My BIGGEST Struggles as an Apprentice Electrician 

Dude, that's aweful, sorry, brother. Thanks for sharing. At least if 1 person takes this more seriously, thanks to your comments, your suffering has blessed someone else. What state are u tuning in from?

@@The360Electrician I wouldn't want anyone to experience what a hazard like that can do to you. Inflamed nerves just constantly reminding me on some days while I continue treatments. Finally got through draining my spine again so I can walk a little better. You would think you can handle anything until something humbles you beyond belief. Massachusetts. Finding the right medical care for something like that has been difficult to say the least. As if it wasn't painful and troublesome enough, the first demratologist they send me to was a beutician. She wanted to show me how to cover my leg with foundation and apply steroids to it. The journey I was about to face I can hardly put into words. I don't want to rant on about it either but even our OSHA instructor survived a hazard that messed his back up. I just get restless when I have trouble walking. Thanks for reading.

This is so hard to read, I'm so sorry that you've suffered through that brother! Electricity is no joke and it needs to be taken very seriously. Even if we do everything right, we can still get messed up because of somebody else's mistakes/ complacency. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your story. We need reminders like this, and I think that your story, even for the few people who have read it in these comments, will help prevent others from being in a similar situation as it will create more awareness of the real dangers. Again, so sorry that you've suffered through all of that but thanks again for sharing this story.

Thanks for sharing your story. I’m sorry you had that experience . I took apart a night light when I was 9 grabbed the metal prongs and plugged it into the wall. That hurt like hell, I can’t imagine what over double that must have felt like. You’re one tuff sob.

@@f0xh0nd51 I was tough. Surviving it has worn me out and I will not just fade away without talking about what some of us were put through. I could tell you the other guy used to go to log tossing competitions and insisted an apprentice is useless if he can't bench 400lbs. I was half his size and even he got snagged by that neutral hard enough to acknowledge it was NOT SAFE and the engineer at the dcr was WRONG.

I told you I was hiring, but you chose Ritz vs. Holiday Inn....lol. That's a crazy story, next time you do the "ask ne anything" I'm going to ask you about it!

you lost me, lol. sounds good.@@The360Electrician

Stop complaining man, everything you listed doesn’t go anywhere even when you’re a JW. That's not what the video is about

you clearly did not watch the video.@@blessedmma9330

@@DailyElectrician I responded to your comment. If you are too sensitive and complain about everything, this trade is not for you

And Nashville is expensive. I'm guessing you live somewhere out of madison hermitage or murfreesboro

I just applied at 583 hopefully I get accepted.

I'm about to finish my 4th year. We're taking OSHA 30 as our last class. 6 weeks of OSHA one night a week. Can't wait to be a 5th year and get that raise. I'm a few hours away in Birmingham.

Thanks! Luckily, being in this trade and it being a normal thing to work at lots of different job sites with lots of different crews, that's something that you'll eventually get used to. You'll get to the point where you'll know that you're a great electrician and you'll gain that confidence just like I eventually did. Thanks for watching!

Hey, right on Robert! First, thank you so much for your service. I’m stoked to hear that this video could give a confidence boost! It can be pretty intimidating and tough at first, but just like anything, skill and knowledge will come over time. I appreciate you watching and wish you the best of luck in your future electrical endeavors ⚡️

Absolutely! I know exactly how you're feeling and how discouraging that can be. You have the right attitude though and things will get easier/ better over time! I remember going feeling overwhelmed and like I was never going to learn everything to suddenly one day realizing to myself, "Woah, I'm actually getting pretty good at this whole electrical thing." Stoked that you were able to start at such an early age my friend! You have a very bright career ahead of you! ⚡️

@@MadElectrician Well I’d like you to know that when I was researching and contemplating whether or not I wanted to do this whole electrician thing, I watched all of your videos about beginning the apprenticeship. It was a tremendous help, the way each Local does things can be a little bit different but I think that your videos were a great, accurate resource. Thank you for the work that you do and I would recommend your videos to anyone!

So Why isn’t there schooling to teach more about the trade so you aren’t green an at a disadvantage in this field.

@@D-rd5wfit’s mostly an internal struggle of feeling like you’re not gonna learn and feeling like you’re gonna continue to suck. but in reality, if you keep trying your best, listening to your journeyman, ask questions, and give it time, everything will be fine. most journeymen are patient and understand that everyone has to start somewhere. you can go to tech college or something before the apprenticeship if you really want to, but from my personal experience, i think it’s just best to practice and learn on the job and through the jatc schooling. the skills will come.

@@MitchH0098 I appreciate the reply. I’m Looking to apply just haven’t found the right location for me. I’m in the pnw.

