I just finished my 1-year training at my local University and wanted to know how all of you started in the field.

Every job I look at wants 2-years of experience. How did you guys get into the field, without any experience?

Four years in electrical shop at a Vo-Tech School, then employed by a local electrical contractor, as a 1st year app. then after that, four more years, completed the app. program then worked as journeyman, for another 5 years, then after the 13 years, i took the contractors exam, and then the real learning started.

Open the yellow pages and go to the page lisiting electrical contractors, begin at "A" and start dialing. I would look for small/medium sized shops- you can usually talk directly to the owner who has the power to hire and fire, so you will get less runaround with human-resources jive. If you are enthusiastic with a good attitude/work ethic and reasonably intelligent you should have a job before you get to the letter G. You *will* start at the bottom- no way around that, so get ready to learn, & learn to accomodate the various workstyles of the journeymen who will be your formal- yet unspoken teachers and judges- and get ready to eat some crow, because in the trades, respect is earned, not given, and you are going to have to personally earn every drop of respect anybody ever shows you. I say call small shops because really jobs are a lot like a popularity contest, if the boss personally likes you as an individual, then you are going to have a job because it is perceived you are an asset, whereas in larger organizations with more beaurocratic "HR Dept" style hiring, you are just a number and your paper qualifications will matter more in the beginning.

No offense at all intended toward the union folks, but staring out as the grunt for a knowledgable small shop owner / senior j-man is an awesome way to get an understanding.

There's less exposure to mutiple instructors, so if your foreman's got bad habits, odds are you'll pick 'em up, but is he knows his rear from a hole in the ground you'll get a great "one on one" learning experience.

And, much as I hate to bang the old guy drum, starting out at the bottom lugging supplies and tools out of the van helps you learn what...

Making holes, nailing boxes, and strappng pipes helps you learn where...

Measuring, cutting, threading & bending helps you learn how...

Listening helps you learn why.

Good luck in the field!

I forgot to mention the experience part. Everyone I know in any trade got their job/experience-

1. through a family member/family friend in the trades who hired them as a helper when they were highschool age

2. persistently calling shops until one of them "bit the hook" and hired them, kinda like #1 above

3. as part of a formal apprenticeship program

it is a bit of a fallacy to think anyone gets a job "with no experience".. everyone I know in the trades grew up in a family where their dad worked in the trades, or an uncle or a cousins, and it was something they just had around them all their lives- like speaking french if you grow up in france- it isn't something you really question, it's just there and always has been. I started by sweeping floors and cleaning up for my dad when I was 10, during summer vacation or on weekends. Everyone starts at the bottom and gradually you learn more and more, bit by bit, until you go from doing the grunt work to doing bigger things. If you are having trouble getting a job, or are discouraged by what the experience requirements are for a particular job, maybe it is a sign that you are aiming too high too fast. There is a sort of iron law in the trades that everyone starts at the bottom and claws their way up (nothing gets handed to you- ever), but the beneficial side of this law is that what you know, you know absolutely.

By the way, what sort of 1-year training was this? Local univerisities here don't really cater much to the trades, unless it is the light blue collar trades like autocad or CNC machine operators..

So much work is underground anymore show up with a shovel and gloves,,, the old timers will love you,,,, hahaha

I see. Thanks for all the input.

Marine SSGT says to me... "You have three choices, 0311(Grunt), Electrician, or Cook, the first one you will be reguardless, the second and third will be decided by some computer somewhere, for you, based on your score on these tests."

Thats how I started...

After I got out, I called all over, and found some guy who used to be in the Navy, who owned a service company, who taught me the ropes.

Truthfully, all employment is based on initial contact, and the relationship starts there. (Honesty really counts, people see right though BS)
Look for companies that need and use a lot of grunt labor. (You'll be doing that type work until you can prove otherwise. And that WILL take time.)

Stop by job-sites. (At lunch) Or, supply houses. It might seem desparate, but the guy on the job will often give up the name of the person (That does the hiring) you need to contact faster than making it through the office. (Where paper is often shuffled into corners.)

