Quake3World

So I drove an hour this morning to go take an Electrician Apprenticeship aptitude test as part of an application to get into the Joint Apprenticeship Training Program at the local IBEW.

I was just wondering if anyone else ever went through the training? Is there an electrician in the house?!

I think I did well on the aptitude test... but it was a time travel back to freshman year of highschool. Algebra and Reading Comprehension. The math was easy once I got going... and it only took me 25 minutes for the reading comp. (allotted 56 minutes)... so I was the first done and felt pretty good about that.

I was also the only female there... well there was one other... I think.

The guy sitting behind me looked like Geoff in a baseball cap. I was picturing it covered in tin foil. He said to the guy next to him at the end, "I didn't finish the math..." and I thought this as highly appropriate and tried to keep my snickering to myself.

I'm a PM for a commercial electrical contractor. I never did the apprenticeship training. We're not a union company either. Is there anything else you'd like to know?

lol, Gramps proves that he has no ability to answer questions related to the training program, then asks if she has any questions.

Nightshade wrote:lol, Gramps proves that he has no ability to answer questions related to the training program, then asks if she has any questions.

Just because I never did the training doesn't mean I know nothing about it, ya mong. I can also answer other questions she might have about the trade.

one of my friends younger brother is in the middle of his apprenticeship. he seems to enjoy it, though with the housing market in our area going to shit there were some worries; the company he's working with had to lay off a few workers as there were literally 2 weeks with no work. however last i talked with him work picked up and he's got a shit-load of overtime.

from what i understand you can make some boku bucks doing side jobs once you get yourself established and peeps start referring you around.

You've got to be careful about doing side work. Some employers frown upon that because it usually leads to the employee using the employer's material or taking work away from the company. It's best to be up front about doing side work. You wouldn't want to lose your job for installing a paddle for one of your company's customers.

my dad went through the program a long time ago and he's a master now (as of 2 years ago?). I've done a decent amount of work with him over the years.

it's a solid job. once you become a journeyman you can just put your name in the books at just about any large-scale electrical project across the country (think power plants, commercial etc)

He has stories of women electricians. He said at one job site a woman somehow got her hair caught in the hole hawg (a really fucking heavy duty drill for going through studs) and this thing just ripped pieces of her fucking scalp off. You have to be tough. and smart. The job is very Not cut and dry, there is a lot of figuring, pondering, and awful clients. and you have to be fast, especially if you're working on a service truck for a small union company.

despite the recent housing market, I would say there is pretty decent job security for electricians. shit breaks all the time, people renovate their places all the time; it's a really good skill to know, perhaps better than most if not all of the other trades. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot.

Residential electricians are having to adapt to the commercial market because there's not much work. As zeek said, go commercial or industrial. You'll make more money and have a better chance at staying empolyed.

The job security thing is pretty much what I was going for... I'd also like to feel like I accomplished something at the end of the day. Unfortunetly my father, very much to my surprise, is being very 'old school' about the whole thing. When I told him that the guy running the program had called me on Monday and asked if I was still going for the aptitude test my dad said, "You should call him back and ask if there's any other females..."

I said, fuck that. This is something I want to do, so I'm going to do it.

I did acquire a copy of the NEC 08 handbook and I read through that in my spare time (when I can find any) and take notes. It's all Greek to me right now, but I'm assuming one (and if) I get into the program everything will work itself out.

You might want to go out and get a look at what being an electrician is all about before you go dumping a bunch of money into school. Maybe you could get a job as a helper or get an electrical contractor to give you a tour. Because you're most likely going to start out on the bottom and that usually means a lot of heavy lifting, digging and using a chipping hammer. I'm not saying you can't handle that. But you should at least know what you're in for.

What gramps says is completely true. I've worked side by side with a few electricians on projects in the past, and it's true, they work their asses off. Not to mention the actual conditions. Some work is in cold, wet, cramped and sometimes dark, insect-ridden, ratty, smelly, dangerous and fucked up places. Electricians don't have it easy.

Yeah, so y'all don't need ta muss yer purdy self up there lil missy.

Peenyuh wrote:Yeah, so y'all don't need ta muss yer purdy self up there lil missy.

Jesus, you're a retarded twat.

You can do my wiring any time, which is sexual innuendo, of course, because I wouldn't ever let a notail anywhere near my precious electrics.

Please come see me if you need any EMT pipes or BX cables.


Volts * Amps = Wattage?

Dark Metal wrote:

Peenyuh wrote:Yeah, so y'all don't need ta muss yer purdy self up there lil missy.

Jesus, you're a retarded twat.

You're just like a fourth grader who gets mad at anyone who talks to the girl you like. Get a sense of humor or fuck off.

Peenyuh got all angry.

LawL wrote:Peenyuh got all angry.

Peenyuh got all annoyed.

Says the fag hitting on the chick on the forum. Don't be upset because I'm calling you out on your twatiness. You're a typical intertwat, just like half of the sexless nerds here, anytime a girl posts they (read you) have to post some kind of attempt to get attention. And if you think anything you've posted here is in anyway funny, you're even more of a fucking retard-jerking-off than I originally thought.

Yeah, I joined this forum to get tail. How old are you anyway. And if you think that my comments are "hitting on" vile, then you are the true moron. If that is "hitting on" someone, then I guess I've been hitting on everyone on this forum. Shit, you people are lucky.

lol yeah, u mad.

LawL wrote:lol yeah, u mad.

Whaz up, hot stuff.