# Career change at 42s



## paulengr

Residential is usually a numbers game. Low barriers to entry, lots of competition. So without an edge or fast worker or good sales skill...something it’s hard to make good money. For as many successes I know ten times the failures. In residential you graduate to commercial if you succeed.

There are lots of technician jobs though where your skills might be more transferable. There are the electromechanicals which is things like hvac, generators, cranes, transformers, breakers, elevators. It’s specialized, often licensed, and less strenuous than say industrial construction. Then there are the “nerd” techs: AV, PLC programmers, instrument techs, network/telecom/wireless, protective relays. You can tell how strenuous it is because these guys are always overdressed in winter and have new looking clothes with no rips, stains, or all the color washed out. Mostly the work is detail oriented and more of a head game. A lot of the equipment is mostly a microprocessor and specialized IO. Troubleshooting is more of a software/hardware/networking approach.

The key here is the more specialized skills, knowledge, and equipment has better margins and pay. It also depends on the customer base. Commercial general contractors are ruthless and they know the business. But it took 6.5 hours to get through the bureaucracy at a power plant owned by a large utility for a 15 minute task swapping out a thermocouple. Travel, lunch? red tape all billed at the same rate as 15 minutes of wrench time, at instrument tech rates. The tools and parts fit in the pockets of my jacket.

So from where you are or were it might make more sense to ay least start somewhere with more transferable skills. It’s a great time to switch. Everywhere I go everyone either asks if I want a job or know someone looking or cries they can’t find any. If your arrest record is reasonably clean and you can pass a piss test and don’t be like most IT guys and piss everybody off in under ten minutes you shouldn’t even need to ask questions. Just get off dice.com, get on yellowpages.com, get in your car and start knocking on doors.

I did corporate engineering in several industries for over 20 years. At about your age I decided I had my fill of office crap. I worked heavy industrials so it wasn’t the environment. It was the stupid politics. I tried contract engineering for a year. It was better but there’s no money in it. Too easy to get in and out. So then I got into contract maintenance. High demand for it, high margins, mostly doing what I used to do, and on average I’m in the office once a week. For the most part you are values on your skills, not office pecking order.

Here’s what I mean. So hurricane Michael passed through and one of the coastal towns flooded shirting down multiple sewage pumps. They couldn’t get one started. I just finished one job and drove 2 hours out there. Everything was wet with raw sewage so on top of working on something with no prints and little idea what’s wrong every step can be dangerous facing all the unknowns.

The book answer in IT is get a fresh install on a new machine. The book answer in electrical is replace it all. Yep on an island going into a long weekend and sewage systems never stop flowing. It took me an hour to find and fix it. That’s earning your keep. Nobody cared about office politics that day.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Zog

I recently hired a guy just like you to be a circuit breaker mechanic, he is working out great. 40's, tired of corp BS, loves fixing things.


----------



## MikeFL

I respect what you're saying about the physical toll on the body and starting in the trades at age 42 where you'll be in your 50's before it's paying off. 

Consider manufacturing. It's coming back. Tell them you want to work your way into a supervisory role in a manufacturing facility and you're willing to start from the bottom up. Prove yourself to them and spend some time in each position in the plant. It can be rewarding. It's inside and out of the elements but not 100% sitting at a desk with a headset on all day.


----------



## joebanana

Why not just stick with what you know? There's a pretty steep learning curve over here.


----------



## EtrnlFlux

joebanana said:


> Why not just stick with what you know? There's a pretty steep learning curve over here.


In what respect? I'm personally from an IT background as well. The hardest part about my job is dealing with people who think they are gods gift with some strippers. Funny, ask them one question and 90% of the time its I don't know, google it... :vs_worry:


----------



## joebanana

EtrnlFlux said:


> In what respect? I'm personally from an IT background as well. The hardest part about my job is dealing with people who think they are gods gift with some strippers. Funny, ask them one question and 90% of the time its I don't know, google it... :vs_worry:


Industrial 3 wire motor control, shunt and series wound synchronous motors PLC's, segment bends, parallel bends, the NEC, load calc's, grounding/bonding, wire ampacity adjustment/derating/voltage drop and terminal rating, LOTO, load shedding, controlled shutdowns, title 24, UBC, building stress cones, high voltage cable splicing, relay logic, switch gear, load centers, switch boards, protective relays, ohm's law, troubleshooting, Arc flash calc's, reading schematics, single lines, and EMS, dealing with IT tech's, architects, and engineers (who think they're gods gift with a slide rule). Maybe that's the problem, you're dealing with IT people.


