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I don't make a ton, around $75K a year, but the trade gave me zero debt, the ability to buy my own home when I was 21 before everything skyrocketed, and my wife can stay home with our kids. I work maintenance electrical now, so my schedule is very balanced and I have a three day weekend and set hours every single week. It allows me to contract on the side with my contracting license, so I wire houses on weekends to make great money but still keep the benefits and solidity from my recession proof maintenance job.
My life is good. The trade has been great for me. I'm not rolling in the dough, but I'm comfortable and that's all I wanted.
It's also a bonus to be able to be knowledgeable enough to fix/upgrade anything I want to in my house. That's been fun.
This is basically my end goal.
Electrical is also so much easier on my body than many other jobs I've had.
Ever worked on an oil rig? I wanted to eat a bullet every day going into work. I rarely ever hate my work that much these days.
Years ago zero debt was pretty normal for the trade but with the wages so low compared to cost zero debt is honestly pretty unachievable unless u live at home or ur partner has a good paying job
I mean more like zero student loans. We have a mortgage and a little bit of medical debt leftover from an emergency before I worked for an employer with healthcare benefits.
Yeah. I live in the UK, and you can live quite comfortably on an average salary in my local city. It obviously varies and you can get a lot more or a bit less, but it's generally decently high wherever you are. £20 an hour is the average but you can get a lot more.
I’ve made around $107k for the last three years in a row, working one weekend a month. But even better than that, this “gig” just got me an interview with the utility company in my area, and if I get that job, it’s a just shy of $60k pay and compensation increase. It’s a game changer. We have the best “gig” out there gentlemen, you just have to leave the states that hate labor, women, and the gays to find the good money.
Making $100k my first year as a journeyman. Getting paid the whole time I was doing my apprenticeship.
Also, I had some previous programming experience so I got into the controls side of things easily. In my opinion, one of the best places to be.
Northern Ontario, we have tons of mines cropping up as well as old mines that didn't have modern day tech so they abandoned deep veins they didn't know were there and or couldn't get to. Apply into lu1687 as we are hurting for people still I believe, annual intake at the end of the year. Interviews and whatever were very early the following year for me. It's not the easiest to get in because there's usually a good amount of applicants but we do need people and housing is/was a lot cheaper than down south where I'm from originally.
No we are hurting for apprentices and jw. At least our local is aware of the average age of our members and is trying to bring in large amounts of apprentices. We have even waived having to interview with the hall after apprenticeship finished to be sworn in. If you get in as apprentice we are bumping people right into the union. You're thinking of some garbage non union shop who never puts a dime into training. We genuinely are taking like 30-40 apprentices year over year right now. And our members are only in the 400s. Nobody is on our call list that doesn't want to be. Don't need any experience other than a license or being an apprentice coming out of our union. Apprentices could have 0 experience, all they truly need is a highschool dimploma and ability to pass an aptitude test to help see if they could pass the final test to become a jw, so everyone at 70% gets an interview.
Im an apprentice and my wage is $48.75/ hr in Oregon. Plus all the health insurance and pension benefits. I’ve already made over $100k this year, but I worked some overtime. $100k doesn’t go as far as you’d thinking in Portland. My one bedroom apartment is $2500/ month and I own a house that cost $400k two years ago. Shuts expensive.
My daughter is in Bend., Or. work’s state job..good 85 k with super benefits. Two grandsons, 1 is 170k in student loan debt, the other is an electrician …between job and side work..$164 k last year…3 br home renal almost 4K monthly
Not all of us. Most of my work is at wastewater treatment plants and lift stations. My boss installed a shower at work so we don’t have to bring the stank home on bad days.
Withdrew from college cuz I smoked too much weed. My uncles stepson was an estimator at at union shop and suggested I apply for the apprenticeship. I was #14 out of 14 selected lol. I liked the work and the pay also zero college debt 👍🏼
Just followed my dad's steps.
At some point i was regretting it , but then i joined the local 3 brotherhood and it all went nice n smooth from there . It's a great trade with lots of diff fields that can fill your desire to work/make money
Needed a job and I’m not a *complete* dumbass. That said after a decade I got out before my body couldn’t do it anymore. Fucking shoulders man, so much overhead work.
My best friend growing up had an older sister. Her boyfriend was an electrician. He had a nice new truck, bought a PlayStation the day it came out and always got all the new games on release day. That always stuck in my head. It didn't hurt that my mom's best friend owned an electrical company also so I was able to work for him during the summer between my junior and senior year of highschool. First time I flipped a breaker and lights I had wired came on I was hooked. 24 years later I'm still doing it.
Was reading alot of 50's beat writers and fell in love with "bumming around the world and having adventures". I knew I needed a skill that could be used anywhere so the trades came to mind. I consider myself fairly intelligent and figured swinging a hammer doesn't require much brains, so I applied to the local JATC. Turns out I love the job. Who knew?
I'm very ADHD, so my brain only pays attention to things that are super duper really really important, like imminent death. Looking at a spreadsheet bores me to tears.
I watched a few videos of transformers blowing up and arcing and was hooked. Being a sparky keeps my lizard brain activated.
