ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Other careers electricians would be good at.

Ever thought of a change? what other jobs would electricians be good at? or who else hires electricians other than electrical contractors? I've heard of the phone companies and utilities and stuff, i'm looking for a change anybody have any ideas?

Melatonin:

Welcome to ECN forums!!

No, I can't say I ever wanted a change. Hadd a good run, shifted into inspections now. Must be in my blood.

There's the inspection end, and teaching the trade at a Vo-Tech school you may want to think about.

Any job can get you down after a while, so a change is nice. Even a different type of electrical work is okay and it doesn't carry a big reduction in pay. What kind of work have you done?

Love my trade.

Think of all the things that have wires.
Personally,I have found the life safety Fire alarm,special hazard protection very satisfying.

If like HL1- instructing and code compliance may be your thing.

There is so much out there that involves electricity- endless career. ya just need to start and get hooked up and explore!!!!

Mel,
Welcome to ECN, mate!
Over here, one path that a few electrician's have taken is being a sales rep at the local supply house.
Nice 8-5 job, 5 days a week in a heated store.
Customers (other electricians) are more likely to take advice from an experienced electrician on the other side of the counter, rather than someone who hasn't spent any time on the tools.

Mel,

You might work for a big box store, a school system might need someone for maintenance, home inspector (some of them can use the experienced people) or maybe even a plumber's helper.

IMHO

The hardest part about working in a big box store would be suppressing the urge to throttle the dummies that they usually hire to work alongside you who don't know what in the dickens they're talking about...which unfortunately is most of them.

I overheard one of these geniuses telling a customer how he could tap off of a couple of wires in the A/C disconnect to get 120V for his outdoor receptacle. DIRECTLY. No OCP. I don't know how some of these stores stay in business when they are trying so hard to get their customers killed off one at a time. To this day I don't know how I managed to keep my cool.

Ghost,

Maybe that would be a good reason to have someone in those big box stores that KNOWS what he is talking about. I was in one of those stores and the wiring on display for a service was wired wrong. It showed improper grounding of some sort. (I don't remember it has been many years ago.) I just remember that it was wrong.

I still remember the argument that I had with one of their totally clueless 'managers' who was working in an aisle labeled with a huge pre-printed sign that said
RECEPTICLES.

AUGHHHHH!!!!! How hard is it to copy the word correctly off of the zillions of cardboard boxes lining the shelves???

I have said this a number of times ...

... Gates.

If you are in a place with a lot of gated communities, those gates are a profit center for someone. The market may be saturated with players but that does not seem to be the case everywhere.