Electronics Degree

[ramalamafafafa]

Hey guys.

Over the past few months, ive developed a keen interest in Electronics (tube amps specificly). Basicly, what id like to know is, if, supposing i wanted to say....fix amps for a living (y'know, capacitor changes etc...), would i have a legal obligation to have some kind of degree/qualification to do so. i live in australia, and im not aware of the laws. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers Guys!

[OzMikeH]

You need to have a restricted electrical license to work on mains powered equipment connected with a cord and plug.

The trick is to get the license you need to know what you;re doing with electicity and have a business need for it. A bit of a chicken and egg situation in your case.

If you dont know what you're doing around a tube amp it will kill you.

Make sure you have a very experienced friend on hand to help fix those that go BANG after a cap change or start oscillating after an op amp change.

If you're still in school I suggest doubling up on your maths courses, do physics as well and then go into an apprenticeship or pre apprenticeship course.

Don't bother with the degree, You'll end up sitting at a desk designing stuff (very poorly). Go with the trade certificate and work for a living. If you're any good you'll make a lot more money than an engineer too.

[ramalamafafafa]

Cheers for the advice man.

About this restricted Licence, How would i go about getting one of these. TAFE? or is there some other authority to contact?

[OzMikeH]

In the PDF you'll find comments about on the job training. That part will be somewhat difficult if you plan to work for yourself.


http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/EnergySaf...Licensing.html


http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/EnergySaf...ctricians_.pdf

[Nordic]

Even if you intend working for yourself, it is good to start out working for someone else.... In my opinion it is better to make your first mistakes at the expense of someone else....

[digitalstore]

Originally posted by OzMikeH
In the PDF you'll find comments about on the job training. That part will be somewhat difficult if you plan to work for yourself.


http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/EnergySaf...Licensing.html


http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/EnergySaf...ctricians_.pdf

Hello Dear,

Thanks for sharing it here.

[unclejed613]

i grew up here in the US, and while there is no federal requirement for licensing (except for radio and TV station engineers), some of the states require licensing for some fields of electronics. Massachusetts, where i grew up has a licensing board for TV repair techs. the original reason for it was to weed out the rip-off artists, but it's a case of the inmates running the asylum, since the licensing board consists of the very "techs" that the system was supposed to remove...... as a "ferinstance", one member of the licensing board was known to take an AC cord, and use it to pop the filaments of picture tubes and tell the customer their picture tube is blown, and it would cost $300.00 to fix, or they could buy a TV from him for $300.00. he was also a county sheriff's deputy, AND finally went to jail for dealing cocaine...... i live in Colorado now, where there is no licensing requirement, and the rip-off artists just plain fail in business, and don't need a licensing board to weed them out.....