r/ibew_apprentices

I’m a new apprentice to local 20, and my orientation is on July 21st. What should I expect? Am I basically gonna be digging trenches all day? LOL

From what I know, I'm joining a new build on a public school gymnasium.

I am not in the apprenticeship program I am CW1
I want to become as useful as possible while being a new CW. (I have to retake my test because I failed the test a 2nd time!!!) also not giving up getting in the apprenticeship program! I’m about to be dispatched to my first project , I’m nervous I don’t know what to expect but I am overly excited! With that being said I am trying to show that I can become and be useful while I’m at work so I think tackling bending emt and knowing offsets and certain formulas for certain situations will play an early amazing role in my journey. I was handed a 2005 uglys electrical reference book. But I have no idea what I’m lookin at. I also definitely need to spend a day looking at it.

If anyone has pointers leave em down below!

I making this post to inform all accepted applicants that it is customary to smoke as much weed as possible to celebrate your acceptance, and to make sure you're not tempted at all over the next 4-5 years once classes start.

- Sincerely, a guy who definitely isn't on the waitlist

TL;DR: I've worked the most corporate of jobs. From the "put the fire out" team at Ring and Amazon, and the team that launched the Apple Card at Goldman Sachs Bank. To say I hated my corporate masters is an understatement. Becoming a Union electrician was the best career decision I ever made, and I can promise you you're on the right path. Even if you don't end up working electrical.

Lately I've noticed a lot of posts on here expressing doubt, frustration, even rejection on the road to Journeyman. From current apprentices, yes, but also from hopeful applicants nervously waiting to hear back from their program. This is my apprenticeship journey so far, but really it's a message of reassurance to everybody in that boat.

In my early 20's it was call center central. $13–16 an hour, mostly second shifts. I got to party, stay up late, and blow my money on rent and whatever I wanted. At the time it fit my lifestyle, so it worked.

As the years passed and several call centers later, I graduated to higher caliber jobs that paid a little more. Through absolute dumb luck I landed a spot at Goldman Sachs Bank in downtown Salt Lake City in my midish twenties. My team was piloting the now famous Apple Card. I worked on the whatever-th floor of a downtown skyscraper with an amazing view, rubbed shoulders with people I never dreamed of meeting, and had a fully stocked break room kitchen. They paid me a whole $20 an hour and I was in heaven. I didn't realize it at the time, but corporate America really had me by the balls.

I was unsatisfied with my purpose, though. Didn't feel like I was achieving anything. So through destiny and a series of personal decisions, and a state away, I took a job at Ring, right as Amazon was acquiring the company. I got moved up to the "quick, put this fire out!" team, reporting straight to the founder. Handled some truly insane shit. But at the end of the day it was just another corporate job. Amazon, too, had me by the balls and I started to feel hopeless again.

I'll skip ahead to the apprenticeship.

My dad, a master electrician, finally talked me into applying to the IBEW apprenticeship through Local 354. The process was nerve-racking, like a lot of you have said on here. But it was the best decision I ever made. The application was typical. Apply online, jump through the 50 hooped process, and pray they bless you with a shot at the aptitude test. As a father of two toddlers, studying looked like "chug a Red Bull at 10pm and Khan Academy." I don't know what math gods I prayed to, but I passed the test, and later the interview. Many projects, sites, foremen, and school terms later, I'm well into the program and still going strong.

Moral of the story? The apprenticeship, and the trade at large, is a decision you make every day. There are going to be challenges, rejections, and frustrations that make you doubt your choice. But take it from somebody who's seen the other side: a trade skill, especially one backed by a Union, is the way to go for most. I'm not throwing shade at anyone who picks another path, especially non-trade ones.

The whole thing really hit me when a while back, working for Local 354, I got dispatched downtown to the same skyscraper I'd worked in at Goldman. It had flooded several floors from a burst pipe. I wound up wiring the exact office I used to sit in as a younger man in a shirt and tie. Same view I used to stare at every day, except now I was looking through new eyes, tools on my belt. That shit was a trip. That's the moment it all clicked.

So to the apprentices grinding through it, and the applicants sweating a callback: stick through it. It's worth it.

