having
down a Associate Diploma and a few years practical experiance
shouldn't have to many hassles except maybe for maths.

And if you have down that you should be able to do a elect eng or computer systems degree
in around 2 years full time as you should get quite a few exemptions.
Should get exemptions for some of the crap intro subjects but
will still have to do the incredibly
boring IEAust prescribed management and communications subjects.

I'm currently tutoring introductory digital systems
cplds - complex programmable logic vprogrammed via schematics
and pic microprocessors.

Main trouble is very few of the classes even bother to read
the documents and can't solder for shit.
Students were required to assemble their own kits
but due to major hassles with crap soldering, the powers that be have decided
to get the kits fully assembled to avoid having to provide so much support.
This is supposed to be the second or third subject they have do some soldering in.

I've never seen so many balls of solder, some up to 5mm in size.
Thru hole board with smallest components being 1/4 watt resistors and ceramic caps.

The electronics subjects taught by the physics department are a hell of a lot better
than those taught by engineering.
Engineering electronics has 4 labs of a couple hours each in a semester
where as Physics electronics had 2 2hour labs each week.

Only thing is Physics subject went down to electron level where as eng subject
treats everything as a blackbox(this goes in that comes out).
In physics had to even do current flow inside an opamp.

Alex