[Dr Force]

I have been manging an electrical contractors for the past 4 years and I am now looking to turn a hobby into a career.

I am not a qualified electrician but I am practical and creative.

Can anybody point me in the direction of where I start and what basic/intermediate/advanced qualifications I would need.

Many thanks

Dave

[Para]

You may want to look into creston and AMX programming. NVQs in becoming and Electrision would help.

Have a look as JobsAV.co.uk and look at the sort of qualifications companies are after. this should help you find out what you need!

[table manners]

maybe take a look at cedia,it cost money though.

[vex]

Crestron / AMX is over the top IMO, and there are to many freelance people doing it.

Get CEDIA trained, there is an installers level 1 in the new year which would be a great asset to you and any employer because all CEDIA installer members have to have one certified employee within the next year or so to remain a CEDIA member.

Have the right certificate and you could command a good position and salary (you could still know jack sh*t, but the piece of paper will open doors)

Vex.

[Dr Force]

Originally Posted by vex

Crestron / AMX is over the top IMO, and there are to many freelance people doing it.

Get CEDIA trained, there is an installers level 1 in the new year which would be a great asset to you and any employer because all CEDIA installer members have to have one certified employee within the next year or so to remain a CEDIA member.

Have the right certificate and you could command a good position and salary (you could still know jack sh*t, but the piece of paper will open doors)

Vex.

Yes CEDIA looks to be the way.

Installers level 1 looks quite intense, does anybody have any experience of the difficulty and overall value of this entry level qualification??

[SeanT]

If installers level 1 looks difficult, don't bother trying to get into the industry.
If you want a job that pays well, don't bother with the AV industry in the first place, unless you are going to go it alone, from personal experience and just looking around the industry a bit recently and seeing what pathetic amounts people offer for my level of skill - gonna do me some IT qualifications and have a change of career after 5 years in the av industry.....

[Dr Force]

Blimey Shaun

Seems like the pay is poor even though you have to get well qualified.

Oh well looks like the same old same old for me.

Might go back to college and do something completely different.

[SeanT]

Only speaking from personal experience mind, some people do better than others

[table manners]

If you really want to work as an av installer then at least give it ago.
Im looking to start installing again in tha new year.(worked for sevenoaks for a while) just got to see if i can afford the cedia courses .
you might want to look for an old post of mine where i write of my thoughts on working in the av industry.hope it helps

[Dr Force]

Thanks to both of you.

Table manners do you have a link to that post??

[hornydragon]

There are quite a few jobs around at the moment i have recently seen 2, however it isnt a glamourous industry even at the top end AV has a very low perceived value among the general populuse ad its far more about who you know rather than what you know, i have heard of several companies jumping out of CI however for everyone that jumps out 4 jump in some make it work many dont there are lots of ways in but its the sort of industry that unless you work for a very large player one skill set wont cut it you need to be a builder, electrician, carpenter, plaster network enginneer, telecomms enginner, network designer and a psychic and that before you start on the AV stuff, oh and you also have be able to sell fix and explain the whole lot down to the last screw, cable and minute.

Vacancies for Service Engineers

[SeanT]

I gathered those jobs were for actual service centre personnel to fault find and repair TVs, not exactly a career in HC...

[hornydragon]

yes but local and perhaps a step in the right direction? SEan we are just to bitter and twisted i think.....

[Dr Force]

I think I'll give it a miss.I am just looking for a whole change in direction and this was one of the options considering I enjoy it.

The general feeling is that its undervalued,underpaid and you have to be multi skilled to make it worth it.

Thanks everyone but its back to the drawing board.

[nabby]

Well I've just made the transition from consultancy (environmental) to project management for an A/V installation company. The vacancy was advertised on the net, I sent in my cv, had a couple of interviews and in the end, was offered the job. The pay is slightly less than what I was earning previously but the travel is far lower in cost as the job is pretty local to home.

Given that I have no technical AV background, but have skills gained in project management, I was able to emphasise my positives and minimise my lack of technical experience.

Take a look at what skills you have and look to see if any can be applied to AV...I'd have thought that anything IT related would be valuable, if you have it...

