Does anyone on here agree with me that with all these tiling courses available all it is doing is putting a lot of in expierenced so called tilers out on the job taking jobs of tilers that have served there time propeley. Be These people often will work for less just to get the work also in my opinion lowering the standard in many cases. I am not against tiling courses but to think you can have a 5 day course and become a tiler is not correct i did a 4 years advanced craft apprenteship and even now after 28 years tiling i am still learning.

I think people have to start somewhere, apprenticeships are hard to come by these days. If it puts trainees on the right path and teaches the fundamentals that's fine (imo). Better than being let loose in a bathroom with no tuition whatsoever.

It worries me more when I hear, self taught! or hearing of time served who dot and dab!

i agree with that but dont you think there should be better training and supervision with in the industry after these courses at one time you could not get a job without showing your city and guilds certificate now all you need now is a bag of tools

im not against people learning a new trade . but i think finlay as a point
was on a site a while ago ,the company i was working for employed two new tilers , all new build housing.we eventually lost the site ,due to there tiling, but i also blame the company for employing them this was during the housing boom , and he needed tilers , but it back fired

Originally Posted by finlay

i agree with that but dont you think there should be better training and supervision with in the industry after these courses at one time you could not get a job without showing your city and guilds certificate now all you need now is a bag of tools

and the cscs card think ive had to show it twice since it started

If you check my profile out you'll see I'm a NETT man, doing something I love competing well against more experienced tilers. If I could turn back the clock 30 yrs perhaps I could have done a tiling apprenticeship, but I can't.
I'll never be turning out JotM stuff but have a good reputation in my area.
Just my piece for defending some of the newbies. good and bad tilers no matter how long they have been tiling for

I think if somebody is prepared to do a course at least the are going in the right direction, rather than just doing it...Now another question, how do you gain experience? Are you prepared to take on an apprentice! Have you got enough work and money on the job to do it...and patients Bet 90% would say no.

i think we all have valid points of view, im sure most on here are like me ,im passionate about my work, the best job in the world ,nothing better when you,ve completed a job , stand back and think that looks great

All good points i agree with them .All I am saying is that some of these tiling courses are telling people after a weeks course you are a qualified tiler which I think is not fair on the people doing the course .I not against anyone learning to tile but i think sometimes people will be misled that after 1 week they can tile.

Originally Posted by finlay

All good points i agree with them .All I am saying is that some of these tiling courses are telling people after a weeks course you are a qualified tiler which I think is not fair on the people doing the course .I not against anyone learning to tile but i think sometimes people will be misled that after 1 week they can tile.

I doubt very much that tutors are telling their students that they will be fully qualified after a week, a statement like that would make them look extremely foolish and no one in the right mind would believe it anyway.

Originally Posted by faithhealer

I'll never be turning out JotM stuff but have a good reputation in my area.

John,

I did a course (albeit a 4 week) and I managed a JOTM tag so I'm sure you can too .

For the OP, I learnt to tile from my father but did not initially follow the trade. I retrained on a fast track course and I hold my own against so called more experienced tilers. My knowledge base, partly thanks to TF, and professionalism far exceeds some of my local competitors. I am one of the more expensive tilers in my area and I am consistently busy with a great reputation. When I completed my course I was never advised that I was qualified, and I was told that I needed to start small and slowly before tackling the larger format and sqm jobs. I was advised to give stone a wide birth until I had the opportunity to learn from someone with stone experience.

The courses are only able to provide a good technical knowledge and it is down to individuals to use that knowledge to develop a career. That applies to all trades IMO.

You get some good and some bad no matter what path they have travelled.

Originally Posted by Captain Slow

.
The courses are only able to provide a good technical knowledge and it is down to individuals to use that knowledge to develop a career. That applies to all trades IMO.
You get some good and some bad no matter what path they have travelled.

I couldn't agree more, well said

The course gave me the very basic knowledge to do things correctly to which I have built on and will always be learning and inproving

Originally Posted by united

I couldn't agree more, well said

The course gave me the very basic knowledge to do things correctly to which I have built on and will always be learning and inproving

totally agree

All you tilers on the forum who have been on courses i have no dout you are all good tilers who love the job have the right attitude and are willing to learn as every trademan should. I still learn things on jobs and reading the forum.sadly not everyone is like this and sometimes gives the trade a bad name.I supose that happens in all aspects of life.

Originally Posted by finlay

All you tilers on the forum who have been on courses i have no dout you are all good tilers who love the job have the right attitude and are willing to learn as every trademan should. I still learn things on jobs and reading the forum.sadly not everyone is like this and sometimes gives the trade a bad name.I suppose that happens in all aspects of life.

Never a truer word said..

This is where this forum comes in handy for newcomers to the tiling profession, they learn how it should be done and ask before they make a mistake..

Some great input here and newcomers will learn from it.