I work for the federal government in Arizona and make a pretty decent paycheck every 2 weeks (about $2500 with around 20hours of OT). ~$33 /hr - The work however is mind numbingly… even soul crushingly tedious. I deal with people all day long and treated like a villain by the public i serve and seen as disposable by my management staff.

Ive looked up the scales and just cant wrap my head around taking such a huge pay cut (ON PAPER).

Heres my question to any apprentices who aren’t too shy to share. What does your take home pay look like weekly and how many hours does that entail ?

Again, im in Arizona so local 640 info would be awesome but anyone else with info please feel free to chime in.

Hi, how feasible is it to get to job sites and classes without a car for the inside wire metro program? Thank you

does anyone know if local 26 decisions come out soon?

So work is slow right now for us but they won’t lay anyone off. I am genuinely 25 hours away from my next step and I’m tempted after being stuck on 40s for the past 5 month. Does anyone know of anyone getting caught up? Asking for a friend obviously

Edit: I appreciate yall for looking out, gonna do what’s right.

Hello everybody, a lot of people say the last year drags but honestly it's just been a constant build of anxiety for me. It went so fast and I passed all my tests and whatnot but I'm still deathly afraid of taking the state test. I've screwed myself extra because I've procrastinated to the point my test will be on the 2026 code cycle. My reasoning (excuse) is that my local prides itself on having a high turnout rate on the first try of the test and many people in my class took it several times just so they could stop showing up except for test nights. I thought that that was wrong being that the turnout rate is one of the last things my dying local has to compete with the nonunion electricians. So I think I've put extra pressure on myself in that I can't fail. Are there any tips for people that might've thought the same thing or put off taking the test for similar reasons? I still haven't even scheduled my test :/

Hey everyone, I just wanted to get some perspective from you all. I was working at a company called Urban Electrical (pre apprentice), and even though the pay was always late, I was learning a ton. I was second in command on the fire alarm system so the journeyman was in charge, but I was his right-hand apprentice. I was running suites, pulling hallways, and even guiding two other apprentices who were more senior than me. I was really growing a lot.
But after Urban pulled out of the project, I got laid off and got rehired by CEG (Centennial Electric Group). Now it feels like I’m back to doing more basic apprentice tasks—handling material, a lot of the grunt work. At least the pay is on time now, but I’m worried that I’m not learning as much. How bad is it to take a step back like this at this stage in my apprenticeship?
Would love to hear your advice thanks in advance!

Hello, I was accepted into the inside wire program this week I am trying to figure out how long it would be until I get a consistent schedule and income. Is the orientation period paid and how long is it? Do I enter a job site right after or is there a waiting period? I have to move in order to take advantage of this opportunity so I am just trying to guage things financially early on. Thank you!

I've been doing electrical for a while, but I've done only 2 start stop stations in my entire career and I never thought it would come to bite me. Could someone possibly help me by explaining how to wire them up in the most simple way possible?

Long story short, I’m on a pretty decently sized building but with a smaller crew. On this entire job , we have hardly any journeyman with the 60 or 70 so electricians, most of them being book 4 CWs & Helpers. On my crew, there’s 1 journeyman who already has a sub-crew of a CE and a helper, a couple CEs who have a helper, and me with a helper and a first year. I’ve been pretty much acting as the helper and the 1st years’ journeyman, laying them out and teaching them how to do pipe and all that fun stuff.

It is my understanding that what I am doing is essentially what a journeyman should be doing with me and maybe another apprentice or helper. Where do I draw the line of this is my job versus this isn’t my job? Please advise.

I’I’m planning to apply for the Inside Wireman Apprenticeship with Local 11, but I don’t have any documented work experience in the electrical field. However, I completed 128 university credits toward a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in my home country, and I have a credential evaluation for the coursework I completed.

I’ve heard that prior work experience earns points toward an applicant’s ranking. Would my education also earn points, or does it only satisfy the minimum qualifications?

Thank you

I rarely pick up calls from unknown numbers. If I was on the list for acceptance into the apprenticeship do they leave a message or is that it? So if I’m busy at work and don’t pick up I’ve just lost out on the opportunity? Thanks