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#33109 01/13/04 09:30 AM
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 3
N
Junior Member
Hey guys. Well, I've been surfing this site for the past few weeks. I'm interested in becoming an Electrician. I've read about 30 pages worth of Threads and so far, this seems like a field that I could definitely get interested in. I'm already a electronics tech now, so Electrician wouldn't be a total stretch. I would like to know one thing though. I've read lots of good and interesting posts, and a few bad ones. Every career has it's ugly side. What I would like to know is what do you hate most about your job? or dislike at least. or Describe your average days? Just trying to get an idea of what it's like before I go jumping into the field. Thanx for any replies.

~Nightcrawler~

#33110 01/13/04 10:25 AM
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,374
R
Moderator
Thats an easy one for me. When I was an electrician the thing I hated the most was hanging wall packs off of an extension ladder, especially if yo uhad to hammer drill off of the ladder.


Ryan Jackson,
Salt Lake City
#33111 01/13/04 12:59 PM
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 751
E
Member
I always hated doing receptacle installation in office buildings. Backbreaking, stooped low, #&%$#@@@!!! work. Ten or twenty, no problem, but hundreds of them, ouch.
Other than that, maybe terminating 500 kcmil wire. Talk about heavy, stiff, knuckle-rapping work!


Earl
#33112 01/13/04 03:42 PM
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 241
S
SJT Offline
Member
It's a great trade. You just need the mind set to learn, work hard, and hopefully you'll be hooked up with a good mechanic who is willing to teach. I guess you'll be starting as a helper. Don't get the coffee orders mixed up!
Good luck. Sounds like you got some of the theory, with the electronics.

#33113 01/13/04 04:20 PM
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 3
N
Junior Member
Thanx for the replies guys. So far sounds like mostly work related hates and not personnel hates, which is good cause that seems to be the big dislike in most careers. I don't mind working hard at all. That's how I was brought up. I do think I have some of the theory with the electronics, although residental, commercial, etc. wiring have some different principals, so it's just a matter of learning those. I am 99.99% sure that I will be starting out as a helper (apprentice), don't really want to be the coffee b*t*h, but I guess I gotta put in my dues. Was that one sugar or two???

#33114 01/13/04 04:22 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,392
S
Member
It's a great trade

but i dislike those whom supposively represent me and feel they are ruining it

so if anyone is game for a pitchfork & torch visit to batterymarch park, please gimme a shout

i'll bring the gasoline

~S~

#33115 01/13/04 05:06 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 4,116
Likes: 4
Member
Welcome to ECN,

(Sparky is the local Morale Officer ....)

[Linked Image]

Bill


Bill
#33116 01/13/04 06:19 PM
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,143
D
Member
Likes?
Working (generally) inside a sheathed structure - not like our poor nail banging cousins who have to be out in the sh*tty weather as a matter of course.

At the end of the day, being able to point to an area and say "I did this". [Linked Image]

Doing something that not everybody can (correctly - eliminating the handyman factor LOL).

Being in a trade where you need to have some creativity to get from point a to point b.

Being second only to plumbers in the "I'm gonna make a hole there...because I can" food chain. [Linked Image]

Dislikes?

Working in unheated frames without windows (or panels to block the gaping holes) when the high for the day is -10F, and the wind is out of the NNE @ 20-35MPH.

Lugging my Hammer drill

and my hole hawg

and my benders

and my ladder

and my sawzall

and my parts bucket

and my hand tools to the third floor of a bazillion $$ house - only to have to bring down my Hammer drill,

and my hole hawg

and my benders

and my ladder

and my sawzall

and my parts bucket

and my hand tools at the end of the day. [whew]

Forgetting where the spare key is when I get to the site early, and having to sit around doing nothing [Linked Image] (and catching glares from the GC) while waiting for my foreman to show up.

Naggy H.O.'s who change their minds after you've made the pipes pretty. (Remember, we're in conduit country)

The perpetual sheet metal cuts you get on your hands piping & wiring can lights.

Sawdust / drill chunks that sneak around your glasses.

Are the negatives enough to make me quit?

Nope. I studied too long and worked to hard to get here. Nowhere to go but up.

And besides, If I got out of the biz, I couldn't hang out here! [Linked Image]

#33117 01/13/04 11:25 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 2,723
Likes: 1
Broom Pusher and
Member
What I like about the Trade?

So many things to list, so little time [Linked Image]

What I dislike about the Trade?

Repetitive work - like hundreds upon hundreds of Light Fixtures or Receptacles to install; or as Ryan mentions:

Quote

Thats an easy one for me. When I was an electrician the thing I hated the most was
hanging wall packs off of an extension ladder, especially if yo uhad to hammer drill
off of the ladder.

LOL!!!
That sucks too!!!

The key thing is to make it efficient and try newer + better methods. Just helps break up the Monotony!

What I hate about the Trade - is what all people here in this Forum hate the same; only one thing is the major problem plaguing everything from 100% blissful achievement:

Pettyness!

Watch out for Petty people! They will be the most difficult thing to encounter EVER!
This is true in all fields! Kind of redundant for me to list it in this thread [Linked Image]

Scott35


Scott " 35 " Thompson
Just Say NO To Green Eggs And Ham!
#33118 01/14/04 02:26 AM
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 141
E
Member
Even more than the big bucks I like the customers. My wife tells me all my friends in life are my customers. Major dislikes are inhospitable working spaces like attics and crawl spaces. Ugly housewives and gay guys have been a problem lately. Espicially around the holidays.
Thee ya around big fella
bob

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