u/Rude_Ad_8714

Using this as a sound board for any input..

1st yr apprentice in my 30's a few months in now. My experience hasn't been quite what I had expected. I've always been mechanically inclined and already knew the tools and material so the work itself has gone well. Here's some of the 'problems' I've experienced so far.Placed with a smaller contractor and have worked with a JW/foremanwith 1 or 2 other apprentices. Other times I find myself working alone for several hours with nobody checking up with me which doesn't bother me entirely as I'm self sufficient but I worry I'm not learning enough along the way. And if those two scenarios are not the case it's a handful of us apprentices working together with no JW....blind leading the blind. We have a handful of Foreman's and jws that all came from a non union shop recently and some of their ways are bleeding over. Main foreman has openly said he thinks a lot of the union rules he thinks are stupid, any hand tools we may need we should buy even if not on the list and just because we work over 8 in a day doesn't mean we get OT and if we have an issue to come to him privately and 'see if we can find a way forward'. We neverseem to have enough or the right tools and materials on any job. I've tried talking to other apprentices and just get the 'im just glad to have a job' response and what gets me is even the jws we put calls in for say the same line about just being happy to get a paycheck. Thing is most of them recently came from non union shops too. My kneejerk reaction is maybe nationwide these test-ins need to have some union history and philosophy classes of some sort forced upon them.

It just seems like a lot of the reasons I decided to join union vs non are not panning out the way I thought. I'm going to see it through obviously but it's pretty disappointing that the 'brotherhood' I've experienced has no backbone and just happy to have a check.

Edit: I forgot to mention they have a shop kid working out in the field with us. Not a pre-apprentice or ce/cw or w.e.

So it's been just over 2 months and figured I'd share how it's been going.

I landed with a contractor that has a decent amount of people in other trades but a small electrical side (less than 20). I've spent a few days in the shop otherwise I have been out in the field. They have me jumping between job sites fairly consistently about a dozen or so. Exposed to blueprints my second week and pretty heavily since, sometimes even get a copy of a few pages to follow as I work. For the work itself....on a lift running pipe, pulling string & wire doing tie Ins for HVAC, ground rough, adding circuits to existing building, running communication and low voltage for HVAC systems. My second week I ran 65' boom lift by myself and get to operate a lull occasionally.

Work here is very independent....I'll get lined out for the day and I'll get to work "on my own" until I have a question or JW comes around and looks over my work. Only one job where there is several of us with a foreman the rest is typically just me and a JW.

Not the typical experience but it seems I'll get a well rounded education and not wind up a data center 'installer'.

Well boys I finally start tomorro, wish me luck. 124