# 1st year apprentice



## HackWork (Oct 2, 2009)

Being on a big job is meaningless to this discussion since many of those guys are doing the same thing all day every day. You may very well learn a lot more working with your current employer than on the jobs you describe other people on.

There is no need to make any decisions now. If in 6 months to a year you feel like you aren't learning anything new, discuss it with the JATC director or one of your instructors.


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## Switchgear277 (Mar 18, 2017)

Sounds good thank you for your advice , from what he says he he can keep me busy for as long as I wana stay with him , being an in house service guy and doing small 
Stores here and their .


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## HackWork (Oct 2, 2009)

I wish I did more service work and less construction when I was coming up.


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## active1 (Dec 29, 2009)

To me it does not sound right to have a 1st year doing service calls alone.

Your hall & JATC should have some rules as far as what voltages you can work with alone, under a JW, or requiring 2 JW's and at what apprentice levels. Not to discredit your experience, just don't like employers that want to bypass the safety and contract rules to save money.

I disagree with some. There is a lot to learn on a job site even if your doing small tasks. Just by watching how others work doing certain tasks, being part of the crew, learning the unwritten rules.


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## HackWork (Oct 2, 2009)

active1 said:


> To me it does not sound right to have a 1st year doing service calls alone.
> 
> Your hall & JATC should have some rules as far as what voltages you can work with alone, under a JW, or requiring 2 JW's and at what apprentice levels. Not to discredit your experience, just don't like employers that want to bypass the safety and contract rules to save money.
> 
> I disagree with some. There is a lot to learn on a job site even if your doing small tasks. Just by watching how others work doing certain tasks, being part of the crew, learning the unwritten rules.


 I’m not saying that there’s nothing to learn on a big job site. Just that many apprentices find them self doing the same thing every day for months on end. There is no right answer, which is why I recommend him waiting and seeing how it works out for making any changes now.


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## Moonshot180 (Apr 1, 2012)

Running RMC..Rob Roy..etc..is a talent for sure within our trade. I wouldn't want to be doing it all day everyday though.

I would take the troubleshooting and repair jobs over running big pipe any day. You will learn more about electrical theory troubleshooting and repairing at the industrial and commercial level, than running big pipe all day.

IMO..


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## just the cowboy (Sep 4, 2013)

*what he said plus*



HackWork said:


> There is no need to make any decisions now. If in 6 months to a year you feel like you aren't learning anything new, discuss it with the JATC director or one of your instructors.


Remember to bring that up to your boss also, he might not be thinking along them lines and will probaly work with you on what is needed.


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## cabletie (Feb 12, 2011)

Probably none of this matters, because when the next year starts, the JATC director will look at the apprentices that have been with the same contractor for a year, and rotate them all around. Maybe your next contractor will have "the big one", and you'll learn how to stack blocks on solar panel mounts for a year.


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## Smid (Jul 9, 2014)

cabletie said:


> Probably none of this matters, because when the next year starts, the JATC director will look at the apprentices that have been with the same contractor for a year, and rotate them all around. Maybe your next contractor will have "the big one", and you'll learn how to stack blocks on solar panel mounts for a year.


That’s not true for every local


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## cabletie (Feb 12, 2011)

Smid said:


> That’s not true for every local


The rotation, or stacking blocks?


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## HackWork (Oct 2, 2009)

cabletie said:


> The rotation, or stacking blocks?


The rotation. I was with a contractor for 3 years during my apprenticeship. 

They tell you that if you feel you aren't doing new things or learning enough to let them know. There was a policy that apprentices weren't supposed to be with a contractor for more than a year, but it was never enforced because both sides were happy where they were.


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## Smid (Jul 9, 2014)

cabletie said:


> The rotation, or stacking blocks?


Rotation. You’re able to quit after 6 months if you don’t feel your getting well rounded experience. Fortunately the contractor I’m with does a lot of different types of work so I don’t feel the need to do that.


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