career advice? where to ask?

[thrtytwo]

Are there any places you can call or email and get free advice?

I want to look into furthering my skills but don't know what direction to take.

I'm a qualified boilermaker, getting good coin, but I don't want to be in the workshop for the rest of my life. It's hot, dirty and long hours to make money.

Ideally I'd like to hang up the overalls and be able to earn what I do currently, but without doing overtime.

I think welding inspectors get payed pretty well.

I'm also considering studying egineering but don't know what field that would lead to. I'd like to move my career sideways rather than start again from the bottom.

Just looking for suggestions on someone to talk to, cheers!

[R3N]

Speak to your immediate manager or supervisor in terms of your longer term goals and if there is a path for your progression within your company. It will always be easier for you to develop within your current place of employment than to start somewhere new with no experience in a new field.

[Turbo2.6L]

Project Manager.
Do your Prince 2 & try negotiate something with your current employer.

Alternatively, start putting yourself through NDT courses & such.

[thrtytwo]

Cheers guys! Will look into this prince 2,

Was thinking about NDT, wondering if there are many mobs that do mobile testing with an xray machine (if that even exists) or not. Could be a good little start up.

[JBAE]

weld inspector CSWIP 3.1 is what i was looking at doing at one stage before i decided on rolling OHS as a few welders i know offshore were looking into it

Mark Grogan - 0403 223 881

call him have a chat and see what you think

[thrtytwo]

Is he a weld inspector trainer? Cheers for the number.

Edit: just googled him, sounds good!

[newbie101]

Mate, give some serious thought to a cert 4 (adv. Dip.) in engineering, and use it to step into CAD design.

I came into this game from the workshop (mech fitter for 10+ years) and had zigzactly the same thoughts as you r: getting out of the overalls. I now get to help design the stuff instead of fixing it, never have to leave perth (FIFO? GTFO) and make about $30 p/hr more than what I would get up north hanging off the arse end of a dozer in the middle of the dessert.

winning.

Oh, and trade based draftee's get uber kudos in my experience.

[TJ]

Welding inspectors get paid pretty well here considering their work load.

[JBAE]

Mate, give some serious thought to a cert 4 (adv. Dip.) in engineering, and use it to step into CAD design.

I came into this game from the workshop (mech fitter for 10+ years) and had zigzactly the same thoughts as you r: getting out of the overalls. I now get to help design the stuff instead of fixing it, never have to leave perth (FIFO? GTFO) and make about $30 p/hr more than what I would get up north hanging off the arse end of a dozer in the middle of the dessert.

winning.

Oh, and trade based draftee's get uber kudos in my experience.

Khunts in most fields that have actual practical experience/ trade exp are fucking soooo much better to deal with than some khunt that is purely book learnt! esecially in fields like OHS n shit!

[Alt_F4]

Mate, give some serious thought to a cert 4 (adv. Dip.) in engineering, and use it to step into CAD design.
+1

Once your familiar with the software + have a cert/diploma, good paying drafty jobs should be easy to come across given your on the job skills.

[thrtytwo]

I thought about drafting but didn't know how easy it would be to step into. Will look into that!

Like you say fuck FIFO. The hourly rate isn't that spectacular if your just a grunt. The money comes from overtime. If I worked 12 hour days for 14 days in Perth I'd get just as much.

Yeh I haven't looked closely TJ, but seem to recall something in the order of $80ph

[Alt_F4]

This is the course I'd recommend, bare bones, 6 month quick course that'll get you up to speed on drafting without most of the bullshit...
http://www.central.wa.edu.au/Courses/EngineeringConstructionMining/Pages/WT41.aspx?cookieCheck=true

Essentially a stripped down version of the diploma I did a few years ago.

[newbie101]

^^ If you go for that course, then make sure you talk to a careers person at TAFE first, as I only had to do a "stripped down" version of the diploma anyway, as your trade cert is worth a bucketload of RPL, and you may find you will only need a couple more units than that to get a full cert 4

[thrtytwo]

Ty for the link! I rekon I'd find it pretty easy. I was an AutoCAD whiz in high school. The teacher had me drawing up 3D hub assemblies for a solar car on the side haha.