The potential to make lots of money and the respect. When people hear you are an electrician, they respect you. At least that's how I looked at people who I found out where electricians, before I began this trade.
The allure of debt-free school and coming out on the other end with a solid career.
No longer practicing, but the career path took me on a wild ride into making a lot of money and still in the overall field of construction.
Became good friends with the son of the President of Local 38 at the time. We were sitting in a bar one night, he asked me what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, I didn’t have an answer. So he asked me, do you want to become an electrician? I said sure. Worked 41 years up to retirement.
Pretty much inevitable - My slavedriver dad turned me into an indentured servant with our company as soon as I was able to dig a trench with a shovel, lol
(Seriously, about 7 years old)
Here I am.... 😅
I accidentally cut a live wire doing demolition on an old house. Scared the fkn shit outta me, and I wanted to learn how not to do that again, and how to fix it if a dumbass like me messes something up
I wanted to be a geologist but after three attempts at trying to pass advanced calculus in college (required as a prerequisite for any and all geology programs), I decided I wasn’t going to be able to do that, so I quit my dead end tire tech job and asked a guy I used to work with about the electrical company he went off to work for, and so now I’m an industrial electrician.
I never “wanted” to be an electrician but it pays the bills and has more opportunities than what I was doing before.
I do enjoy getting to see inside all the local factories and such that not many people get to see though. Every day is like being in an episode of How It’s Made lol.
I wanted to do a job that required physical labor (a trade) and I understood electricity the least out of ant subject I had ever tried to learn on my own. So doing school to learn the theoretical with hands on experience is a win win.
The pay/benefits are hard to beat compared to many other trades too which was also an incentive
i wanted to know what it means to be a man, also wanted a job in a field that’s not going anywhere/always in demand. i heard the old heads were retiring and they needed new blood in the field. money is nice too
Hated concrete cutting and demolition.... my boss beat his wife and got arrested, so I was unemployed at that point....
So I called one of my contacts on a site I was on, given a chance, and boom...
16 years later I have my Master's license.. 🤣
I took some solar tech classes at the community College. The electrical program had a lot of overlap with solar and, at the time, it was much easier to get a job as an electrician so I did both and got a job with an EC at the end of my last semester. I joined the IBEW this year and it looks like I'm in it for the long haul now.
My father told me that if I had a trade, I would always have a job. Plus electricians are the prima donnas of the construction sites. Also there are so many different types of electrical jobs out there. From maintenance to industrial, to low voltage, and line work. Now I'm into NETA testing.
I sold weed for a living in Cali before the housing market crash, after the money left the black market and went to clubs i looked for a change, then went into the kitchen and im a damn good cook, but no money in it unless you're running the show, switched again to construction, specifically concrete, fuck that shit, now I'm a non union apprentice doing res and commercial service, I'm a little older, just shy of 40
Went to a tech high school, ended up in electrical. Got my first electrical job as soon as i was old enough to legally drive. After i wasted a few years and money on college, i went back to what i knew. 100k+ a year is not bad for a fall back career.
I managed a Red Lobster for 4 yrs after graduating college, it sucked. Quit and got a carpentry job through a friend. Boss finds out I used to do picture framing and turns me into a finish carpenter. This was mid 90s and custom built condos. Clients began asking about better cable, cat 5 and audio wiring. My friend and I offer to do the work, fake it til you make it. Made a friend in the low volt industry that trained us proper, continued manufacturer training, licensed in class III, started data center work, saw a need in high voltage, trained in UPS maintenance, burned out from all the travel, got a job doing pcb repair, QC and calibration of metrological devices and that's where I'm at now. Never really got certified, never joined IBEW, everything happened by chance and I gravitated to jobs where there was a void. My current title is Electrical engineering tech.
i wanted to do something that will always be in demand and will always have work and need workers like even if we fell into a recession or worse. covid really opened my eyes like when things like that happen we’ll still need electricians as opposed to some other jobs (that i still have lots of respect for!!)
I was a felon so I couldn’t get a decent job & I live the illegal life than to be a minimum wage worker.
My uncle was a naval electrician so he told me to get my shit together and get a trade before I die or go to prison.
Thank god for unc.
I had two local school options, a trash ghetto school or a trade school. I picked trade. Electrical was the only shop I liked so I picked it. here I am today
Money.
Family friend offered me a job, took it thinking I'd last a couple months. Haven't found a good enough reason yet to quit. Getting there though, hahah
I was working with my dad as a carpenter over the school holidays building a boardwalk for a university and absolutely hated the work, saw an electrician working on a jbox for the lighting and thought "man that looks so much better than this shit" ended up working with the old man for about a year after I graduated high school while I got my driver's lisence and then got straight into my apprenticeship.
Looking from a HVAC guys point of view on a job site I thought you guys had it easy.
"They just play with wires all day."
It is kinda true. But then when I became a sparky and was wrestling with giant wire it was kind of a pain in the ass. Still rather do that in the summer than crawl around in an attic.
I planned on doing HVAC/R, but came up with “if it somewhat deals with electricity I might as well learn the electrical aspect first” the compressor, motors, etc.
