Level 3 City and Guilds 2330 sparky.

[Willis]

Evening, I suppose I should introduce myself, my name's Will, I'm 23 and have completed a 5 year apprenticeship as an electrician, I've worked in a few different areas from refrigeration to first and second fixing houses. But never at any point have I been properly happy with what I'm doing, and have always been looking at how I can use my qualification to get into another field that I'm actually interested in.

 

A few years ago when I went to my first big rock concert (foo fighters at the O2) I realised stage lighting was an area I could definitely see myself working in, ever since then I've found myself watching the lights at concerts/festivals just as much as I watch the bands.

 

What I actually came here to ask was, in the world of lighting and sound techs, how advantageous is my city and guilds qualification, if at all. I know it all depends on on-the-job experience, that's pretty obvious, but I mean if I was to do some work experience, enroll in a training course or even apply for a job, would the quali work in my favour?

 

oh and I have no A Levels, but did pretty well in my GCSEs.

[ramdram]

Willis, if you know very little about stage lighting/electrics the very first thing to do is to find out. This means reading all the recent posts on similar subjects...so you know what you are up against ref getting a post in a theatre.

 

You cannot go wrong by joining an amdram group or see about casual work in any theatre which will have you...this will if nothing else let you see how theatres work and learn some of the language...and you will find out at first hand how long the hours are...what Directors are like to work for etc etc, ** laughs out loud **.

 

At the same time google ABTT and see what's on offer there. That is only one organisation btw. Try some of the ads and links on the forum and find out how relevant your qualifications are...probably not as useful as you might hope.

 

If your course covered 3 phase in depth, say, then you may be able to find your away around a theatre switch room or similar. It would not allow you to be fully au fait with what was actually going on in the theatre...hence the comment about experience.

 

You can forget about getting a paid job anytime soon. Theatres want "stage" staff who have experience of...theatres, preferably the more the better.

 

Then again at the same time you can google up anything you can find on technical theatre methodolgy...technical terms, slang terms...anything to broaden your knowledge base. BR is an excellent place to start looking as well.

 

(I don't include jobs with general theatre maintenance teams btw; some large theatres have house electricians which have very, very little to do with stage electricians.)

 

Frankly it will be a daunting task getting paid work in this present financial climate and I wish you the very best of luck.

[kerry davies]

Any practical qualification can be of use in this game, an apprenticeship proves persistence and ability to complete.

 

Ram has the theatre answers but you mention touring rock which leads to a suggestion of crew companies. http://www.stagelink.com/resources/Service...gdom/index.html

 

There are several power supply companies that would be good if you like festival work, one place they would be glad of an electrical qualification.

 

Stagelink also has a listing of lighting hire companies that might need maintenance techs which would be a good place to build knowledge.

 

It is worth pointing out that there is little if any glamour, hours can be punishing, home life non-existent and sparkies often earn more, regular wages working for their local council. As stated in other threads the business has a high level of family involvement because of conditions and it is a way of life, not necessarily a stable way of earning a living.

 

For what it is worth I would strongly advise doing some general local crew work to see whether you really want to join the sector but firstly, if you fill in your profile it would help to know if you are in Saudi or Streatham.