Journeymen of /diy/

>>1130970
had shit retail jobs when i was younger
lost my job
no job for one month
went to job center and got an apprenticeship as welder when i was 24
still at it with 27 now, few months to go

think i will stick with at, really good work and good pay

>>1130990
Jesus, I wish it was that easy. No one seems to hire apprentices, it's like you're SOL unless your dad or uncle is a tradesman.

>>1131032
Thats really true with unions. I got waitlisted from 2 separate IBEW locals within 6 months.

So I went to trade school at my community college for HVAC. I am a good student and got good grades my first semester and the head of the program lined up 3 interviews for me.

3rd company hired me a few weeks ago. I only have 1 semester of trade school (15 weeks) and my only previous job was in a grocery store.

You still have to know somebody, but its easier to prove your worth and meet people at a trade school.

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>>1130970
I just was handing over CV's when I stumbled across a shop that constructed custom trucks/cab
At first they weren't sure if they wanted to hire me they made me pass a test (machining a piece of aluminum) I pass now im assembling trucks its realy fun it dosn't even feel like work soon they're gonna pay for a welding class .
the pay is good (soon 16.00$/h I work 50 hr a week ) pics related my latest project I did that with another guy I drilled every single hole in that box and placed every rivets prety happy with it.

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>>1131156
pic before we putted the roof in.

>>1130970
Apprentice here.
>failed 4 of 5 classes in my third semester of college
>by the time I decided to try trades, their semester started already
>spent a whole spring working 15 hours a week as a K-12 tutor while I looked for a job
>trade school helped me out, but none of their leads were replying
>one of my online applications got a response in April from an alarm/low voltage company
>jumped at the opportunity, love the work, but still not sure that I will have the experience necessary to pass a licensing exam

>>1131168
I should follow up on this...
So I guess my advice to OP would be to try signing up for school, as they may give you advice or even job leads. If you plan on moving, contact an agency in a city to which you would like to move. I suggest ABC, as they are a national association, and they have member companies that look for apprentices through the school. They didn't give me the best help finding work, but that's likely a local problem, and it's a very good school.

I was 18 years old Straight Outta juvie and I was asking everybody I knew for a job and one of my friends said he knew a guy that was hiring it was a contractor he made me a carpenter's Apprentice. That was 14 years ago now I'm a master Carpenter for a company. I make about $70,000 without trying. Few years ago I was doing my own Contracting and making about a hundred and fifty a year. I wasn't having to work too hard but it's still a lot of liability so as soon as I got my house is bought trucks paid off child support paid off I said fuck it and went back to working a nine-to-five. I live in a major east coast city I've never been out of work and I could totally make more if I was willing to invest more of my time.

>>1131032
If you're looking for work soon, maybe try your local iron workers union. That's where I got my start.

Depending on your area, they tend to hire appreciates in the early spring for training and what not. Depending on your skill level already, you may get some work this summer.

It also opens you up to other opportunities. I'm a steel detailer now, and own my own company. It can be a good start for sure.

Are any of the skilled trades easier to get into than others? By "easy" I'm talking about getting hired as an apprentice. I'm interested in electrical, plumbing, and automotive repair but it seems like there are far more opportunities for automotive apprentices.

>>1131197
You wouldn't by chance live in ny?

Got a job as a apprentice carpenter, job doesnt entail working as a carpenter but building for film and photography

I wanna continue the job but studying at college 1 day a week is tedious and in no way informative

Studying in my own time to go to uni for mechanical engineering

It seems you have to find a good company who want to teach, not just some jews who want to save a few bucks, teach you nothing and treat you like shit

Got my apprenticeship through my dad, who knew a guy.

Plumbing master race. Be a plumber, best trade by far.

>>1131116
I got up before dawn every day and applied to every hvac shop in my town until one hired me. This will probably work for other trades

Got an opportunity to become an apprentice electrician in the UK, starting in September. But is there anything I can do now to prepare for it, any books or anything? I like to be well prepared. It will be Commercial based Ie Shops and offices

16 Left school week later got a job as an apprentice electrician

>>1132524
>Are any of the skilled trades easier to get into than others? By "easy" I'm talking about getting hired as an apprentice. I'm interested in electrical, plumbing, and automotive repair but it seems like there are far more opportunities for automotive apprentices.

Automotive isn't even in the same ballpark. Easy as fuck to get work in the field because everyone has a car. Get a job in a shop being the bitch boy. Learn how to do shit and find a job being an assistant. Learn how to do more shit and get a job being a mechanic.

