Discussion
First off apologies for yet another career change thread and also the wall of text that follows. Currently Im in what most would call a pretty decent job with regards to pay but gradually getting more and more fed up with the job as time goes on and recently getting to the stage where its always on my mind especially at nights and weekends which is deffinately taking its toll and not doing much to convince me to stick it out. Anyways I work for a pretty big company as a Heating "Engineer" installing boilers. Started out as an apprentice and have all my relevant qualifications in regards to the role (SVQ3) plus 5 years experience.
Apart from my trade I dont really have anything else to fall back on. Done well at school and have decent passes in both standard grades and highers but never done any college or uni courses and worked part time until I got my apprenticeship. Currently I am 27 and fortuantly don't have any big financial commitments stopping me from considering my options.
Ideally I would like to work in an engineering enviroment either hands on as a fitter or in design. I have been looking at local colleges for a part time HNC in mechanical engineering but cant find any evening or weekend courses unfortuantly. I have had a look at the open university but think I would rather be in a classroom with lecturers/teachers on hand to explain things but deffinately havent ruled anything out. In all honesty im also worried about the maths side of things as ive not had to do anything challenging with it for 9 years and will certainly be rusty at it compared to someone straight out of school.
Has anyone done anything similar? Would a prospective employer take someone on who has only done a college course and no apprenticeship in a proper engineering role? Having worked hands on on the tools for 5 years I would like to think some of the skills are interchangable and relevant. If I had to do it all over again starting from scratch as an apprentice I deffinately would but at 27 I cant see many firms taking on adult trainees unless they had some kind of grant. All advice is greatly appreciated.
Apart from my trade I dont really have anything else to fall back on. Done well at school and have decent passes in both standard grades and highers but never done any college or uni courses and worked part time until I got my apprenticeship. Currently I am 27 and fortuantly don't have any big financial commitments stopping me from considering my options.
Ideally I would like to work in an engineering enviroment either hands on as a fitter or in design. I have been looking at local colleges for a part time HNC in mechanical engineering but cant find any evening or weekend courses unfortuantly. I have had a look at the open university but think I would rather be in a classroom with lecturers/teachers on hand to explain things but deffinately havent ruled anything out. In all honesty im also worried about the maths side of things as ive not had to do anything challenging with it for 9 years and will certainly be rusty at it compared to someone straight out of school.
Has anyone done anything similar? Would a prospective employer take someone on who has only done a college course and no apprenticeship in a proper engineering role? Having worked hands on on the tools for 5 years I would like to think some of the skills are interchangable and relevant. If I had to do it all over again starting from scratch as an apprentice I deffinately would but at 27 I cant see many firms taking on adult trainees unless they had some kind of grant. All advice is greatly appreciated.
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