10 Year Review As An Electrician (Pros/Cons/Opinion)

all right everybody welcome back thank you so much for stopping by i greatly appreciate it so today's a special video it's going to be the 10-year review as an electrician and it's basically just going to be a pro and con list um some of these uh pros and cons are from a while ago so take it with a grain of salt um it was sometimes depending on the situation but still regardless things to consider as an electrician so um don't think i'm a snowflake or anything because some of these are really old but some of them are still valid so anyways um there's probably going to be at least like 20 pros and like 20 cons so it's not really uh one side or the other i'm not trying to convince you to become electrician or not to be an electrician i'm just giving you some of my thoughts over the 10 years some of the things that i have not liked some of the things that i have liked and some of the things that you might like so anyways let's just jump right into it let's not waste any more time and in no particular order i'm just going to start with the pros and like i said no particular order i'm just going to go through this list they're not in any particular order just off the top of my head and i did watch three of my old videos things that i like as electrician things that i don't like and the one-year review as uh or the four-month review as a union electrician so i compiled some of those together and i compiled some new thoughts recently and if i think of anything else before this video ends i'll throw that in as well so let's just jump right in the first pro is going to be leadership if you like leadership then you can become i mean this kind of goes along with something along down the line in the list but leadership if you like leadership then you can definitely progress and you can work your way up the ladder as an electrician and there's really no limit to how far that you can go as an electrician you start out as an apprentice become a journeyman you can become a foreman supervisor run your own business whatever you want how much how far you want to go as electrician is really up to you so that's really cool that you can basically go as far as you want or just be where you want basically kind of pick your field and i'll go over that one later being electrician is a useful life skill there is a lot of different benefits that you can do to that basically obviously earn your earn a living um oh my gosh i'm sorry um have a career and earn a living and also um as a useful life skill if people ever need help or anything like that um the word will get around that you're an electrician and people will call you and ask for help and stuff like that but uh you should probably not do side work um anyways um that brings me to my next question or my next point is side work side work can be nice i used to do side work um but sometimes it can go south i had something happen one time where's um anyways i won't get into that now but sidework has mostly been a really good thing or a nice thing to make extra money if people ask you or whatnot but anyways the next one is going to be the union i have enjoyed the union so far um and there's several different points about this but mainly higher pay the retirement and the pension benefits all the benefits as far as like health care and all that other stuff so that's been really nice having free retirement and pensions and stuff like that and making a great wage as well and then like i said there's so many different things that you can be in the field basically you can choose the field where you want to work whether you want to do residential commercial industrial maintenance prefab there's just so many options and there's probably more you can kind of you get to pick your job in the union of where you want to work at whether it's the job site the location um so yeah there's different things that you can choose as far as the hours as well so so many different options and like i already mentioned you can climb the ladder as high as you want the next great thing is there's really no school debt when you go to become an electrician um obviously depends on how you are how well how wise you are with your money um but as far as for me uh when i went through the non-union it was only about 4 500 to 500 i did not go through any i did not go through any pre-apprenticeship or trade school or anything like that and that's just total cost 4 500 500 for the full uh four to five years from start as an apprentice with zero knowledge uh no background experience to becoming a journeyman so that was really nice and i'm pretty sure if you go through the union i think the schooling is free as long as you work for five years or something like that afterwards or whatnot otherwise you have to pay them back something like that not sure and i already went through the union benefits that's really great and also the great the pay is great and the re-rates are usually um six months uh depends if you go through the union or not but i got basically a re-rate which just means that you get a raise every six months or every thousand hours that you work the union starts at a thousand hour re-rates and then it kind of goes up to 1500 hours and i think that's about the highest so it is a little bit longer in the union but you do make more money and you do have all the benefits and retirements right off the bat i believe and it does help you afford a great lifestyle i was asking a co-worker recently who has four kids and i said is it pretty easy to live off of electrician's wage with that many kids and she said that it was and i'm pretty sure her husband works as well but still that electricians make a good amount of money so you can afford a nice lifestyle and be able to live comfortably and the next one is things get better as an apprentice sometimes depends on where you work things can be kind of rough pretty rough you might be treated badly you might be in situations that you want to be kind of running around being the material handler kind of or just taking the items on the bottom of the list as an electrician so things get better once you become a journeyman then the apprentices kind of do the crappier work and then you can also even as in a journeyman