“Strength and conditioning was interesting work, but it was unpredictable and I was beginning to think I’d like to put my energy into a career that’s financially stable – to help me build a proper future.”
A growing number of our trainees are people looking to change career because their business was negatively affected by Covid and repeated lockdowns; they want to find a job that’s more stable and won’t leave them high and dry if things go haywire again in the future.
One such example is 25 year-old Harry B. who, prior to joining us at Northolt, was working as a self-employed personal trainer, helping athletes work at peak condition.
“Strength and conditioning was interesting work, but it was unpredictable and I was beginning to think I’d like to put my energy into a career that’s financially stable – to help me build a proper future.”
Harry is now three weeks into Logic4training’s Domestic Gas Heating Installer (DGHI) course and hasn’t looked back.
The DGHI course is a Managed Learning Programme (MLP), specifically designed for people with little or no previous experience, who wish to join the gas, heating and plumbing industry. It’s a mix of theory and practical training and gauged to suit a wide range of learners of all ages. In Harry’s class there are eight candidates – all from different backgrounds and ranging from their early twenties to late forties.
“It’s great, we’ve all come from different careers, but we’re all working to the same goal and are very supportive of each other. I’m enjoying learning in a mixed group and the trainers are excellent. They are all very experienced – used to dealing with all sorts of people.
“I’ve done a bit of labouring in the past, so some of what we’re learning is familiar, but there’s lots I don’t know and it’s great the way they combine the theory and practical work to help us learn.”
Harry’s MLP comprises seven weeks of theory and practical work in the centre and a ten-week portfolio project, where candidates work alongside a qualified engineer out in the real world. This is to give them plenty of hands-on experience to back up what they learnt in the classroom. Harry is particularly looking forward to this part of the course:
“I can’t wait to work with an engineer on boilers and plumbing jobs in people’s homes, to bring all I’m learning to life. There’s a real lack of heating engineers at the moment, due partly to Brexit, and I’m excited about carving out a new career for myself.”
Once Harry and his cohort have completed their portfolios and have demonstrable evidence of their competence and practical experience, they return to the centre to finish the course. At this point they’re ready to undertake Gas ACS training and assessment – a pre-requisite to becoming registered with Gas Safe. Harry has plans:
“Once I’ve completed my training and am Gas Safe registered, I’d like to start out working for a company for a few years – to build my experience. Long-term I’d like to be self-employed, to run my own business. I’ve never been one to sit behind a desk and think that working as a gas engineer will give me the variety and security I’m looking for in the future.”
We wish Harry all the best in years to come. To find out how training could start you on the road to a worthwhile career, please get in touch.
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