Meet Vinnie: Plumbing Trainer at Builders Academy
“I reckon my favourite part is the phone call I get when the students have passed their exams and now they’re licensed plumbers. I know that they’ve gone on to achieve what they want to achieve.” We chatted to trainer Vinnie Erickson, whose recently started teaching the CPC40920 Certificate IV in Plumbing and Services after more than two decades on the tools.
Name: Vincent (Vinnie) Erickson
Job: Builders Academy trainer
Background: Plumber, 29 years’ experience
“I’m a plumber. My father was an electrician. All my brothers were tradesmen, so I fell into plumbing. I left school in year 11 back in 1987, got an apprenticeship, and then worked for several companies. Twelve years ago I ended up running my own business and ‘til today it’s still going.”
“All I’ve ever done is plumbed, and in the last three or four years I’ve also got into the training side, which I enjoy. It’s rewarding. I started working as a sessional teacher, training certificate III apprentices, and found it really interesting. Then I became involved in Builders Academy after I saw they were looking for trainers.
“The job is after-hours, in the evenings or a Saturday, so that’s made it easier for me while running my own business. I’ve been with Builders Academy over 12 months now.”
“Out here in Lalor we’re currently set up to learn gas servicing and maintaining gas appliances, as well as backflow prevention and temporary valves and mixing valves. It’s also about learning the ways of modern appliances, appliances they would see every day on the job.”
“There’s a wide demographic of students here. In this class, the age range is probably twenty-four to forty-five. And there are plenty of female plumbers in the group.
“You do build strong relationships along the way with the students. You are with each other two nights a week for basically forty weeks so I end up taking a vested interest in making sure the students get what they want out of the course.
“Very early on in the course I go around to each student to find out what they want from the course, to make sure I can deliver that.”
“As a trainer, I think it’s important to have real life experience, rather than just educational experience. The students coming through the course are often registered plumbers who’ve worked in a trade for several years already and they’re looking to progress, to start their own businesses, to obtain licenses and things like that.
“I reckon my favourite part is the phone call I get when the students have passed their exams and now they’re licensed plumbers. I know that they’ve gone on to achieve what they want to achieve.”
“In the certificate IV we deliver five key business learning areas. The students have to have a minimum of three as a requirement for licensing — we cover these over a ten-week period at two nights per week. Then they move onto the plumbing streams, which are roofing, water, drainage, sanitary, gas, gas servicing, and hot and cold water.
“Once they’ve received their Certificate IV, everything they’ve learnt enables them to go to the VBA to sit their licensing exam, to be able to become licensed plumbers.”
“I think if the guys put in the work, the time, with the support of the trainers and Builders Academy, they can definitely get through it, one hundred percent.”
Legend! Thanks Vinnie.
Want to run your own jobs, start your own company or get licensed across more plumbing classes? For more info about our CPC40920 Certificate IV in Plumbing & Services, give the guys a call on 1300 534 363 or drop us an enquiry here: https://buildersacademy.edu.au/contact/