# How do you feel about your electrician career?



## CrossThreaded (Jun 27, 2010)

I think you should do whatever you enjoy doing. If you enjoy your job, you'll never work a day in your life.


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## Geoff C (May 26, 2010)

Do you want to have to shower before you go to work or do you want to have to shower when you get home from work?


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## jwjrw (Jan 14, 2010)

I love mine only because I am the boss. I could not be happy if I wasn't running the show.


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## bobelectric (Feb 24, 2007)

I would have finished my EE.degree but thought I made enough loot. I have a good Living ,anyway.


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## jza (Oct 31, 2009)

Geoff C said:


> Do you want to have to shower before you go to work or do you want to have to shower when you get home from work?


What's the difference?


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## Vintage Sounds (Oct 23, 2009)

With a business degree and an electrician license the obvious thing to say would be contractor. Not that people don't become contractors without business degrees, but, if you've got it, why not? It takes a while to become an electrician and get experience though, which you'll have to do first.

I'm still in the early stages of my career but, I enjoy almost everything it requires me to do. I studied environmental science before starting my apprenticeship. I'm always interested in higher efficiency and lower waste.


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## sparky105 (Sep 29, 2009)

I like being an electrician I hate being an employee. But I have 3 small kids and can't aford the time it takes to run a business. Unfortunately my youngest is 3 and I'm almost 42 so "yes boss" is my most practiced sentence


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

sparky105 said:


> I like being an electrician I hate being an employee. But I have 3 small kids and can't aford the time it takes to run a business. Unfortunately my youngest is 3 and I'm almost 42 so "yes boss" is my most practiced sentence


There is nothing wrong with being an employee.And if you are a good one those who run the companies are lucky.:thumbsup:


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## fondini (Dec 22, 2009)

jza said:


> What's the difference?


 about 10 hours on a normal day. That question reminds me a guy that asked me" whats monkey butt powder?"


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## BuzzKill (Oct 27, 2008)

Dtothej said:


> Do you enjoy your electrician career? Would you do it over again? Would you recommend it to others?


Turn back now while you can!
Darkness, frustration, and poverty await you. 
Sunburn, sore muscles and screaming foreman haunt your days. 
Endless hours of boring, factory line assembly, for days on end will be your only reality.
...and that's just the first week.


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## mattsilkwood (Sep 21, 2008)

I love what I do. I was always the kid everybody brought car stereos and what not for me to work on, so I guess it was kind of a given. 

I'm glad I fell into industrial work when I did though. Resi just isn't my cup of tea, for you guys that do it day in and day out my hat's off to you.

Commercial is a little better but It still gets pretty boring. 

Industrial, every job is custom. I like the variety and the fact that you have to think.
I don't think I could work in the same plant for life unless it was huge with a lot of different equipment.


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## Voltech (Nov 30, 2009)

I should have been a dentist..Just not much side work


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## mrpacijr (Jan 17, 2008)

This is a good post, I'm quite curious myself as to how this career is. I'm starting my apprenticeship in 2 weeks and I must say I am very skeptical as to rather or not I will like it. I'm most skeptical about all the labor many people say is included. I would love to have the knowledge of an Electrician but every time I ask someone what they do, it seems like the first thing they say is dig ditches, carry heavy stuff and work in horrible weather conditions, etc...I don't mind getting a little dirty from time to time or doing some labor but I definitely don't want to be signing up for an Army bootcamp. I want to be using my brains not my brawn all the time. I guess the only way to really find out the accuracy of what people say is to try it myself...


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## The Lightman (Jan 9, 2010)

mrpacijr said:


> I'm *starting my apprenticeship in 2 weeks* I'm most skeptical about all the labor many people say is included. *I want to be using my brains* not my brawn all the time. I definitely don't want to be signing up for an Army bootcamp.


 After 10 years in the trade, you'll have some electrical brains that you can use. I have 29 right now and still occasionally have to trench and lay in in the mud to chop roots and dig concrete boulders out of it.
Army boot camp wasn't so bad, then Army electrician school, then apprenticeship, then work for others for 23 years, then start your own business is the path I took.
I feel pretty darn good about it to answer the OP's question.