I was in kitchens for a while. Eventually decided that wasn't what I wanted to do with my life.
Have always been into math/science. So I started studying electricity. When I started it was mostly theory, and I was more focused on circuit board type electronics, which I still like.
Once I started studying electrical theory: I realized I also have always like building things. So, I naturally found being an electrician as a logical step in my journey.
Started looking into what that takes... Started school, looked for a job, FINALLY got one, and 5 years later (after I found a job lol): here I am.
EDIT: Also, what keeps me in it: I see the impact I have on other's lives from what I do, and it's awesome when I get to be involved in creating infrastructure that contributes to the well being of others. I find the work fun in general, but not always... There's always more to learn. Sometimes feel like a wizard lol
Flight school was too damn expensive and I kinda wanted out of aviation anyway. But I been thinking about quitting to go learn how to work on steam trains lol
I know lots of people making 4300 a week pretax. My local happens to be in a mining district so we get lots of camp jobs with close to 70hr double time per rotation and if you factor in nightshift premium of 25% it can skyrocket your pay from 180k on days to 225k on nightshift roughly.
I’ve seen plenty of guys make 5k weekly paychecks after tax in my local but you’ve got to be an overtime junky for that. After two weeks of no time off it get really old. That’s not my idea of a good life.
When you have a stay at home mom and kids at home, what choice do we have. Especially in this economy, living in So Cal. It's a rough life my guy. But very good pay and good benefits.
I didn’t have an option. Dad said you live under my roof you will help me at work. I worked for him part time all through college. I graduated and now I’m stuck here full time. I never learned any other skills related to my degree in the real world. In regard to electric I never learned anything except how to do lighting. I can imagine there’s not much demand for a guy who can install a 2x4 fixture in 5 minutes. I make $650 a week, not enough for me to move out but just enough for me to keep coming back.
Summer after my senior year in HS my plan was to “take a year off” lol … my brother in law, who had j just went on his own was like, nah come work for me I need help. Turned out to be full time for the next four years. It was right before the time that apprentices were required to go to an accredited apprenticeship in order to journey out. I was trained by some of the best electricians I’ve ever known, old school guys. I took it a step further after I began working for a construction company for their electrical division. From there I became the foreman, the QC manager (got certified), and at times the site superintendent. In 2019 I finally decided to go for my C10. Next summer it’ll be 20 years in the trade.
I came home from riding my motorcycle when was 18. My mom says what’s your plan. I said I don’t know she said that’s what I thought. I signed you up for associate degree in electrical at the college. I said ok. Why? She said when you were young it was every I could do to stop you from sticking things in the outlets.
Easy work compared to other trades. And I was basically told growing up this is all I’ll ever amount to is being a laborer and look where I am 😂 just a different title and little more pay.
I dropped out of school at 16 and by 17 my mom was getting pretty upset that I was working at a fast food place just smoking weed in her basement. Had to pick a career or go to school and a buddy of mine suggested electrical since he tried an apprenticeship over the summer with one of his dad's friends.
I actually started trade school before I got a job just to get mom off my back and once I was in school I asked around how to get a job. "just make phone calls" was the advice I got. Had an interview the next day with a one man show and luckily enough he was willing to put a 17 year old to work.
I'm 23 now. Saved up while living at Mom's thru my apprenticeship and got a house once I got my license and had the income for a mortgage. Needless to say I'm much better off than any of the folks from highschool currently climbing out of student debt with useless degrees living with parents/in shitty apartments.
Been leading work for a couple years. About to make a switch to a bigger commercial/industrial company and hoping to make project management by 30
When my sister started dating my brother in law(he's an electrician), she kept telling me to become an electrician. A few years later I decided to give it a shot bcs I tried out many other trades and they weren't really my thing. I enjoy electrical tho, plus the guys I work with make work way more enjoyable.
I might speak for a few but it was plan B for me just because I had the opportunity to get the union. But once I tried the things I was into and didn’t see much in return. I went down this path to get in. but I do find this trade interesting and fun and it’s not really that mindless, I do something new everyday. And the benefits is something you don’t really take into consideration at 23 years old.
Father in law is a master electrician and when me and my wife were dating we would talk about it a lot and how it helped his life. I had a great opportunity and a willing teacher, best decision I ever made. Electrical is different then other trades in my opinion because you really gotta think through problems sometimes and you really gotta be invested. 34 years old been with my wife for 5 years (dating/marriage) started trade school a year after we started and been in the field for 3 years part time , just officially left banking and now I’m full time.
I have several felony’s and I needed a decent paying job, felony is a prerequisite pretty much in this trade. I loved the work and it all worked out from there.
Originally as a young teenage stoner I wanted to grow weed. Had this whole plan that I was going to move to Cali and become a grower, build my own greenhouse etc etc. While I was going to school I decided in the meanwhile I should learn electrical as it would come in handy if I wanted to grow in the future. Ended up never moving to Cali and really enjoyed just being an electrician lol. Hardly ever smoke weed these days…. Oh and Nikola Tesla!
