Trying to get into the electrician trade, anyone got advice?

>>1204092
Righteous?

>>1204090
>no related schooling
>not willing to get related schooling
>sent in applications
If you can't get an apprenticeship you're effed. You could try moving to an area in need of electricians, but it sounds like you're a poorfag either unable or unwilling to move away unless someone else flips the bill - and paid relocation isn't really a thing anymore since it's cheaper to hire within and train them over the internet whereas in the 90's and prior it was sometimes cheaper to hire and relocate than to hire within and send them away for training.

Industrial would be best has the highest standard of work and complexity. In england we have many companies who's job it is to find apprentices and help pay for the college.

>>1204090
Buy only the best quality tools

Complain alot that you are being underpaid

After you are told how to do a certain task, ask again how to do it each time for at least the next 20 times

Bring weed to share with your coworkers

Call out if you may have to do anything physically demanding

Collect at least $20 worth of scrap a day to support your habit

Eat fast food for break and lunch each day

Take a smoke break every half an hour

Do side work even if you don't know what you are doing

Oh and you will probably get hurt in the first month though it will only be a minor injury

>>1204140
Who may these companies be anon, anyone in the Manchester area?

>>1204117
Wew lad, those are some heavy assumptions you've got going there

>>1204147
^
This guy's getting paid

>>1204090
Apply with every electrical company you can find and tell them you are looking to start green and work your way up. If that doesn't work look for programs that do it like IBEW. If that doesn't work move to an area that will hire green help. Once hired, be the best damn help they got.

>>1204428
Neat, that's essentially my plan. I live in Phoenix, AZ, so at least I've got a lot of opportunities here.

>>1204090
The unions love green people so try them out, they will teach you the way they want to teach you . and youll probably get paid a decent amont of money

Learn electric motors! servos, steppers, ac, dc, gear boxes, and pumps of all sorts. Learn to rewind, you will always have a job....but winding is boaring. I do mechanical (assembly disassembly) and repairs such as machining, electrical, winding, programming encoders, checking out resolver feed back, and sucking dick. I have variety to my skill set because of the uniqueness the my job offers. Some 20HP motor with a gear box form 1918 might come in the door, with a 1982 200HP Eddy current drive, and a 2016 Fanuc servo. Make about $24.60/hr right now, haven't been a journeyman that many years.

>>1204090
Go to the local electrical union. They'll set you up. I mean that in the good way as well as the bad way. Good luck.

>>1204356
No they're not. You wouldn't be looking for a high paying, reliable trade if your useless degree had paid off.

>>1205747
>>1205850
>>1205897
Thanks y'all. I'll be looking into the unions soon. Right now I have an interview with Cruise Automation, so hopefully I get that gig.

>>1206144
>not willing to get related schooling
never said that
>You could try moving to an area in need of electricians
i live in the 5th largest city in America
>you're a poorfag either unable or unwilling to move away unless someone else flips the bill
nope, got about 6 grand saved up in case I decide to move. getting a job where I currently live is a bit easier, though

bee tee dubs, friend, I didn't get a theatre degree to make money, I got it cause I wanted a theatre degree.

>be me
>be 4th year electrical engineer
>have never touched a wire in my life
ya'll niggers btfo

>>1204090


Hey OP

I had a BFA in music before getting into the electrical trades. I have to say, a lot of the general skills I developed in college carried over into the trades. Showing up early, staying late, being a team player, caring about your work and taking an interest in it... I never realized how uncommon those attributes were until I left the art world\

I started at a non-union shop. It has its advantages and disadvantages.

Top tier advice:
-Get all the tools as early on as you can. People notice things like when an apprentice has an 18v drill, and the bits to use it.

-do not praise or criticize your own work

-there is a chain of command, and its there to help you

-own your mistakes

-understand code

-try to actually learn something about electricity. I know guys who can wire an entire house, but have no clue what an electron is

>>1207386
>I have to say, a lot of the general skills I developed in college carried over into the trades. Showing up early, staying late, being a team player, caring about your work and taking an interest in it... I never realized how uncommon those attributes were until I left the art world

Hell yeah, that's what I was hoping for. Thanks for the advice bro. But really, double harmonic minor scales, amirite?

>>1207399
>>1207386
This.

>showing up early, staying late, being a team player, caring about your work and taking an interest in it.
I became a finish carpenter after I got my printmaking degree.

> the advantage of just staying late and using the houses as my "studios"

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>electricians

Dumb welder here. Explain to me in layman's terms why unsecured stuff vibrates under current when welding.

>>1207579

If you're welding AC, the fluctuating currents create fluctuating magnetic fields, which in turn contract and expand materials via "magnetostriction". This cause many types of humming in other applications too.

If you're on DC, fucked if I know... Intense turbulunce around the welding pool?

