# Do lineman have a “LIFE” ??



## flyboy

If you work for a utility you are going to be expected to work in times of high demand or immediately following an "event". An event can be anything from a motor vehicle accident taking out a utility pole or a transformer to a natural disaster such as an ice storm or the fires in California. You may be required to travel out of state if the utility has a mutual aid program with other utilities.

I'm not sure what your definition of "working to death" is, but If your looking for a more predictable schedule you should choose wisely what segment of that industry you enter.


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## paulengr

flyboy said:


> If you work for a utility you are going to be expected to work in times of high demand or immediately following an "event". An event can be anything from a motor vehicle accident taking out a utility pole or a transformer to a natural disaster such as an ice storm or the fires in California. You may be required to travel out of state if the utility has a mutual aid program with other utilities.
> 
> I'm not sure what your definition of "working to death" is, but If your looking for a more predictable schedule you should choose wisely what segment of that industry you enter.


All "maintenance" jobs have very unpredictable schedules. At times depending on how well they staff for emergencies the normal times can be busy and the overtime insane or the normal times can be outright boring and overtime frustrating but at least you're doing something. Government operations and certain industries where uptime is critical (paper mills, power plants, glass plants) or political (municipals) tend towards full staffing while most private companies run understaffed and try to contract out for minor events.

After a big "event" when it's a disaster situation like the hurricane in Florida some crews are STILL down there from all over the country. They work 12 hour days for say 6 days straight or maybe 3 weeks at a time with a week returning home. The job turns more into what you see for schedules for construction with a big project that is way behind with guys that are working out of hotels. There's not much to do when you're out of your area other than eat, sleep, work. What there is to do (hookers, drinking, drugs) mostly just gets you in trouble so you might as well just work anyways so it keeps you from getting bored and getting into trouble. The only limit on hours is physically how much your body and mind can actually take. Realistically on most hands on jobs or heavy head game jobs (troubleshooting) you slow down after 8 hours and you're worthless after 12 hours. AND you can't put out like that for more than 2-3 days in a row. You can do a little more if you're doing a strong back/weak mind job like holding the stop/slow sign all day long. Some supers understand this and look out for the company which means they get the most out of you, so they also look out for you. Others are dumb as rocks. They think you're just an animal and you can and should put out at 12-14 hours per day, every day, 7 days a week. They have high turnover. It gets harder as you get older so you get smarter.

If your crew is all 20 somethings and half of them have alimony payments, you will work to death. If you got guys on the crew that are in their 40s, you will work hard but you re going to work reasonable. The 20 somethings eventually find easier work and leave before they hit 40 or the work is hard but they're paid well and reasonable so they stay.

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## gpop

You will not be physically worked to death but you will live at work at times.

This will make relationships difficult but as you climb the chain you will be earning enough that you can basically raise a family on one wage packet. 

If you are married and your wife can out earn you then this might not be the best career path for future happiness. At your age most of us chased the dollar and if we had been smarter we would have bought homes and set our self's up for a easy life by 30. Most of us just had fun instead.


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## Spinman

Great info now what are the different industries for line work and do you have a option to choose which one when in the union ?


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## Spinman

Also other questions like pay, vacations/time off, travel, overall experience, I got a lot of questions and I am open to hearing any feed back I can, thanks guys!


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## MechanicalDVR

Welcome aboard @Spinman!

Power company lineman all work a good amount of overtime. Lineman that work for companies that sub contract to pocos may not work that much overtime but they are busy.

I think what Flyboy meant about choosing wisely in the industry was in the electrical industry not just linework.

If you want a 40 hr week shoot for an inside wireman position.


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## John Valdes

I would not have lasted long as lineman when I was young. I always looked for inclement weather as a reason to not have to work......lol

Kinda like snow days that are rare here. Snow shuts this area down and I'm all in.


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## MDShunk

If you're looking for a particular niche, substation electrician over lineman any day of the week. It's equivalent to navy over marine corps, if you understand that parallel.


