On becoming an electrician
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Hatorade
A nice asshole.
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6 inch would be nuts… that was all 1 inch and a 10 foot stick was heavy enough.
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I was still really green - Started new in Jan of that year and we were there when Hurricane Hugo hit NC which was in Sept of that same year so some of this may be confused. What I recall was 6" wasn't even a standard electrical conduit size and it all had to be special ordered. We had a hog head extension and a bar that looked like the drive shaft of a car that attached it to the regular threader. We being redneck electric had of course jumped the foot control across so it wasn't needed and one of the guys got his arm caught and almost ripped off before someone heard him calling to unplug the thing. This was also for aircraft that use 400 hz (cycle) power that had all kinds of special equipment as well. If I knew wtf I was doing it would have been way cooler.
Hatorade
A nice asshole.
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Dang, those are torque monsters, I am very aware of it being able to twist my arm off. That said no idea how he managed it.
BrutulTM
Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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One of my friend's kids went to school to be a lineman and he has a big hardon for climbing those towers but now he's working at Lowe's so I guess it's not working out for him. Wouldn't catch me doing that shit. The ones that work on the big power lines are always on the road and if you're a lineman for the local power company here, you get to go out in blizzards and try to find downed power lines which also sounds terrible.
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ToeMissile
Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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Not a lineman but worked for the power company for a few years, now starting with a large contractor. Lineman work is no joke, pretty easy to get yourself killed if you aren’t paying attention or taking short cuts. I think 1 person has died in the field every year I’ve been in the industry so far.
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Yup I had a license that said I could work on high voltage but that shit I 100% subbed out. Nope uh-uh fuck that. Anything that has to slow down to shock you is not for me.
Closest I ever did to line work was doing the grounds on the primary side of a utility XFMR. But we had a lineman watching us to make sure we did it right.
Closest I ever did to line work was doing the grounds on the primary side of a utility XFMR. But we had a lineman watching us to make sure we did it right.
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Hatorade
A nice asshole.
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Hardwork and reliability is paying off, year 2 and I still feel out of my depth on a lot of things but boss called out of no where and gave me a raise, to summarize he said it is what I normally pay new journeyman but my reliability is more than worth the lack of knowledge. Also said keep it up and will get my normal evaluation and raise in October.
Nice to be recognized.
Nice to be recognized.
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The trades are generally pretty good about those things. Find a good employee and take care of them.
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BrutulTM
Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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I've heard lots of people say that if you just show up you're above average.
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My youngest son wants to be a Journeyman electrician. He's going into grade 12 this year, so one more year of high school. He had an interview earlier this week with a company that manufactures equipment to build other equipment. They have many electricians, it's core to what they do. It's a decent sized company, and we know the owner personally. They offered my son an internship that will both get him certified and help him become a union member. They'll pay all the fees and give him a very decent salary. They'll also pay the fees and make it possible for him to become a master. They want him to begin one month after he graduates high school. It's a good paying internship, 9-5, Monday - Friday work, with benefits. Salaried, not hourly, with possibilities for bonus pay for overtime if necessary. Right now this feels too good to be true. It's about every thing he wanted offered up to him on a platter.
I am hopeful this is as good as it sounds.
I am hopeful this is as good as it sounds.
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I have ZERO experience with dealing with unions. The company I work for is a merit shop. They hire through a place called ABC which does the training to get someone 'green' to a full blown electrician in 4 years. This is in NV. It was just starting up in NC when I left, no idea how it is now. Unions were not big in the south (at least not where I worked) and it's about 50/50 in the Vegas area. Strip is mostly union but everywhere else, not so much. I have nothing against unions mind.
Getting trade experience instead of going into deep debt to get a degree you may never use is a fantastic idea IMO. Hell it's exactly what I did. Hope it works out for your Kid bro.
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moonarchia
The Scientific Shitlord
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Go over the offer letter and any contracts with a fine toothed comb with him. If they are ponying up for all that they are probably going to ask for some sort of time commitment. Also make sure the certification they are offering is the actual state cert, and not something specific to their shop or niche.
If it's all on the up and up that is fucking awesome.
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Borzak
Silver Baron of the Realm
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I'm not sure unions work like they used to decades ago. A guy I worked with is several years older than I am and he learned his trade in a union program. He became a pipe welder and they had training for it when he left the service after Vietnam. They got him good jobs and he went to AK to weld on the pipeline and later back to where he was from. When the petro chemical industry fell apart in the early 80s they got him a job out of state for a while. He became very good at doing layouts for pipe type stuff and eventually moved into my line of work as a draftsman (detailer) for structural stuff and was non union.
I run into a lot of electrical guys who are union on the jobsite for the plants I visit but honestly I have no idea how they get into it now. Son of my niece is starting high school this fall and he said hey had a combined survey class of welding, electrical work, and caprentry which surprised me because auto mechanics and welding at the high school closed down soon after I left 35 years ago.
I run into a lot of electrical guys who are union on the jobsite for the plants I visit but honestly I have no idea how they get into it now. Son of my niece is starting high school this fall and he said hey had a combined survey class of welding, electrical work, and caprentry which surprised me because auto mechanics and welding at the high school closed down soon after I left 35 years ago.
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We had our lawyer look at the offer. It's legit. Yes, they ask for a five year commitment upon completing his education, but they have very generous salary packages that he would be thrilled to have, and he has a guaranteed job for five years upon becoming a new journeyman. They were very honest and transparent in everything they said and wrote. It really is fucking awesome.
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moonarchia
The Scientific Shitlord
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Make sure your son knows about seniority based systems, because he is going to be the lowest on the rung for a while. The jobs/shifts the other guys don't want to deal with are what he is going to get. If he can roll with it, though, it sounds like he will be set up for quite a while. If you can teach him to save during the rich times he might be set for life. No college debt with a good income is a cheat code for retiring in your 40s if you have the fiscal fortitude.
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Speaking as someone who came up through the non-union side of things, that low rung BS applied anyhow.
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