----------



## macmikeman

Oh, what the hell. 42 was twenty one years ago. In the last twenty one years I have done more electrical all alone than 50 other members here put together.... 

Whoop Whoop! 


You ain't even outa your teens yet at 42.


----------



## EtrnlFlux

joebanana said:


> Industrial 3 wire motor control, shunt and series wound synchronous motors PLC's, segment bends, parallel bends, the NEC, load calc's, grounding/bonding, wire ampacity adjustment/derating/voltage drop and terminal rating, LOTO, load shedding, controlled shutdowns, title 24, UBC, building stress cones, high voltage cable splicing, relay logic, switch gear, load centers, switch boards, protective relays, ohm's law, troubleshooting, Arc flash calc's, reading schematics, single lines, and EMS, dealing with IT tech's, architects, and engineers (who think they're gods gift with a slide rule). Maybe that's the problem, you're dealing with IT people.


Well thanks for clarifying. Kind of hard to determine where you are coming from, when all you say is essentially look somewhere else. :vs_cool:


----------



## joebanana

EtrnlFlux said:


> Well thanks for clarifying. Kind of hard to determine where you are coming from, when all you say is essentially look somewhere else. :vs_cool:


 The point I was trying to make was, this ain't like plumbing, there's a lot to know, and it's a never ending learning potential. And, there's a lot of opportunity to light yourself up if you don't understand what you're doing. I've been doin' this for many moons, and I still learn new stuff. Sometimes it's more remembering than learning, sometimes it's knowing where to find answers, sometimes it's knowing who to ask.
It's never too late to learn new stuff, unless you're getting close to retiring, and are thinking about starting over. Then it's probably better to stick with what you already know.


----------



## Southeast Power

Old story but, my brother started a full 5 year IBEW apprenticeship when he was 45. He became a journeyman when he was 50. 
He had a couple of advantages. 
Physically he wasn't all banged up as someone would expect a 50 year old to be. His back and knees were still good
Also, as a 50 year old journeyman with decent social skills, he was treated with exponentially more respect than any 25 year old hotshot junior journeyman.


----------



## MikeFL

Southeast Power said:


> Old story but, my brother started a full 5 year IBEW apprenticeship when he was 45. He became a journeyman when he was 50.
> He had a couple of advantages.
> Physically he wasn't all banged up as someone would expect a 50 year old to be. His back and knees were still good
> Also, as a 50 year old journeyman with decent social skills, he was treated with exponentially more respect than any 25 year old hotshot junior journeyman.


That's awesome. Those are all things nobody would ever imagine.


----------



## Bleddyn

I'm currently going through it myself (am also 42, only just started my apprenticeship back in March). The company I'm with does a lot of residential service work (not so much new construction), and some commercial. I haven't found it too bad. In fact, after years of sitting behind a desk I find it quite rejuvenating to have a more physically active job.

Now, that said, hauling myself up through an attic hatch or squeezing into a crawlspace is a lot more challenging for 40's me than it would have been for the much more limber 20's me... but overall I'm not finding the physical demands too bad.

I'm just currently finishing up my first session at college, and I'll admit aspects of that have been tougher than I expected. Not the work itself, but sitting in a classroom for 8 hours in electrical theory class, doing algebra for the first time in 25 years - that's been the biggest hurdle (for me).


----------



## macmikeman

Bleddyn said:


> I'm currently going through it myself (am also 42, only just started my apprenticeship back in March). The company I'm with does a lot of residential service work (not so much new construction), and some commercial. I haven't found it too bad. In fact, after years of sitting behind a desk I find it quite rejuvenating to have a more physically active job.
> 
> Now, that said, hauling myself up through an attic hatch or squeezing into a crawlspace is a lot more challenging for 40's me than it would have been for the much more limber 20's me... but overall I'm not finding the physical demands too bad.
> 
> I'm just currently finishing up my first session at college, and I'll admit aspects of that have been tougher than I expected. Not the work itself, but sitting in a classroom for 8 hours in electrical theory class, doing algebra for the first time in 25 years - that's been the biggest hurdle (for me).


