# Advice for 1st year apprentice



## LGLS (Nov 10, 2007)

MikeBelAirMd said:


> I just started in my first year in a Community College electrician apprentice program. I'm 47 and have high blood pressure (treated, but still high occasionally) and two other treated medical issues. Will these medical issues keep me from getting a job as an apprentice? Also would I have to have a pre-employment medical exam as a condition of employment? Any guidance/advice is appreciated.


Magic 8-BALL says "UNCLEAR"

Can't believe this is happenning.


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## just the cowboy (Sep 4, 2013)

Hey Mike.
Let me start with a question before we get into health issues.
You are starting a CC program, do you have a job in the field yet?
I hate to be the one to say this but the CC just got you, hook line and sinker. Unless they have a GOOD placement program you will be wasting time and money. 
An apprenticeship means that you work and go to school and apply what you learn in real time. Going to class and learning then trying to apply it years later don't work. 
The best apprenticeship is a union one and they don't really care for other school credits, because they do like I said teach then apply.

As for health it is a rough road till you get to the right position after time in grade.

Cowboy


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## joe-nwt (Mar 28, 2019)

just the cowboy said:


> Hey Mike.
> Let me start with a question before we get into health issues.
> You are starting a CC program, do you have a job in the field yet?
> I hate to be the one to say this but the CC just got you, hook line and sinker. Unless they have a GOOD placement program you will be wasting time and money.
> ...


Oh, I don't know about that. i'm a product of CC program. About 6 weeks before the end of the program my first employer came on a head hunting expedition to the college. Wanted someone to start right away. I asked my instructors for all of my final exams the same day, wrote them the next, and the rest is history.


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## Buck Parrish Electric (Jan 8, 2021)

MikeBelAirMd said:


> I'm a 47 year-old first year apprentice. Attempting a career change. Could my high blood pressure keep me from getting job offers to be an apprentice? *NO, * Are apprentices usually required to have a pre-employment medical exam for employment? *NO*


I am speaking non union since I have never been union I don't know what they require.
If you have high blood pressure. you need to walk man, walking walking walking every day will help your blood pressure. Not sitting in a class. (I'm no doctor either)
IMHO I think you'll learn (remember) more in the field then in class. Their are plenty of people hiring, Just go get an electrical job.... Dang what's the big deal?

My answers or opinion is light hearted, I only wish you well .


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## brian john (Mar 11, 2007)

Being from BelAir your local is IBEW 24, not sure how much work they have at this time. Local 26 you would be able to get under the "R" program and work towards getting in the "A" program. OPen shop is always an option. The high PB should not make a difference.


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## LGLS (Nov 10, 2007)

joe-nwt said:


> Oh, I don't know about that. i'm a product of CC program. About 6 weeks before the end of the program my first employer came on a head hunting expedition to the college. Wanted someone to start right away. I asked my instructors for all of my final exams the same day, wrote them the next, and the rest is history.


Doubt that wasn't a unique occurance.


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## Vladaar (Mar 9, 2021)

Age discrimination may be factor. 1st year apprentice at age 50 here. I had to apply at nearly 25 jobs to get a interview which led to being hired. Whereas in my 30's every place I applied to would call me for interviews.

Good luck apply everywhere.


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## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

High blood pressure is a lifestyle event. Get off the booze or whatever you may be on. Do you want to live 3 more years or 30 more? You do have a choice. It's a matter of how bad you want it.
Throw out all of your food. Buy nothing but foods for good cholesterol and eat nothing but that.
In a year or so you'll lose 25% of your body weight and your BP will be normal with no medications.
All this with zero exercise.