A lot of mechanics started working at oil change places in high school.

>>1130970
If you are any good at electrical stuff get into cabinet wiring.
Once you git gud, you can start drafting that shit.
Also automation is a thing to look into, and there is good money to be made.

>>1134920
This, though you can often get a Pell Grant and lottery money to pay for community college auto shop training plus a modest profit (that you should spend on tools AFTER you learn what you use most).

Don't go in debt for tools. Do get to know your local tool truck drivers and do get to know their student discounts. Do ask them to let you know when they repo a mechanic's box. That's a great way to get deals especially if much of the gear is not their primary brand.

I've never met a good mechanic who didn't have more side work than he could possibly do, more project vehicles then he could ever finish, or who didn't have a variety of long term career prospects. Richest ones usually ran used car lots with a wreck stash for parting out (for themselves and on the down low so not running a "salvage"), cat sales and building more stock for sale out of auction buys.
I've been wrenching since the 1970s but preferred military aircraft (which were easy to learn due to auto/baiku/industrial experience). Still do non-aircraft wrenching for fun and working on my own stuff saved me many thousands more than my shop cost.

Mechanics even thrived under siege in motherfucking Syria.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/profits-doom-mosul-mechanics-swamped-bombs-shatter-city-101630792.html

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/aleppo-residents-turn-creative-defy-siege-799328898

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>>1130970
Joureyman welder here,
Started in a shop doing the bitch work, sweeping floors, grinding anything that needed grinding, beveling pipes, assisting welders (IE: rod passer / grinder stand) doing anything and everything, washing trucks even. just show that you are willing to do what it takes to move up, show some initiative, (for instance, i stayed in the shop on my lunch break and welded scrap steel)...did that for about 6 months before i got my apprenticeship.

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You electricians like some good wire gore?

>>1130970
>>1131032
My uncle was a contractor who picked me up as a helper when I was a NEET 20yr old with no propects. I stuck around for 5 years and he signed off my journeyman hours in 2008 when the economy tanked and he counldn't keep me around anymore, but getting signed off allowed me to get my license so I opened up my own shop.

I'm looking for apprentices right now and can't find anybody smart enough to do the job correctly.

Visit the local college. They should be able to provide you with a list of companies who hire apprentices. That's what I did. They gave me a list of about 10 places. I figured I'd start with the spot closest to my house and work outward. Got a job at the first place. 11 years later still working for the same company.

My mom is good friends with a member of the local IBEW hall, and I had just dropped out of college because I hated it. They were low on apprentices because it's a pretty small local but they get a lot of industrial work so there's not a lot of people laid off at any one time. So I went and applied and took the aptitude test and all that and ended up doing a year as a helper before getting in. Best decision of my life.

>>1137468
Fuck man, i've been trying to get on with IBEW for a while, as a jman welder, i want to get a dual ticket, but the economy here is in a downturn..so lots of guys out of work, which means they arent looking for starters in the electrical trade.

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I'm a tradesman in Australia, did an apprenticeship and then a post trade qualification in a specialisation. I'm really keen to get over to America at the moment. If I hypothetically had my green card situation sorted out, would I be able to become a Journeyman with some kind of recognition of prior learning? Or would I have to do an entire new apprenticeship?

I'm actually open to doing another apprenticeship if that's what it would take to get a foot in the door again, so I suppose another question is would it be easy enough to find one considering my level of experience? I've worked in the field for 8 years, 4 as a tradesman. Other than a high school diploma my trade certificates are all I have to my name.

If anyone has questions about how trades work down under I'd be happy to explain.

>>1137583
you'd need to do a provisional stint as a laborer. because the wiring codes are different. the entire point of the apprenticeship is learning how to install shit by code, according to the specific state or districts standards. the US is a massive cluster fuck of different wiring standards. they use ring setups and cob wiring and often have multiple different wiring color codes. its not like australia where we have brown and blue or red and black almost universally. if you want to travel do a specialisation like OTIS. they fly people around the world to repair elevators or work on oil rigs.

>>1137650
Sure thing, makes sense. Not the worst thing in the world, I'd hate to be thrown in the deep end too unprepared and fuck something up!

Funnily enough I actually worked installing and maintaining elevators for most of my career so far. So I'm familiar with the industry, in Australia atleast. No-one manufactures lifts over here so the wiring colour codes used are always all fucked up. They import them under an "international compliance" provision so they don't have to have red/black/green. Obviously the work we do to install them has to be compliant with local regs though. Cheers for the response.