ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Need Some Sound Advice...

Update:

My former helper, Jimmy, is now working as an electrician for $7.00 per hour for another (larger) outfit here.

All I did was shoot myself in the foot by paying him so much.

Anyway....

Hey Virgil,
It's good to see that you still remember the website address. Where ya been? we miss your thought provoking input here!!

Donnie

I can understand being tired of a given profession and looking toward electrical.

When I wanted to become an electrician, I memorized a couple of books and then went job hunting. Got the first job I applied for.

If you buy plenty of tools before you start, buy and learn how to use a meter, the people you work for might let you use them sometimes.

Many times, I had plenty of tools on me and I was sent to do more "fun" work that was intellectually stimulating, where I got to use those tools, while guys with more experience and less tools had to do the crappy work. I saw the boss look at my tools and assign me to something that suited my tools. I probably carry more tools than anybody in my company (a sure sign that I don't know what I'm doing - har har).

One time I worked with another apprentice who was starting out, we had to bring a bunch of pipe into the building. As we were doing that, we talked. He had been a painter. I asked him if he had any electrical tools. No. I asked if he knew anything about electrical, like how to wire a receptacle. No. I worked hard alongside him and he was slow-walking and lazy as can be. They moved me to other work after a couple of hours, running conduit. He kept doing menial chores. He was back painting the next time I saw him.

Get some knowledge before you go to work and you might be able to do some "intelligent" work instead of just carrying pipe for the first year like a totally ignorant laborer.

The work can be dirty. Working with MC, which is covered with aluminum, gets your hands black. Working overhead gets tiring. Working on your knees on a concrete floor is hard on the back. Pulling wire through pipe at the limit of your strength leaves you with a sore back. Crawling around in attics gets hot. Digging trenches for underground makes you feel like you're getting too old for this.

It's construction and it's physically demanding sometimes.

Still, it beats carpentry, painting, concrete, sheetrock hanging and finishing and the rest of the trades, most of which I've done except for plumbing.

Just going to work willing to work hard makes a difference. Lots of guys go to work like they're serving some sentence. There are thieves, murderers, con men and other low-lifes in the construction industry, avoid them.

I've worked nights for 4 months straight. Kept me out of the heat. Now it's not hot any more, looks like I'll be back on days. Got used to nights after a few days. Going back and forth from nights to days is a pain.

The construction industry is volatile. You'll be working your butt off for 3 months, then the work dries up unexpectedly for 3 weeks. Expect to have little security. I'm working in the #1 job market in the country too, so not even this place is safe. Just remember that construction is not steady work unless you know somebody in high places who keeps you working.

My company had 100 employees, and the work slowed down until we only had about 10, but I was still there. Must have done something right!

I just like knowing how to do electrical work, it was such a mystery to me before. I love knowing how to bend conduit to fit perfectly, so you can't even get a feeler gauge behind it. Yes, I love electrical. Probably won't love it forever, it seems like a lot of guys get burned out on it after a while. For now I'm happy enough to stick with it for a while. No career can make me happy for 20 years, sometimes I need something new, even if it's a step down.

I was about to go try to join the union, but after reading some of these posts, maybe I'll just stick with non-union. I'm too old to invest that much time and obligation and be bent over the barrel, expected to pay back twelve grand to pay for being an apprentice. Maybe if I was 25 years old it would make more sense.

Good luck!

And one more thing - marriage. She won't like the fact that the job is not continuous work all year long. Every time you're not working she'll be on your case.

Of course I wouldn't know. I don't do wives. Trying to quit. I've been without them for 7 years or so. Besides, they're hell on the discretionary income.

Virgil;

You're back!!!

Thought you may have been captured by



Scott35

You might want to consider buying a Code Handbook. It has all the code in it plus commentary that goes along with it that makes it easier to understand. I know one of the hardest things for me to understand when I went through apprenticeship was the code and I know it would have made it easier for me.
I have never heard about signing a 10 year agreement and having to pay money if you don't complete. Maybe that is only in certain locals but if its in mine or the one I apprenticed in I would be very surprised. I would definitely check that out if it was me.

Whoopee! Virgil's back!
Good to hear from you again, and hope all's going well.
Hope you can stay on this time.
We've all missed you...S

Hey, if only we had a cone of silence and a shoe phone we could get the real scoop on Virgil's recent whereabouts! Sounds like you've been busy enough to keep you off the streets but perhaps allowing enough time to play a few gigs here and there.
/threadjack

Making a shift in careers at almost-40 has turned out to be pretty exciting and lucrative for me so I encourage it in general. Looking ahead to both the interesting and mundane things makes good sense. Looking ahead to safety issues, including wear and tear on your knees or keeping your faculties intact (like wearing safety glasses), will serve you quite well, too. I was a tech dispatcher quite a while back and still remember when I nearly lost my lunch the day one of my techs pierced his eye while pulling wire without glasses on.

Invest in a good pair of kneepads...

(NO, you sickos..not for THAT reason!)

Get the "hard cap" kind with decent padding. Don't be cheap.

After kneeling on rafters and unswept concrete all day, you'll be glad you didn;t get the $5.99 ones.

Don't be cheap - you only get one set of knees from the factory.

Other ideas... Get a handful of those foam earplugs with the cord, and make sure you keep a set with you (in your tool bag, pouch, bucket, box, whatever). Running a hammer drill in a small panel room can leave you deef after a while - or if you're using Ramsets (the powder-actuated nail guns) inside.

Stick with brand name tools (Klein, Ideal, Greenlee, Craftsman (don't laugh)) - most have a decent warranty, and, more importantly, they're not going to break when you're in the middle of using them as designed, leaving you to invent new cusswords.

Once you buy those fancy tools? Engrave your name (or initials, or "special mark") on every one, or on every component those tools break down into. It keeps them from "walking away", makes 'em easy to spot if they get borrowed, and keeps you from hockin' 'em on a whim.

Welcome to da' job!

Doug

(BYW, I like my coffee extra cream, extra sugar, and my favorite donut is choclate glazed!) [ ]