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## Almost Retired (Sep 14, 2021)

i dont have hi bp for my age(66) but is considerably higher than i wish
i do have some extra unneeded weight on me

i threw on most of it last fall when work dropped to nothing and the little that came in i sent to my neighbor
this spring i finally had enough, i needed bigger clothes

i found out that my age with low activity needed about 2000 calories a day
i kept it down to that and had a little success

later i decided that with low activity came low calorie burning and i began to eat a lot less
i cut my food in half as well as no sugar, no snacks
yeah i was hungry all day every day for about 3 weeks, but chugging a full glass of water often was a big help

now i still eat half as much and my stomach has adapted
i dont get hungry between meals any more
and the weight is noticeably falling off

dont be mistaken, i am not starving nor will i let it come to that 
when i am back to the same waist size i was 4 years ago
i will see to it that i do not loose any more and adjust my eating as required

all it takes is the desire to do it


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## ZacharyBob (May 3, 2020)

MikeBelAirMd said:


> I'm a 47 year-old first year apprentice. Attempting a career change. Could my high blood pressure keep me from getting job offers to be an apprentice? Are apprentices usually required to have a pre-employment medical exam for employment?


Just wanted to drop by and say there was no such screening for my local, and our apprenticeship program has grown some 250% in the last 3 years. So much so they're scrambling for funds to accommodate the growth. About 20% of our program is made up of guys between 40-50. It's not out of the question by any means.

IMO you do need to take into account that the retirement options for our trade are somewhat limited for someone with only 15-25 years before reaching retirement age. Maybe your circumstances are such that you can afford to save substantially more than average. 

If not, I think my honest opinion would be to heavily consider careers that are less taxing on your body and potentially more lucrative. Those first 4-5 years are going to be really demanding and the first two will be mediocre (at best) wages. Even after that there's no guarantees of an easy day. Just my two pennies.


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## Martine (Jan 26, 2018)

just the cowboy said:


> Hey Mike.
> Let me start with a question before we get into health issues.
> You are starting a CC program, do you have a job in the field yet?
> I hate to be the one to say this but the CC just got you, hook line and sinker. Unless they have a GOOD placement program you will be wasting time and money.
> ...


depends where you’re from. Where I’m from, you HAVE to do a 1800 hour training program in a school before being allowed to step foot on a jobsite.


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## brian john (Mar 11, 2007)

Martine said:


> depends where you’re from. Where I’m from, you HAVE to do a 1800 hour training program in a school before being allowed to step foot on a jobsite.


That makes me shake my head and say WTF.

What are you learning? Are you getting paid? Who is the training with (government, Union)?


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## Martine (Jan 26, 2018)

brian john said:


> That makes me shake my head and say WTF.
> 
> What are you learning? Are you getting paid? Who is the training with (government, Union)?


I’m trying to find a course list in English but all I found was a mediocre translation but you’ll get the point.We learn a lot, and a lot of theory. Is it different once you get on the job site? Absolutely, but you have a knowledge base. Click on “contenu du programme” on the webpage and it’ll give you a translation of the course load in English 









Electricity


Demande d'admission en formation professionnelle | AdmissionFP




www.admissionfp.com





Training is done by the school board. Like high school, university, etc. Not getting paid no, but the course is heavily subsidized by the governement so costs only 800$ including all materials and books (except tools). Hours done are credited towards your apprenticeship, so you’re able to use them at any level you choose. The construction of Quebec commission also offers many many advancement classes that they pay for us to do if we want them (it’s not much, it’s like 100$ for a weekend).


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## ZacharyBob (May 3, 2020)

Martine said:


> depends where you’re from. Where I’m from, you HAVE to do a 1800 hour training program in a school before being allowed to step foot on a jobsite.


Holy crap, in our local we only do roughly 180 hours of class each year for (4) years while accumulating 8000 work hours.
1800 hours would be like doing 10 years of school before we ever picked up a tool!


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## Martine (Jan 26, 2018)

ZacharyBob said:


> Holy crap, in our local we only do roughly 180 hours of class each year for (4) years while accumulating 8000 work hours.
> 1800 hours would be like doing 10 years of school before we ever picked up a tool!


