Rory finished the course a few months ago and is currently working part time at the university whilst building up his electrical business. He’s already done some jobs for friends and family which include rewiring a supply to a garage, installing a new supply to a summer house and installing a shower extractor fan and attic light.

Rory was successfully assessed for Part P with Elecsa in March 2009 and the following month, successfully completed week 5 -  City and Guilds 2392-10. Rory intends to progress to 2391-10 soon but feels that he would like to get a lot more practical experience under his belt first. 

Gary Whiting

Gary Whiting has had a successful career spanning 28 years as a Computer Programmer in the software industry, progressing through the ranks from Senior Programmer to IT Project Manager. After many years in the same industry, Gary decided that he wanted to move away from working for large corporations and to have more control over his career. For the last few years Gary has been working as a freelance Project Manager, running his own company, and whilst he enjoyed being his own boss, he found that his clients were still the large organisations.

Gary then decided to start a new chapter of his working life and to focus on providing services to individuals and small companies. Becoming a skilled tradesmen seemed the natural way to go and having previously studied electrical systems as part of his BSc degree in Physics, training as an electrician greatly appealed.

Gary set about an extensive research of how to go about re-training. He commented "I don't believe the claims from numerous companies out there running 4 to 6 week courses claining at the end of this you are fully qualified and ready to start your career. I also needed to keep working in the transition period and Main Electrical seemed to offer this and also to take a responsible attitude to training, advising that you should aim to take up to a year or even 18 months to re-train. With a mix of home study and the 4 to 5 weeks in the centre, this seemed very sensible to me"

Gary enrolled in January 2008 , and then fitted his practical sessions in each month from March through to June. Gary admits that it was quick, but for him, it was about right. His advice to others though considering completing the practical sessions in quick succession would be to "make sure you really can spare the time to study in between, since there is a lot to take in and learn"

Gary found the course "was well organised and the Tutors were very knowledgeable, both in theory and importantly in practice". Gary commented that they had "lots of hints, tips, and reminders to do a 'quality' job and not get into any bad habits in installation". He also said that there was "a lot of emphasis and practice on testing the electrical installations, even from week one, which although difficult at first, is actually a great way of drumming this important aspect to an electrician".

Gary now feels that he is well underway to starting his career. He was NICEIC assessed and successfully achieved their Part P compliance in August 2008. Gary finished his last IT contract in November 2008, whilst at the same time getting in as much electrical installation work as possible. He has since completed a couple of new kitchen extensions, a couple of bathrooms and several other jobs involving outside lighting.

At the beginning of 2009, Gary was successful in obtaining his City and Guilds 2391 Inspection, Testing and Certification of Electrical Installations. For the future Gary is planning to learn more about renewable/green energy provision. Gary believes that "this will be big over the coming years and the more you know and are experienced in these areas, clearly the better placed to win new business".

Gary has set up his own business, GWCS Electrical, wwwgwcsltd.com, based in St Ives, Cambridgeshire.

Gary is finding his new career "thoroughly enjoyable and importantly gaining more job satisfaction that I have for a long while".


Here are some other comments

"I liked how much practical work there was - really hands on  - great stuff!!" - Seb Sagar, Bristol 

"Very good course" - Jayendra Patel, Harrow, Middlesex

"The course has given me the relevant knowledge and confidence to carry out electrical work in domestic dwellings" - Martin Lipscombe, Ware, Hertfordshire

"A great week. I've learnt a lot. Barry's hints and tips were very useful" - Gary Whiting, Cambridgeshire

"A very good course, I would recommend" - Ian Mathews

"The Tutor was very helpful and took control of the students. This course (week 2) was well structured and we always knew what we would be doing on a daily basis"- Jennifer, Bedfordshire

"I would like to thank you for your enjoyable course and your knowledgeable and helpful instructors that helped me so far"- Peter Logan

"A good course, run very well, with a knowledgeable Tutor" Steven Dalton, Hemel Hempstead

"The course was helpful and informative" Paul Sawyers, London

"Very useful, given lots of information" Wlodimizierz Instonajt 

"A good course and very friendly. Small groups of people helped me to study more efficiently" Vladimir Loginov 

"This week was spot on, a good mix of theory and practical. The Tutor was there to help you on what you were weak on or when you wanted him to expand on a subject" Bharat Patel, Middlesex