# Enough knowledge after apprenticeship?



## gnuuser (Jan 13, 2013)

DownInGeorgia said:


> In my area (Central savannah river area) being in the local here it's literally ALL commercial and industrial with both plant vogtle and SRS within an hour away. I consider myself lucky as I am emplyed at the moment with an in town shop doing commercial work and learning something new everday, getting to the plants also is an inevitability but being an apprentice you're really limited on what you can do at them. My question is how will I ever learn the residential side of things? No union shops here even try to compete with open shops. I've heard if you can do commercial you can do residential but I'm just not seeing how they are THAT similar.
> 
> Thanks in advance


residential is a bit different than commercial but not by much!
in residential you will rarely encounter a 3 phase system.
the major differences are in the code requirements.
sometimes though you will hear resi guys telling that they can out rope a commercial or industrial guy any day! 
while it may be true 
with any area in the electrical field you still have procedures and safety rules you have to follow!
with commercial and industrial you will be exposed to more automation whether its ttl logic, plc/slc logic or hard wired relay logic and three phase power distribution systems
learning the control systems great benifit to you and the experience is really good on a resume


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## DownInGeorgia (Feb 22, 2015)

Awesome ! Thanks


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## Bootss (Dec 30, 2011)

Donate a Saturday or two to Habitat for Humanity per month see if that gives you a little bit more experience with residential.


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## Rourk (Sep 5, 2015)

Lep said:


> Donate a Saturday or two to Habitat for Humanity per month see if that gives you a little bit more experience with residential.


Great advice, my hall does this on the regular. Usually a lot of fun too.

Find people with licenses. Talk to them, see if you can work under the table when they need it.

Also, rule of thumb everyone says around here, is after you top out you begin learning the trade. Takes another five years to be comfortable. 

I topped out last year. While I feel like people have forgotten more then I know, I'm confident that I can figure something out myself or with a few questions. Thats what people will be looking for.


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## Bad Electrician (May 20, 2014)

Rourk said:


> Great advice, my hall does this on the regular. Usually a lot of fun too.
> 
> Find people with licenses. Talk to them, see if you can work under the table when they need it.
> 
> ...


I have had apprentices that are wiz kids after a year or two and some that can't do squat after 6 years of apprenticeship (they were held back one year. Residentially I was wiring condos on my own after a year. Had my license at 2.5 years masters at 4, and not sure I was really fully an electrician until I had 45 years in, still learning


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## DownInGeorgia (Feb 22, 2015)

Bad Electrician said:


> I have had apprentices that are wiz kids after a year or two and some that can't do squat after 6 years of apprenticeship (they were held back one year. Residentially I was wiring condos on my own after a year. Had my license at 2.5 years masters at 4, and not sure I was really fully an electrician until I had 45 years in, still learning


When did you start doing "your own thing" ?

Ive been asking that a lot as it's interesting to hear the differences/similarities in people's success stories.


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## John Valdes (May 17, 2007)

In my experience, it was AFTER the apprenticeship when I actually really started to learn things. Reinforce what i learned as an apprentice.
So, you got plenty time to learn any phase of this trade you want.


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