>>1207582
I doubt DC is smooth, why bother?

>>1207582
It's far worse in AC, but it happened many times in DC too with small stainless steel parts and a small puddle so I doubt it's turbulence.

Shit's weird m8

>>1207587

I'm assuming the DC output voltage is smooth, but perhaps the current also varies considerably in DC, as you don't keep the resistance stable. In that case magnetostriction vibration comes back. Does it happen when welding non-ferrous materials, i.e. aluminium?

>>1207598
Yeah but we weld aluminum with AC (at least in TIG, I don't know if it vibrates in MIG with DCEP) so that might be why

>>1204090
Man, you need to get into renewable energy. They will train you. If you find the right company.

For you electricians in this thread, not op, im an apprentice. Do you have any tips for someone trying to cut EMT/rigid straight with a two hand bandsaw? They all come out crooked. I think that doesnt matter, my journeyman is just asking for straight cuts so that I get better, but im not really getting much help in terms of advice. Help a young man out? im getting everything else so far relatively speaking

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>>1207772
Like pic related ?

Square up to piece and sight down the blade. With the saw we have. It's angled so you're kinda holding the saw at a diagonal, but the blade is square to the piece. If time permits you could use a piece of tape or a sharpie as a guide.

I'm just a carpenter so I never cut conduit but I've cut tons of plate steel with pic related. Plus I imagine the saw goes through conduit in like 2 seconds. So you may not have enough time adjust or figure what's going on.

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should be getting a letter back from my local union any day now telling me whether i made this year's apprentice class. the wait is killing me. aced the aptitude test and I felt the interview went really well.

>>1204428
This. I'm an apprentice in the IBEW and it is hands down the best way to become an electrician. You are placed in work, they rotate which company you work for every year for the 5-year duration of your apprenticeship, regular raises about 4 months apart, benefits (health, dental, sight, and life) after 6 months, networking with all the companies you work at for after you turn out, a quality and practical education that is actually useful unlike "trade" schools. The list goes on. Only bad thing is that in some areas it can be pretty competitive to get in. This year in San Diego we had something like 400 applicants and we took around 20 for the class. If you have trouble getting in you can go to the local union hall and become a CW (construction wireman) and work while you wait to get accepted. Plus being a CW gets you a leg up on the competition.

>>1204147
You forgot - Hurt your back the day after you are eligible for workman's comp.

>>1208095
Nice, that sounds good as hell. What's the cost, and how's the coursework like?

>>1208108
kek

>>1208179
Cost is minimal. Books will run anywhere from 100-200 per trimester, no tuition (kinda). Its based on a trimester system, two on and one off, so three classes per graduating year. Break varies based on when you enter the apprenticeship, I have Jan-June off. Course work itself is pretty straightforward, and easy if you arn't a shit student. Over the five year program (ten trimester) program you study DC, AC, electronics, motor controls, PLC's, low voltage systems, Photovoltaics, etc. One per trimester with some lumped together; low voltage systems is fire alarm, fiber optics, data, BMS. The whole time you also study the code and do hands on labs related to the subject.
When I say tuition is
>(kinda) free
I mean that it is totally free as long as you stay in the union. When you join the apprenticeship you legally become an indentured worker for fifteen years. They do this because nonunion shops were sending foremen through the apprenticeship and it costs money to train these guys. That money comes from the union dues, which are paid by union members. So as long as you stay in the union, no problem, but if you leave to do non-union electrical work (if you decide being an electrician is not for you, and you wanna go back to acting, no hard feelings) after you graduate, you have to pay for your education, which is around $11k, decreasing by $1100 every year after you graduate until the ten years are up. It sounds a little weird when they sit you down with the contract after you get accepted, but it makes a lot of sense. Union electricans main selling point isn't that we're cheaper (and we're not, not by a long shot), its that we're on average much better electricians. At least on the commercial/industrial side. Residential is easy enough to learn and do quality work so we get boxed out of the market for our cost.

>>1208239
That sounds like a damn fine system. Will be heavily considering that in the future. What are the qualifications they base you on for acceptance? Thanks for the info mang

>>1208239
Side question for non-union workers/people in general: I've been talking about my job to people in a normal conversation, and sometimes when I mention I'm in a big union, sometimes people get kinda disgusted or look at me like I'm a crook or something. Sometimes I also hear random people just bagging on unions too. I find this bizzare because my experience is you get paid a good wage, get good basic benefits, and a quality education. Do any of you dislike unions? Why?

>>1208246
OP here, I don't have anything against the Onions, I think it's just the general public looking down on the trades in the last, what? 30 years? (am only 24 don't know history) I think it's slowly turning around though, with people like Mike Rowe talking about the need for skilled tradesmen, and people going "oh shit I don't know how to wire and plumb my house"

Also there's the stereotype of Onion workers being lazy and trying to skate by on the legalities and benefits.