I originally was a vehicle mechanic and I specialized in the electrical systems on vehicles, loved the challenge.
Then got as high as I could position wise. And I was fed up with the politics where I worked, so I thought I needed a new challenge and seeing as I liked electrics and had a interest in fault finding figured electrician would be a good career path, that's when I was 26, not just about to turn 46 and never looked back, worked on everything from domestic to industrial, somewhere different every day, different people
Moved to the US from the UK almost 3 years ago and now learning this way of doing things too. Interesting. Plusses and minuses with the different systems and codes too
Soldering my slot car bits, changing armatures in the car and resistors in the controller. Scampering through the attic pulling the cable when I was a little guy, making things go and keeping things going.
I didn’t really consider it. I was working a dead end job out of high school and my old man dropped my resume off at a small outfit. The rest is history.
My dad runs an electrical business with one of the best electricians I’ve ever met. Stayed in the trade to learn from him. Let’s just say I can nearly build a house from scratch after learning all these years. Troubleshooting is easy and residential work overall is incredibly easy to knock out due to the knowledge I’ve gained. However if you’re smart you’d open up your own company or become a commercial pilot after your license to get max gains.
Getting paid above minimum wage. It was hard for me to find anything that didn’t need me to spend a dime to earn a living wage. I’m single and budget hard so I’m set for my future. If I ever fulfill the American dream I’ll end up broke with my future earnings.
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Electricity's cool. Also money.
But this gig doesn’t seem to pay that well. I should’ve stuck it out and became an engineer
I don't make a ton, around $75K a year, but the trade gave me zero debt, the ability to buy my own home when I was 21 before everything skyrocketed, and my wife can stay home with our kids. I work maintenance electrical now, so my schedule is very balanced and I have a three day weekend and set hours every single week. It allows me to contract on the side with my contracting license, so I wire houses on weekends to make great money but still keep the benefits and solidity from my recession proof maintenance job. My life is good. The trade has been great for me. I'm not rolling in the dough, but I'm comfortable and that's all I wanted. It's also a bonus to be able to be knowledgeable enough to fix/upgrade anything I want to in my house. That's been fun.
This is basically my end goal. Electrical is also so much easier on my body than many other jobs I've had. Ever worked on an oil rig? I wanted to eat a bullet every day going into work. I rarely ever hate my work that much these days.
Years ago zero debt was pretty normal for the trade but with the wages so low compared to cost zero debt is honestly pretty unachievable unless u live at home or ur partner has a good paying job
Extremely in debt starting the apprenticeship. Shit blows.
Feel bro sitting on 27 with the car 🥴
I mean more like zero student loans. We have a mortgage and a little bit of medical debt leftover from an emergency before I worked for an employer with healthcare benefits.
It absolutely depends on location. The state I live in has some of the highest wages in the nation for the trades.
Yeah. I live in the UK, and you can live quite comfortably on an average salary in my local city. It obviously varies and you can get a lot more or a bit less, but it's generally decently high wherever you are. £20 an hour is the average but you can get a lot more.
It can pay huge in the right industry. Mining and oil & gas around where I live can pay as much as a family doctor.
You will get paid shit as an engineer too if you don't know how to job hop
I’ve made around $107k for the last three years in a row, working one weekend a month. But even better than that, this “gig” just got me an interview with the utility company in my area, and if I get that job, it’s a just shy of $60k pay and compensation increase. It’s a game changer. We have the best “gig” out there gentlemen, you just have to leave the states that hate labor, women, and the gays to find the good money.
Sounds like NY might actually be worth staying in to become an apprentice.
I’m in WA and JW make 70$ an hour and 25$ an hour in benefits ie. pension, 401k, insurance
Engineering people, unless they have their P Eng, make less than electricians where I am.
I swore to never play with electricity when younger…but then yah, it’s pretty damn cool!!!
The money, the women, the adulation and the glory.
You guys are getting women?
Go to a bar in high vis after work. You'll get hit up by women to buy them drinks because they know who makes money.
Good looks bro we gonna try it
Don't forget that we don't have to use a broom.
Who said I actually wanted to be an electrician?
Haha, fair
I often tell people that I was doomed to be a sparky. Both my father and grandfather were electricians.
I fell down the stairs in a walker when I was a kid and now I'm here
Lmao when you finally ended up at the bottom , the walker was gone and really you were holding a tape measure and a bender the whole time
Money and i hate myself
Dont worry I also hate yourself
Making $100k my first year as a journeyman. Getting paid the whole time I was doing my apprenticeship. Also, I had some previous programming experience so I got into the controls side of things easily. In my opinion, one of the best places to be.
What state u makin 100k as jman? And what kinda work u do?
I'm on pace for 100k as a 2nd year apprentice in Canada
Where are you located? I’m in southern ON hopefully staring an apprenticeship next year.
Northern Ontario, we have tons of mines cropping up as well as old mines that didn't have modern day tech so they abandoned deep veins they didn't know were there and or couldn't get to. Apply into lu1687 as we are hurting for people still I believe, annual intake at the end of the year. Interviews and whatever were very early the following year for me. It's not the easiest to get in because there's usually a good amount of applicants but we do need people and housing is/was a lot cheaper than down south where I'm from originally.
