Apprentice 121 Podcast

This episode is all about career prospects in the electrical industry and follows on from other videos already available on the podcast. Join in the NAW 2024 and celebrate everything about apprenticeships and skills for life. Check out https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/influencers/national-apprenticeship-week https://www.electricalcareers.co.uk/ for full details on all the routes.

This episode is all about day to day life in the electrical industry and follows on from other videos already available on the podcast. Join in the NAW 2024 and celebrate everything about apprenticeships and skills for life. Check out https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/influencers/national-apprenticeship-week https://www.electricalcareers.co.uk/ for full details on all the routes.

This episode is all about how to find employment in the electrical industry and follows on from other videos already available on the podcast. Join in the NAW 2024 and celebrate everything about apprenticeships and skills for life. Check out https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/influencers/national-apprenticeship-week https://www.electricalcareers.co.uk/ for full details on all the routes.

This episode is all about how to enter the electrical industry and follows on from other videos already available on the podcast. From apprenticeships to self funded routes and much in between. We will be keeping this episodes at around 10 minutes long and hopefully they are useful in particular to school leavers and parents. Join in the NAW 2024 and celebrate everything about apprenticeships and...

When plumbers and electricians collide! Had the absolute pleasure of chatting with Damon Blakemore from Blakemore Plumbing Heating and Renewables. We got into MCS and how that works (or sometimes doesn't) for electricians and plumbers. Along with the similarities we have in our trades from short course training, job proposals, miss selling, bad business practices, apprenticeship decline and th...

Designing CAT A and CAT B electrical installations, what are electrical safety first up to in 2024 and Mark’s solar installation video series! Plus the IET standard 01, what is it, is it good? bad? Genius? We give our views!   The Proteus tour/apprentice visit day is 6th of Feb in Telford, get in touch to join us!  Richard and Craig join me to catch up and have a wide ranging chat!  I loved chatti...

How to design electrical circuits/installations using software from industry leading ElectricalOM - Modecsoft. Super star Spencer Henry joins myself, Craig and Richard to demonstrate the power of electricalOM and how it can help us correctly design electrical systems. ElectricalOM is packed with so many features it is very hard to give fair coverage in a single podcast! From CAD to AC and DC desig...

A run through some of the things we achieved in 2023 and the awesome support from across industry and what we have planned for 2024. Christmas special next week with the team! It has been a fantastically enjoyable year and huge thanks to everyone for the support especially all those who appeared on the podcast! #teamsparks #apprentice121 #electricians

Dave comes back with the blockbuster finale to his sensational solar PV design example. I loved sitting in on this one and its brilliant to see these podcasts close up at a personal level. I cant emphasize enough how much time and effort the guys have all put into these. In my opinion the example put forward here by Dave is level 4 and anyone following along will hopefully get some value from it....

Myself and Craig have podcasting royalty with us on this one. Sam from the  @ELECTRICIANSPODCAST  comes in to give his views alongside us. I have to give a massive thanks to Sam, Craig, Ricky, Neil, Jamie, Richard, David and the entire Apprentice 121 family for the awesome ECN finalist nomination. Its unlikely we will win with JTL and others in the same award, however just getting to that stage is...

The guys are back next to finish the design series off with a bang. Well hopefully not an actual bang lol. In this one I talk about some of the events coming up and the awesome experience of visiting the NET skills celebration at the o2 arena. Along with our cool nomination for an ECN award later this month! I also show a little bit of what we are up to at the academy and show you around. Free spa...

David and Richard the superstars from Electrical Safety First join me again to run through the design question set out 2 weeks ago. The files can be found here https://apprentice121.co.uk/solar-pv-design-scenario along with the prior introduction to the scenario! In this one we start the cable calculation and set the scene for the final twist coming in part 2 of the answers! We are taking our time...

Richard and David join me to set out another design scenario to work on. This time a solar PV system on agricultural premises! Centered on Davids experience from the solar industry. David goes into his career so far and how he ended up at Electrical Safety First. I loved this one and please do listen to the end and head over to the apprentice 121 website and download the files/take part! We will b...

Richard and Craig run through the final questions on the EVSE design scenario from the live webinar last week! Thanks to all for the kind feedback and questions coming back in! We covered correction factors on 90 and 70 degree SWA cables, Max Zs values on a 30mA RCD, Max Ib value for a ring final circuit and loads loads more! I thoroughly enjoyed myself through this entire series so far, have lear...

We run through the design and specification of an EV charge point installation with the Super stars Richard Harvey (Electric Safety First), David Powell (Electric Safety First), Craig Buist (BES) and myself. The guys go through this in detail from start to finish with references to the regulations and product details. I really enjoyed it myself and we recorded this in webinar format with other gue...

This one is packed with chat from Matt finding some work experience to Richard explaining the great work going on with Electric Safety First and Craig's awesome 2396 achievement and his booming job role at Burgess Electrical Services. I loved this one and we covered the plan to host a live webinar on design in the next week or so. Please see www.apprentice121.co.uk/design-webinar

Matt very kindly joins me to share his knowledge about apprenticeship standards and frameworks alongside his direct experience working towards retraining as an electrician. We discuss his background, efforts helping with the apprentice121 facebook group and tips he has for others looking to enter industry at all levels. We will be getting Matt back on again soon with the rest of the guys and hopef...

Episode 3 of the design series moves things along again. This time into 3 phase and to include power factor! Richard leads the show again working from the example built by Craig! I am a passenger on these and enjoy learning something new every single week! Massive thanks to the guys for taking the time and putting this together. Huge thanks to everyone for the kind feedback and recent bump in numb...

Craig Wiltshire joins me to discuss the brand new domestic experienced worker route! This is suitable for people with 3 years working experience in the domestic sector who are currently working in that environment and want to attain the domestic electrician standard. You must have 3 years relevant experience and existing qualifications in industry. The evidence built through the assessment can onl...

Richard takes us through a design example covering all the calculations needed from design current, OCPD sizing, Grouping, Thermal effects and lots more! We also have a little competition running to win a Chauvin Arnoux 740N safety tester! Watch to the end and get involved! Link to the webpage with all the PDFs discussed shown below! https://apprentice121.co.uk/electrical-design-podcast

We discuss the design of an electrical circuit based on a typical kitchen lighting system with 10 (very bright) down lights. Richard and Craig take us through the design journey from start to finish through the course on a new and exciting series on design. We will introduce more of the calculations and considerations in circuit design on the next one with correction factors, Zs, adiabatic and mor...

A podcast to help people looking for employment as apprentices and also to help employers who are looking to employ them! Information and advice from both sides of that discussion. Also some chat around CEF live, giveaways and those who are trying to scam people and rip off JIB gold cards.... https://www.gov.uk/employing-an-apprentice/get-funding https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates

Kevin Smith joins me to discuss what Power Quality is and why it is ever more important as we move towards renewable energy and electric vehicle charging. Kevin is also an apprentice trained electrician with vast experience in the lecturing/training sector. I learnt loads in this one and we just scratched the surface. From discussion around harmonics, power factor and linear/non linear loads which...

We discuss why design is so important with electrical systems. From the rule of thumb approach to software and direct calculation! Design is a part of the apprenticeship and full time routes we also have the level 4 2396 to consider as well. We had a mini brain wave during this podcast and will be structuring something on the next one! Massive thanks to the superstars of the show Craig and Richard...

What is the best route to qualify as electrician and get a gold card? A question I get asked daily. It is such a tricky one to cover as it varies around all regions of the UK. I discuss the key options available to you and how they map out with employers and training providers. Please check out the links below for full details and some of the free support for trainees. https://www.electricalcareer...