What made your mind up,(or possessed you)to be an Electrician,after you left school?.
Was it the need of a job or what?
Please feel free to comment on this one.

I ask myself that continually?
CW

coin toss... truckin' lost, so here i am.....

eight years in the marine corps. went through a marriage, and a divorce. decided to get out and try my "luck" as a civilian.
first job, walked into a union shop, applied for a job as a helper. interviewer asked what experience i had. i told him i had 8 years learning how to kill people, and wanted to expand my talents.
was offered a chance to enroll in the IBEW electrical apprenticeship program offered at that time. jumped on it. 31 years later, here i am. not sure if its an "improvement", though. :S

Wanted to learn a skil that would allow me to work for myself.

I had no Idea I would be an electrician. I'm not sure what happened.........Where am I? LOL I love it though!!

Actually, there is one thing I remember leaning me this way. when i was young,I read a hot rod magazine, there was a centerfold of a kick ass 69 nova SS , the driver was sitting in it. The article said he was a self employed electrician. He had this grin on his face I cannot describe. I thought to myself "must be nice" .......It is nice!! *grins*
Other than that its all theoretical.

I'm one of those kids who started playing with batteries, bulbs, and bits of wire at the age of around 5, and it just snowballed from there....

My Mother used to beat me with a percolator cord... (I deserved every bit of it)...

I guess I became an electrician in an effort to "control the wire"...



Actually, my music career didn't exactly take-off, and I didn't want to starve to death!

Ask myself this question constantly, especially when I have to crawl under some dirty confined floor space or loft filled with insulation & mouse s***.
Sad part is I really wanted to do this when I left school, now I wish I had stuck in & went to uni!
I do get some job satisfaction when customers are grateful for a job well done, like the man who came round to pay his bill on Friday evening, complete with cheque & a boxed bottle of Glenfiddich 12 year old. (My favourite!)

Age 2½—table lamp cord—had the two plug pins straddled around my thumb during insertion. It stung and burned more than anything at that age.

I was going to college and I didn't like it. I dropped out, and my dad said that If I didn't want college, I should get a job that was a trade and I could make money at. I started out working for a friend who was an electrician, then I went to work for an alarm installers company. I enjoyed working with wires, and contacts, and equipment, but my biggest statisfaction was that when I was done. I could flip on a switch or power and the job would work correctly. I got a great feeling out of the fact that when I started, nothing was there, and when I was done, the job would have lights, power, and controls over everything. (Especially when evrything worked right! )

My Dad! He took me into the field when I was 12 years old so I could help him on some of his jobs around NYC, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens.

We wired a house for his friend Charlie Perno in Lake Ronkonkoma, New York.

I was introduced to lots of different types of electrical work in some old buildings where we changed the service, and installed new circuits to bring the buildings up to code.

We used the NYC code then, and after a while he relied on me to point out any violations.

He ran Cato Electric Company for a while that was located in the Bronx.

He was a tough guy and he insisted on quality work and sometimes he made me do it over when it was not up to his specs.

He opened up a door to the future for me that took me through the trade as an electrician, designer, electrical inspector and instructor.

Thanks Jimmie, they called him "Edison" may you rest in peace!

I can tell you how I got started as an electrician, but the motivation to stick with it is a whole 'nuther story... Here goes....
My dad is an electrician, so growing up with the ol' man doin' stuff around the house, and he, naturaly needing a "go-fer", ment that I helped out on a lot of household projects. I got a really good lesson on the basic stuff from Dad. 'Bout lots of stuff, but quite alot about electrical stuff.
The motivation came when I was about 21 years old. I was laid off from the construction job I was working, and with a recomendation from a friend, got a job with a small electical contractor, on the other side of the state. I worked with them for 3 years, until Dad and I had a chance to start our own electical contracting firm back home. Now, after having been in business for a year and a half, we have 2 part-time employees, and a full time one starting in a month. Not bad for a kid and his ol' man in a small town in West Virginia...
But, as to the motivation... Electrical work is a nice combonation of lots of skills, and I'm lucky enough to be able to make them blend together very well, and do an excelant job, of the highest quality and finest workmanship. Most people notice that, and for that reason, I have lots of happy customers. Knowing that I did the best job I could do, and that the customer feels that they paid a reasonable price for great work, and will call me back, that is why I do what I do.