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## paulengr

Spinman said:


> Great info now what are the different industries for line work and do you have a option to choose which one when in the union ?


Generally other than utility contractor vs. utility that's it for linemen. A few companies, mostly mines, have a large amount of their own lines and their own linemen. The only other big industries if you want to call it that is telephone and cable. There's also tower work which is pretty specialized, ,ind of a mix of the two. Again as others have said there's a lot of different jobs within the industry. You get all kinds of goofy situations on the fringes too, like when I had to beg a local coop for permission to enter their sub and reterminate 3 shielded cables that another contractor messed up (no terminations at all). Had them done in 45 minutes then they wanted our contact info so we could do riser terminations for them. They told me they contract out terminations and their contractor takes all day. I honestly don't know how it could take that long. It might take 3 hours if you did an old school cone style instead of capacitive grading but nobody has done those in over a decade once capacitive grading came along...far fewer failures.

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## lineworker6883

gpop said:


> You will not be physically worked to death but you will live at work at times.
> 
> This will make relationships difficult but as you climb the chain you will be earning enough that you can basically raise a family on one wage packet.
> 
> If you are married and your wife can out earn you then this might not be the best career path for future happiness. At your age most of us chased the dollar and if we had been smarter we would have bought homes and set our self's up for a easy life by 30. Most of us just had fun instead.


Can't believe how accurate this reply is. This sums it all up when it comes to the lineman lifestyle.


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## lightman

I retired after nearly 35 years as a Lineman. The last 25 I was a Serviceman, or some call a troubleshooter. Most of those last 25 years I averaged 600 hours overtime a year. Some calm years were as low as 300 or so and a few went to 1000. 

It was a demanding job. It takes a mature and dedicated spouse to deal with it. I can't tell you the number of birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, kids ballgames, ect that I missed. Those hours were at all times of day and night and in all kinds of weather. Most companies and OHSA have limits on the number of hours that you can work in a day. Ours was 16 and then you were required to have 8 hours off. And if any of those 8 hours off were during regular work hours we got paid for them!

But its not all bad. I worked in the rural and I loved being in the country. Every late night callout was an adventure and I loved being in the country at night. Or on some of those beautiful Spring or Fall days.I was also paid fairly well for it and earned a comfortable retirement. And maintained a decent lifestyle along the way. Most companies rotate the callout schedule. Mine was a week on and a week off. The off week usually had a 3 day weekend. A weather event would nix that off week but every callout week was not always busy either.

Most companies would prefer to hire apprentices and train them rather that to have to retrain someone. They will also pay you while you study for the required CDL. I would suggest you start knocking on doors and sending in applications.

Good Luck to You!


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## Ibew104 lineman

Spinman said:


> Hey guys I’m 22 years old and currently work for a private electrical contractor but will hopefully be getting into the IBEW for outside wiremen apprenticeship in NJ. I have no concerns at all expect one. From what I hear lineman just work all the time, but is this always true? I don’t mind OT at all and making money but I don’t want to work myself to death lol... but anyways any advice or information I can get about IBEW lineman would be a major help !


Ibew lineman can do what they want... you can pick any job any hours, not work for years or work for years straight, thats the beauty of having your golden ticket


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## Slay301

Dude linemen easily pull 150k a year or the can work 2 storms/hurricanes and take the rest of the year off.


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## SouthernCanuck

You’re only 22, I’d go for it if I were you! I worked as much OT as I could when I was your age. Bought my first home at 24, when a lot of my friends were still renting. Im a maintenance I&E Tech for an oil and gas company now and try not to work much OT but it’s hard to avoid.


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## MHElectric

John Valdes said:


> I would not have lasted long as lineman when I was young. I always looked for inclement weather as a reason to not have to work......lol
> 
> Kinda like snow days that are rare here. Snow shuts this area down and I'm all in.


I don’t like working in bad weather either. Is just a good reason to sit on the couch and relax if you all me.


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