Was thinking about the last year of my life and where I am now and what I should do for the future and remembered this thread.
My 1 year anniversary at my current job was on the 21st of August. Managed to get a job as an "Industrial Maintenance Technician" basically doing preventative maintenance and repairing/diagnosing problems on roll forming machines.
I've done extremely well with this job. Haven't missed a single day and haven't been late once (I usually get to work an hour early) which I'll be honest was entirely due to the harsh comments on this thread that forced me into really looking into myself and trying to see what my actions and general behavior lead to many things going south in my life.
With all that said my current dilemma is, I started work here at $12/hr which is pretty good starting pay for Florida wages but this company doesn't do 90 day raises, they do yearly evaluations. I got my paper work for my self evaluation and was told that in the next week (this was a week prior to my 1 year date) that we would all sit down and discuss my progress and I would find out what my raise would be.
It never happened and were already a week into September, of course I am really anxious for this raise because I am still scraping by, everything is getting paid and I have a stable residence which in itself is a blessing that I do not take for granted.
With all that said, this job has not been easy. I basically came into the job expecting to work under an experienced Tech that would train me and show me the ropes, the very first week of me starting, the Tech gave his 2 week notice on that Thursday and quit to never come back on that Friday.
For the next 3 months I was the only Tech on my shift, with nobody to help or guide me in any shape or form, no documentation at all to reference how to diagnose or fix problems, with around 90 production employees depending on me to keep 26 different roll forming machines running that literally break sprockets, chains, pistons, air lines, shafts, gear boxes and so much more, on top of material jams, change overs to different dimensions or bends depending on product availability and demand, on top of greasing berrings, shafts, documenting air compressor values, checking over-head cranes for any signs of problems and doing the actual maintenance on the building itself, changing light bulbs, ballasts, material racks, hell even replacing toilet wax rings and I'm forgetting a lot but you get the point.
It is a lot, especially for someone who has had no training or prior experience in this type of work.
Of course it has gotten considerably easier since the first 3 months. After the year mark, I know how to do my job extremely well.
Which brings me back to the start of this post... I have been told by my department supervisor that I should only expect at most a 2% raise, a 24 cent raise.
Is this really acceptable? Am I just being a greedy, entitled brat that thinks he deserves more than he should?
After everything I've been through I don't want to screw up something that I have worked so hard at but at the same time I feel like I am being taken for granted.
To give some perspective, my company makes $4-4.5 million a month, gross. We have around 110 employees spread out through 3 shifts.
I looked around on indeed, craigslist etc at similar positions in my area and they all start at $16/hr at the LOW END.
Is it time for me to look for a different company? Should I just keep my head down and work here another year for experience? Give my supervisor an ultimatum of give me more or I'm going to quit?
I'm so caught up in all the bullshit that I can't think straight, what should I do bros?
Zog
, I wish I'd been active when you first made this thread. I've been an electrician for a good while now, and while I've lost everything I've owned...twice, now...I'm still at it. let me give you my 2 cents.
You really need to ask yourself if you still want to go union, IBEW or otherwise. A lot of factory/industrial maintenance isn't IBEW. Def try for IBEW if you want to do a lot of new work, or segue to doing service calls when you're much more experienced.
Unions aren't necessarily the be all, end all when it comes to the skilled trades. I'm pro-union, but I'm not union. There's lots of good places that are non-union...the problem is all the terrible non-union places. If the right union company offered me a job, I'd go, but my career has moved a little outside the normal union path.
If you do want to go union, make absolutely certain that your current job counts toward experience. "Maintenance Tech" won't always cut it. Something like "Maintenance Electrician" will. It can mean the difference in where you start in the apprenticeship line (assuming they don't force you to start from scratch anyways). With enough DOCUMENTED work history you might even be able to turn out as a journeyman. KEEP COPIES OF ALL PAY. KEEP PROOF OF ALL EMPLOYMENT. Do not rely on the IRS. The IRS only keeps your records for 10 years, IIRC, and they lost mine well before that 10. And I lost most of my records when a basement flooded. I tried going union a couple of times with 10+ years that I couldn't prove. Ask me how that turned out...
