ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area California Cert.

A friends son will be moving to the San Diego area this spring. He will have his Colorado journeymans license by that time.
Can anyone give me a heads up on the new California certification? Will he need to take the test prior to being employed or is there some time for him to study and take the test once he is there?

Thanks in advance, Kent

By July 1st you need to have the certification according the D.A.S. I believe it will be pushed back due to lack of participation, but I wouldn't go by what I say since I'm just some random person on the internet

Currently California does not recognize any other states certifications, but that might change.

The state page with all the information he needs is here:
http://www.dir.ca.gov/DAS/ElectricalTrade.htm

If your friend needs a refresher on code, A.B.C. offers a good code review course designed for preping for the certification. Its around $225 if I remember right:
www.abc.org

Hope that helps

[This message has been edited by dmattox (edited 11-24-2004).]

Well dmattox your far from "just some random person on the internet."

Thanks much for the reply. The links answered my questions.

I don't see there being a problem as the way the law is worded it doesn't specifify that prior experiance be from California. And, the form stating experiance is one of those "under penelty of perjurory, the above is true and correct" type of things. It asks for either an apprenticship certificate, or employer contacts, that they are supposed to check up on. (I don't think they have the man-power to check up on squat, so I would say just fire it away.) The whole point is to pass the test essentially, at this point I really don't think they care who takes it.

And many employers are not asking for certification as of yet, due to a complete lack of knowledge about this law, many don't know it exists, or have no confidence in it going forward.

I would however advise in 1. checking the job market in SD before going there, (a recent post here described a dismal market.) maybe try to land a job before going, and 2. applying for the test before going.

Here's the form: http://www.dir.ca.gov/DAS/ElectricalCertificationForm.pdf