Power on Man. Macmikeman seal of approval, a lofty admission indeed!


----------



## EtrnlFlux

joebanana said:


> The point I was trying to make was, this ain't like plumbing, there's a lot to know, and it's a never ending learning potential. And, there's a lot of opportunity to light yourself up if you don't understand what you're doing. I've been doin' this for many moons, and I still learn new stuff. Sometimes it's more remembering than learning, sometimes it's knowing where to find answers, sometimes it's knowing who to ask.
> It's never too late to learn new stuff, unless you're getting close to retiring, and are thinking about starting over. Then it's probably better to stick with what you already know.


Though your original post on this matter was fine, I just felt it lack content for what the OP was looking for. I personally am not here to discredit what you know or what you can do. Just here to poke you and coax you to expand and give meaningful content for this guy who is going to make a big possible life change. As for this post, I agree with you one hundred percent. There is a lot to learn, in the beginning its overwhelming, but as time passes, as long as you don't do too many hard drugs, your brain picks up on the stuff faster and faster. :smile:


----------



## paulengr

joebanana said:


> The point I was trying to make was, this ain't like plumbing, there's a lot to know, and it's a never ending learning potential. And, there's a lot of opportunity to light yourself up if you don't understand what you're doing. I've been doin' this for many moons, and I still learn new stuff. Sometimes it's more remembering than learning, sometimes it's knowing where to find answers, sometimes it's knowing who to ask.
> It's never too late to learn new stuff, unless you're getting close to retiring, and are thinking about starting over. Then it's probably better to stick with what you already know.



This is all true but a lot of the stuff in your post even for most industrial electricians would never come up. I mean like building a stress cone? Wow that’s old school. I keep a tape style kit on the truck and do capacitive grading so no need for an actual cone. Plus most plants never go above either 230 or 480 and even the ones that do often have so little medium voltage or “high voltage” in NEC terms they contract it out.

It’s not realistic to know everything in the electrical business, especially starting out. If you can do the calculations and build a stress cone from scratch at 2 AM chances are you don’t know your way around a Cisco CLI or the skill to terminate a 9/125 fiber using the cold method and polishing it, and don’t know the difference between say 50 and 9 micron fibers and allowable distance, and neither one knows all the nit picky rules in residential. That’s why the word “qualified” now talks about knowledge and skill and less whether the job title is electrician or not.

So relax.a little. It’s a big market and there is plenty of room for more. In fact lately finding good electricians is getting hard again with MAGA going on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## MechanicalDVR

Southeast Power said:


> Old story but, my brother started a full 5 year IBEW apprenticeship when he was 45. He became a journeyman when he was 50.
> He had a couple of advantages.
> Physically he wasn't all banged up as someone would expect a 50 year old to be. His back and knees were still good
> *Also, as a 50 year old journeyman with decent social skills, he was treated with exponentially more respect than any 25 year old hotshot junior journeyman.*


That is just the opposite of what I dealt with as a young guy with many years of experience in a family business, got little to no respect from the old has beens that couldn't wire up a simple boiler install.


----------



## MechanicalDVR

Bleddyn said:


> I'm currently going through it myself (am also 42, only just started my apprenticeship back in March). The company I'm with does a lot of residential service work (not so much new construction), and some commercial. I haven't found it too bad. In fact, after years of sitting behind a desk I find it quite rejuvenating to have a more physically active job.
> 
> Now, that said, hauling myself up through an attic hatch or squeezing into a crawlspace is a lot more challenging for 40's me than it would have been for the much more limber 20's me... but overall I'm not finding the physical demands too bad.
> 
> I'm just currently finishing up my first session at college, and I'll admit aspects of that have been tougher than I expected. Not the work itself, but sitting in a classroom for 8 hours in electrical theory class, doing algebra for the first time in 25 years - that's been the biggest hurdle (for me).



Welcome aboard @Bleddyn!

Best of luck in the new career path!


