On becoming an electrician

Hatorade

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Sanrith Descartes said:
Not sure what your background is, but if you don't have an electrician type of background, while you are putting in apps, get a copy of a book on electricity (example, something like this from Fowler).

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At ATT we did low voltage work but still had all of our techs learn the basics of electricity if they wanted to get a higher rated job. Some might say it's a waste, but understanding the theory of how electricity works and why is useful.
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Appreciate it, ordered it. I don't know shit but when I do something I go all in.
 
Cinge

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Hatorade said:
Bump, going in at 41. Already getting looks from those taking applications in person, but I don't give a fuck gonna be the best apprentice any journeyman could want and crush it for the next 4-5 years until I get journeyman myself. If anyone knows anyone in Houston area hiring helpers hit me up.
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GL. It's fun trade imo. Depending on the jobs, you can do quite a lot of different things just in that job. For example here in vegas on a big strip job, you start with underground, then moved to piping, then wire work, then trim and shit ton of light bulbs. Sometimes you got stuck in electrical rooms doing transformer install and wiring. First year ,as an apprentice, I did a mostly yard work(organizing,stocking, delivering material from the yard supply storage to groups on site) though and gophering. Got to do a lot more after that.

The pay was great and benefits amazing back then, its probably even better now.

Downside I had to have a family friend with connections to the ibew and jatc to get in. The competition for the jobs are insane, as you can basically go in with no experience and a high school diploma and get in.

Also my city is/was tethered to how well economy/travel is doing. 2008 sucked really but picked up after that with stadium, sphere and other projects, its been good(from what I hear with friends still in). Also powers plants in the middle of the desert. or get extremely lucky and snag a posting at the Test site(Where you can sit for years and years).

I miss it, had to get an desk job instead due to blood clot issues.

I did have a chunk cost starting. Had to pay for books and all hand tools. Just books for 1st years that started in august was $1.1k. These are the books they show for my jatc, might be different in houston? :
1695261802274.png


Can maybe call or google, see if your jatc lists the books?
 
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Hatorade

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Cinge said:
GL. It's fun trade imo. Depending on the jobs, you can do quite a lot of different things just in that job. For example here in vegas on a big strip job, you start with underground, then moved to piping, then wire work, then trim and shit ton of light bulbs. Sometimes you got stuck in electrical rooms doing transformer install and wiring. First year ,as an apprentice, I did a mostly yard work(organizing,stocking, delivering material from the yard supply storage to groups on site) though and gophering. Got to do a lot more after that.

The pay was great and benefits amazing back then, its probably even better now.

Downside I had to have a family friend with connections to the ibew and jatc to get in. The competition for the jobs are insane, as you can basically go in with no experience and a high school diploma and get in.

Also my city is/was tethered to how well economy/travel is doing. 2008 sucked really but picked up after that with stadium, sphere and other projects, its been good(from what I hear with friends still in). Also powers plants in the middle of the desert. or get extremely lucky and snag a posting at the Test site(Where you can sit for years and years).

I miss it, had to get an desk job instead due to blood clot issues.

I did have a chunk cost starting. Had to pay for books and all hand tools. Just books for 1st years that started in august was $1.1k. These are the books they show for my jatc, might be different in houston? :
View attachment 491523

Can maybe call or google, see if your jatc lists the books?
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Not sure I can go union route, long story short I am terrible at math and would currently fail the assessment/aptitude test.(working on relearning algebra now but slow going) Hopefully I can get it with these guys IEC TX Gulf Coast | Electrician Trade School in Houston but plan B is union route.
 
Kajiimagi

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Don't know how it works in Houston but my brother has been an electrician since I hired him green in 1996. Never missed a day of work due to layoffs. I did fire his ass a few times until he learned we were not relatives at work but that was for less than a day each time. I list him instead of me because he's currently the general superintendent on a 1.2mil sq/ft 14story hospital expansion in the NC area. Cannot pass the electrical license test , learning disabled, and also terrible at math.
I've actually not had any experience bad or good with unions but anyone who was dependable and wants to work is an asset. I am a big believer of OJT as well. Best of luck and it's a really good sign that you are looking at the theory now. Make sure you mention that on interviews.
 
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Sanrith Descartes

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Hatorade said:
Appreciate it, ordered it. I don't know shit but when I do something I go all in.
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It can be a little mathy, but understanding the relationships between voltage/current/resistance, wire gauge, distance etc really helps me visualize what's going on and why things like the gauge and length of an extension cord are actually important.
 
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Erronius

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Hatorade said:
Not sure I can go union route, long story short I am terrible at math and would currently fail the assessment/aptitude test.(working on relearning algebra now but slow going) Hopefully I can get it with these guys IEC TX Gulf Coast | Electrician Trade School in Houston but plan B is union route.
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Don't let the math dissuade you. I've known electricians that had difficulty with fractions.

I can't remember what the entrance test at the JATC cost but I think maybe $20? No reason not to do it, really, unless you have a schedule so bad that you can't free up the time.