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## oldtimer (Jun 10, 2010)

Unless you are going to work for your favorite uncle, expect to to do all the s**t jobs for a while. It's all part of the job. :laughing::laughing::laughing:


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

mrpacijr said:


> This is a good post, I'm quite curious myself as to how this career is. I'm starting my apprenticeship in 2 weeks and I must say I am very skeptical as to rather or not I will like it. I'm most skeptical about all the labor many people say is included. I would love to have the knowledge of an Electrician but every time I ask someone what they do, it seems like the first thing they say is dig ditches, carry heavy stuff and work in horrible weather conditions, etc...I don't mind getting a little dirty from time to time or doing some labor but I definitely don't want to be signing up for an Army bootcamp. I want to be using my brains not my brawn all the time. I guess the only way to really find out the accuracy of what people say is to try it myself...


the reason people on this forum say that is because half the time when guys show up wanting to be an apprentice they think that electrician work is stripping wires and landing them on terminals in airconditioned carpeted rooms. That is the gravy end. More than half of the work is actually hard work - yes, digging ditches, threading pipe, carrying heavy wire around, getting funky oil from various cable and equipment on you, crawling in attics, pulling wire by hand in the dark when its snowing, it's all part of the trade. If you want a job landing wires, get a job as a phone guy or IT guy. Plenty of work doing that, and it is much easier.


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## BuzzKill (Oct 27, 2008)

mrpacijr said:


> I don't mind getting a *little* dirty from time to time or doing *some* labor



Plan on getting dirty often, even years on in the trade, and also expect to work hard, everyday, years on in the trade.


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

I like my career. I've had the worst jobs and the best but I've raised four children and helped some others along the way.


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

Voltech said:


> I should have been a dentist..Just not much side work


I got rid of my dentist...he hurt my fillings.


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## varmit (Apr 19, 2009)

Electrical work can cover the most broad spectrum of skills and working conditions of any trade. Unfortunately, when you start out, doing less than desirable work is part of the "training". I have done electrical work for 40 years and some days are still a lot of grunt work. Other days I may be calibrating instruments or setting up a VFD. I believe that a huge factor, that can determine a persons satisfaction or misery, is the other people that you work with on a regular basis. If you can, try to work with to most knowledgable journeyman on the job ( Be sure that this person really knows the trade and is not one of those folks that just pretends to know it all- no one knows it all.) You can learn more craftsman skills, that will be a long term benefit, from someone with good trade knowledge. 

Good luck.


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## mattsilkwood (Sep 21, 2008)

mrpacijr said:


> This is a good post, I'm quite curious myself as to how this career is. I'm starting my apprenticeship in 2 weeks and I must say I am very skeptical as to rather or not I will like it. I'm most skeptical about all the labor many people say is included. I would love to have the knowledge of an Electrician but every time I ask someone what they do, it seems like the first thing they say is dig ditches, carry heavy stuff and work in horrible weather conditions, etc...I don't mind getting a little dirty from time to time or doing some labor but I definitely don't want to be signing up for an Army bootcamp. I want to be using my brains not my brawn all the time. I guess the only way to really find out the accuracy of what people say is to try it myself...


 You can expect to do all the sh!t jobs for awhile. That's just the way it is, every one of us has done it. 
It is hard work, there is a lot to be done before you get to terminating panels. And you will have a lot to learn before you will be able to terminate panels. Some guys never do get it. 

But if you stay with it, work hard and learn every day it will pay off and you will meet some of the smartest guys around along the way.


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## sparky105 (Sep 29, 2009)

RIVETER said:


> There is nothing wrong with being an employee.And if you are a good one those who run the companies are lucky.:thumbsup:


I here you and I really have no beef with working for someone else but there are days when it would be nice to just have my name on the truck and know that it was mine instead of theirs. The company i am with right now really lets me do my own thing I work my as off for them and they pay me well and on time so right now it is not the time to make the move.


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

sparky105 said:


> I here you and I really have no beef with working for someone else but there are days when it would be nice to just have my name on the truck and know that it was mine instead of theirs. The company i am with right now really lets me do my own thing I work my as off for them and they pay me well and on time so right now it is not the time to make the move.


If you feel as if you are being paid adequately and the company is making money, that's a good place to be in. No headaches.


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## sparky105 (Sep 29, 2009)

RIVETER said:


> If you feel as if you are being paid adequately and the company is making money, that's a good place to be in. No headaches.


Well I do have most of the headaches.


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## fraydo (Mar 30, 2009)

Any job/carreer you do starts with the grunt work in that field. When my brother started off as an accountant all he did was add sales figures all day. No complicated tax law just simple arithmetic. When I started in the trade I did dirty work. I still have to suck it up sometimes and get dirty/hot/bored/exhausted but hey, it's part of the job. Try the trade or try your luck at business, just remember you're still going to be the rookie no matter where you work.


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