As a child I always experimented. I remember when I was 5 or 6, I found a cut-off lamp cord at my uncles. We were playing cops and robbers with my cousins and I stuck the cord end into my toy gun. I was proud of my electric gun and I pluged it into a recepticle. "Boom" Blew all the lights out in the house. I was lucky I didn't get hurt. Later in life I got the bug in highschool. I was told I could not be an electrician because I was lousey in math. Now I have had my masters for 15 years and I still lousey in math. I got the computer to do my work. Still learning every day.
Mark

The thing that sticks out in my mind was the Christmas of my third grade year. Mom and Dad gave me a Gilbert Fun With Electricity set. Haven't stopped trying to figure it out, yet.

Al

I discovered electricity at age 3. I wondered what would happen if I stuck a paper clip in an outlet. I found out! After that when I was sixteen I went to work for an electrician that summer and the next summer and the next summer and during college, GO DAWGS!
After college for some reason I decide to start my own remodeling company. I worked my ass off and never made really good money, but I always made good money on the electrical side jobs I did. So, I applied to take the state exam, passed and the rest is history. The best decission I ever made.

I signed up in the Navy 30 years ago to be a hospital corpsman. An old Chief pulled me aside in boot camp and said I should "make something of myself." Told me to be an electrician and learn all I could. He told me to go "be somebody!" He made a difference. I've enjoyed it and here and I am. No idea who that guy was! But, thanks, Chief.

I met a J-man once who actually got his start from the infamous matchbook ad...


go figger!

I started with my current (day job) company as a janitor in 1980.
I wanted to get in the building maintenance department, so I enrolled in an HVACR class at a private trade school. Since the janitorial dept. fell under the maintenance dept., I qualified for tuition reimbursement. After completing that course, and with no openings available in maintenance, I enrolled in the local Public Tech. School's adult ed. program for electrical classes. Eventually an entry-level general maintenance position opened up in our Research Pilot Plant. I took that position, and as plant technology evolved, I became the Electrical & Instrument Tech.
Ahh, the sweet smell of success!?

Hi All, Great topic.
My Dad came to this country looking for work. Instead found my Mom and then a job...

He started working for my Mom's cousin who is an electrical contractor. My Dad worked hard and knew his stuff but due to his language barrier had difficulty with the theory. When I was around 6, he would take me to jobs. I would sit there and rip his tool puch apart as well as anything around it. As time went on I watched what was going on and started putting things together. Well you could imagine what happened, direct shorts, blown fuses, burnt toys.... not a good thing!!

Going through school I kinda had a feeling I was going to do this type of work. It wasn't until I went to high school that I learned about the vocational school which had an electric shop. Well, I went to shop all 4 years, graduated top in my class.

At graduation my Dad told me that I was going to go one of two things.... either go to college (which he didn't have the money for) of join the union.

I applied for apprenticeship and was placed 5th and eventually was call for work. That was in 1982. I did my schooling which was tougher than I thought. With the help of some great friends (which I will never forget) I got through and became a Journeyman Wireman.

I now am a licensed electrician, I run my own one man shop :-) as well as manage and maintain an electrical system ranging from 26,400 volts down to 24 volts dc.

Tough times have tought me the value of what I have. It is this value I thank my Dad for.

We miss you Dad, Rest in Peace.

Started with my Dad at a young age.

Went full time after High School.

Things like this forum, studying theories, new types of systems and equipment, designing / engineering, and building stuff, are what makes it an interesting career.

Scott. s.e.t.

I'm also one of those kids who wanted to know how everything works. i found out that most things could be dismantled and then discover how they work.
Electricity, however was a different story. You just can't see electricity. You have to understand it. That's what intrigued me most about electricity.
I used to repair the blown fuses at the age of 7, since nobody else wanted to touch it. There were different wires for different amperage which had to be twisted around a "fuse".
Later on in life I worked in many different domeins (not electricity). I was still always THE repair man at home, family and friends. I repaired washing machines, hifi's, videos. Well, I don't know yet of a machine which I did not repaire (or try).

Anyway, finally I decide to work with what I like most. So I enrolled for a course of 3 years. The 1st year I skipped by doing a test. I , therefore did 2 years and out of 25 students I was the only one that passed. The reason for that being that for the 2nd year I had a Engineer as a teacher and he insisted on teaching us Engineer studies on top of the second year! All the other students were completely lost and I loved it!
Now I'm a qualified electrician which loves his job. I try to learn each day more. Knowing different type of systems, material, tools. It's all fascinating. Staying up to date, and of course chatting with you all!

