From Boardrooms to Powerboards – Making A Mid-Career Switch To The Electrical World

Regular readers of our magazine and online articles will be well aware of the fact that here in Australia we’re facing an unprecedented skills shortage. According to current projections, we need 42,000 additional electricians by 2030 to support our energy transition, housing and infrastructure demands.

To meet this challenge some creative thinking is needed across the board. Yes, those traditional pathways of apprenticeships from school will be ever-more important, but it’s not a one-solution problem.

At the same time, the traditional workforce is being disrupted, with artificial intelligence (AI) making some roles redundant, and this could potentially create something of a perfect storm for the electrical industry.

Of course, bringing in ‘newcomers’ who have a couple of decades of experience behind them is a different challenge altogether, compared with employing a green apprentice.

With that in mind, we caught up with Daniel Phipps who re-joined the electrical industry at the age of 39 after a long career spent primarily in IT – and which began with almost three years as an electrical apprentice.

Electrical Gems: Daniel, you actually trained as an electrical apprentice before deciding it wasn’t quite right for you. Tell us about that.

Daniel Phipps: Out of high school, I started an apprenticeship with what was then called RailCorp. I completed just under three years there as an apprentice. It was very pigeonholed and limited to repetitive maintenance roles, so after a while, I figured it wasn’t for me, pulled up stumps, and went back to study business and marketing.

I then moved into an IT role with a print company, built up through administration across several mergers, and progressed my IT career into infrastructure networking and cybersecurity.

EG: What prompted you to leave an established corporate IT career to pick up the tools again?

DP: Something was burning in my mind the whole time. I always enjoyed doing physical work, and a desk job really wasn’t for me long-term. Over the last couple of years, as businesses started implementing a lot of AI, the push became about creating efficiencies – basically working out how to do more for less. I could see how that was going to affect my role eventually.

I realised that while my job wasn’t going to be gone immediately, there would be heavy downward pressure on roles where people spent their whole careers establishing technical knowledge. AI allows anyone to type the right prompt into a system and pull that information instantly. I didn’t want to be 50 years old, handed a redundancy package, and being in a position where I need to re-enter a job market where 100 people are vying for a role that has seen its salary halved due to corporate efficiencies. I wanted to complete my trade because it’s a physical path that is far more future-proofed.

EG: What were the biggest shocks or adjustments when you stepped back into the electrical world?

DP: The physical aspect took longer to adjust to than I expected. I was physical at home, but doing it five or six days a week was a real shock. In IT, I could stay up until 1am or 2am and roll up to work the next day fine. Once I changed jobs, I’d knock off at 3pm and be passed out on the couch by 5:30pm! I’m used to it now, though.

Then there were environmental shocks. You have no idea how good you have it with office amenities. We used to complain if the office toilet wasn’t completely clean! On-site, you just have to adapt. Also, there’s no corporate HR department on a job site. The way thoughts and feedback get conveyed is far more direct.

EG: Taking an apprenticeship pay rate is a major barrier for mature workers. How did you manage the financial drop?

DP: The drop in pay is a big difference and a harsh reality. The main reason I was able to make this transition smoothly is that I’ve run an online e-commerce business in the electronics space for the last 12 years alongside my job. Having that secondary stream of income made it financially viable for my family – however it’s essential your family are fully on board with the decision too.

EG: What advice do you give to other mid-career professionals quietly asking you about switching to a trade?

DP: Be realistic with yourself about whether you can afford it. If you think you can, put in two weeks of annual leave from your corporate job, get your White Card and basic site tickets, find a local sparky who will let you work with them for free for a fortnight, and test it. See if it’s physically right for you and if you actually enjoy the daily work before quitting your career.

Second, make sure your family is 100 per cent on board. My wife supported me completely. The reduced income and studying straight after work from 4pm to 9pm every night places a heavy burden on your partner, so family alignment is essential.

EG: Why should electrical contractors consider hiring mature-age apprentices?

DP: Potential employers sometimes struggle to put a value on what someone from a different background brings. If someone comes straight out of high school into TAFE and the trade, they have tunnel vision for that industry.

I’ve sat in boardrooms during multi-million-dollar contract negotiations. Mature workers bring lived experience in customer service, stakeholder management, active listening and conflict resolution. In electrical work, clear communication is crucial – you need to know exactly where a client wants a fitting before you install it.

Furthermore, mature workers understand systems, documentation, and processes. I’m setting up proper SWMS and JSAs for my own future electrical business now because I love structured processes. For a growing contractor, having an employee who brings corporate documentation and systems experience adds instant internal value that you’d otherwise have to pay external consultants to implement.