Hi there,
I am new to the forum and ultimately not sure where to start or where to get my foot in the door... I am from Norfolk and have been doing a bit of research. I like and don't like the sound of the 10 week fast track tree sugary course at Easton and Otley college the reason being is that I want some grounded experience whether it be paid on tuppence and hour or not paid at all as I feel experience far out weighs someone doing a fast track course from being a novice.
Cut a long story short I am currently on a 6 month internship with Suffolk wildlife trust at Redgrave and lopham fen and am learning a tremendous amount and have on my second attempt ( not feeling confident on my first test and asking for the test to be stopped as I didn't feel confident enough to fell trees) passed my NPTC in maintence and cross cutting and felling up to 380mm. I am due to finish my internship in a couple of months and have realised ( even after being scared of the chainsaw as a first time user) that I love woodland work and even though not being too knowledgable with arbiculture work, I would like to persue the my career direction on gaining a solid base and foundation in this particular area.
The reason I took up the internship with the trust is because I wanted a career change, working within a hospital for the past two years and my dad dying I realised that I have always wanted to be outdoors and more importantly work outdoors, I feel at 28 that it's maybe a little too late for change but I went ahead and did it l. I'm in a position now where I want to move forward and be guided and supported by professionals of the trade and I'm kind of in a scary position where I feel I have no skills to move forward or don't know where I could gain experience as I'm new to the industry. It has been a massive step for me in my life to pass the chainsaw course and make the step in a career change as I doubted myself and didn't think I was capable of passing, but I did.
I wanted to post on here you as there seems to be a great deal of very knowledgeable people and was hoping that maybe someone could point me in the right direction or give some advice on what kind of options I have or should be looking at as I've don't lots of research but quite honsestly it's like finding a needle in a haystack if you don't know where to look. I've been looking seriously at grounds man work so I can get more experience with the chainsaw and then work my way up but there seems to be nothing in the way of that in terms of jobs or even work experience.
I'm also in a position where I already have a degree in a completely unrelated field and cannot get funding to further my studies in this area.
If anyone could help it would be much appreciated
Many thanks
