I made the cut to get an interview with a union for an electrician program. What kind of things do they want to hear from a prospective electrician. I'm genuinely interested and excited about the career but have never interviewed that well in the past. I don't really have any hands on experience. But do have a lot of electronics and telephone work experience. Couple of degrees EE and electronics. Any advice?
Read up on the works of Karl Marx
Charles Perry P.E.
An apprentice electrician? That means you'l be 1/4 notch above a common construction worker and will do all the dirty work the master electrician doesn't want to do. You will be crawling, digging, ripping up walls and putting it all back together again!!! You won't have to worry about dressing fancy!!!
It's been at least 5 seconds since I've asked a dumb question. Why, on God's Green Earth, would someone with your education want to be a wireman? Just curious.
Dean
Its a tough job market here in Portland, OR. It pays $33/hr when you're a journeyman. I've never been able to get a job as an EE.
Dean Hoffman wrote:
Do you make $33/hr. Thats what journeys make where I live. You make it sound like burger flipping. I'd really hate to hear your opinion of the people who work at McDonalds.
Garden Gnome wrote:
MONEY! Union electricians in my part of the country are making $3500/week plus on the Greely missile defense job in Alaska - And that includes free board and room. My Dad went on a Union strike in 1959 in Alaska to get free board and room on remote jobs and it has been that way ever since in Alaska. You guys that keep blasting unions have a real problem with the facts because you only know the rumors. I have been in the IBEW for 25 years now. It is about big money, big money, and big money. It was in the beginning and is now. We make our big bucks when we want to work and take time off where we can use the money at our leisure. We can travel to other locals and work for thousands of contractors without an interview and without looking for a job. Once you have that yellow ticket with Journeyman Wireman on it; it is the license for working out of any local in the USA. We simply go to the hiring hall and are called to go to work and the pension money is sent back to our home local. About the degree...Degrees are fine, but if one cannot find a job they aren't worth much. And the cost of going to school is so high now it is hardly worth the time.
We don't have much in the way of unions here in Nebraska. I think the IBEW is only in maybe the 2 or 3 largest cities. My brother knows a couple union electricians. They work up here in the summer and go south for the winter. They make enough money even with a lot of time off and can enjoy life some. I've seen a couple articles lately comparing jobs requiring degrees versus those that don't. It looks like maybe the money pendulum is swinging back to the tradesman. There's one guarantee with my job. It won't get exported overseas.
Dean
Thats what an apprentices do numb nuts. Its how you learn. Or did that one concept slip your brilliant mind?
Gerald you sound like someone I want to talk to. Did you read my original post?
Gerald Newt> > > >
$33 an hour - bullshit!
My top electrical mechanic makes $35 plus benefits -so it's not bullshit.
No BullShit at all. That is what they get.
Unemployed EE Guy wrote:
There are places that construction guys make this much. Its supposed to make up for the 6 months off per year.
Mostly its the result of the bizarrely named prevailing wage laws.
As an engineer (with no damned union dues), most certainly! ...and significantly more than that. With 52wks/yr with 5 weeks vacation, 12 holidays, "unlimited" sick time, any reasonable personal time, and all that company-man rot. No union needed, nor wanted, thankyouverymuch.
If they need a job and that's the best they can do, I respect them for working at the best they can do.
We are a non-union shop and my top man still makes well over 33$/hr w/ comparable benefits.
Ah, but the union-firsters will tell you that you only pay him that much because the unions force the pay up for all (forgetting the price end of the equation).
That's right; That's just one reason I believe unions have outlived there usefulness.
We are indeed on the same page here.
There is a union movement here because of some real, some perceived, issues. The union proponents haven't figured out that there will be *no* jobs if the union prevails. It's been an ugly time, but employees really must understand that there are no one- way streets.
"> There is a union movement here because of some real, some
In the end, the unions out-price themselves - managment slowly but surely outsources, sub contracts and off-shores the work. In the global competitive markets unions spell doom.
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