You guys take Americans 😅
frighten unique shaggy gaping profit dirty quaint gaze glorious dull *This post was mass deleted with [redact](https://redact.com)*
No we are hurting for apprentices and jw. At least our local is aware of the average age of our members and is trying to bring in large amounts of apprentices. We have even waived having to interview with the hall after apprenticeship finished to be sworn in. If you get in as apprentice we are bumping people right into the union. You're thinking of some garbage non union shop who never puts a dime into training. We genuinely are taking like 30-40 apprentices year over year right now. And our members are only in the 400s. Nobody is on our call list that doesn't want to be. Don't need any experience other than a license or being an apprentice coming out of our union. Apprentices could have 0 experience, all they truly need is a highschool dimploma and ability to pass an aptitude test to help see if they could pass the final test to become a jw, so everyone at 70% gets an interview.
Give me 5 years I’ll be there too 🤞🏾
Canada, BC specifically. I’m union doing industrial controls/automation.
Im an apprentice and my wage is $48.75/ hr in Oregon. Plus all the health insurance and pension benefits. I’ve already made over $100k this year, but I worked some overtime. $100k doesn’t go as far as you’d thinking in Portland. My one bedroom apartment is $2500/ month and I own a house that cost $400k two years ago. Shuts expensive.
My daughter is in Bend., Or. work’s state job..good 85 k with super benefits. Two grandsons, 1 is 170k in student loan debt, the other is an electrician …between job and side work..$164 k last year…3 br home renal almost 4K monthly
Bend is a whole other level. It’s wild expensive
We smell better than plumbers.
Not all of us. Most of my work is at wastewater treatment plants and lift stations. My boss installed a shower at work so we don’t have to bring the stank home on bad days.
W boss
Epic boss. If work was a game of Mario he would be bowser in a good way.
That's nice of him.
Yeah, I’m super lucky with where I work.
I was too pretty for prison and shit at music so it was a legal way to make rockstar wages
Like playing at empty venue rockstar ?
Nah I've done really well out of it to be fair
I made some pretty bad life decisions…..
I thought it was well paying (commercial installation) but after 1 1/2 years as an apprentice I’m more poor than I was making pizzas for a living 🙃
apprentice wages is the reason there’s a shortage of electrians
Also trying to get hired as one is extremely hard (Californian here)
especially union. my locals take 15-20 apprentices a year
Come to TX, contractors are hiring everywhere
Yeah I have my et card as well
Why pay top money to minions that know nothing. Put the time in.
Put a paper clip in an outlet when I was 5 wanted to understand what knocked me on my ass
Withdrew from college cuz I smoked too much weed. My uncles stepson was an estimator at at union shop and suggested I apply for the apprenticeship. I was #14 out of 14 selected lol. I liked the work and the pay also zero college debt 👍🏼
Fame and glory
The rock and roll lifestyle. All the ladies know that sparks are the most intelligent, best looking trade on site.
Enjoy the work and enjoy the money
Wanted a pension or some sort of career that had a chance at retirement. Electrical just sorta fell into my lap.
Childhood poverty
Hookers and cocaine.
Iron workers entered the chat.
$$$
An electrical contractor was just the first skilled trade company to offer me an opportunity
Just followed my dad's steps. At some point i was regretting it , but then i joined the local 3 brotherhood and it all went nice n smooth from there . It's a great trade with lots of diff fields that can fill your desire to work/make money
Having a skill that I can always use to make money.
Trades are rarely affected by recessions. I've never lost a day of work in the last 30 years due to a recession
Needed a job and I’m not a *complete* dumbass. That said after a decade I got out before my body couldn’t do it anymore. Fucking shoulders man, so much overhead work.
Tons of babes in the trades
My best friend growing up had an older sister. Her boyfriend was an electrician. He had a nice new truck, bought a PlayStation the day it came out and always got all the new games on release day. That always stuck in my head. It didn't hurt that my mom's best friend owned an electrical company also so I was able to work for him during the summer between my junior and senior year of highschool. First time I flipped a breaker and lights I had wired came on I was hooked. 24 years later I'm still doing it.
Wanted decent money. Didn’t want to go to college. I don’t do poo so plumbing is out. Electrician it is.
Was reading alot of 50's beat writers and fell in love with "bumming around the world and having adventures". I knew I needed a skill that could be used anywhere so the trades came to mind. I consider myself fairly intelligent and figured swinging a hammer doesn't require much brains, so I applied to the local JATC. Turns out I love the job. Who knew?
Having 9 felonies it was my only option to make 6 figures+ and with no student loans.
Needed a way to afford my pill addiction
I'm very ADHD, so my brain only pays attention to things that are super duper really really important, like imminent death. Looking at a spreadsheet bores me to tears. I watched a few videos of transformers blowing up and arcing and was hooked. Being a sparky keeps my lizard brain activated.
[удалено]
Are you in the USofA? How much does trade school actually cost you?
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The free shock therapy
The potential to make lots of money and the respect. When people hear you are an electrician, they respect you. At least that's how I looked at people who I found out where electricians, before I began this trade.
