UKC

How much can I earn as a level 1 rope access technician?

Is the much scope for work around the sheffield/manchester area?

Is it fairly flexible? Ie can I work long stints and then take a month off to go to Alaska or wherever?

Cheers,

Tom

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide : Sadly....you cant earn anything doing just rope access, you have to be able to do something while sat in a harness.
If you have a trade like Painter/blaster, electrician, plater, welder, bricklayer, pipefitter then the money can be good offshore.

A good place to start is www.rigg-access.com and www.irata.org

In reply to muppetfilter:

What about window cleaning? Do you need an additional qualification for that?

What other skills/experience do you have? My Dad's company is based in Warrington, Cheshire and I know they're frequently looking to recruit engineers. They usually provide relevant industry training/qualifications as well as rope access training but it helps to have some relevant grounding. The pay's good but the job involves a fair bit of time away from home which is usually compensated with additional time off. It seems to work for climbers as they have a couple of alpinists on the books.

Drop me an email if you have any questions or want some further information.

In reply to Styx:

None. Other than I've bailed off a few big routes and rigged the odd bridge swing, which I imagine counts for bugger all.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

CAN will take you on fresh out the box. No trades or anything. You will be doing a wide variety of jobs. Usually quite interesting and on some reasonably exciting buildings, with good access. |Don't expect great money though. Once you have experience you can move on to better pay, options of doing some trades, etc etc.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide: The problem with the window side of the industry now is that is has become incredibly competetive and the wages are low. You also have to be quite fast to earn a reasonable wage.
Better to look at something like geothechnical stabilisation which involves netting and pinning rock and soil slopes.It is heavy work but quite easy to pick up. Companies like Can,Abcas,Rock Solutions, Vertical Technology .
There are plenty of other employers out there is you have skills with tools doing building maintenance or work in heavy industry like powerstations and refineries.
You will want to look at the ECITB site safety passport(refineries and powerstations) and cscs card for general construction sites.
Another avenue is the wind industry, blade repaire and turbine construction are big areas at the moment.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

Oh and get used to the saying, 'its not what you know, its who you know'

In reply to muppetfilter:

How much wage are we talking about?


How would I get into that? I don't have any expirence. Don't mind graft though.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

£7-8 an hour.

In reply to Adam Lincoln:

Do you have to pay for training? Is 40 hours a week likely?

Any other job I can do? Need to be flexible and pay reasonably well.

I might try and get a job stacking shelves in Aldi.

In reply to Adam Lincoln:

F**kin ell, i used to get that in 2001 !! Better to get a job in Tesco.

In reply to muppetfilter:

It might have gone up, just what i heard when chatting to a few guys in Manchester.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide: It depends on what your degree was in, you could also look at NDT. It pays particullarly well once you are experienced and ther is the oportunity to work worldwide with it. The downside is an initial cash outlay of a couple of grand but it is nothing like spanking £20,000 on a degree.

In reply to Adam Lincoln: Its the flood of cheap labour thats is slowly screwing wages from the bottom up :0( ...Thankfully they havent got offshore yet !!

In reply to muppetfilter:

My degree is in marketing...

My interests include climbing and critising the designs of climbing gear.

I would like a flexible job that doesn't require to be away from home lots. I have a strong work ethic, when at work.

It would be good to earn a reasonable but not massive wage.

Any ideas??

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

Forgot rope access then! Unless you are very lucky, like me

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

Tom - I know someone who may be running a Level 1 (I think) course in April/May. He's been in the business for a good while so may be able to answer your questions or even get you on a course. Who knows. Drop me a line if you want to know more.

Matt

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide: Get your IRATA ticket, an offshore ticket and look at the Wind Turbine industry for work.

Try the BWEA website for contacts, there are also a number of jobs at IRATA and Rigg-Access as well.

Get a Linked In profile set up, there are numerous rope access groups and pages with plenty of job adverts.

Alaska? I'd go for the big window cleaning jobs in the middle east, much warmer!

In reply to muppetfilter: rope access bricklayer? please tell me more, didnt think there would be much need for that

In reply to ollieollie: refractory bricks in incinerators, masonry repairs and chimney lining Norri bricks in flue chimneys .

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

Had a chat with the old man whilst I was over and he says they could well be interested in having a chat with you. Apparently having a degree is highly desirable for them too, they have at least one tech (also an alpinist/climber) who has a history degree and no other experience. They're an NDT outfit and will get you industry wide qualifications. Like I say, it will involve time away from home, however.

In reply to mlt:

No offense, but you say that as if level 1 courses are rare? And that you getting him on the course would be doing him a favour. There are courses run every week, up and down the country, finding one is not hard. Neither is passing your level 1 incidentally.

In reply to Styx:

He doesn't need a joiner with 22 years site experience does he?