you can become like a foreman and stuff like that and kind of run job sites and stuff like that if you want to if that's more your style and you would say that things get better as a post-journeyman as well if you want to do that and then also you can run your own company if you like responsibility if you want to make money that way you can do that like i said if leadership is your thing you can go as high as you want um i don't really need to talk about that one too much kind of self-explanatory but i also don't know much about on my own company because i don't have one so moving on to the next one you get to do something different every day at work so not necessarily every single day maybe you might be doing the same test for a week or two or three but something is always changing in your job so you get to do something different which is really nice so you're not doing the same thing um always it's always something new coming down the pipeline so one day you might be doing undergrounds the next day you might be boxing units the next day you might be trimming the next day you might be installing lights or receptacles switches stuff like that so it really depends on what your field is as well if you're doing residential or if you're doing commercial industrial i think i might have already said that or just doing prefabs everything is going to look a little bit different but things are always changing different orders are coming in different job sites stuff like that so pretty cool to always be doing something different it's nice for the change of pace um where were we um i already mentioned the retirement and pensions that's nice and the job site is pretty safe depends on what you're doing but if you're doing new construction the job sites are always pretty safe you're not really dealing with live units and stuff like that so if you're doing new construction you're starting basically from the ground up and then power gets turned on at the end of the project and that's the semi-dangerous part um or it could be but for the most part there's usually no power you're just installing the electrical and then at the very end um you just got to be careful when dealing when there's power gotta be careful when there's live circuits and stuff like that um not to be complacent or forgetful because that can cost you and next is pretty easy to find a job um i've lost my job several times been laid off and it's always pretty easy to find a job so whether you're non-union you can just call and find a job or if you're a union um i don't know what is like in your area but for me there is a website it shows you all the job listings and you basically just get to pick one and it says how many jobs are available so it's pretty easy to find a job i haven't had a problem with that next pro is taking pride in your work it is really cool to see your finished work and seeing something work so i personally that is one of the things that i've always enjoyed as electrician is seeing something finished and knowing that you did that and helped accomplish a project and seen some of your electrical work whether that would be flipping the switch and turning your lights on or whatever the case may be and then the friends that you make along the way it's always cool to make friends at a company or on a job site just the relationships that you build and have a good time man there is a lot of pros i still have like 10 more to go at least um and then seeing the technology grow over the years like when i started there's been a lot of technical advancements and that's always cool to see the trade always evolving and it's always evolving in your favor to make your life easier so there's always new technologies coming out to make your life easier which is really cool and then in one of my older videos i mentioned opening products and boxes is always kind of fun just unboxing stuff it's kind of like christmas but no one probably cares about that one the job security i mentioned it's always pretty easy to find a job and as a journeyman it's pretty easy probably to travel across the country and find a new job or switch to locals or stuff like that so not too worried about losing my job um and then another thing from an old video people think that you're smart like if you're helping someone out or helping someone fix something people rely on you and trust you on your knowledge so it's cool to feel kind of smart and watch and like blow people's minds with your knowledge of the trade and stuff like that so that's always cool and then you can always change and fix your own electrical so i've switched out many different fans added switches turned things into three ways in my house personally so it's always nice that you can always upgrade your own electrical and do your own work at your own house and then once you learn the trade it's pretty easy once you learn the concepts of how things are wired together and how all the circuitry works it becomes pretty easy and what was i going to say it becomes pretty easy and then you kind of just replicate that over and over so once you become like kind of in your niche you just base basically become like an expert at that and it's pretty cool and then it becomes a lot easier to do your job and you don't have to think as much because you already know it you do it every day in and out it comes like the back of your hand and then the next one the next pro is people understand that mistakes happen or at least that they should the company that i'm at right now is really great they know people aren't perfect and it's really nice to have that peace of mind that hey i'm going to make a mistake and the company is going to be okay with it that's part of the apprenticeship um and be an electrician is just knowing that hey i'm not perfect i'm going to make mistakes but that's what you're there you're there to learn and mistakes are going to happen so that's really cool that people understand that um and then another old video i mentioned enjoying new tools is always great and growing a collection and this was before i bought all these tools on the wall back here i've always enjoyed new tools and growing a collection and just having tools to be able to use personally that's always been fun and enjoyable and for