If you want to go Union, do
NOT just try when you're looking for work, and then quit trying when you get hired on non-union somewhere. Also, the Union isn't a hiring/staffing agency. Just showing up at the hall, signing books, etc, isn't enough. You might need to find a list of union companies and apply to ALL OF THEM. Repeatedly, and nonstop. Because that's the easiest, most direct route in for most people.
OJT isn't enough anymore, unless you like getting stuck in some shitty factory somewhere for the rest of your life. Either find someplace with an actual formal apprenticeship program, go union and do their program, or find a local CC that has an industrial program and take 1-2 classes a semester. It's going to FUCKING SUCK BALLS doing that while working full-time, but that can make the difference between being a shitty nameless machine-greaser, or moving up into an actual skilled maintenance job.
There's a lot of variability in industrial maintenance. One plant is going to be a literal hell. Another plant is going to be ok. Others will be laid back and their guys like busting their asses, because their management is good to them and they enjoy their work. GO FIND OPTION #3.
After that you can just...
NO, SERIOUSLY, GO FIND OPTION #3. Only stay at a shitty place long enough to find a less-shitty place.
One of the best things that people miss in regards to going to school for trades, or going union...is the connections. NETWORKING. On the union side, folks know who they want to call off the books and who they want to avoid. They aren't supposed to pick and choose, but it happens anyways. If you get in, bust your ass, do good work and get to know folks, you'll spend less time at home on the couch while signing the books. On the school side, get to know the faculty and other students. Keep your ear to the ground and you'll hear about places hiring. There's always companies in contact with the folks running our programs, either looking for prospective employees, or for classes for their current employees to take. (and if you've taken those classes, that makes you more attractive...)
Never underestimate what your reputation is worth. I know of numerous employers who specifically ask for the hard workers. The people that bust their balls. And whenever I;ve been asked, I'm more than happy to give them a name if I can think of someone who fits the bill. Be that person.
$12 is shit. Stop lying to yourself. That's the absolute lowest, bottom-tier wage for industrial maintenance mechanic work. Last place I worked like that started everyone at $27. And the COL here is a bit lower than Florida. Start looking for $15+, at least.
DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT let yourself go jobless. Keep your resume solid. Do not allow yourself to have any gaps. Even if you can explain those gaps, just the fact that you have to explain employment gaps in the first place will HURT you. Find a new job and move elsewhere if your employer isn't going to give you raises, has bad management, etc etc etc.
2-3 weeks w/o a raise after being promised a raise isn't really that long. I've known people who have gone 1-2 years. It's common for management to just get buried in bullshit and sometimes it takes a couple of months to catch up with you. But if you find yourself in November w/o a raise, or if they railroad you on a raise...start looking for work elsewhere.
Go online and look at resumes. Always keep an up to date resume handy.
You learned a hard lesson about staffing and working under the table. I did too. Don't listen to the blowhard faggots that want to talk down to you because they have 2nd hand or 3rd hand experience with "trades", LOL. I know full well how fucking hard it is to choose between a minimum wage job flipping burgers, and working staffing or for cash in a skilled trade making more. It's easy to tell yourself
"maybe they'll hire me full time, eventually" or
"this is just to cover me until I find something permanent". But don't fucking kid yourself: you are then only one step above an illegal hanging drywall, and those employers will try to fuck you over in exactly the same ways. It's a fucking dead end. They aren't going to tell you when they hire you that they only need you for 2 weeks, and when that 2 weeks is up, then it's
"Oh, Bob, I'm terribly sorry, but we have to let you go, because [reasons]". 99% of the time, that's bullshit. Avoid this shit at all costs.
Moonarchia is right about ignoring 'previous work experience'. A lot of people actually weed themselves out of the process by not even bothering to apply because they don't have the experience. We have to tell students at my school this all the time. Especially people who just got a certificate or degree, and then come back to complain that all the jobs they're looking at want prior experience. Ignore it.
IGNORE IT. Don't apply with the mindset of
"golly gee, I hope they like my resume, and aren't mad because I don't have 3+ years experience", be like
"Fuck this place, I'm going to apply whether they like it or not"