[SeanT]

You're lucky nabby:
1. You live in an area where the customers have money to spend, the industry isn't stagnant, and it's not overrun by cowboys.
2. The job although it paid less was more local for you - ie. you may have stayed in the other job if you lived there!, and driving to london for a project or meeting isn't going to mean starting at 4 am...
3. You were able to blag your way in knowing little about av (by the sounds of it, no offence) so your options remain open if you get fed up with it - which you may well... try getting other employers to take you seriously if you have 5 years+ of AV experience and minimal IT

[nabby]

Originally Posted by SeanT

You're lucky nabby:
1. You live in an area where the customers have money to spend, the industry isn't stagnant, and it's not overrun by cowboys.
2. The job although it paid less was more local for you - ie. you may have stayed in the other job if you lived there!, and driving to london for a project or meeting isn't going to mean starting at 4 am...
3. You were able to blag your way in knowing little about av (by the sounds of it, no offence) so your options remain open if you get fed up with it - which you may well... try getting other employers to take you seriously if you have 5 years+ of AV experience and minimal IT

SeanT,
All very valid points.
1. Yes, being in a part of the country where there is demand and people have money really helps. I totally concur that in the shires such jobs are not as well paid/few and far between.
2. The local issue wasn't so much of a selling point, although it does help To be honest I was willing to take a pay cut toget a job I wanted, and the truth is I wasn't looking solely at the AV industry
3. No offence taken, but my interpretation (ever the optimist!) is that my skills were tranferrable into a different industry Perhaps the solution is to do some relevant IT training (and apologies if that sounds patronising - I am not trying to be in any way).

I was definitely keen to sign up to one or two of the introductory CEDIA courses in advance of securing a job...as a newbie to the sector I wanted to get a feel for what was involved and needed. I think the 2 day course was about £500 or £600...

I think the main thing for the OP is to be realistic but try to maintain a positive, "the glass is half full" frame of mind as much as is possible, and remember a lot of success in job hunting is right place, right time in my experience.

[SeanT]

None taken, the IT training is happening through work, that's one of the main reasons I took my current IT / telco job

[Dr Force]

Originally Posted by nabby

SeanT,
All very valid points.
1. Yes, being in a part of the country where there is demand and people have money really helps. I totally concur that in the shires such jobs are not as well paid/few and far between.
2. The local issue wasn't so much of a selling point, although it does help To be honest I was willing to take a pay cut toget a job I wanted, and the truth is I wasn't looking solely at the AV industry
3. No offence taken, but my interpretation (ever the optimist!) is that my skills were tranferrable into a different industry Perhaps the solution is to do some relevant IT training (and apologies if that sounds patronising - I am not trying to be in any way).

I was definitely keen to sign up to one or two of the introductory CEDIA courses in advance of securing a job...as a newbie to the sector I wanted to get a feel for what was involved and needed. I think the 2 day course was about £500 or £600...

I think the main thing for the OP is to be realistic but try to maintain a positive, "the glass is half full" frame of mind as much as is possible, and remember a lot of success in job hunting is right place, right time in my experience.

Hi Nabby

I have no IT experience but loads of project managing experience for electrical installs.

the problem is the compromise in salary, I have monthly commitments i need to pay, but jobs nowadays pay so little in comparison to the exspense of living ( and I am not talking about huge loans or exspensive holidays, flash cars etc,, just general bills & food)

The baseline qualifications are also riduculous to even get an interview, it just seems expectations and salaries are out of synch with the general cost of living.

Anyway, without getting into a micro/macro economics debate, I'll just keep looking, AV or not

[table manners]

Originally Posted by Dr Force

Thanks to both of you.

Table manners do you have a link to that post??

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showt...36#post4176336

Aha!

I have worked for Quad, Mission, TAG McLaren Audio, Hifi Comany Peterborough and have good IT knowledge -

It aint worth poo on a stick...

Software engineer, yes

Sales, perhaps

But, unless your company has a product that averyone wants, its a long hard painfull slog, with little reward.

[vex]

I have just left one distribution company at the end of last year and have taken the opertunity to run a start up AV Install division in an existing company.

