New to the arb industry - looking for advice

[josharb87]

@Phil_G Your current job sounds very interesting with a good, varied career path ahead of you. Id think twice about leaving it for arb, especially the UK arb scene.

[Mike Hill]

I think you should go for it.No one can take your degree(s) or your current experience from you.However if you " hit the wall" in your current career mentally,you will regret not changing sooner.

 

Speaking for myself,I only regret the things I havn't done.Well apart from the one that gave me Herpes but it was fun at the time.

[carlos]

to the op, how about keep your day job( and wage)try and reduce your hours, do a short arb course and try and get some weekend work with a local firm, prove your worth and test out the water as to wether you like arb work, you may find the odd weekend will be enough or you may love it and want to go further.

to stephen blair would you suggest someone buys some spanners and sets up as a mechanic or a multimeter and pair of pliers and starts doing electrical work??

fair enough little bits of garden tree work etc, i think when you have done tree work for a while its easy to forget what you have learnt and think its all easy as a lot of it is when you know how, only when you see a trainee in action do you relies how much there is to learn.

my 5 cent.

carl

[Stephen Blair]

to stephen blair would you suggest someone buys some spanners and sets up as a mechanic or a multimeter and pair of pliers and starts doing electrical work??

Pretty much all my successful friends who run their own businesses have done just that.

[carlos]

11 minutes ago, Stephen Blair said:

 

Pretty much all my successful friends who run their own businesses have done just that.

 

 

fair enough im sure some people can work safely like that but a quick youtube treework fail search proves there are many that cant!

[geoffers]

I started off by doing bits at weekends for people I knew. no tickets just a willingness to learn and a background of growing up in the country messing about on farms and around machinery all my life. I've done a variety of jobs. From pub work, flying falcons and hawks, beatkeeper and working for a landscape company doing the tree work for them. My point is, I loved all the jobs I have done, some more than others but I always wanted to be a tree surgeon / arborist and own my own business. For the last ten years I've done just that and I employ eight lads full time. Which has Paid for all our tickets and training.
Passion about what I do, damn hard work, and the occasional stroke of luck drives me. You can do anything you set your mind to and be damn good at it too. I'm only 35. Good luck in whatever path you choose.

[Stephen Blair]

27 minutes ago, carlos said:

fair enough im sure some people can work safely like that but a quick youtube treework fail search proves there are many that cant!

you have to fail to learn!  Many of us started our business before the days of asking online, you just had to take a deep breath and go for it.  Have I made mistakes, of course I have, have I hurt myself, yes!  

Have I made money, run a successful business since 1999 , yes!

[Jimbo 76]

31 minutes ago, Stephen Blair said:

you have to fail to learn!  Many of us started our business before the days of asking online, you just had to take a deep breath and go for it.  Have I made mistakes, of course I have, have I hurt myself, yes!  

Have I made money, run a successful business since 1999 , yes!

You're a Super Moderator.... Many people read this forum and you're advocating no formal training....

In this game mistakes can not only kill you but others. 

Anything you can do to mitigate the risk is worth the money.

 

To the OP I'm sure you're smart enough so work out which path is best for you.

All the best for the future.

 

Cheers,

James.

[flatyre]

having no certificates some might say I have no right to work in the industry, and that might be true, but I've worked with guys who did have certs and they didn't have a clue so getting the relevant qualifications doesn't necessarily make you a safe tree surgeon, I would strongly advise getting them all the same, more for the actual training than the fancy bit of paper. Not sure if being an "adrenaline junky" is a good attribute, personally I prefer to work with people who suppress their rash side and opt for a more methodical approach.

[Marula]

If we as ARBORISTS want to be taken seriously as a trade then we must advocate for all who work in the trade to be certified. I went to college, twice, for my qualifications. I wanted to feel it was a fair shout to call me a tree expert. The fact I come across arborists who can't identify the basic 5 in my area really pisses me off. I've never had a plumber in who didn't know what the thingy majiggy was which he was charging me for.

I'm still confused as to why the op with a masters wants to do a six week course instead of banging out the level six whilst doing weekend work for experience, the level six should be a walk in the park after a masters in I'm presuming genetics?