How do I get qualified as a Tree surgeon in Scotland

[Birchwoodmatt91]

Hi everyone, 

 

I am new to the site and new to the world of Arbioculture as I'm changing career from personal training but excited to learn and work in a great industry. I am from Inverness, Scotland. 

 

I will be going to college in September doing an hnc in arbioculture but want to know what relevant tickets I will have to get to work in the industry at any level and gain experience while I learn.

 

Would appreciate any advice. 

 

 

Thank you, 

 

Matt

[wood cutter]

Hi everyone, 
 
I am new to the site and new to the world of Arbioculture as I'm changing career from personal training but excited to learn and work in a great industry. I am from Inverness, Scotland. 
 
I will be going to college in September doing an hnc in arbioculture but want to know what relevant tickets I will have to get to work in the industry at any level and gain experience while I learn.
 
Would appreciate any advice. 
 
 
Thank you, 
 
Matt

Hi welcome to the forum

You need to get yourself some NPTC training and certification.

Its not cheap but will enable you to find employment and start to lean about the job.

I did the basics 30 31 38 39 and was able to find a job as i had aerial rescue and could use saws.

11 years later im still at it with heaps more tickets and heaps more experience.

College based stuff is ok but it will never be better than experience and a lot of companys are interested in the nptc units amd not college as a lot of lads come out after 2 years or more with no tickets at all? Bit of a waste of time in my opinion as if your working with decent people they can help with knowledge ect

Ive done all tyoes of jobs in arb from grounding to climbing to surveying to managing. So it really is up to you on how you go about it.

I wish you all the best!

[stihlmadasever]

There are some pretty good trainers in scotland so contact some and get prices for your tickets.Besides that try and get some work with a local company as practical experience really is the best gauge of the industry.

Put an advert on here under the employment section saying your lookin for work experience as there are some guys on here that are in and around your area in Inverness.

Best of luck mate

Welcome to the tree world

[Birchwoodmatt91]

Thanks for the reply.

 

Yes I thought about doing it that route of just acquiring tickets but I like the accountability of structured learning. Far more productive doing it in a learning environment. I'm just planning on doing 1 year and acquiring tickets throughout so the first one would be chainsaw. Have been working on tree identification for a good few months now on my own too. 

 

Do you know if you can get any jobs just with the chainsaw ticket?

[stihlmadasever]

Most definetly.I would think most employers would deem basic felling/crosscutting ticket as a pre requisit.

Chipper ticket and a towing license are also very desirable

 

Edited May 6, 2018 by stihlmadasever

[Birchwoodmatt91]

The college I'm going to offer courses for it at additional cost so will probably end up doing it through them. 

 

Another reason I'm going down the college route is for connections. The lecturers have a vast network of employers to help me for the future

[Stephen Blair]

Neil will keep you right on your course, lots of work for anyone keen to work hard and learn and being realistic about what they expect to be paid at first.
Start of dragging branches for companies and learn how a job works be it a back garden hedge reduction or on a large felling job.
If you can drive, be on time, not complain and be polite then you are half way there imo.
Apex Tree surgeons in Drumnadrochit is always looking for workers and covers a huge amount of work in the Inverness area and is a really descent guy. David Wakely tree surgeons in Elgin are good too. Drop each of them an email and expect to hit the ground running.

[Aicchalmers]

I'm doing the same course as you at the ssf at the moment after being in the industry climbing already for a few years, more to get some qualifications under my belt for the future though. In terms of actually working in the industry, get your 30/31 nptc tickets as soon as you can, don't bother through the college as they're never organised enough to get assessors and you don't do any chainsaw in the arb course anyway. If you drive and can have a basic set of ppe and a small saw then you've just got to be willing to do any work and not be afraid of travelling and staying away, then just get as much experience as you can. They do a climbing unit in the course which covers the same content as the 38, but again unless you sort it out yourself you won't get an assessment. Ringlink and a few others will do assessment only though to get your tickets and 39 you can get separately. But as long as you've got chainsaw and felling get out there and get some experience and then it's all a lot clearer, and it makes the course content more relevant if you're working in the industry anyway. If you want to chat about the course content etc feel free to ask away or pm.