My Dad was probably my biggest influence. I remember looking at a brochure that listed many of the jobs in the Navy. My Dad said, "If I had a choice, I would do this (as he pointed to a description of Electrician's Mate)." I shot back, "Why would you do that?" He spouted, "Because I have a good job, but I don't have a trade, and if I lost my job, I couldn't find another one that would pay what this one does." He continued, "My Dad was a heavy equipment operator, and when he took me out on his jobs, I noticed the electricians." I replied, "Yes sir, you noticed the electricians?!" He resounded, "It's the most respected trade on the job. They're the first to arrive, and the last to leave every project."
Well, he was right. I did my 4 in the Navy, and went through the union aprenticeship when I got out. I've noticed over the short 12 years that I've been in the trade, that everybody gives the electricians a hard time, but nobody really wants to do what we do. I can't count the number of times I've heard, "Man, I'm deathly afraid of electricity." I sit there and grin. The GC's are scared of us because they don't know what the heck we do.
One thing is for sure. When something goes wrong, or a piece of equipment breaks, who do they call? Darn right.....an electrician.
I'm not always happy with my choice to be an electrician, but I know I made a good choice. I will tell anyone. If you don't know what you want with your life, become an electrician. There are so many directions that can be taken from this trade. The sky is the limit.

Sprouting my wings,
Doc

You all have some inspired stories. Mine was a simple choice. I hated university and anything to do with it. I only started to enjoy anything involved with studying when I hit my apprenticeship. Best friends dad was manager of huge electrical company. He gave me the chance and I loved it. I was making a fist full of money while my other friends farted around in university. Now I run huge commercial jobs and love the responsibility. Could never picture myself sitting in a chair in a suit. Man I hate f*&^^N suits. Love puttin on the jeans and t shirt and going to work with the boys. Thank god my friends dad didn't work for a plumbing company.

Well, I started it all, I suppose that I better,state my case.
I started my Electrical Training rather late,as I left High School at the age of 18,and went straight into the New Zealand Fire Service as a Paid Fire-Fighter, I got the Bug, when I found myself disconnecting various circuits for the Crews at fire-calls,as no-one was willing to do this.
Reality hit home, a few years later, when I recieved 3rd Degree burns in a Fish and Chip Shop fire, when the vat of oil exploded, I was in hospital for months, but I thought, it would be good to use some of my experience,as an apprentice Electrician,
I got a hold of the local firms, and only the local Power Board, would hire me, because of my injuires.
But, they trained me up to the person that I am now,an Electrical Technician, which encompasses Electrical wiring, Faults Work,
a certain amount of Line work and Sub- Station Work.
So all in all, I won in the end, how many Electrician's have this range of work?,
and I would also agree with Elektrikguy, I love working outdoors, cannot stand being cooped up.

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 10-24-2002).]

I guess I was hungry. Yup I was motivated by the lure of the breakfast sandwich. I was a young 9th grader on the road to nowhere. I had a friend that started trade school and he told me how you would get break time and go to the coffe shop across the street. Sounded good to me. I wanted to enroll in carpentry but it was more furniture making than house building so I figured I'd go hang out with my friend in the electrical shop. And the rest is history. Out of the 25 budding electricians only four of us stuck with it. My friend was not one of them, he is now a plumber!

I was always interested in things electric - TV, radio, tubes, insulators, fuse boxes, etc.
Electricians were people that I was impressed with - not doctors,lawyers or Indian chiefs. I couldn't picture myself doing those types of things. I was and still am interested in other careers but this is the one I ended up with and I like it. I just wish that I had gone on my own sooner.
I also loved to watch Barney (Greg Morris) on "Mission Impossible". He was always making these mysterious black-box type devices that always worked as he had planned. He was probably my biggest influence.
Don

Indian Chief????

Looking in my Fathers "Ham Shack"when I was 7 years old,thinking that it would be something if I knew how this stuff worked.
Got my BSEE,and my PE ,electronics flight officer for 2 years in the Army ,designed and built microwave/millimeterwave receivers and transmitters for 36 years then decided to work on the power end ,got my electrical contractors license.This has been a fun ride.
Chris

I lived in an area that didn't even have power until I was 15 yrs old, but we had a battery powered radio from the time I was about 5.
Once I realized that there wasn't a guy inside it, I was obsessed with learning how it worked. Started by getting books at the village library and fooling around with the radio batteries after they were too run down to operate the radio.
I remember trying out series and parallel hookups and winding magnet coils before the age of 10.
Wish I knew how to get my students that interested.

Took a one year electrical wiring course at the community college and went to work with an electrical contractor at the age of 16, and was looking after commercial/industrial jobs at 20.

Started teaching apprenticeship program in 1966 and will retire next year.

Ed

The money

The gadgets

The inherent responsibilities associated with the trade

Did I mention the money?