what made you want to become a pipe monkey/heating engineer

[mutley racers]

I completed school with 11 gcse's & 2 A-levels never wanted to go to uni. I worked with my dad doing all sorts of general building work in my teenage years; one summer we did a small wet room, I fitted the toilet & did some soldering.. really enjoyed it!

I enrolled in college for plumbing that year. I completed the 4 year course whilst working part time as a butcher, not even a sniff of an apprenticeship I was depressed & disheartened; I spent another 18 months working full time at a highly acclaimed butchery making a nice wage, Finally landed a plumbing apprenticeship, took at least a 50% pay cut to follow my dream.

You know ''the dream'' ? The Van, The signage, The open road, knocking off at half two because you can (as if); Its 10 years since I soldered my first pipe.

Well done for not giving it up and pursuing your dream feller

 

[PhoenixServices]

Wanted to be an architect but flunked my A levels as girls and beer were far more interesting. Spent much of the next 20 years as a (motorcycle) courier based in London. Got married and bought a doggy house in a doggy part of town. Did quite a bit of plumbing there - loved it. Moved to the country, decided I needed a proper job, went to evening classes for 2 years and never looked back. Now looking to do gas courses at 51..

Love the technical aspects, can be challenging and rewarding, great job.

Probably should of stuck to being a courier, would of earnt more 😀

 

[Ray Stafford]

Probably should of stuck to being a courier, would of earnt more 😀

I probably earned more as a courier that at any point in my career before I was 40. But to earn good money I was driving 70 or 80 hours a week and taking all the cr@p jobs to keep in the despatchers good books. Its a youngsters game.

 

[TheCockneyScot]

Got 12 A*-C GCSE's, 3 A-Levels and didn't want to live the life of a Uni student/graduate, so I went into CAD design, after about 9 months sitting in an office for 9 hours straight was making me ill (Literally) so I went looking for a trade, enrolled at my local college for a level 1 entry course in plumbing and gas and worked my way up from there to finding an apprenticeship earning almost three times less than a CAD trainee. Truth be told though, I wouldn't want it any other way. I'm still young so the prospects are there for me if I wish to take them in the industry, definitely don't regret it at all.