It’s about a year and a half full time (with a bit of time off in the summer and 2 weeks off during winter), but yeah, it’s a lot!
We also have to accumulate 8000 hours to be able to test for jman, but as I said, that 1800 gets deducted from the 8000


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## ZacharyBob (May 3, 2020)

Martine said:


> It’s about a year and a half full time (with a bit of time off in the summer and 2 weeks off during winter), but yeah, it’s a lot!
> We also have to accumulate 8000 hours to be able to test for jman, but as I said, that 1800 gets deducted from the 8000


Good for you for getting thru all that, it sounds like it all works out to a similar amount of time invested in the end but I would definitely struggle a lot if I separated the hands on from the book learning for an extended period of time. I usually need the handbook to wrap my head around the NEC. I'm less about the monkey see, and more about the monkey do. 🙉🙈🔨


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## LGLS (Nov 10, 2007)

joe-nwt said:


> Oh, I don't know about that. i'm a product of CC program. About 6 weeks before the end of the program my first employer came on a head hunting expedition to the college. Wanted someone to start right away. I asked my instructors for all of my final exams the same day, wrote them the next, and the rest is history.


Thinking about this, Grummans and Hazeltine or whatever that was before it was called Hazeltine scouted me mid-year in my 2nd year of Tech school... but they really wanted circuit board builders and assemblers... and the school shouldn't have allowed that mid-term and should have rejected those companies from trying to scout guys in a "Construction electricity, residential, commercial & industrial" program. I think your "scout" just went in there to collect warm bodies to use as helpers since there's no actual work experience and just the theory. Not that theory is bad it's not but, the work & school program is a much better and sensible arrangement. 


Buck Parrish Electric said:


> I am speaking non union since I have never been union I don't know what they require.
> If you have high blood pressure. you need to walk man, walking walking walking every day will help your blood pressure. Not sitting in a class. (I'm no doctor either)
> IMHO I think you'll learn (remember) more in the field then in class. Their are plenty of people hiring, Just go get an electrical job.... Dang what's the big deal?
> 
> My answers or opinion is light hearted, I only wish you well .


Well I think that w/o the theoretical background you're looking at being an installer and it'll take most people (not me but I'm exceptionally gifted) a number of years to figure out the "why" when all you know is the "How." From the union's perspective that's a candidate for the CE/CW program which nobody except the international seems to care for. They earn substantially less than JW prevailing wages and their benefits package is quite dismal in comparison... They then after some years are automatically put in as 1st year apprentices and if they won't they're shown the door. Turning this trace into a McJob is not what the world needs. 


Vladaar said:


> Age discrimination may be factor. 1st year apprentice at age 50 here. I had to apply at nearly 25 jobs to get a interview which led to being hired. Whereas in my 30's every place I applied to would call me for interviews.
> 
> Good luck apply everywhere.


A construction electrician and a construction wireman are not "electricians" in the true sense, and w/o the theory most could never get a real license... in fact lots of people intending to go for a license (generally to contract themselves) they fail the exam not understanding going in that "we just don't know what we don't know."



ZacharyBob said:


> Just wanted to drop by and say there was no such screening for my local, and our apprenticeship program has grown some 250% in the last 3 years. So much so they're scrambling for funds to accommodate the growth. About 20% of our program is made up of guys between 40-50. It's not out of the question by any means.
> 
> IMO you do need to take into account that the retirement options for our trade are somewhat limited for someone with only 15-25 years before reaching retirement age. Maybe your circumstances are such that you can afford to save substantially more than average.
> 
> If not, I think my honest opinion would be to heavily consider careers that are less taxing on your body and potentially more lucrative. Those first 4-5 years are going to be really demanding and the first two will be mediocre (at best) wages. Even after that there's no guarantees of an easy day. Just my two pennies.


In the IBEW we take care of our old timers... 


brian john said:


> That makes me shake my head and say WTF.
> 
> What are you learning? Are you getting paid? Who is the training with (government, Union)?


What's really a head shaker is the van pulls up in the driveway and it says "Licensed electrical contractor... 40 yrs. experience" but the guy doing the work just got picked up last week at the Home Depot parking lot and your good silver is not long for your world... and your daughters preggers. He's 21 and has absolutely no credentials of his own... and no formal theoretical training... and in NY that's just how they roll. 


ZacharyBob said:


> Good for you for getting thru all that, it sounds like it all works out to a similar amount of time invested in the end but I would definitely struggle a lot if I separated the hands on from the book learning for an extended period of time. I usually need the handbook to wrap my head around the NEC. I'm less about the monkey see, and more about the monkey do. 🙉🙈🔨


Then Dance monkeys! Dance!!!


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