ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area How did you learn the trade ?

How did you learn the electrical trade ?
Apprenticeship ABC,IEC,IBEW,In plant
Military
I served an ABC apprenticeship befor WHEELS OF LEARNING when I worked in Freeport TX. Because of the chemical industry in that area it was mostly an industrial program.I also taught motor classes.

OTJT

Gilbert Fun With Electricity,

Reading,

OTJT,

Lots of conversation.

My Grand-dad was a maintenance tech/electrician years ago when I was a kid, and I got to spend some Saturdays with him in plant, plus he wired some of my Dad's houses when he had time. He was the one who really fired my interest with books and hands-on "trsining". I was wiring garages by the time I was 13.

Then I did 3 years of IBEW Apprenticeship before the big recession of the early 80's. After that I did the independent route and took classes on my own. And still learning...

I started at 17 with a neighbor that did electrical and plumbing work on the weekends.
He knew nearly nothing, what he did know was wrong, and he passed this information on to me. It took longer to unlearn those things than the year or so I worked with him.
It did, however, help me to land a job with "real" electricians.

The rest has been OTJT, & lots of reading.

You really can teach an old dog new tricks. I learn some things from the greenest of helpers almost daily after 30+ yrs

The place I'm still learning the trade is here at ECN... ...S

... OTJT,and 17 years of jumping from one shop to another.
Russ

Voc tech high school, then 3 years with a small EC. Passed the MA state license and did 16 years in an industrial facility. Currently in my 7th year with a large EC in NEW England. Still learning new stuff all the time. I agree with electure the greenest of helpers can teach you new things.

VoTech HS for electronics, then ~15 years OTJT via several jobs in industrial electronics, like motor controls, drives, PLCs, process control, etc. Picked up residential wiring skills as a DIY and reading the NEC and other books.

After I realized that I could qualify to take the licensing test under the "work experience" provision, I took a license review course at night, and passed the test first time out.

In my last year in the Air Force, I was allowed to cross train to being an electrician since there was no civilian equivalent to my Air Force duties. Upon discharge, I happened to be in the right place at the right time & ended up in the IBEW apprenticeship program.

Tom

My folks bought a two-flat in Chicago just before I was born. Mom & Dad remodeled it, including drywall, plumbing, and electrical. Neither were in the trades, BTW.

Same inspection process as a GC.

One of my first memories was "helping Dad", and reaching into a wall cavity through a 2" x 3" opening to grab the piece of Greenfield my dad was fishing.

As I grew older, Dad taught me more about electrical and plumbing. Mostly basic maintenance type stuff.

In HS, was involved in lighting for stage crew. Did some handyman work for the college I attended as "work-study".

Bought my house and re-ran the internals. My boss at the FD found out I "knew electric", and asked me to wire his garage. Bought one of the "electric wiring" books based on the Code. Eventually bought the Code & Handbook (yay handbook!).

Got a few jobs as a call-in guy for some EC's before taking a correspondence class, and working for one EC regularly enough to challenge the exam.