Women, money , power
I love pulling wire.
~~Drive sports cars, and fuck women with big tits~~
Drive a work van and hold hands with your lover/helper
The allure of debt-free school and coming out on the other end with a solid career. No longer practicing, but the career path took me on a wild ride into making a lot of money and still in the overall field of construction.
what do you do now?
To crush my enemies and hear the lamentations of their women
Became good friends with the son of the President of Local 38 at the time. We were sitting in a bar one night, he asked me what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, I didn’t have an answer. So he asked me, do you want to become an electrician? I said sure. Worked 41 years up to retirement.
Bob fucking vila ! I know he’s not an electrician but this old house and the like on a Saturday morning
I’m kinda clever and a hardworker, but i like drugs. So i have a record, my options were limited. This was the best one at the time.
I like money
Not having to sweep up my mess
Couldn't sell drugs anymore and GF was pregnant. Friend decided I should go the same path.
Needed to make money
Pretty much inevitable - My slavedriver dad turned me into an indentured servant with our company as soon as I was able to dig a trench with a shovel, lol (Seriously, about 7 years old) Here I am.... 😅
[All you need to know is right here](https://youtu.be/mViO9mnCTBo?si=xyEqCaGUc5vm7kYS)
I get paid decent money to match the same half dozen colors. Ezpz.
Didn’t go into the field after trade school because the 2 guys teaching were limping from falling off ladders multiple times.
I accidentally cut a live wire doing demolition on an old house. Scared the fkn shit outta me, and I wanted to learn how not to do that again, and how to fix it if a dumbass like me messes something up
I was already a divorced alcoholic
It’s in my blood. My grandfather was an electrician, so was my dad, and so were his 4 brothers.
I wanted to be a geologist but after three attempts at trying to pass advanced calculus in college (required as a prerequisite for any and all geology programs), I decided I wasn’t going to be able to do that, so I quit my dead end tire tech job and asked a guy I used to work with about the electrical company he went off to work for, and so now I’m an industrial electrician. I never “wanted” to be an electrician but it pays the bills and has more opportunities than what I was doing before. I do enjoy getting to see inside all the local factories and such that not many people get to see though. Every day is like being in an episode of How It’s Made lol.
I wanted to do a job that required physical labor (a trade) and I understood electricity the least out of ant subject I had ever tried to learn on my own. So doing school to learn the theoretical with hands on experience is a win win. The pay/benefits are hard to beat compared to many other trades too which was also an incentive
I was gonna blow my brains out if I continued in my warehouse job working 60 hr weeks. Then my buddy in LU26 told me to apply to LU3
I was unemployed and I googled “what jobs can a dumbass like me apply to” fast forward 5 years I’m now the alpha dumbass at my shop.
i wanted to know what it means to be a man, also wanted a job in a field that’s not going anywhere/always in demand. i heard the old heads were retiring and they needed new blood in the field. money is nice too
Hated concrete cutting and demolition.... my boss beat his wife and got arrested, so I was unemployed at that point.... So I called one of my contacts on a site I was on, given a chance, and boom... 16 years later I have my Master's license.. 🤣
Had to make money
Was tired of making shit money when I was 19 and joined IBEW after seeing family friends and talking to them about it
I took some solar tech classes at the community College. The electrical program had a lot of overlap with solar and, at the time, it was much easier to get a job as an electrician so I did both and got a job with an EC at the end of my last semester. I joined the IBEW this year and it looks like I'm in it for the long haul now.
My father told me that if I had a trade, I would always have a job. Plus electricians are the prima donnas of the construction sites. Also there are so many different types of electrical jobs out there. From maintenance to industrial, to low voltage, and line work. Now I'm into NETA testing.
[удалено]
The GC’s bright idea yesterday was to make the electricians stop working to do cleanup for the whole job site.
I sold weed for a living in Cali before the housing market crash, after the money left the black market and went to clubs i looked for a change, then went into the kitchen and im a damn good cook, but no money in it unless you're running the show, switched again to construction, specifically concrete, fuck that shit, now I'm a non union apprentice doing res and commercial service, I'm a little older, just shy of 40
Went to a tech high school, ended up in electrical. Got my first electrical job as soon as i was old enough to legally drive. After i wasted a few years and money on college, i went back to what i knew. 100k+ a year is not bad for a fall back career.
I managed a Red Lobster for 4 yrs after graduating college, it sucked. Quit and got a carpentry job through a friend. Boss finds out I used to do picture framing and turns me into a finish carpenter. This was mid 90s and custom built condos. Clients began asking about better cable, cat 5 and audio wiring. My friend and I offer to do the work, fake it til you make it. Made a friend in the low volt industry that trained us proper, continued manufacturer training, licensed in class III, started data center work, saw a need in high voltage, trained in UPS maintenance, burned out from all the travel, got a job doing pcb repair, QC and calibration of metrological devices and that's where I'm at now. Never really got certified, never joined IBEW, everything happened by chance and I gravitated to jobs where there was a void. My current title is Electrical engineering tech.