"If you are having trouble getting a job, or are discouraged by what the experience requirements are for a particular job, maybe it is a sign that you are aiming too high too fast. There is a sort of iron law in the trades that everyone starts at the bottom and claws their way up (nothing gets handed to you- ever), but the beneficial side of this law is that what you know, you know absolutely."
____________________________________________

Entering the trade any other way, you are only fooling yourself, the grunt work, is an important part of trade training, you can build on a good foundation.
The easy way guys, will always argue this issue, I say, let them fly with holes in the wings.

With all my years in the trade, when a young electrician that worked his way up, has something to say about a project, i listen, because he is usually well grounded as opposed to the fast freddy type, that missed the grunt work years.



[This message has been edited by LK (edited 09-01-2005).]

Where did I start? My mom told me that, when I was a kid (phyically, that is), I used to sit in the utility room and look at our fuse box and wonder where the wires went.

By the first grade, I was making crystal radios and playing with electrical learning kits.

I remember assembling low-voltage bulb sockets with shouldered insulating washers and nuts'n'bolts, and stacking copper leaves and rectangular insulation for switches.

I was soon running telephone and remote-control wiring all over the house. My mom said she always checked the toilets twice before sitting down.

I wired our tool-shed for power before I learned about UF and burial depth. I think it was NM at about 6". We moved before I was old enough to change it.

I did my first service change at 16, for an uncle, as well as exterior floods and stuff like that. I also learned (the hard way) that EMT sleeves aren't always grounded.

In high school, I went to the Technical Center (votech) half a day, where I taught as much as I learned (as I explained theory better than the teacher).

Iwent into the USAF, learned some electronics, got out, took a "hiatus" and worked for my father for a few years. After that wore thin (very thin!), I up'n'quit one day.

Then it became time to get a 'real' job. I started at the Z's, and got a job at a small company in the O's. I stayed there, and went to night school, for three years.

(The night school eliminated the fourth year of apprenticeship)

I tested for Journeyman, passed easily, and did mostly side-work here and there. My dad needed me again, which is why I didn't work steadily as a Journeyman.

I did, however, do enough documentable work that I qualified to take the Master's test, and took the (class B) Contractor's test, both of which I passed with mid-90's.

Five years later, I'm still here, grinding away, running a company of 5 (including myself). I still love the work, but I sometimes wish I was an employee again.

"It's good to be the king!" - Mel Brooks' History of the World, Part 1

... Well, I got my start at home,at the tender young age of 9... Being a curious little brat, I was always out trying to find new ways to get myself into trouble... and this was a good one,..it changed my life forever..I stuck one of mum's bobby-pins into a receptacle,.."just to see what would happen",..BZZZZZAT!..there went the entire 2nd floor that sent dad scrambling to the basement panel...Got a good thrashing (after my vision came back)...From that moment on,I was hooked,..now I don't feel "myself" unless I get that 1st shock in the morning..


Good Times...Russ



[This message has been edited by Attic Rat (edited 09-02-2005).]

I see. I know I'm going to start at the bottom, and I want to I want to learn as much as I can and work my way up. But even the Apprentice ads are asking for 2 years of experience. I guess I'm going to have to hit the book and call contractors.

Hi DSpanoudakis,

Where do you live and what type of electrical work are you looking to get into?

Studdied lots of trade books.
Got a job with an EC doing hand trenching, back filling, material handling, and hanging lights to start out.
Not long after I starting piping my first home. Had have rooms piped in less the 2 hrs. Boy did I take a verbal beating. Why did it take so long? Why did you bend this like that? What were you thinking when you piped it this way? Etc. All for $7 an hour. Once I thought I knew enough I moved on to another EC to be their Peon. But I was paid and treated a little better. The first few places turned out to be EC that were more concerned with the cheapest labor and geting it done. Also it turned out they never paid my taxes that was deducted from my $7 and up per hour. No the IRS never cared when I complained.

So to sum it up try to find a bottom feeder EC that wants jurneyman quality & speed out of a newbe. Be prepared to be treated like trash. Then just fell lucky if you get a check at the end of the week.

Tom

Tom

I was booted from High School for legitmate reasons.

Dad said get a job NOW!

He hooked me up with an EC buddy of his as I had been in electrical classes at the Vo-Tech.

This trade has proved to be the best thing for me.