But this year already I have had two calls from a distributor and a manufacturer asking what I am doing and I know of four other positions that are going.

The market is boyant at the moment, both with business and expanding companies so if you can prove yourself then you should be able to find something out there.

V.

[eric pisch]

Originally Posted by SeanT

If installers level 1 looks difficult, don't bother trying to get into the industry.
If you want a job that pays well, don't bother with the AV industry in the first place, unless you are going to go it alone, from personal experience and just looking around the industry a bit recently and seeing what pathetic amounts people offer for my level of skill - gonna do me some IT qualifications and have a change of career after 5 years in the av industry.....

been working IT for 22 years and tbh it dont have much future either, massive outsourcing of support abroad, centralised server farms (with minimal support), thin client, huge numbers coming into the industry each year, budget disposable kit with no margins, future kit the size of fag boxes with no user servicable parts, "home" owners want everything for free

the future of IT is not as rosey as most ppl think

stoped selling kit when the margins didnt even cover testing p&p, gone are the days when a 8mb P75 had £1200 profit in it

I recomend becoming a corgi gas fitter, i must have made 20 calls to try and get my gas fire fitted, the vast majority said not interested to busy and most of the rest quoted £300+ for a couple of hours work.....

[SeanT]

I'm not becoming a heating engineer, my old man and his brother have done it for years and it murders your back, plus you have to start at the very bottom and become an apprentice - fair one on the outsourcing, that's why I'm going in the telco direction, you can't do physical technical work from another country.....

[dj-dulux]

I have to agree with hornydragon here, the industry is definitely growing especially at the top end, I saw those 2 jobs too. As more people see ‘our’ work and understand why it costs £75k to really meet the customers expectations on a 6 bed house it will only grow. The area which is in my view causing us problems is the number of people doing full multiroom AV using PCs, Macs etc for £10k. Customers mate sees it, thinks great, and then it crashes, sounds awful or is impossible for the other half to use! Doesn’t meet customers requirement and another potential customer is lost and he tells 20 others that the technology is still crap! If this industry is to grow we have to focus on the customer requirements, not the products. If we can not meet the customer needs reliably for the budget, tell the customer and advise them to focus in one room and get a decent TV instead. The distributors are doing a reasonable job with training and keeping who installs products limited. But I have been shocked on several of the courses I have been on at the technical level of people. This worries me immensely, the only way forward is to build a very strong company or personal reputation and rely on word of mouth, and unfortunately this takes time. I am dreading the time when I have to recruit additional people, but I will want to see examples of work and they will be paid a good salary, they are skilled labour!

So, back to the original question Dr Force. Get some training, then play and play and play. Get yourself set up with one control system, AMX, Crestron, Digilinx etc and learn it to death. Install it in your own home, even if it’s just 1 or 2 zones. Then get a job with someone off here.

Now I’ve got that off my chest I’m of to work on a quote!

Dupe…

[SeanT]

Originally Posted by dj-dulux

I am dreading the time when I have to recruit additional people

[dj-dulux]

Feel free to PM some details SeanT, if I get all the work currenty being quoted for I may need you!

Dupe..

[tdtm82]

Originally Posted by Dr Force

Hi Nabby

I have no IT experience but loads of project managing experience for electrical installs.

the problem is the compromise in salary, I have monthly commitments i need to pay, but jobs nowadays pay so little in comparison to the exspense of living ( and I am not talking about huge loans or exspensive holidays, flash cars etc,, just general bills & food)

The baseline qualifications are also riduculous to even get an interview, it just seems expectations and salaries are out of synch with the general cost of living.

Anyway, without getting into a micro/macro economics debate, I'll just keep looking, AV or not

If you have little on the technical side but can clearly project well at least show that. Companies always look for good project and sales people..

Project managers are in high demand anyway. Just make sure your operating with a team which can manage well under you and can work for you. Ask them for suggestions - they will respect you for that and they can aid you in your technical side. Then you can show them how to manager their projects more. Technical people aren't always good with managing the stress.

A Company will have problems in getting ridding of you unless they relocate or change the job. Good luck. I was jobless for a while and it sucks. I do team assistant stuff for ship management and I know little about ships.