Hi All,
I am going through the thought process of a career change. I am very interested in apprenticing and I have no previous elec experience...other than Do-it-yourself stuff. I was curious about some of the members thoughts on how realistic I am being...I am 42yo and am thinking maybe No-one would be interested in bringing on a man of my age. The market seems pretty hot in this area. Would appreciate a few opinions.

Thanks

"If it feels good do it" John Lennon.

I hired a 42 year old apprentice a few years ago. He's still with me and doing great. He was an experienced hvac installer who was very unhappy with his company and the hvac in general. Personally the age would be no factor at all. Do you have construction experience?

No construction experience other than working in my own place doing Hardwood floors and some drywalling.

Good luck Wrangler, you would not be the first and surley not the last older apprentice. Good luck if you decide to do so.


Luke

I saw an apprenticeship class that started with 50 .... and, four years later, had dwindled to 18. The three oldest members were there at the finish.

Indeed, one of them had not been officially 'sponsored,' and had to pay his own way. He worked for a non-member EC, and ... silly as this sounds... had his EC license before he could get a "journeyman" card.

I don't know what it is that folks fear about an "older" apprentice. Heck, I was past 30 before I was ready to actually start learning!

A man doesn't reach 40 sitting on his hands. He's had to learn SOMETHING. Nor is he overwhelmed by teen-age hormones. I am a bit tired of seeing newbies who seem to think that the purpose the contractor exists is to provide them with more, more, more.

Well, to generalize a little, I actually prefer older guys and have come to dislike the 18-32 year old crowd. There are a lot of benefits to older guys. My personal list is:

1. they don't argue with you as much (yes, Mr.22 year old, I wasn't really "asking you" to do x,y, or z, I was TELLING YOU, and I don't want to hear any backtalk other than "yes" out of your mouth about it..)

2. 42 year olds have enough time in the general workforce that there is a greater likelyhood they have learned how to show up on time at the start of the day, with their shoes tied, fly zipped, and with all their tools ready to work.

3. Absenteeism is less a problem. Older guys are married, have mortgages, kids, responsibilites... Less likely to disappear on you due to a hangover, car-ran-out-of-gas, or financial problems or stormy/unstable personal lives.

As I see it, an employer could pick you up just as you enter the best years you have to offer the workforce, because at 42 you have probably mastered the "soft job skills" (show up on time, don't stand around while you are on the clock, shut the personal cellphone off,.. etc. etc..) that it is so damn hard to teach 20 year olds due to their immaturity & general inexperience in life.

You see, I am ageist too, just opposite the normal current of our times..

If you do start an apprenticeship you will be starting out at the bottom, which can be a tough pill to swallow. I don't know what you have done in previous careers, but the bottom of the electrical trade really is "the bottom"- get ready to get dirty, work with people you may not like, doing things you probably never imaginied were part of an electricians work, and do it with a smile and a good attitude because you will be learning. You'll need to have the patience to let a lot time pass doing dull and seemingly repetative tasks before you have enough of a view of the "big picture" for things to finally click.

In my opinion, patience, soft skills and a good attitude would put you way ahead of the pack, and age isn't really as big a deal, provided you are physically stout enough to handle the more physical aspects of the work.

Good luck in your search

Oh yeah, I remeber going through that a time or few....

Well said Trollog. I agree with everything. When hiring m 42 year old apprentice, I only needed to teach him electrical. He already understood construction, work relations, customer relations, was very proficient with tools, along with everything else you mentioned. So all we had to focus on was electrical. Not all the incidentals that go with this job.

I asked about construction experience mostly because I was wondering if you know what you're getting into. Keep in mind that the work enviroment will be cold in the winter, hot in the summer, snowy, rainy, etc. Just be sure you're aware of these conditions.

Out of curiosity, what is your current career?

J_Erickson,

Right now I am a Information Technology Project Manager. Been doing it for 4 years and need a change real bad. Previous to that I was a Manager in Customer Service.

Not to discourage you Wrangler but some negative things I've seen personally from older apprentices is:
1) The have a hard time taking direction or even advice from younger employees or supervisors, even if they have years of experience on them.

2) Some older apprentices don't know there place. Meaning you’re still an apprentice. Which means you are the one to dig, go in the attic, crawl in the crawl space, pull the wire, ect.
As long as you are dedicated and strive to learn the trade I'm sure you'll do fine

I know I would have a difficult time telling an older person to do this, do that, get this, and get that. I would have to predict that the first 2-3 years would be the most difficult. Making dumb mistakes is easier to take when you are younger. As you get older there is less leeway (sp?) to make dumb mistakes.

I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from getting into this trade, but these are a few of things I can see happening early on. Give 'em hell, and best of luck to you.

Thanks Guys for taking the time to give an opinion. You helped a lot.

I find that older helpers are easier to get to do the dirty work. The young kids give you this stupid look when you tell them to get in the attic!
Oh yeah and by the way, the dirty work doesn't stop when you become licenced. It's a clean trade but still a trade!

A lot of great info here.

I just want to stress what J_Erickson mentioned.

If your going into electrical construction be well aware you will be expected to work regardless of the weather conditions. No work no pay.

Many times it's great to be out in the fresh air, other times when it's 2AM and your at the 7 degree seashore running threaded conduit you start to question how much you like it.

Seriously this trade has been great to me, I like even with its tough times.

Another apsect to consider: work culture in the trades is a lot different than work culture in the office. The office system of paid "sick days" and "personal days" is non existant. You can take time to be sick or go to the dmv for a day but unlike in the office, you ain't gettin paid to do it. Office workers tend to use and abuse personal days for hangovers or to get 3 day weekends in or whatever.. that doesn't fly in the trades. Our "work" is actual *work* and it *needs* to get done- you won't be just a body at a desk killing time, and collecting a paycheck, you will be doing purposeful work that has a distinct beginning, middle and end. But the flip side of that is that you get all major holidays & weekends off, and the day begins before morning traffic and gets out before morning traffic.

Consider the cultural differences as well. I won't say its not as cushy or flexible as an office job, just cushy and flexible in different ways and in different places.

Never too old. I teach 3rd year apprentices and one of them will retire 3 years after I do. Since I'm 57, you can figure out her age. She evidently felt it was worth the effort. Her grade point average is 2nd out of eight students.

Until recently i was a third year apprentice with 5000 hours completed along with the required 375 hours of code class. I had a little less than a year and a half to go before I got my license. Although I nolonger work in the field Im 48 and had very little if any problems doing the work its self. Find a reputable contractor to work for and you should be fine. Just be aware there are more trip and falling hazards along with electrical shock than you can shake a stick at. I also found out that most contractors do not offer any kink of health insurance so this may be a issue if you have kids. Best of luck to you,
Steve

Have a 44 yr old "helper" (I am 56) who is old enough to have developed a good work ethic (he's a bull)and has become pretty helpful after 18 months in trade. Maturity is worth lots, and early 40's is YOUNG to a 56 yr old! Lots of good years left to give. He gladly takes orders and "lessons" from some of our twenty-something yr. old guys with 5 yrs experience. Going to night school for the classroom time needed for a license in this state, and taking that seriously as well. I'm sure there are some pride issues, but don't let that stop you...it's a very interesting (but physical) trade.

Had two individual's in my apprenticeship that was over 40.

One 48 other 46ish.

One dropped mainly cause he was too caught up that he was older then everyone and felt he knew it all because of that (I think when a 23 y/o master showed him up, really did it for him).

Other stuck it through.