From Barista To Electrician – Hear Olha’s Story

We’ve recently trained Olha Kulyk who swapped a career as a barista to an electrician. You can view her video testimonial here:

Olha had worked at Costa Coffee for eleven years before she was made redundant. She quickly found work helping a friend out with their property management business and a chance encounter with one of our trainers got her thinking. Let’s let her explain:

“I work in a property maintenance and management for a company that lets properties in West London, through Airbnb. I would often find myself doing minor electrical maintenance jobs, such as changing fuses and rewiring plugs. I realised it would help me to develop skills in the electrical field, so that I could take on more complicated electrical tasks. Then I met Rachel, who is a part time trainer at Logic4training’s centre in Northolt.

“Rachel had come to fix my boiler at home, and I was blown away! For one thing, it’s unusual to meet a lady who is an expert in this field, and I have to say she inspired me that day to take the course at Northolt. I’ve always loved working with tools, so I was keen to get learning and immerse myself in an area of the job I find particularly interesting.

“The best way for me to learn is in a concentrated burst, so I decided to take the intensive six-week course. This was going to be tough as I had to keep working at the same time and had to fit my job around days in the classroom, but I enjoyed the challenge of getting everything done.

“I loved the practical stuff from the start but found the theory very challenging in the beginning. I wasn’t familiar with language they used and the formulas we had to learn were tough because maths wasn’t my strongest suit back at school. However, the three trainers I had in Northolt were wonderful and good at explaining things.

“Beyond the training course, they provided us with some valuable trade tricks and tips and were great at motivating us as a group.  We set up a groupchat, so that we could ask each other things when we got stuck. One of the other candidates had a physics degree and another a degree engineering, so that was a great help!

“I now have a Level 2 qualification in Domestic Electrical Installation, as well as 18^th edition and verification and testing qualifications. It will be another year before I can work as a certified electrician, for that you need to build up a portfolio of practical experience – but I am well on the way. Having completed the course, and under the supervision of our maintenance guy, I am able to change sockets and light fittings and check whether the wiring in the properties we rent out is safe.

“This experience has taught me that you are never too old to learn, and I want to encourage anyone who has doubts about making a career change to give it a go. If you have a goal, don’t look back – you can do whatever you want to do. I was genuinely impressed by Rachel. Women like her show us anything is possible.”