# Apprenticeship program question



## 10492 (Jan 4, 2010)

During the 5 yr program, is it still 2 hrs/night on Tues and Weds at some community colleges and IBEW halls?

Or are they every saturday and sunday for 8hrs each, for the length of the program?


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## Charlie K (Aug 14, 2008)

It varies from local to local. Call the local you are interested in. In my local the first 21/2 years you go one day every other week for 8 hours. They are paid a stipend of 50 or 60 bucks for the day. The second 21/2 years they go one night a week and there is no money paid. Of course the JATC is free to the apprentice. You do pay for your books that you keep.

Charlie


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## s.kelly (Mar 20, 2009)

I think local 26 also handles things similar to what CharlieK posted.

Here school is once a week, apprentices leave at noon to go to school on their day. No pay for school, but there is an arrangement in the contract to compensate for lost hours. 6 hours school per day, officially a 5 yr program, but by extending semesters on both ends compared to college it is usually completed in approx 4 calander years.

no pay during school I should have said, in this local apprentices pay for their own school and books.


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## 10492 (Jan 4, 2010)

Charlie K said:


> The second 21/2 years they go one night a week and there is no money paid.


 
2 hrs a night? 4?




> You do pay for your books that you keep.
> 
> Charlie


Would you guess out of pocket expenses for books to be >$500?


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## Buddha In Babylon (Mar 23, 2009)

I'm a 2nd year with Local 26 and in my summation the books you receive are indeed well worth over 500 dollars. I haven't received all of them yet, but so far i have quite a few textbooks. I love the apprenticeship. If you apply yourself 110% you can learn A LOT. Or you can not do the homework, barely pass, squeak through the thing and not know anything. Like all else in life, it's all in what you make out of it.:thumbsup:


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## slickvic277 (Feb 5, 2009)

Dnkldorf said:


> During the 5 yr program, is it still 2 hrs/night on Tues and Weds at some community colleges and IBEW halls?
> 
> Or are they every saturday and sunday for 8hrs each, for the length of the program?



Here in Philly(local 98)You go one day a week and work 4.It's 4 years of school and the fifth year is spent in the field.We have two training facilities,the main school is on spring garden street and the other is at 3rd and jackson in South Philly.

You get paid around $8 per hour for school and your books come out of your pay.Its about $400-500 in books a year.You get your school check at the end of the month.If your late or have an unexcused absence you don't get paid for the day.

But like someone else said every local is different.


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## Charlie K (Aug 14, 2008)

Dnkldorf said:


> 2 hrs a night? 4?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


4 hours in the evening.
The books for the first year are around 500. If your grades for the year are 93% or better your books are free. You pay first years books, get a 95, 2nd years books are no cost.
Also our courses are held at our training center.


Charlie


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## 10492 (Jan 4, 2010)

so it's 1000 hrs of classroom education plus OJT spread out over 5 yrs?

$500 books yr one only if grades are well, otherwise plan on another $500?

And travel into philly once a week, sometimes at night.


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## slickvic277 (Feb 5, 2009)

Dnkldorf said:


> so it's 1000 hrs of classroom education plus OJT spread out over 5 yrs?
> 
> $500 books yr one only if grades are well, otherwise plan on another $500?
> 
> And travel into philly once a week, sometimes at night.



No you only pay for books once.Theres new books for new courses each year.School is during the day time 7am to 3:30 pm

The only time you would travel down to springarden at night would be for the monthly regular membership meeting.

If you fail you use the same books over again.Failing will cost you big bucks.Being you have to wait until the next class catches up to where you were at.You get penalized hours which mean no raises for a year.
If you fail the same year twice your out the program.


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## Control Freak (Mar 8, 2008)

In NYC you go two nights a week after work. One night of electrical theory and one night of college. In college you get an associates degree in labor studies. You only buy the books for college not theory. The books for college are reasonably priced maybe 30 bucks tops. the books that they supply for theory are great and would be expensive if you had to purchase them on your own. the fact that the local gives you a college education and will continue to pay for your education as long as you maintain a decent gpa is a nice little perk. Oh and they reimburse you for wife's college classes as well!


