Barking Mad? (another career change thread!)

[FATHER ZED]

Hello folks!

 

First thing I'd like to say is, what a great forum this is! Had no idea it existed until I stumbled on it by chance the other day!

 

Anyway, to cut to the chase .... Having been made redundant last year, I've been re-evaluating a few things, and am frankly sick to death of banging my head against the 'job applications' wall .........

 

My interest in forestry, and 'trees' generally, goes back to my late teens. I had a couple of mates that worked in the forests of a nearby estate - their Pop was the estate manager. When the opportunities arose, I'd go and give them a hand, and did have the chance to help the elder of the 2 brothers with a commercial fell for a couple of days ..........

I think it's a mixture of the proximity to nature, the industry's necessity for

Big Boys' Toys , and the fact that you're out and about, rather than suffering death-by-battery-hen syndrome

 

Whilst I should perhaps have seen The Light years ago, I now find myself at a point in life where I need to find a radical change of direction... and, like everyone else on the planet, I'd rather do something I enjoy!

 

I'm hoping to move later in the year, which will hopefully free some cash up too. The area I'm thinking of moving to is quite near to a college that does the required quals, at various levels, so, in theory, everything should/could fall into place quite neatly .................

 

My first question for the Forum then is:

 

If I pursue this, get the quals, and invest in X, Y and Z, do you think there is

enough work/jobs to go around ????????

 

I'm mainly (but not exclusively) interested in working for myself - I've been self-employed before (electrician), and know that the first year or so can be hard, until you've established yourself, but aside from that, how do you think the industry as a whole is fairing in this pretty awful economic climate ????

 

Thanks for any input offered!

[Billy]

Theres not loads of work, but it is there. Experience is key as you probably know. To be honest unless you have money to invest in good kit (large truck, hi ab etc) you wont be worth much than about £70 a day draggin brash and grounding for a while untl you gain speed climbing...which isn;t easy as not many firms want aslow possibly accident prone new climber doing alot of climbing for them...its a bit of a catch 22 situation.

[Rupe]

Age is not a barrier IMO, but if you are over 30ish then you had better be fit or hard enough not to notice how unfit you are! The youths will get there in the end as they have time on their side but anyone of any maturity needs to be one step ahead, a good driving licence helps and so does wisdom.

 

Remember that CS units are not qualifications, they are just safety tickets, you can come away with all the tickets in the world but not necessarily be able to climb the first tree you come to.

 

I once did evening classes in electricianing, it was easy in the classroom, top of the class for a maths and physics A grader nerd like me, but they didn't teach anything about how to rip someones house apart to install the new wiring. I soon realised I would never be able to do it as a job without years of experience, most sparkies would have the holes knocked out and wires in while I was still scratching my chin. Same would go for tree work, experience wins. So I stuck with tree work!

[FATHER ZED]

Theres not loads of work, but it is there. Experience is key as you probably know.

 

To be honest unless you have money to invest in good kit (large truck, hi ab etc) you wont be worth much than about £70 a day draggin brash and grounding for a while untl you gain speed climbing...which isn;t easy as not many firms want a slow possibly accident prone new climber doing alot of climbing for them...

 

its a bit of a catch 22 situation.

 

Thanks for that Billy, some good points there!

 

I suppose, for the 'experience' side of things, I'll just have to do what I can...

do the college stuff to the best of my ability, perhaps practice in my own time

(making sure I don't venture into 'tree Base-Jumping by mistake )

 

Assuming the house sale goes to plan, the investment side of things is probably the

easier bit of the two ... at least in a reasonably modest sense.

[Rupe]

If you are going to college to do a proper arb qualification then you will learn plenty of theory. If you have good sales skills then the two together make a good basis for a company, you could hire in the climbers etc and learn from them while you build the business side of things.

[FATHER ZED]

Age is not a barrier IMO, but if you are over 30ish then you had better be fit or hard enough not to notice how unfit you are! The youths will get there in the end as they have time on their side but anyone of any maturity needs to be one step ahead, a good driving licence helps and so does wisdom.

 

Remember that CS units are not qualifications, they are just safety tickets, you can come away with all the tickets in the world but not necessarily be able to climb the first tree you come to.

 

I once did evening classes in electricianing, it was easy in the classroom, top of the class for a maths and physics A grader nerd like me, but they didn't teach anything about how to rip someones house apart to install the new wiring. I soon realised I would never be able to do it as a job without years of experience, most sparkies would have the holes knocked out and wires in while I was still scratching my chin. Same would go for tree work, experience wins. So I stuck with tree work!

 

Thanks, Rupe, again some very interesting points!

 

I suppose quite predictably, I see quite a bit of cross-over between Sparking and 'trees' ---

most tasks in Sparking are really quite simple, and TBH quite a bit of the classroom science

isn't used in day-to-day jobbing, unless perhaps you're working in a large site and the

distance are big enough to make voltage drop an issue ............... and speed is a big

factor. As you factor in man-hours into your quote/tender/estimate, you're not going to be

competitive unless you're fairly quick ... and that also comes down to fitness, and 'nacks'...

 

I'm beginning to sense that the variables in the equation I'm looking at, are about

how much I can conform to what is necessary then, as much as anything else ..........

 

There's the bits that I can achieve in a relatively straightforward manner -

the CS, the quals, getting some tackle ..........

 

And the more spurious...... - the experience, what level of fitness can I reach, earning enough to

survive etc ...

 

Mmmmm ... a lot to think about!

[FATHER ZED]

If you are going to college to do a proper arb qualification then you will learn plenty of theory. If you have good sales skills then the two together make a good basis for a company, you could hire in the climbers etc and learn from them while you build the business side of things.

 

Now that's a VERY appealing idea!

 

As I've been mulling this over, I've wondered whether it would be feasible to do it on a self/employed, own business basis ------- with the main bugbear in this idea being that

I would need to account for gaps in my own knowledge that someone with years 'in the trade'

wouldn't even need to contemplate .................

 

But, like you suggest here, if i could hire in subbies/freelancers, I might be able to

alleviate some of my own shortcomings, and learn from time-served bods into the

bargain....

 

It's a very interesting idea I must say!

[FATHER ZED]

If you are going to college to do a proper arb qualification then you will learn plenty of theory.

 

I'm playing with the idea of:

 

Foundation Degree in Arboriculture Course - Moulton College, Northampton

 

-- the Foundation Degree in Arboriculture, and then doing the 1 year top

up to turn it into a degree.

 

If I'd only be actually in college a few days a week, that would leave me enough time to earn some brass from gardening, and perhaps do some

very basic tree work, to keep the wolf from the door.............

 

I'd value your opinion on this course's suitability ????

[Rupe]

Really good freelancers are expensive but can be worth it on the right jobs, but you would have to win those jobs in the first place and you mostly (not always) only do that by being the cheapest.

 

There are so many catch 22's it unreal!

 

If you have good people management skills then hiring in is a good idea.

[Rupe]

I know very little about those kind of courses, I have not done any. I climbed for years before even doing a CS unit. My company is based on my climbing skills (and of those that work for/with me) and my people skills and charm!! Along with some practical mechanical skills and common sense and logistics expertise and modesty!

 

I leave all the science stuff to others, I know what my limitations are. I get the job done in the time it takes others to explain to the client what a cambium layer is, by which time they have died of boredom anyway.

 

If you have free days while at college then get a job with a tree company, dragging brash and chipping. No CS units needed for that, and if you have a pre 97 drivign license then all the better.