On becoming an electrician

Sanrith Descartes · Nov 12, 2023

Kajiimagi said:
That's the part I missed the most moving from the field and into the office. You will ride by that place for the rest of your life and go ' I built that' and even if everyone else rolls their eyes you will feel that pride.
Congrats! Throwing the breaker and the lights coming on first time is very satisfying.

I once designed an engineering job for a new building and then soon after moved back to construction and was in charge of building the same engineering job I designed. That is my fucking building and I still smile when I see it.

Hatorade · Nov 30, 2023

There is a broken light in this mess…started taking down the old stuff.

TJT · Nov 30, 2023

Hatorade said:
There is a broken light in this mess…started taking down the old stuff.
View attachment 502458

Sir. Bring fire.

Hatorade · Nov 30, 2023

TJT said:
Sir. Bring fire.

Only seen a few live spiders, surprised anything is alive up here. Between the insanely hot summers and the thick film of machine dust it is 99% dead.

moonarchia · Nov 30, 2023

Hatorade said:
There is a broken light in this mess…started taking down the old stuff.
View attachment 502458

Kithani · Dec 1, 2023

Hatorade said:
Only seen a few live spiders, surprised anything is alive up here. Between the insanely hot summers and the thick film of machine dust it is 99% giant undead spiders waiting for me to let my guard down.

Hatorade · Jan 13, 2024

I was given the cheapest shovel in the world and had to hack this old line up. Was all rocks with a little bit of dirt. It is in a heavy traffic area so we replaced the pvc. The wind was blast sand every few minutes in my eyes. Still a better day than working I.T.
Used my new skills to put canless LEDS in the closests, pantry, and bathrooms. Wife loves it.

Kajiimagi · Jan 13, 2024

Tip, use hammer drill (with spade bit if you have one) to soften the ground then scoop out with cheap shovel.

Also you can now point to that and say 'I did that'. I really really miss that part of being in the field.

Sanrith Descartes · Jan 13, 2024

Kajiimagi said:
Tip, use hammer drill (with spade bit if you have one) to soften the ground then scoop out with cheap shovel.

Also you can now point to that and say 'I did that'. I really really miss that part of being in the field.

Yeah hammer drills are one of those tools lots of folks really aren't aware of and should be.

Hatorade · Feb 8, 2024

Well shit, the company/building put the master on hold so today is my last day of work for a bit. I hope it isn’t for long but may have to find work elsewhere. Is this normal for trade work?

Cutlery · Feb 8, 2024

Hatorade said:
Well shit, the company/building put the master on hold so today is my last day of work for a bit. I hope it isn’t for long but may have to find work elsewhere. Is this normal for trade work?

I've never worked in the trades, but I see a lot of people roll thru my work that do/did, and from what I can tell? Yes.

TheBeagle · Feb 8, 2024

Hatorade said:
Well shit, the company/building put the master on hold so today is my last day of work for a bit. I hope it isn’t for long but may have to find work elsewhere. Is this normal for trade work?

Really depends. If the guy you work for is hopping from residential job to residential job and he isn't one of the big players in your area then it might be spotty. If you're doing bigger commercial jobs or work for someone that has so much work that he has multiple crews then it's going to be a lot more steady.

As a PM doing pools for a company that builds 250+ pools every year I can say that all our subs have all the work they can handle. But the last two months have been shitty weather and we've been shut down a lot. But I contrast that to when I was younger and worked for a guy that GC'd small residential remodel jobs solely on word of mouth and his reputation and there would be some lulls occasionally between jobs. Also the economy is absolute dogshit right now in regards to people that want to do big ticket items like remodels/additions. Not sure exactly where you're at in regards to that but 2024 isn't going to be great for a lot of tradesmen. If you want steady work for eternity be the guy that answers the phone at 9pm to go unclog someone's toilet or fix a blown breaker.

BrutulTM · Feb 8, 2024

Hatorade said:
Well shit, the company/building put the master on hold so today is my last day of work for a bit. I hope it isn’t for long but may have to find work elsewhere. Is this normal for trade work?

It can be. My brother told me when he joined the union they all told him he needed $10k in the bank to cover times when he was laid off but in 10 years he was only laid off once and that was one he volunteered for and he had another job like 4 days later.

Hatorade · Feb 8, 2024

Appreciate the feedback, this is commercial/industrial work and they 100% need a fuck ton more lights installed at least so unless he is being removed as primary electrician I expect to be back shortly.

Koushirou · Feb 8, 2024

Not an electrician, but guy I play MtG with is a union plumber and he pretty much gets a big project for a couple of months, then gets laid off for a couple of weeks until some other big project comes up, then he’s off doing 12 hour days again for a couple months.

Izo · Feb 11, 2024

Hatorade · Feb 19, 2024

Running about 4-6 spools of SOOW cable from the roof to avoid cranes into outlets so they can plug in and upgrade the CNC machines. 8 down, 25 to go.

Borzak · Feb 19, 2024

If you live near an industrial area normally the union will have classes or training setup for people to support it. I know people that went that way ane worked for decades at the same location and company. No traveling around, no layoffs and such which to me would be a huge bonus. A couple eventually went off on their own doing the same work for the same company now just as owner.

I did some work where the company had bought a process to make fiberglass pipe from South Africa and were putting it back together in a large building. A number of the guys working on it were all new and in that school program. It looked like pretty good work. In the shade, semi air conditioned, sitting around on the floor making their connections and then the electrician would come by and look at it and walk off. They said they were making pretty good money, no idea what that was to them. Beat the shit out of crawling around in an attic in the summer when it's 105F. And I am sure none of them had a college degree.

Kobayashi · Feb 19, 2024

I think the best gig is doing control wiring in a panel shop - usually indoors, mostly self contained and ergonomic, most things land on terminal blocks and are routed in wireway or a loom. Forgiving if you mess something up and easy to test. Money's not the best unless you are willing to go out in the field to commission the equipment though. There's a definite art snd skill to doing it quickly and cleanly.

Anachron · Apr 15, 2024

Kobayashi said:
I think the best gig is doing control wiring in a panel shop - usually indoors, mostly self contained and ergonomic, most things land on terminal blocks and are routed in wireway or a loom. Forgiving if you mess something up and easy to test. Money's not the best unless you are willing to go out in the field to commission the equipment though. There's a definite art snd skill to doing it quickly and cleanly.

"Money's not the best" would be an understatement, although i have to agree that's it's a nice, relatively easy job. Maybe useful as a stepping stone to an instrumentation career?

On becoming an electrician

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