I am contemplating a career change. I am tired of sitting behind a desk. I am thinking of becoming an electrician. I already know quite a bit. I enjoy the work. I am an electronics technician and my late grandfather was an electrician. My wife is supportive because she knows how much I hate my job but it would be at least 3 years before I could get a license. New Hampshire requires 8000 hours as an apprentice. I can take the classes in a year but the 8000 hours seems like a long time. I am already 38 years old.

Should I do it? Do you guys like your job?

 

8000 hours is 4 years.

First and second year apprentices make crap money so be prepared for tight money for the first couple of years.

The biggest challenge of all is getting a contractor to sponsor you as an apprentice.

 

my brother in law is a union electrition, been out of work for 2 years in ohio. good luck

 

2.6 years at 60 hour work week that most of the local electricians work.

I might have trouble getting the hours in though as you say. Not all contractors want an apprentice or Journeyman for that matter.

 

No union for me. If I have to join a union I will find another line of work.

 

then you may want to start looking, good luck !

 

Gee Norm, hoiw do you really feel?

FYI........your non-union wages are based against union wages. Gee, I wonder what your wages and benifits for that matter, would be, if there was no unions?
You sound bitter, so Iam sure there is a reason behind your feeling. All I know is union wages have provided me a lively hood that enables me to work when I want to and buy what I need, not necessary in that order.

Slam/flame me if it makes you feel better, but that's the truth as I see it for the past 23 years. And yes, I worked non-union long enough, to know I needed some representation as a working man.

 

Any construction related career is gold where I live. Just try to get anything done in the summer time. I still don't have a roof on my house yet, because before the insurance guy can approve an estimate, that roofer is booked up for months. (but that is another story)
Anyway you have to ask yourself these questions:
Is there a demand in your area for electricians?
Do you see an increase or at least the same demand for electricians happening in a couple of years?
How old will you be in four years if you do this?
and finally . . .
How old will you be in four years if you don't do this?

 

oh, and by the way construction people are in such high demand here, they will take on anybody who dreamed they knew what they were doing once. No problem getting an apprenticeship here.

 

andthensomethingtoo...your roffers are all down here in Texas...you wouldnt believe how many out of state plates I see on roofing trucks around here...we had some major hail storms down here this year..there goes the insurance

 

No slams needed Gator, I am not bitter. I agree that Unions were needed in the past to get laws passed and create equitable pay scales and conditions. Now we have those labor laws and Unions are no longer needed. Some unions are well run and trulu take care of their workers but some are more like extortion rings that hold too much control over the companies that use their workers. A union should not have the ability to halt production or the flow of product just to make a point. If you do not like your job quit and find another one. Holding your company hostage just creates animosity.

I value your opinion as much as everyone else here. I have no need for flames.

 

Electricians and plumbers are in huge demand around here. I know a couple that would be happy to cut back to a 60 hour work week. My brother in law is a plumber and even I had to wait 3 months for a rough in of a bathroom.

Four years seems like a long time but as I get older the years seem to get shorter. Thanks for the advice!

 

I am a municipal firefighter---union member---all I'll say is if we didn't have a union we'd be in big trouble. On the other hand the city doesn't make a profit on our work,we don't get layed off,etc. Nuff said on that. I started at twenty-nine and I had to take classes for about four years to get all my certificates etc and take continuing education every week to maintain my status. Pay was lower when I started but that's the way it is everywhere and,now, I'm glad I took the job. A friend of mine retired from the fire dept. about ten years ago and banged around form job to job which he got tired of so he began a plumbing apprenticeship at the age of fifty-six. He is now sixty and a happy journeyman plumber doing something he loves and not being a greeter at Wal mart or something. Further, he has a skill he can take with him if he so chooses to go to another employer or work for himself. The point is , as someone else said, that he would still be sixty if he DIDN'T do it.
I am also a lifelong carpenter, and,at fifty-eight, am still loving it. Further, I am so busy I have to force myself to take vacations. The point is--no matter what---get a skill and you'll always be happy/busy.Go for it!!!!!

 

Norm

I couldn't agree with you more with your statment. Its truley shameful that the steps that some union leaders have taken with their membership.
Very well spoken

 

That is why there is NO more union where I work. They would screw all the good workers and protect the weak and lazy ones. It wasn't hard to get an overwhelming majority to vote out the union after years of BS.

A truly good union works for its members. First and foremost by weeding out the chitheads, the lazy and just plain morons. This helps to make them stronger when facing the company. Also, since the company don't have to worry about the losers of the bunch it is not so hard to work with the union.

Good unions do that and/or use to do that. Now day's a lot of unions are there to collect money and protect the chitheads who can NOT seem to get up in the morning like the other 98% of the union employee's do...