----------



## joebanana

paulengr said:


> This is all true but a lot of the stuff in your post even for most industrial electricians would never come up. I mean like building a stress cone? Wow that’s old school. I keep a tape style kit on the truck and do capacitive grading so no need for an actual cone. Plus most plants never go above either 230 or 480 and even the ones that do often have so little medium voltage or “high voltage” in NEC terms they contract it out.
> 
> It’s not realistic to know everything in the electrical business, especially starting out. If you can do the calculations and build a stress cone from scratch at 2 AM chances are you don’t know your way around a Cisco CLI or the skill to terminate a 9/125 fiber using the cold method and polishing it, and don’t know the difference between say 50 and 9 micron fibers and allowable distance, and neither one knows all the nit picky rules in residential. That’s why the word “qualified” now talks about knowledge and skill and less whether the job title is electrician or not.
> 
> So relax.a little. It’s a big market and there is plenty of room for more. In fact lately finding good electricians is getting hard again with MAGA going on.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


 Lots of places use 4160v, or 2300v for motors. You never know where you're going to end up. I'v had the opportunity to do a few during my career. Have done hot melt, epoxy(cold), and fusion splicing, terminating, and testing of 144 strand fiber, Cat5e, and Cat6 too. I ran the crew that pulled in the fiber backbone at USC main campus, USC health sciences campus, and UCLA. 1200pr., 2500pr. OSP pic cable, with Pre-Form, and, or PSI direct burial splice cases, and aerial double lashed too. Done DVR programming, so a Cisco switch can't be that hard.
And yeah, with MAGA all the "good ones" are already working. (at least most of em') 

I'm chillin', just trying to save someone some time.


----------



## Billtheref

I am just finishing up my fourth year. I hope to take my test in March. Same month as my 61st birthday. Never too late!


----------



## John Valdes

Bleddyn said:


> I'm currently going through it myself (am also 42, only just started my apprenticeship back in March). The company I'm with does a lot of residential service work (not so much new construction), and some commercial. I haven't found it too bad. In fact, after years of sitting behind a desk I find it quite rejuvenating to have a more physically active job.
> 
> Now, that said, hauling myself up through an attic hatch or squeezing into a crawlspace is a lot more challenging for 40's me than it would have been for the much more limber 20's me... but overall I'm not finding the physical demands too bad.
> 
> I'm just currently finishing up my first session at college, and I'll admit aspects of that have been tougher than I expected. Not the work itself, but sitting in a classroom for 8 hours in electrical theory class, doing algebra for the first time in 25 years - that's been the biggest hurdle (for me).


Welcome to the forum. Thanks for filling out your profile.


----------



## Billtheref

Say hello to a new Journeyman!! I passed my test 5 days before my 61st birthday. When I got my Private Pilot License many years ago, I was told that it was a "license to learn". I am going to treat this ticket the same way. Looking forward to learning and mastering new things. Thanks to all who participate in this forum for all your helpful input.


----------



## John Valdes

Billtheref said:


> Say hello to a new Journeyman!! I passed my test 5 days before my 61st birthday. When I got my Private Pilot License many years ago, I was told that it was a "license to learn". I am going to treat this ticket the same way. Looking forward to learning and mastering new things. Thanks to all who participate in this forum for all your helpful input.


Congratulations Bill! Now you can put "Journeyman Electrician" on your user profile.
It is true the learning is really just starting. At least that was my experience.
Good luck and stay safe.


----------



## RaptorsSparky

My journeyman had a similar storey. He was a graphic designer until he was about 35. His friend was a journeyman electrician so he got him a job as a starter. This guy worked his ass off for 4 years until he got his ticket. He's now 40 and almost getting his masters.

The thing is working in trades is pretty hard work. You may have a boss who's 19 years old and telling you what do you because he's a 2nd yr and you are a starter.


----------



## Dan the electricman

Southeast Power said:


> Old story but, my brother started a full 5 year IBEW apprenticeship when he was 45. He became a journeyman when he was 50.
> He had a couple of advantages.
> Physically he wasn't all banged up as someone would expect a 50 year old to be. His back and knees were still good
> Also, as a 50 year old journeyman with decent social skills, he was treated with exponentially more respect than any 25 year old hotshot junior journeyman.


This is identical to my story. I'm now in my early sixties, still have good knees and back, and happy using my hands and brain, and not sitting down all day. If you can afford the low starting pay, begin an apprenticeship, and go for it! :smile:


----------