Also, don't discount hitting the bricks and applying at the contractors instead of relying solely on the hall/local. If you find a place that want to hire you, then the ball is kind of in their court and they'll tell you what they'd like you to do.

I worked for one non-union company for a short while, and they wanted me to do IEC. Never ended up happening though because that was when work was relatively slow and they let everyone go after the project was over a few months later. I'm still fucking salty about how all that went down.

I don't think IEC is bad but that fucking stock photo on their website is giving me a case of the fucking heebee-jeebies. Look at that Euro garbage panel layout and fucked up conductor color scheme...

It's actually not bad but that's not what I cut my teeth on, and it's not what I'm used to seeing, so /shrug. But it's weird to see that on an IEC page (?)

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zzeris

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Hatorade said:
Bump, going in at 41. Already getting looks from those taking applications in person, but I don't give a fuck gonna be the best apprentice any journeyman could want and crush it for the next 4-5 years until I get journeyman myself. If anyone knows anyone in Houston area hiring helpers hit me up.
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GL brother. You've got this and congrats on your drive to do something new. I tried trucking last year but being OTR a lot at 48 just wasn't my thing. I thought about a paid welding internship at a local company but just went back to my B&B of nursing. If I was younger, I'd be all in on some of these jobs but the body says no. Keep us in the loop.
 
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ToeMissile

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Mick said:
I no longer do field work and work doing estimating in the office, but the company I work for does only projects in Silicon Valley only and those IBEW locals I think are the highest paying in the country.
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Out of high school I worked for a shop in Santa Clara for about a year. Shop/warehouse/demo type stuff mainly, though I remember installing a few receptacles at some dugout or something at a baseball field on campus at Stanford. Probably summer of 2000.
 
mkopec

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The trades are really hot right now. My kid got recruited in high school vocational Ed for HVAC. He started like a month after graduation. Just grunt work but hes learning and he loves it. Every day its a different adventure. I guess they are doing a few brand new Buffalo Wild Wings around town. Seems these days everyone just wants to go to college, spend $100K or$200k get out and think they will be making that much, lol.
 
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Cutlery

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mkopec said:
The trades are really hot right now. My kid got recruited in high school vocational Ed for HVAC. He started like a month after graduation. Just grunt work but hes learning and he loves it. Every day its a different adventure. I guess they are doing a few brand new Buffalo Wild Wings around town. Seems these days everyone just wants to go to college, spend $100K or$200k get out and think they will be making that much, lol.
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What the fuck.

Who the hell is still going to BWWs that they feel they need to build more?
 
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BrutulTM

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Hatorade said:
Bump, going in at 41. Already getting looks from those taking applications in person, but I don't give a fuck gonna be the best apprentice any journeyman could want and crush it for the next 4-5 years until I get journeyman myself. If anyone knows anyone in Houston area hiring helpers hit me up.
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Being an actual grown up will probably be an advantage for you as long as you can live on apprentice wages for a few years. Even with no experience if you are willing to learn and show up on time every day and don't have a serious drinking problem you will already be above a significant percentage of the work force. Don't let the math intimidate you. There's nothing that crazy in basic electrical theory. E=IR baby. Good luck.
 
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TJT

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mkopec said:
The trades are really hot right now. My kid got recruited in high school vocational Ed for HVAC. He started like a month after graduation. Just grunt work but hes learning and he loves it. Every day its a different adventure. I guess they are doing a few brand new Buffalo Wild Wings around town. Seems these days everyone just wants to go to college, spend $100K or$200k get out and think they will be making that much, lol.
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Awesome. Isn't your son like 20 now?

Friend of mine does HVAC controlling or some shit. Not really sure how it applies but he has to use oldschool C code to program these things and is the highest paid HVAC position. Still has to go out in the field do to all of this. He makes like $120k or something.
 
Sanrith Descartes

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ToeMissile said:
MS is stopping updates soonish, right? Also probably adds to the dev work that has to be done for the Active Trader people, dealing with multiple versions
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i put this in here by mistake, but yeah, i didnt include it in the screen cap but its because MSFT has stopped updates.
 
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Hatorade

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Day one down, using scissor lift to 45 foot ceiling boxes and pulling 100s of feet of brown, purple, yellow and red wire for emergency power through 1/2 inch conduit down to various boxes. Drove a 12 foot copper rod into the ground while I was up there.

The master said "avoid these lines here...if you drive Into those you are going to die... Ok you got it from here." Good times.
 
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Cad

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Hatorade said:
Day one down, using scissor lift to 45 foot ceiling boxes and pulling 100s of feet of brown, purple, yellow and red wire for emergency power through 1/2 inch conduit down to various boxes. Drove a 12 foot copper rod into the ground while I was up there.

The master said "avoid these lines here...if you drive Into those you are going to die... Ok you got it from here." Good times.
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I had a case where a lineman got electrocuted because he had one live wire in his line handler and moved the bucket into another. 14,400 volts.

Be careful out there broski.
 
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BrutulTM

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My brother once dropped a wrench out of a lift into a 480V bus. He said that if it had shorted it out it would have exploded but it fell neatly between the conductors. Some of that big stuff is scary.
 
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