Who's an electrician?

I know this is off base, but I have been thinking of a career change. What's the good and bad of being an electrician? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

Well you could get zapped and die thats one option. I had a master electrician teach me here at the plant. I did it for quite a while on a toolmakers salry. When the guy was teaching me he said he knew good electricians and he had known fast ones.. The key to electrical work is patience and safety is number 1. I dont know your age but i have a buddy that did it for years and id bet the last 15 years he never worked a full year. Good money to be made.. If i wouldnt have fucked around id have the credentials but i was slow getting to the plate and they changed the rules! I have done new service entrance wiring for people and made good money on the side. I really like the in plant stuff.. Bending conduit and shit is fun and you dont have to try and fish shit thru old walls and stuff . I just never liked residential but i have wired a whole house for a friend but he had gutted the thing so it was easy.. Plan on starting at the bottom and with good work habits and lots of schooling you can make big bucks..
Dave

 

It is a good career if you don't let the smoke out of the wires.

 

Become a power lineman. More money and you don't have to climb thru peoples attics. You just gotta climb poles and towers.

 

This one speaks the truth. I know several linemen, and they're doing quite well.

 

i do a lot of business in the electrical business and know lots of electricians. i think its a good career choice. there are lots of options as to what you can shape direction working on-- homes, industrial, new construction. if you are single, quality and into traveling-- there is good money to be made on construction projects.

good luck.

-scott noteboom

 

I have a electrical contracting business with about 20 employees. They make decent money, but schooling is a must. I agree with what everyone else has said, commercial and industrial is the only way to go.

 

Bbbbzzzzzzz

 

Linemen make more money cause the risk factor is greater, you can slip up on lower volts and walk away, but you slip up on high voltage, you are done. But there is good money in it. Plumbers make more.

 

it's one job that they can not outsource to China

 

get into PLCs.

 

Thats sweeeeeeet.. I have been programming plc"s for a number of years and programmers make decent money and its fun.. I do omron and automation direct and now im doing allen bradley... Ya low voltage fun shit
Dave

 

looking for a great job on your own, go get a low voltage license ,have tuo take schooling but all the sprinkler, landscape lighting, and alarm, and other house accent lighting, is required , many places would love to havea guy on call to put in systems, or sell your service at the local garden center, or other box type stores they always have alist of peopel that do such things,

it is quite new in terms of schooling and licensing got to be inspected to deal with alot of the insurance nowadays,
i know a few people that went and got thiers, and work when you want kind of thing, there is alot more to putting in some side walk lights than just digging em in, and sprinklers also, programming and solinoids, and even if you just run the alarm wires and switches and dont do any programming it is a great thing to know all the tricks of the trade

i would look into that kind of employment

 

If you want to a Sparky THINK UNION. Better bennies and better pay. If anyone disagrees find out who set the bar for the non-union rats.

 

Question. What's brown and crispy and hangs from a wire??


Answer. An Apprentice Electrician



.

 

That's the way to go. You can always do low voltage stuff after you become journeyman. Here in California linemen are making about $39-40 an hour. But I bet very few are only making $83,000 a year. In plant electricians at (unionized) power plants are making just a few bucks less. I'm not sure, but I believe troublemen (work on 12KV and less) make somewhere in between. Linemen are still in very high demand so you could just about work whereever you want in the country. Here's an IBEW local in Jackson. Maybe a place to start looking.

http://www.ibew480.org/

 

If you've got the nuts be a lineman. Los Angeles DWP apprentices START at $65,000 a year but with ot most make closer to a hundred. Union, benefits, and a pension. Four years to earn as you learn. How much do colleges pay their students? Oh wait....

 

Being a SoCal lineman myself I can tell you it is rewarding. Try working 32 hours on 8 off for five cycles or so straight , then decide if you still wanna be a lineman. It's not for everybody. I know of four men killed at edison/par electric this year alone. You can always be a phone fag or cable queer.

 

Im not an electrician,but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!

 

Go for it. I have been in it for nearly forty years and always made a good living. Going to retire in a little over a year. Many different fields to look into. Find one you like and you will do well.

 

I've been one for over ten years. I never had a problem finding work, it always seem to come looking for me. Doing the plant electrician gig now. The works not too hard and the pay is good.

Go thru the apprentice program and pay attention when they talk about safety. Most electricians that die on the job are in their first few years in the trade.

 

I been doing it for 17 years now. I'm commercal/industial and Union. Good money and bennys. Just be safe by being educated correctly. I've seen a lot of cool places and shit doing this Trade.

 

Damn Im glad to see so many Union guys here. I know this board dosent allow politics but It makes me feel even better about this place. This is last time I will stand on my colective bargaining soapbox here. I get too much enjoyment from all of you to piss off every one that doesn't agree with my stand on politics.

 

I work for an Electrical supply company and the one thing all of our customers
have in common is that they're always looking for "dependable" electricians

 

Being an electrician you can live anywhere in the country you want to live. Everyplace needs an electrician. I went the way of electronics, but over the course of 30 yrs I've been forced to live in places-like Dallas, that I would have never considered otherwise. Forced to follow the manufacturers. I would have been happier being an electrician I think as I'm more of a Cody Wyoming, C[SIZE=-1]oeur d' Alene Idaho, Kalispell Montana [/SIZE] kind of guy.

 

Ive never been out of work, unless I wanted to for the past 25 years. Get into an IBEW apprenticeship if you can.

 

I'm a marine elctrician, a bit different. Lots of DC work to go with the AC. Also lots of electronics, i.e.: radar, comms, navigation gear etc. Pay is a bit lower than the land side, but it is a blast. And if ya like the water, all the better. Build a rep and you will never be out of work.
Good luck

 

Im a retired lineman with a 40 year IBEW pin. I made a ton of money, traveled all over raising hell, lost a few friends to the reaper and ended up half crippled and disabled. Find a job that you make a living with your brain instead of your back and you wont have an implanted morphine pain pump to make it thru the day. There will be a ton of work coming up soon. If youre going to do it anyway, try to get in an IBEW apprentice program. Staistically more people are killed on 120 then on higher voltages I guess because they are more careless