me i think electrical is one of the best trades out there i'm not trying to argue that you should become an electrician or anything like that but if you're if you're watching this then you probably are already considering it i mean i think there are other good trades out there but i think electrical is probably one of the most practical and beneficial trades out there and second i would probably say would be plumbing and stuff like that moving on people are usually happy to teach you people are people are happy to teach you as an apprentice or at least they should be because i've heard stories of people not wanting to teach you but people should be people should be happy to teach you and help you grow in your electrical career i've i personally love teaching people and showing people tips and tricks and just uh watching the light bulb click inside their head has always been fun for me um and then spending time with co-workers whether that be over lunch or just like um carpooling two different places or stuff like that you grow close to the people that you work with and hopefully you work with some good people because that can be a con which you'll see here shortly still on the pros list i still have about six more um and just sharing funny stories and experiences with co-workers it's always fun funny to share stories of blowing stuff up or just sharing different life experiences stories or you know just growing closer to coworkers and becoming good friends i still talk to a lot of the uh not a lot but i still talk to many different old co-workers that i used to work with whether that be from my last company or from the non-union side you just grow close and stay in touch with people it's always great working for a great company changes everything so right now i'm working for the best company that i've ever worked for they treat us so amazing and it really makes a world of difference whether you are working for an amazing amazing company or if you are working for a company that treats you like dirt it really just changes everything and that is definitely a pro and you want to work for someone who is on your side and wants to see you succeed and treats you well and next um for me a pro has always been even if when i've lost a job um and a better job has always come along um it seems like every time i lose my job i get something better and at this point i really don't see how things could get much better than the company that i'm at right now but i've always gotten either a raise when i when i lose my job whether i get laid off or not you can always get a raise when you leave that was on the non-union side so i when i when i lost my job in the non-union i always asked for a raise when i got my next job um or people just or companies the the newer companies always treated me better there's always something that seemed like some something something was always becoming better the next job that i got so i was never really worried about it and like i said job security was always good and then lastly you get to work with strippers every day and that's just a joke but anyways moving on to the con list there's probably i don't know 20 cons but that man there seemed like there was like 30 pros if you want to count it you can but i don't know how you would do that okay so the cons first of all would be working in a cold environment so working in portland oregon you know it's kind of cold here half the year so um one time i worked outside on the rain for like six months straight and that was really really miserable um and that was a new construction obviously if you're doing um inside wiring that's not going to really be the problem but uh if you're starting a brand new job site working from the ground up um doing like uh apartments and stuff like that then you're gonna have to build a parking garage and there's gonna be no overhead so working out there in a cold environment was not fun and i do not like working on parking garages because of all the rebar and pouring the concrete and doing all the pipe work inside of the rebar is not fun i'm not going to try to complain too much but i am just going to tell you like it is whether that be pros or cons and right now we're on the cons so like i said working outside in the rain wearing your rain gear um you do get like pretty hot and sweaty and just wearing all the layers and then working at a company with with a super fast work pace is not fun it always gives you like anxiety stresses you out i haven't had to really worry about that one too much but some companies depending on the rush of work and how fast something needs to get done there can be some stress pressure that's not fun but for the most part that's been pretty good and then some job sites can be pretty far away i have drove as far as like 100 miles to a job site but usually those are paid with like stipends or something like that i forget the word but they give you money to like stay in a hotel or what not to compensate for traveling and then you like i said you stay in a hotel and then um you usually go to that job site for like four or five days and then you head back home afterwards so um so that is that is something that can happen that you can work far away one time i got flown out to the middle of the united states in chicago but for the most part i've been working in an area that is usually 20 to 30 miles away from my house usually 20 to 30 minutes is pretty basic um another uh another con is like i said working for a terrible boss or terrible company really changes everything um i stayed at a company that treated me really bad for way too long and uh i mean i was kind of just trying to get through my apprenticeship at that time but um it really makes the world of difference truly and you should not put up with a bad company if you are at a bad company you should try to leave as soon as you can if possible um and there is some teasing and swearing at job sites some people are just some people are just mean some people are just vulgar you know some people that's just the way that they are but for the most part um for the most part people have been pretty good and it's just the few outliers that kind of stand out and ruin that for everybody else but there's things to to be aware about and