# Continuing Education - Good option?



## jcgd (Oct 30, 2011)

I've been exploring various continuing education options and I'm not sure what might be worth the money. I am a certified electrician in Alberta. The local college (SAIT) doesn't have a lot that I'm interested in. I've taken the useful electrician upgrading courses (or equivalents) and the courses they have to would apply towards a blue seal may soon be provided by my employer.

I've found this course but I'm not sure if it represents a good value for the money. Of course any knowledge is good, but the courses are pricey and I'm wondering if anyone has experience with a similar program and whether it would add good value in terms of my attractiveness to an employer, etc.

http://conted.ucalgary.ca/public/ca...ificateId=1706219&selectedProgramAreaId=10542

It's a Certificate in Professional Management specializing in Construction Management. I estimate the cost of completion will be approx. $4900. I will be looking to have my employer possibly cover some of the cost, but most likely I will be paying for all of it.


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## jcgd (Oct 30, 2011)

Bump. Anyone have any thoughts?


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

My best guess would be to ask some professional peers as to their thoughts on the course, and whether it is worth the money. I don't work in that field, so I don't know what my opinion would be worth to you anyways.


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## spirit (May 9, 2009)

Hi. I am the wife of a retired electrician. (; The trades were good for him when he was younger but in 1990 we had a huge downturn in the Alberta economy and he retired thinking he could go back to work when the jobs came back. But the good ones did not come back for 10-15 years and by that time he was too old to go back on the tools. 

I went back to work and he stayed home to raise the teenage boys.
Our good friend went back to NAIT to take computer courses and stay active in the trades by moving up into management. It was very stressful, but he made a lot of money and was able to retire very financially secure.
The boys go for coffee every other day. The friend has shared that the stress look lots of years off his life and cost him some health related issues. My husband was able to escape working in fumes but had to deal with depression as his children grew up and my hours at work increased. Right now I think they are about equal in satisfaction for the choices they made.

In short there is no easy answer to your question. If you have the time and can afford it, I would take the courses....education is never wasted and you might be able to network in other areas while you are taking courses.
There is always a price to pay no matter any choice you might make. If you think you can do it, go for it. I took 1 course at the grad level because I was bored at work and that led to my master's degree. Not a lot of money but the satisfaction I got from completing a difficult job was really rewarding.


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## jcgd (Oct 30, 2011)

Cal said:


> My best guess would be to ask some professional peers as to their thoughts on the course, and whether it is worth the money. I don't work in that field, so I don't know what my opinion would be worth to you anyways.


The only problem is there are many older, or younger people, but few people around age 45 to ask. The older fellows didn't concern themselves with education and I am the younger guys. Many people don't have an opinion or just don't know. And it's hard getting info from the bosses who really matter. Many of these courses weren't around for them to take.



spirit said:


> Hi. I am the wife of a retired electrician. (; The trades were good for him when he was younger but in 1990 we had a huge downturn in the Alberta economy and he retired thinking he could go back to work when the jobs came back. But the good ones did not come back for 10-15 years and by that time he was too old to go back on the tools.
> 
> I went back to work and he stayed home to raise the teenage boys.
> Our good friend went back to NAIT to take computer courses and stay active in the trades by moving up into management. It was very stressful, but he made a lot of money and was able to retire very financially secure.
> ...


I'm not worried about the stress, this is what I want to do with my life and I cannot make my choices on the chance that the job is stressful. Same goes for downturns... I would think that with the retiring trade work force there is a pretty decent job outlook for good tradesmen. Of course you never know but I'd much rather be in the trades where they can't find enough good guys than in business or IT where every 22 year old kid has a degree and is fighting for the same job. Either way I'll do my best to stay ahead of the curve and try my best to save in case things go south. If they don't maybe I can retire a bit earlier.

Being on the tools is hard on the body but so is being sedentary. I don't think I'll be on the tools for much more than 2-3 more years.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

jc forgive my venturing into this thread, after all, what would a pie know about anything electrical other than it might heat a nice oven in the kitchen.

i'm only writing because you have a number of marked skills in addition to being what sounds like an excellent electrician. You have strong analytical & communication skills, for example, which show up in your messages.

do you recall that a while ago you were posting about possibly heading towards a combined electrical engineering/MBA degree, building towards the day when you hoped to end up owning a fair-sized company in the electrical services field.

this certificate from the U of Calgary sounds as if it might be practical & helpful.

assuming that it does convey advantages for job advancement, are these advantages going to be recognized outside the Alberta area? will they have the same lustre an a B.Eng/MBA combo, which of course would be recognized across north America?

as i recall you also mentioned that you found the idea of an engineering/MBA program to be daunting. Frankly i do believe it would be daunting! Is it possible that such a practical certificate might be a halfway house? something not oppressively daunting, something you definitely could master if you were to decide to spend the $$?

in that case, it might be a good idea. It would not block or work against an eventual engineering degree, if you should ever desire; in fact it would likely contribute. 

so sorry that i'm not able to comment on how attractive such a certificate would be to a potential Alberta employer who might be looking at your resume 2 years from now ...


