5 Qualities Electricians Need

An electrician is a crucial part of our lives, even if we don’t think about them. We rely on them to ensure our lights remain on at home, our mobile phones stay charged, and our rooms stay heated or cooled.

We might think we know a fair bit about what electricians do, but there are a number of qualities they simply must have, that you may not realise.

Master Electricians Study Almost as long as Doctors

When you’re hiring a master electrician, you are hiring someone who has been training for at least 8 years. And since they deal with potential dangerous wires and voltage on a regular basis, it’s no surprise they need plenty of learning and experience.

They first start studying their trade in the classroom then transition to an apprenticeship where they get immersed in the job, before finally gaining accreditation to become a fully licensed electrician.

Electricians Need to Have Colour Vision

If you are colour-blind, you cannot work as an electrician. Until the late 1970s, single phase electrical wires were coloured black, green and red. This is a major issue because most colour-blind people see green and red as the same.

Even though multi-coloured Earth has replaced single phase wires for all new installations, there are still plenty of black, green and red wires. So if you didn’t have colour vision, trying to work on these could be quite risky.

Many Celebrities were Electricians

Plenty of famous people have trained as sparkies over the years. Elvis Presley began his working life in the 1950s training as an electrician but decided to try his luck at singing soon after. Thank you very much!

The Beatles star George Harrison was an apprentice electrician too, until he moved across to the entertainment industry. Movie director Alfred Hitchock and the hilarious Rowan Atkinson also tried their luck with wiring for a while.

Electricians Are Super Fit

You can be excused for thinking electricians don’t need to be super fit. I mean they just unscrew sockets and fix up the wiring right? Wrong!

Many facets of the job require these tradesmen to be incredibly energetic and strong. These include carrying heavy equipment, climbing up and down ladders, digging holes and crawling into spaces. And they do it in rain, hail and shine!

Electricians are Experts in Safety

One of the key components in the job of an electrician is carrying out safety checks. If you don’t have the correct training and knowledge, day to day jobs could become very risky. Hence there are a plethora of safety regulations, which must be clearly known. Different buildings also have different codes, so you must be aware of the specific rules and requirements depending where you are.

There are 4 main niches that electricians specialise in which are:

Residential
Commercial
Industrial
Outside Lineman

Some people, such as Mike Basias from MBE Electrical are experts in multiple niches.

“I love being able to perform many roles and help individuals and organisations out with a variety of issues”, Mike said.

These include rewiring older homes and offices, installing security or intercom systems, fault finding and home automation.