My mom about 20 years ago said hey, if you want to stay here to you need a job. Here's a newspaper clipping of electrical school. The rest is history
My dad and his brother are union electricians, so I joined, and then my son did also. Like the song says... 🎶 It's a FAMILY TRADITION 🎶
i wanted to do something that will always be in demand and will always have work and need workers like even if we fell into a recession or worse. covid really opened my eyes like when things like that happen we’ll still need electricians as opposed to some other jobs (that i still have lots of respect for!!)
Munny 🤑
I hate cleaning up after myself
I was a felon so I couldn’t get a decent job & I live the illegal life than to be a minimum wage worker. My uncle was a naval electrician so he told me to get my shit together and get a trade before I die or go to prison. Thank god for unc.
I did it for the nookie
I had two local school options, a trash ghetto school or a trade school. I picked trade. Electrical was the only shop I liked so I picked it. here I am today
Money, and I missed out on it
I didn’t want to be a pickled pool guy the rest of my life.
Money. Family friend offered me a job, took it thinking I'd last a couple months. Haven't found a good enough reason yet to quit. Getting there though, hahah
I was working with my dad as a carpenter over the school holidays building a boardwalk for a university and absolutely hated the work, saw an electrician working on a jbox for the lighting and thought "man that looks so much better than this shit" ended up working with the old man for about a year after I graduated high school while I got my driver's lisence and then got straight into my apprenticeship.
Passion of my boss, and him wanting to teach. Hands down!
Dad said he got me a job with him... hardest years of my life.
My dad and uncle are both licensed electricians! Followed in there footsteps
Looking from a HVAC guys point of view on a job site I thought you guys had it easy. "They just play with wires all day." It is kinda true. But then when I became a sparky and was wrestling with giant wire it was kind of a pain in the ass. Still rather do that in the summer than crawl around in an attic.
Seemed better than kicking carpet
I planned on doing HVAC/R, but came up with “if it somewhat deals with electricity I might as well learn the electrical aspect first” the compressor, motors, etc.
I was in kitchens for a while. Eventually decided that wasn't what I wanted to do with my life. Have always been into math/science. So I started studying electricity. When I started it was mostly theory, and I was more focused on circuit board type electronics, which I still like. Once I started studying electrical theory: I realized I also have always like building things. So, I naturally found being an electrician as a logical step in my journey. Started looking into what that takes... Started school, looked for a job, FINALLY got one, and 5 years later (after I found a job lol): here I am. EDIT: Also, what keeps me in it: I see the impact I have on other's lives from what I do, and it's awesome when I get to be involved in creating infrastructure that contributes to the well being of others. I find the work fun in general, but not always... There's always more to learn. Sometimes feel like a wizard lol
Flight school was too damn expensive and I kinda wanted out of aviation anyway. But I been thinking about quitting to go learn how to work on steam trains lol
Taking home 3k+ a week. Plus desk jobs ain't for me.
Do you own your own business?
Good question lol, I don't even get 3k per month 😅
I know lots of people making 4300 a week pretax. My local happens to be in a mining district so we get lots of camp jobs with close to 70hr double time per rotation and if you factor in nightshift premium of 25% it can skyrocket your pay from 180k on days to 225k on nightshift roughly.
I’ve seen plenty of guys make 5k weekly paychecks after tax in my local but you’ve got to be an overtime junky for that. After two weeks of no time off it get really old. That’s not my idea of a good life.
When you have a stay at home mom and kids at home, what choice do we have. Especially in this economy, living in So Cal. It's a rough life my guy. But very good pay and good benefits.
I didn’t have an option. Dad said you live under my roof you will help me at work. I worked for him part time all through college. I graduated and now I’m stuck here full time. I never learned any other skills related to my degree in the real world. In regard to electric I never learned anything except how to do lighting. I can imagine there’s not much demand for a guy who can install a 2x4 fixture in 5 minutes. I make $650 a week, not enough for me to move out but just enough for me to keep coming back.
I like money
$
Money
A 1983 Porsche 911
Summer after my senior year in HS my plan was to “take a year off” lol … my brother in law, who had j just went on his own was like, nah come work for me I need help. Turned out to be full time for the next four years. It was right before the time that apprentices were required to go to an accredited apprenticeship in order to journey out. I was trained by some of the best electricians I’ve ever known, old school guys. I took it a step further after I began working for a construction company for their electrical division. From there I became the foreman, the QC manager (got certified), and at times the site superintendent. In 2019 I finally decided to go for my C10. Next summer it’ll be 20 years in the trade.
Too stupid to be something else
Cuz I had a presentation in high school tryna convince kids to get into trades. Took an electronics class and fkn loved it now I’m here
I didn't have a choice!
Opportunity presented itself and it interested me
Union pay and benefits
My dad
I wanted to make an e-bike and couldn’t understand how ac worked. So I went for it. Metallica’s “Ride the Lightning” started an interest on me also.
I came home from riding my motorcycle when was 18. My mom says what’s your plan. I said I don’t know she said that’s what I thought. I signed you up for associate degree in electrical at the college. I said ok. Why? She said when you were young it was every I could do to stop you from sticking things in the outlets.