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## slickvic277 (Feb 5, 2009)

Control Freak said:


> In NYC you go two nights a week after work. One night of electrical theory and one night of college. In college you get an associates degree in labor studies. You only buy the books for college not theory. The books for college are reasonably priced maybe 30 bucks tops. the books that they supply for theory are great and would be expensive if you had to purchase them on your own. the fact that the local gives you a college education and will continue to pay for your education as long as you maintain a decent gpa is a nice little perk. Oh and they reimburse you for wife's college classes as well!



We have something similar.Your apprenticeship is worth a certain amount of college credits(I forget the amount)and you can transfer them to different schools in the area.We also have the college tuition program.You apply to one of the participating schools maintain a certain gpa and the local will pay your tuition.Not a bad program at all.

Really the apprenticeship is great.We get paid to go to school.College credits and the chance at getting a college degree with the local paying your tuition.:thumbsup:


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## 10492 (Jan 4, 2010)

slickvic277 said:


> Really the apprenticeship is great.We get paid to go to school.College credits and the chance at getting a college degree with the local paying your tuition.:thumbsup:


 
If I understand this correctly, it is 1000 hr's of classroom time.

Similar to CHI, or Penco Tech's electircal classes. These are 6 months straight schools that teach electricity, conduit bending, theory and safety.

The difference seems you pay CHI $7500, with books included, and the IBEW pays you $8000 over 5 yrs to go to school.


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## BuzzKill (Oct 27, 2008)

question:
if I, a rat, was looking to go union, would all my apprenticeship time, work time and the fact I have a contractor's license be transferrable or would I start out at the bottom?


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## slickvic277 (Feb 5, 2009)

Dnkldorf said:


> If I understand this correctly, it is 1000 hr's of classroom time.
> 
> Similar to CHI, or Penco Tech's electircal classes. These are 6 months straight schools that teach electricity, conduit bending, theory and safety.
> 
> The difference seems you pay CHI $7500, with books included, and the IBEW pays you $8000 over 5 yrs to go to school.



There similar in hours but in my experience thats about it.I went to Orleans tech in N.E. Philly 6 months 5 days a week for electrical.The quality of the education is not the same.When I went to Orleans I would say half the class were there on "government assistance" These were grown men who acted like kids I felt like I was back in high school again.And since you pay them you can't fail out so everyone passes and gets a "certificate" of electrical theory.I was really disappointed with the school.We did have a really great instructor but he left half way through to go on vacation and his replacement stunk.Also there was zero saftey.No oasha classes,no ppe,no electrical practices in safety classes.Really all we did was wiring diagrams and ohms law.

The apprenticeship(IBEW) is way more intense there's tests every 5th week and the material moves fast.You fall behind and your screwed.You have more then one instructor and each guy has a ton of experience and education in each aspect there teaching.Plus you get to work in the field while your going to school so your applying the books in the field.Not to mention the Oasha 30 class,first aid,and electrical saftey(nfpa70e) classes.
Also if you fail the same year twice your gone.You have to pass in school and meet your field responsibilities to keep progressing and get your pay increases.There's no gimme's.

My two knocks on the apprenticeship would be one WAY to much homework.Probably more home work then actual class room time.

Second thing is some of the classes or more geared towards engineering,although not unnecessary just need to be scaled back a bit(JMO).

In my case I feel I got more out of the Apprenticeship because I already had field experience before I got in.It's a great program but like anything else you only get out of it what you put into it.


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## s.kelly (Mar 20, 2009)

BuzzKill said:


> question:
> if I, a rat, was looking to go union, would all my apprenticeship time, work time and the fact I have a contractor's license be transferrable or would I start out at the bottom?


I can only speak for what I have seen in our area, I am not anybody. The school and work time would count for something. It might not be hour for hour, but there is credit given, and I think how much depends on test results and how you would join the union (different classifications).

It is certainly possible to test in as JW directly. The contractors lis. only means you have a certain amount of time and could pass a test. No credit given here for that by itself. Knowledge, experience,and skill would all factor into how someone would enter.


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## LGLS (Nov 10, 2007)

BuzzKill said:


> question:
> if I, a rat, was looking to go union, would all my apprenticeship time, work time and the fact I have a contractor's license be transferrable or would I start out at the bottom?



Some locals let you test in and slot you. You will not be permitted to hold a license.


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## electriciansson21 (Sep 18, 2012)

*electrical theory*

how long does the second half of electrical theory run? in other words what month does the second half of electrical theory end?


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