Electrician Training Q&A.

I had the chance the other day to interview an electrician who has been in the field
for a number of years so I thought that I would put it up here as a kind of question
and answer session.

What does it take to be an electrician?

Well you will have to be able to work with your hands; it is a hands on field, good hand eye
coordination that type of thing. Good color vision because of all of the color coding in the
industry. Be physically able to do the work though it’s not really too strenuous. And of
course be able to finish the training and pass the journeyman electrician training tests.
Also you have to be at least 18 a high school grad or GED and a year of high school algebra,
to get into the apprenticeship program.


Where can you get electrician training?

There are a lot of good electrician training courses out there that will teach you about
electrical theory, circuits, and troubleshooting, that kind of stuff. But you will still
have to get some hands on training somewhere, like on a job site, that’s why most
electricians start out in an apprenticeship program. As an apprentice you will get about
8000 hrs of on the job training and about 600 hrs of class room study, of course if you
really get interested you will probably do a lot more studying on your own just to keep up
with the things you want to know.

What are the different areas, do all electricians do the same type of work?

the basic electrical theory will be the same, and we all need some trouble shooting skills,
but the work and the environment can be quite different depending upon which area that you
are working in.

In the construction area the work will be mostly pulling in cable, and then depending on the
type of construction, installing cabinets, electrical boxes, terminating all of the
receptacles and switches, and breaker panels that kind of stuff. Maybe hooking up the
machinery if it’s a factory.

In the industrial area there are usually some installation jobs when new machines are put in
or moved, but mostly you will be troubleshooting the machines when something isn't working
like it should. With most of the new machinery being computer controlled it can really get
to be a complicated process.

A residential electrician is one who you would call if you were having an electrical problem
at home. He would troubleshoot the in home problems like blown breakers or wiring problems,
or if you needed a circuit added or an appliance hooked up, that kind of thing


Is this a good paying career, What is an Electricians salary?

Yes I would say that it pays pretty well usually the apprentice makes about $15 to $20 per
hr to start out and of course it goes up from there, a journeyman salary runs about $25 to
$35 pr hr. If you then go ahead and get your master license or contractors license then it
just keeps climbing up from there. I would say that in this trade, or actually most
apprenticable trades, someone with only a high school diploma can go on to make as much as a
lot of collage grads make.


What are the future prospects in this field?

I would think that the future for this field looks very good, especially for some one that
is not afraid to take off in a new direction and get away from the old wood burners, as it were. There will be an increase in the number of
electricians needed in the future just to maintain what we already have built. Not counting
the new construction, and if new construction falls off, there will still be a lot of jobs
there for electricians, the expansion just will not be there. It will however be made up in
other areas. With every one looking at renewable energy the need for green electrician
training will increase, whether that is solar electricians or electricians for wind power
generators, the future for electrician jobs is looking pretty good.