like i said um there's always something new to learn but that can also be a negative if you don't want to keep if you don't want to keep learning things i mean that can kind of be annoying to always have to learn something new but for the most part you get paid to learn so that's pretty nice other negatives are digging um it's never i've never enjoyed digging maybe you do but i personally haven't especially for three four weeks straight in a row depending on the company that you work for um usually that's more of an apprentice job doing some of the grunt work digging but um depends on the company and how many people they have journeyman might be digging as well and that's not always fun or it's never fun actually and then wearing hard hats that can get annoying but it is nice to work at job sites where you don't have to wear hard hats that's i mean expect to wear a hard hat if you're going to be electrician but it's just a benefit when you don't have to it can hurt your head after a while but if you get a comfortable hard hat it's not really the biggest deal um you get used to it especially if it's a lightweight one um and then another thing that i that you might want to be aware about is it takes four to five years to become an electrician so if you don't want to invest that amount of time into schooling and learning maybe this might not be the field for you there is just a lot of stuff to learn and the schooling can be pretty intense at some times so just something to consider another negative is like i said the dumb co-workers um there's not everyone is always going to fit your personality or the are going to be the co-worker that you want them to be so that's just something that you're going to have to deal with no matter what that's unavoidable there's always going to be someone that you might not like or disagree with or have a beef with and that's just the way it's going to be but hopefully you find a good company that you don't have to deal with that and next is the layoffs there are layoffs um job sites can end overnight or a company might just let you off if things are about to slow down so i have been laid off several times i've switched companies several times but like i said i've always had peace of mind knowing that there is a great job market out there and there's always work available depending on how soon that i want to go back to work and then another thing is that is negative is tools are expensive whether you're buying that out of your pocket which maybe you might not maybe your company buys you everything that you need including tools but tools can be expensive i personally know that as you already know i bought i bought and buy a lot of tools i got some tools coming on the way as we speak so i'll be doing some more tours about that anyways tools can add up if you are if you're personally buying a lot of tools but mostly you're just going to need your hand tools which might cost about a thousand dollars and they pay for themselves it's it's not a big deal but just something to consider but hopefully your company doesn't require you to buy your own personal tools for their benefit because that's just not right but yeah just something to consider and then paying for school can be expensive whether you go through a pre-apprenticeship kind of trade school which i don't recommend but it can add up if you are hurting for money but like i said about 5 500 at the most or if you go through the union i think it's free but something to think about there are sometimes heavy lifting but usually there's not mostly the heavy lifting is going to be heavy boxes of parts and stuff like that or giant spools of wire which are usually 500 to 1000 pounds but for the most part you should be able to move those with a team or a forklift or something like that depending on your environment and job site and the next electricity can be dangerous obviously it can kill you so that is something serious to consider but like i said for the most part you're going to be working at job sites if you're doing new construction without power but just knowing the risk and knowing what to do and what not to do around electricity don't be sticking your hand in your receptacles and grabbing them while the power is on okay i don't want you hurting yourself i don't want you dying because people love you okay next is going to be school can be hard like i already mentioned um sometimes it can be pretty intense sometimes there might be a lot of math sometimes there might be a lot of homework sometimes there might be a lot of reading so just things to consider and like i said four to five years to complete it um and then um one thing that i mentioned in an older video was fixing people's work um going back and fixing people's work uh if someone messes up maybe you mess up by going going back it's kind of annoying to fix other people's problems or your own but it is what it is people make mistakes but just try not to dwell on that too much and move on um where are we where are we um one thing that i mentioned before in a video was um one thing i that i really don't like is like in summertime sometimes the sheetrockers will turn on tons and tons of heaters to dry out their uh mud and it can get really really hot so it might be like it might feel like 150 200 degrees not like that's a real number but it would definitely be in the 100 degree range of having tons of heaters on inside of a building and not being able to do anything about it especially if there are windows that don't really open so sometimes the heat can be really really annoying as far as er and as well as working outside in the cold rain or snow and then i already mentioned the fast pace sometimes you might work at a company that has a fast work pace that can cause pressure or anxiety which is not fun ex and then another thing that i used to have to deal with which i haven't even thought about in a really long time because i've been at some great companies but if you work at companies that are less ideal sometimes it is important to remember everything that you do throughout the day because sometimes you might have to explain yourself if people assume things about you like i said before one thing was having to explain yourself if you pick up your phone too