i'm 25 am i too old to start an electrician apprenticeship

[TheSiege]

its 5 years, 8000 hours, starts at 13.66 with a 4% raise after the first 1000 hours and 4% raises for every 750 hours thereafter. should i do it? and yes i can live off of a 13.66 an hour

 

[FoBoT]

not too old, that is a good line of work

 

[SsupernovaE]

Originally posted by: TheSiege
its 5 years, 8000 hours, starts at 13.66 with a 4% raise after the first 1000 hours and 4% raises for every 750 hours thereafter. should i do it? and yes i can live off of a 13.66 an hour

It will suck for a few years, but I know an electrician that makes $50+/hour.

 

[iRONic]

Originally posted by: TheSiege
its 5 years, 8000 hours, starts at 13.66 with a 4% raise after the first 1000 hours and 4% raises for every 750 hours thereafter. should i do it? and yes i can live off of a 13.66 an hour

Hells no you're not too old! My neighbor was in his late thirties when he started his. He's fully licensed now and has never been out of work since the day he started the apprenticeship.

 

[BigJ]

Great, great, great line of work to get into if you like working with your hands. My buddy's dad is an electrical foreman and only chooses to work about 6-7 months out of the year. Still pulls in a cool 90k a year.

 

[trmiv]

Do it! I wish I would have when I was that age (31 now). I'm in IT, and I hate it. I have a friend who screwed off his high school years, barely graduated, F'd around after HS doing nothing except playing video games, smoking pot and getting fired, while the rest his friends (me included) were getting college degrees. After a few years of being an idiot he somehow lucked into another friend getting him into an electrician apprenticeship, and now he makes more money than I do.

 

[TheSiege]

im not too worried about the money, i have always lived conservatively, i could survive, with my house on like 10 bucks an hour, probably even less

 

[IGBT]

..jump on it. complete the apprenticeship and get your contractor license and rake in the cash.

 

[KarmaPolice]

yet another job that does not require a college degree and can pay six figures if you work hard and stick with it...

If you like doing it and are good with your hands then hell no!

 

[boomerang]

I started a Die Maker apprenticeship at 25. Don't hold back, go for it.

An Electrician is a great trade to get into. You can work in any number of different fields.

If I had it to do over, I'd have become an Electrician or Pipefitter. These trades can be worked in industry, residential or commercial construction among others. It opens the door to becoming a contractor as someone else mentioned.

Die Making is a dead trade in this country. It's all going overseas.

I'm 52 and have no wish to start over. I'm 3 years from retirement. From this job anyway.

 

[Flyback]

What IGBT said. Get whatever else you need so that you can work as your own boss, once you can.

Also, I worked construction before (mostly non-skilled grunt work) and one thing that is key is your name amongst other people. People in other crews eventually get to know you or see your work (or have to repair it) and on and on. This is especially true in cities of 100,000 or less. I found that word travels fast among labourers. Before I met someone there was a chance I had seen or could identify some of their work.

I'd even advocate you study communications (read How to Win Friends and Influence People) because your rep can go a long way for you and depending on whether people trust you and your work can land you more jobs through word of mouth like nothing you've ever seen. The labourers that people trust are more inclined to get repeat calls and, thus, more money. People don't like the guy who constantly takes breaks or who does shoddy work. If you do solid work and come across as a cool, nice dude, you will have no problem. If you can come across as -very- honest, knowledgable and friendly then you will be laughing to the bank.

(I don't know much about it, and even less about the trade, but this is just what I've seen and noticed over a couple of summers.)

 

[classy]

Originally posted by: SsupernovaE

Originally posted by: TheSiege
its 5 years, 8000 hours, starts at 13.66 with a 4% raise after the first 1000 hours and 4% raises for every 750 hours thereafter. should i do it? and yes i can live off of a 13.66 an hour

It will suck for a few years, but I know an electrician that makes $50+/hour.

Yep in a long run you'll reap the rewards. 25 old? :roll:

 

[Squisher]

Is this an industrial or residential apprenticeship?

 

[TheSiege]

Originally posted by: Squisher
Is this an industrial or residential apprenticeship?

i believe its a wiremen, for both...but i dont know for sure, i need to apply sometime next week

 

[TheSiege]

any electricians on the forums? wanna give me any advice? what i should read/do before my aptitude test?

 

[ponyo]

It's a great trade if you like that sort of stuff and money isn't bad either. Young people good with their hands should strongly consider learning some sort of a trade.

 

[ZOOYUKA]

Whats the deal with the "am I too old threads?" Everybody is too old to learn something new!

 

[notposting]

Hope not. On waitlist here for electrician apprenticeship through union/contractor organization, taking some classes in Electronics while I wait. Hit 30 in October. Good luck.

 

[TheSiege]

Originally posted by: notposting
Hope not. On waitlist here for electrician apprenticeship through union/contractor organization, taking some classes in Electronics while I wait. Hit 30 in October. Good luck.

how long have you been waiting?

 

[ric1287]

are these apprenticeships hard to get? i am interested as well (slightly younger age)

 

[isekii]

How do you usually get an apprenticeship ?

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: ric1287
are these apprenticeships hard to get? i am interested as well (slightly younger age)

Depends. Normally you have to know somebody to get in if it's competitive.

 

[habib89]

if you can live with the low pay now, then do it.. i woulda done it a couple years ago when i was 25, but i couldn't live on $13

 

[SVT Cobra]

Go to NY, they charge and fricken arm and a leg and get away with it because they have to be certified etc.

 

[TheSiege]

look up your local union and contact them
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