One of the best ways of becoming an electrician in the UK is to choose your career early. At the age of 16, secure an electrical apprenticeship, attending college on day release for three years. Then you become what is known in the trade as a fully-qualified electrician. This would allow you to carry a JIB card and be eligible for employment on any large construction site.

However, the maximum age you can have an apprenticeship is 21, and life does not always run in such a straight line. For those who are over 21 and have by now already picked up some of life's responsibilities; like marriage, kids and a mortgage, a more practical route is via a short training course.

These 'short courses' are offered by many training schools in the UK but the important factors to bear in mind when choosing such a course are:

• What field of work are you interested in? I.e. domestic installer or inspector or fully qualified electrician? Or are you a tradesman who needs a small amount of electrical knowledge (kitchen fitter/alarm specialist) in order to expand your business? Make sure the course on offer fits your training requirements.

• Cost and convenience. Is the school local to you, and is it within budget? There are grants available for certain groups of people and it is worth looking into your options.

• Choose a reputable training establishment and if at all possible visit before you book up.

A domestic installer is someone who carries out electrical work within the home; including installation and replacement of electrical components, installing and/or re-routing cables and lighting installations. In order to carry out electrical work and self certify, it is a legal requirement to be registered on a 'competent persons' scheme, otherwise known as Part P.

Any electrical installations in domestic premises can only be carried out by a Part P registered installer. Therefore, the training course chosen should offer an assured path to registration, if being a domestic installer is your goal.

Be wary of courses which seem to offer Part P registration as part of the syllabus. This is most unlikely to be the case since Part P inspectors require a real piece of work in a real domestic property in order to carry out an assessment.

The four governing bodies who administer the Part P scheme are - NICEIC, NAPIT, ELECSA and BSi. Prospective installers are able to choose which provider they sign up with. In order to become registered, an application is made to a Scheme Provider by completing and returning an application form. After completing the form, the Scheme Provider will arrange to send an inspector to your place of work to assess your compliance with BS7671 and visit a selection of recently completed installations.

Passing this assessment and being registered as a 'competent person' allows the installer to self certify his or her own work. Thereafter, the Scheme Provider is notified following each completed installation. The Scheme Provider then keeps records of completed work which they provide as required to Local Authorities and customers.

For those people who need to earn money, but wish to continue their journey to become a fully qualified electrician, the option is there to work during the day as a domestic installer, and then attend technical college evening courses to achieve the 2330. This can take up to three years.

If , however, you are a tradesman, who just requires a 'limited scope' qualification, these are offered by the four governing bodies after undertaking a short training course, which will almost certainly require you to have knowledge of the current wiring regulations.