fast if you if you're doing something on your phone and someone calls you and you answer immediately someone will think that you're just on your phone all day not doing anything or um if you if you if someone messes up at a job site and you get blamed for it you have to remember what you did or did not do and it just becomes really really annoying and stressful to have to remember everything that you did throughout the day to kind of vouch for yourself or make a case for yourself so that's something that's not fun if you work at a company that's toxic and then another thing taxes in oregon if if you live here in washington and you work in oregon then you have to pay like another 10 oregon taxes so that's not fun um but this one is a big one poor communication from a company or co-workers or other trades but basically from a company one of the most annoying things is not knowing if you're working the next day or where you're working the next day if a company doesn't have great communication or um what was the other word communication or i guess just like putting a plan together that's annoying to know not know whether you're working at the next day or not or where at so that can be a big one for me working for a company that knows what they're doing where you're going is pretty big for me and then the last two the first one is not having the parts to do your work or for getting a part or tool i have worked at several companies where they don't stock the parts at a job site you have to ask for the parts every single day they have to order them and then if you forget something that's kind of your fault or if you don't have a tool provided for you or whatnot it just can get really stressful so it's just nice to work for a company that really knows what they're doing makes a huge difference and lastly it can be hard on your body as electrician depending on your body type and maybe some things that um your body does not do good at maybe you have a bad back already so maybe lifting heavy things would make it worse or maybe if you're doing residential maybe um you're doing a lot of plugs and you're on your knees a lot there so it can be hard on your body but there's also it depends on what you're doing and there are preventative measures like wearing knee pads or using a kneeling pad or whatnot so there are some pros and cons to that as well but anyways hopefully you guys enjoyed this video hopefully it's not like 20 minutes but it probably is anyways like i said hopefully you enjoyed if you did don't forget to drop a like and subscribe if you made it this far i'd appreciate it it would help the channel out and i'd love to see you guys back in the next video this video took me a while to think of all these things and i put in some time to make this the best that i could for you guys so i'd appreciate if you drop a like anyways hopefully you have a great rest your day and uh i'm gonna go finish watching the basketball game and uh that's gonna be it um i will see you in the next one god bless peace out thanks for watching bye all right guys so i made it through the whole entire video making the pro and con last and i did forget to give you my opinion about being electrician i mean hopefully you kind of got that through the pro and con list there are a lot of pros sometimes there's a lot of cons but for the most part i've always enjoyed being an electrician and i didn't start as an electrician because i wanted to do this my whole life it just kind of fell into my lap and i've been blessed with this job and um it's been pretty good for 10 years like i said there have been negatives but for the most part it's always been pretty enjoyable and would i do it again if i had the choice i would definitely do it again i think it is a great career and like i said um to be able to make anywhere from 70 to 120 000 a year just working 40 hours a week basically with a 4 500 250 500 investment and maybe a thousand dollars for tools i think that you can't really beat that you know it's definitely a great option it's if it's something that you like i mean don't become an electrician if you don't enjoy it don't do it for the money but um yeah i know definitely sometimes the money has kept me in it sometimes i didn't want to quit um as an apprentice but i'm happy that i didn't and that um i'm really happy with where i am at right now in my life and especially with my job um i'm really happy really really happy and yeah sometimes it can be like a chore getting up in the morning just sometimes it can be dreadful going to work depending on the company that you work for but right now i definitely do not dread going to work and i don't even care if i have to be there at six in the morning and drive uh 30 minutes or more both ways so um i'm really enjoying it but yeah like i said sometimes i have wanted to do different things just just knowing where i have been as an electrician you know thinking of all the things that have happened so yeah the only reason i would want to try to do something different is because not because i don't like being an electrician but because the interest of oh maybe i would like something better or um maybe something would be funner or something like that but becoming electrician would not regret it for a minute i think that's all i have for this video i mean i'm i didn't include everything i'm pretty sure i have forgotten stuff but i definitely wanted to give you guys my opinion um i would do it again and it is a great life choice if it's something that you want to do and are looking into i'd highly highly recommend it that's all i got for you guys anyways peace

Channel: DailyElectrician

Views: 19,791

Keywords: journeyman, electrical, apprentice, sparky, electrician, life as an electrician, electrical apprentiship, apprentiship, how to be a union electrician, electrician info, 10 Year Review As An Electrician, pros, cons, opinion, opinions, review as an electrician, electrician review, 10, ten, years, in the trade, thoughts, pros as an electrician, cons as an electrician, opinions as an electrician, should i become an electrician, non biased electrician, review, non biased, facts, truth, faq

Id: Cs7hQgi9kUM

Length: 32min 34sec (1954 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 06 2022