First of all, hello everyone. This is my first post here. From the title of this thread, I am obviously not an electrician (yet?) but I am seriously considering entering an apprenticeship, most likely for inside wireman, though I don't fully understand the differences between that and residential just yet.

I do have an electrical engineering degree, and I worked as an RF engineer for a cell phone company for three years before I could no longer stand the office environment and the fact that my job didn't involve accomplishing anything tangible. While I was there I envied the field technicians because they got to go out to the cell sites and tear things apart, fix them, put them back together, etc... They were the really skilled people in that establishment, and I swear they were the only ones there who were basically down to earth.

The more I consider it, the more I think I need to be out there working with actual, practical electrical applications and learning universally useful skills from people who really know what they're doing. So, I think I want to be an electrician.

Currently, I live in New York City, which I discovered recently is a serious impediment for people who want an apprenticeship. I called the local 3 here the other day and before I could even ask, I was told that they didn't have anything at all for the next 2-3 years.

That was disappointing, but not really a huge problem since I didn't think I wanted to live here for five more years anyway, but it does make me wonder about other major cities.

Do any of you know if other big cities generally pose such obstacles for new apprentices? Judging from the union websites, places other than NYC seem to be a bit more organized in their approach, with particular application times each year and whatnot, but obviously there could still be waiting lists...

Is there any particular area of the country where there's a lot of need for new electrical workers? The areas I'm specifically interested in, other than NY, are the San Francisco bay area and metro Boston...

Is there much difference in the knowledge required for inside wireman vs. residential? Is one preferable to another for any particular reason?

Also, are apprentices always expected to stick to a particular region during their entire apprenticeship, or can they move around the country? Part of what attracts me to electrical work is that it's needed everywhere...

Thanks for all your help, and for taking the time to read all this.