Maybe making a tumblr campaign would help

>>1208244
Math (addition all the way through really basic trig) and basic English test, although here in San Diego you can get the test in Espanol, which kinda makes the English portion useless in my opinion. Based off your score you get an interview. You wanna put a little effort into studying the math. Refresh your Sine, Cosine, and Tangent for trig and remember how to balance an algebra equation and you should be fine. The English is a breeze for native speakers. The test is mostly to make sure you don't have a crippling language or mathematical barrier when trying to learn the material, but you still wanna get as high as you can because they take limited interviews, and start at the top of the list. The interview is much more important. They mostly ask if you're pursuing this as a serious career or if your just looking for a quick job, and ask you if you have a background in construction, sports, working with your hands. You get a score from your interview and when they select a the next class they take names off the top of the list. It can take a LONG time to get in unless you have someone with some pull pushing you through. For me and most classmates I've talked to there's a 5-8 month gap between the test and getting called for an interview. No calls or update emails, just radio silence. Calling the just gives you a "we're still processing the tests" from the secretary. Those months were kinda strange, some guys said they just assumed they didn't get in and got other jobs, then got the interview out of the blue and had to quit their new job to start the apprenticeship kek. But once you get the interview, you get your interview score and then find out if you made it in within a few weeks. If you got a low score you have to wait for the next interviews to try to boost your score, you can usually find out what the cutoff threshold is by asking first years what their interview score was.

>>1208259
Being a CW really helps both your interview and keeps you focused on becoming an electrician during your wait. Its what I did and I highly recommend it.

>>1208260
>>1208259
Neato burrito

>>1208246
>>1208259
>Refresh your Sine, Cosine, and Tangent for trig and remember how to balance an algebra equation and you should be fine.
I took the IBEW test a few weeks ago and it was all Algebra 1. No sin/cos/tan math. Khan academy (free) helped me a bunch with their algebra 1 refresher courses.

The interview was very quick and cookie cutter, so prepare some scripted answers for "behavioral interview questions".
>What knowledge do you have about what an electrical worker does on the job?
>Describe a time when you were missing something you needed to finish a project or job.
>Describe how you went about planning a project that you completed from start to finish.
>Tell us about a time at work, or in school, when someone really got on your nerves.
>Describe a team activity that you like to participate in.
>Tell us about the most challenging project you've ever done completely on your own.
>Describe a time when you, a friend, a co-worker, or a family member were injured.
They don't expect you to be experienced, so you don't have to bullshit that you can already wire an entire office complex by yourself. Try to be honest and avoid red flags: anti-social, avoids teamwork, avoids physical labor, doesn't understand the job, can't deal with stress, panicky, etc.

Is it possible to learn electrical engineering online? Are sites like MIT courseware good enough?

I already have a job but I want to keep learning new things and improving myself. My only constraint is I can't physically go to some university to do it. I want to learn the "right" way things are done

>>1204147
>scrap
I was an investor in a spec house. Builder was showing me the progress. Electricians were just about done with the rough in. Every fucking box had six feet of Romex hanging out of it. What bullshit and how much more obvious could you be?

>>1208246
I would occasionally work in a union shop and since I was a field repair guy I wasn't in the union and these fucks had all kinds of rules. Can't lift anything above 20 lbs, can get a screw from a bin, can't use power tools. Best part was I would stay late to work on machines in order for them to even get out the door to customers on time

>>1209014
International association of machinists btw

>>1208246
Some unions attract scum.

IBEW, Millwrights, etc. are great. Bad electricians are dead, being a millwright isn't easy or convenient, and the union won't enable you wasting their time.

UAW is generally line rats begging for sick leave, chain smoking, and watching their portable TV instead of doing their work. They go on strike if you threaten to punish their shit work.

UAW workers were the best supply of Apex chucks before the internet, and that was about their only redeeming quality.

I live in Michigan, so there's probably more UAW line rats than many unions combined. It really puts a bad taste in people's mouths, but anybody on the "inside" understands the differences.

>>1208867
>>1208867
Especially on bigger houses, you are better to pull long runs than leave them short. ESPECIALLY at the panels. I don't work for a bunch of fucksticks so they understand and don't care

>>1208867

6 feet of romex is well under 2 dollars.

Would you like to pay two dollars extra a box or would you rather pay them to pull it all out, and pull it in again.

The most expensive wire on a jobsite is the wire you pull twice.

Next time your standing around a jobsite with a clipboard try to remember they probably have a better idea of whats going on than you do.

>>1209395
>>1208867

Also I forgot to add that alot of that stuff gets reused for pigtails, and you need to leave 8 inches extending out of the box and you probably want ~ 2 inches to cut off and leave a clean end.