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## jcgd (Oct 30, 2011)

I gave some hard thought to the MBA/Engineering degree and ran some rough numbers and the potential is just not great enough to sacrifice what I have now. I enjoy my job and the money is decent enough (and rising) so at this point I've decided to continue working in field construction. I just received a promotion I was hoping for and so the pedal is to the metal in terms of my current career path. I hope to continue the momentum and want to do anything I can to stay competitive and challenged. The day to day job of your average journey person just isn't enough to keep me stimulated. 

I believe the certificate would be recognized across Canada although I may have to explain what it is and what it taught me. I'm doing some other courses that are Alberta specific but the way I figure it knowledge is knowledge and I'll take what I can get. There isn't a whole lot for an electrician to take because, and I agree with this, there is simply no replacement for the hands on component. Apprenticeship schooling covers a large portion of the theory component so my weak spots are managerial and business aspects. As a journey person no one really cares if you have a business mind, but I'm quickly learning that management is a huge part of being successful. I've spent as much time managing people over the last year as I have working on independent tasks. I will receive some training through work in this respect but I'd like to do more on my own. It's also important to me to have an edge if for some reason things don't work out with my company long term and I want to make a move or break out on my own.

Obviously I can't go wrong with gaining knowledge, but with the cost of schooling these days I would like an idea of what I'll be getting in return for my hard earned money. For example, I did a compulsory ethics course the other day for a designation I'm working towards and it was a complete and utter waste of time. $50 bucks later and they should have paid me for my time. I don't want to have that situation with $5k on the line.


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## Barwelle (Feb 23, 2011)

I'll give you my background so you can understand where I'm coming from. I took a full-time 2-year program in what amounts to a diploma in construction management, and now have about 3.5 years of experience in construction, only 3 months of which was in the field. Working in the office for a general contractor now. 

Is your employer looking for project coordinators/managers? The best way to go IMO would be to keep the dialogue going that you like where you're at but you want to keep moving up, eventually into management, that way they know you're ambitious... then if they sound receptive, point out this program as a way to bridge the gap between working in the field and in the office.

It would be a great program to give you a bump-start in management, teach you some of those intangible skills and knowledge that you don't learn as a tradesman. A lot of PMs and estimators I meet have gone through the 2-year full-time programs at NAIT or SAIT, or have Business degrees. But that field experience you have is invaluable, and if you have potential, then you shouldn't have to pay for some part time management courses yourself. 

That's not to say that you have to do it whether you pay for it yourself or not... Realistically, those are things you can learn by osmosis if you are working for a good company who is willing to mentor you. Even if you don't see a future with your current employer and you start applying for jobs at other electrical companies, as long as you make a good impression and they have the time to mentor you, then I think you would be considered. The good impression is important - you've got to look and talk like you could work in an office.

A problem you might run into is, some companies don't have the time to train somebody new, they need someone who can step into the office ready to go - so you're not a shoo-in. But you're not green.


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## hboy43 (May 10, 2009)

Hi:

I started my B. Eng. part time with the blessing of my employer. Some people of a certain age are very motivated to see a young person on his/her way. I was fortunate enough to work for this type of people. I could have bailed out and gone back to work full time.

The above is a bit of an aside to my point. You should be able to find the first year calculus and physics courses offered in the evenings. If engineering is still floating around in your head, do these courses after hours so it doesn't impact your day job. Then you will have a very good idea of the road ahead. Physics was generally considered the hardest course of the program, with second year mathematics close on its tail. First year calculus was known to weed out some people too, and is really the foundation course of all the rest (including the Physics). Then IMHO if you get As, you will be successful in the program without it being extremely taxing, you will merely be kept very busy. Anything lower, you should expect major pain.

hboy43


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## jcgd (Oct 30, 2011)

I've more or less passed on the idea of becoming an engineer. Frankly, I think I would personally succeed more as a tradesman. I can't prove it's true, but there seems to be a lot more competition for engineers, especially with immigration. A lot of the higher class immigrants seem to go for the professional fields... IT, doctors, engineering, etc. With the trades, even if they wanted to do them, they would have to start at the bottom just like everyone else. You can't outsource building a building. 

I just have a feeling that now that the trades are in demand, and they are starting to pay us a lot more (I make more than anyone I know with a degree... for now) they will expect more from us as people clamber in to fill the rut over the next 10-20 years. Just like the IT boom, I bet once people wise up to how easy it is to find work (in certain areas) and how lucrative it can be as a tradesmen they will start to move in to the trades. When there are too many people looking for work I want to make sure I'm well ahead of the curve. I may very well be coming up to retirement by that point, but I want to be prepared regardless. I'm going to try my best to get every applicable designation available.


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