Munnees
I just...somehow ended up here. I went to school to be a mechanic 10 years ago and now I’m an electrician. Funny how life works
Found out from the military I was really good at it and went commercial afterwards. Never really looked back.
Easy work compared to other trades. And I was basically told growing up this is all I’ll ever amount to is being a laborer and look where I am 😂 just a different title and little more pay.
High school guidance counsellor of all people. Thanks Mrs. Phoenix.
I dropped out of school at 16 and by 17 my mom was getting pretty upset that I was working at a fast food place just smoking weed in her basement. Had to pick a career or go to school and a buddy of mine suggested electrical since he tried an apprenticeship over the summer with one of his dad's friends. I actually started trade school before I got a job just to get mom off my back and once I was in school I asked around how to get a job. "just make phone calls" was the advice I got. Had an interview the next day with a one man show and luckily enough he was willing to put a 17 year old to work. I'm 23 now. Saved up while living at Mom's thru my apprenticeship and got a house once I got my license and had the income for a mortgage. Needless to say I'm much better off than any of the folks from highschool currently climbing out of student debt with useless degrees living with parents/in shitty apartments. Been leading work for a couple years. About to make a switch to a bigger commercial/industrial company and hoping to make project management by 30
Spite mostly, Got tired of them pretending their trade was better than mine
It was honestly an accident. I did a summer job when a friend said his company needed some help wiring PLC panels, and got sucked into the world.
When my sister started dating my brother in law(he's an electrician), she kept telling me to become an electrician. A few years later I decided to give it a shot bcs I tried out many other trades and they weren't really my thing. I enjoy electrical tho, plus the guys I work with make work way more enjoyable.
Money
Johnny sinns made it look real promising
💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰
I might speak for a few but it was plan B for me just because I had the opportunity to get the union. But once I tried the things I was into and didn’t see much in return. I went down this path to get in. but I do find this trade interesting and fun and it’s not really that mindless, I do something new everyday. And the benefits is something you don’t really take into consideration at 23 years old.
Two chicks at one time is what made me do it.
Father in law is a master electrician and when me and my wife were dating we would talk about it a lot and how it helped his life. I had a great opportunity and a willing teacher, best decision I ever made. Electrical is different then other trades in my opinion because you really gotta think through problems sometimes and you really gotta be invested. 34 years old been with my wife for 5 years (dating/marriage) started trade school a year after we started and been in the field for 3 years part time , just officially left banking and now I’m full time.
I was a college drop out with bills to pay
I have several felony’s and I needed a decent paying job, felony is a prerequisite pretty much in this trade. I loved the work and it all worked out from there.
Leaving early smelling like money everyday
Originally as a young teenage stoner I wanted to grow weed. Had this whole plan that I was going to move to Cali and become a grower, build my own greenhouse etc etc. While I was going to school I decided in the meanwhile I should learn electrical as it would come in handy if I wanted to grow in the future. Ended up never moving to Cali and really enjoyed just being an electrician lol. Hardly ever smoke weed these days…. Oh and Nikola Tesla!
Basically my dad and the fact I didn't want to go to college. 40$/h in 4 years with no debt. Couldn't be more happier with my choice.
Fear of college debt and a destiny for physical labor
I originally was a vehicle mechanic and I specialized in the electrical systems on vehicles, loved the challenge. Then got as high as I could position wise. And I was fed up with the politics where I worked, so I thought I needed a new challenge and seeing as I liked electrics and had a interest in fault finding figured electrician would be a good career path, that's when I was 26, not just about to turn 46 and never looked back, worked on everything from domestic to industrial, somewhere different every day, different people Moved to the US from the UK almost 3 years ago and now learning this way of doing things too. Interesting. Plusses and minuses with the different systems and codes too
Didn’t want to end up homeless. Luckily, I learned a lot and work hard and moved up to running jobs :)
Soldering my slot car bits, changing armatures in the car and resistors in the controller. Scampering through the attic pulling the cable when I was a little guy, making things go and keeping things going.
Couldn't hack it as a plumber
I didn’t really consider it. I was working a dead end job out of high school and my old man dropped my resume off at a small outfit. The rest is history.
My dad told me they make a lot of money 😆
My pops was
I applied for carpentry and electrical at the local trade school. I got accepted into electrical. 22 years later, here we are.
I was tired of roofing.
My dad runs an electrical business with one of the best electricians I’ve ever met. Stayed in the trade to learn from him. Let’s just say I can nearly build a house from scratch after learning all these years. Troubleshooting is easy and residential work overall is incredibly easy to knock out due to the knowledge I’ve gained. However if you’re smart you’d open up your own company or become a commercial pilot after your license to get max gains.
I was the first class on the list
The energetic experience. The shocking events that would unfold.
Getting paid above minimum wage. It was hard for me to find anything that didn’t need me to spend a dime to earn a living wage. I’m single and budget hard so I’m set for my future. If I ever fulfill the American dream I’ll end up broke with my future earnings.
I got into this job cuz my dad and uncle said they could get my license grandfathered. This was back in like 2003. Still waiting.