Thanks for the sub my friend! I'm. glad you're enjoying the content! What is it exactly that you're searching for online? Maybe I can help.

@@MadElectrician where/ what companies I could look for to start an apprenticeship, starting out just as green n fresh too trying my best to study, but any advice or how to get a foot in the door into I don’t know if you applications for them I got denied but I went in person to two companies I know last year hired som fresh guys but I was turned down.

It's an interesting struggle for sure. I'll tell you what though, your apprenticeship will fly by and you'll eventually get to the point where you can become a leader. Make the most of your time right now and be receptive to new ideas/ new ways of doing things. It's crazy how much you'll learn throughout your apprenticeship. Wishing you the best of luck as you progress through your apprenticeship! Looking forward to seeing a comment from you on a future video when you let me know that you're a foreman some day! ⚡️

Nice, what state?

@@The360Electrician here at local 349 in Miami, Florida. Love your videos also

Get it! Have you watched my aptitude test video? Definitely do if you haven't yet. Wishing you the best of luck my friend! And yes, I love Jeff's videos too! @the360electrician

@@MadElectrician Yes sir. I watched mostly all your videos and I have been rewatching the portfolio video and many more.

@@dolphinboy5863 that’s great to hear. Reach out as you’re going through this process with any additional questions that you might have that my videos don’t answer 👍🏼

Good luck brother.

Nice, we have a lot of friends in NY!

Right on brother! How do you feel like it went!?

Thanks or reaching out! This is an incredible trade and becoming an electrician has been one of the best decisions I've ever made. There are tons of things that you can do as an electrician. Some are more physically demanding while others aren't. Your apprenticeship might be a little tricky while you don't typically have much of a say of what you're doing/ where you're working. Once you're journeyed out, you can pretty much do whatever you want, and as I said before, there are lots of less physically demanding things that you can do/ specialize in. You can also look into becoming a low voltage electrician too. They don't typically make as much, and their license is limited, but the majority of what they do isn't very physically demanding. Here's a link to a video I made where I cover the three types of different licenses you can get as an electrician (Inside Electrician, Low Voltage, and Residential): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KeU4jALVU5c.htmlsi=dma3ACAtL-JCGQyz Hope all of that helps. Feel free to reach out with any more questions! ⚡️

I've never been laid off, though it's always good to prepare for them just in case. You need to make sure that you have your finances in order, and the best way I've been able to do that is by following Dave Ramsey's baby steps. After paying off any debt you owe (other than your mortgage), he recommends saving up 3-6 months of expenses. This is a great emergency fund to help get you through a tough time like a layoff. You'll be receiving unemployment during a layoff too which will help you not drain your emergency fund so quickly. Easier said than done, I know. That's what I personally recommend doing though. Look into him if you haven't read his books or listened to his podcast. Solid practical advice that has stood the test of time ⚡️

Can you relocate or commute to a less-competitive local?

@@Environmenthrall yeah, I’m thinking of doing that since I’m hearing the work is kinda slow at the local I’m going for, and there’s only going to take a handful people. Thanks for the advice

I think if you made some right calls to certain people you might be able to expedite the process. It took me 5 years to get in because of certain things. I had failed the entrance exam. I failed to get a good score on my first interview. Covid. During the pandemic I ended up taking 2 college classes in order to get my second interview. During that time I ended up receiving my Electrical Craft Helper certificate from LADWP and that helped me with the remaining process. I called and called until somebody was able to take my paperwork and put it in the pile that was ahead of the list. I applied in April 2017 and got the call for the boot camp on January 2022. Don't get discouraged.

@@williamcruz7976 woah now that’s dedication. I’m assuming you are going for local 11 as well, congrats on reaching bootcamp. As of now I already have a Poe ranking of 73, so I’m unsure calling someone would expedite the process. So I’ll just have to wait it out. And best of luck during bootcamp, I heard stories of people getting kicked out for the littlest of things.

It can be a challenge for sure, especially as not every local is always bringing on new apprentices. I'd definitely first look into reapplying as re-interviewing will likely increase your ranking. Here's a few things you might consider doing. 1) Get your foot into the door by becoming a material handler. This is likely going to mean taking some sort of a pay cut in the meantime, but you'll already be a part of the IBEW Local so you'll have have a huge advantage over other applicants (if you re-interview after you've been working as a material handler for a little while). 2) Continue working your current job while making yourself a better candidate for the apprenticeship in your spare time. (Taking electrical courses/ gaining various certifications, getting more hands on construction/ electrical experience and documenting it for your portfolio, etc). The point of this will be so that when you go re-interview, you'll be the obvious choice for the apprenticeship. 3) Join the non-union and go through their apprenticeship (eventually transferring into the IBEW apprenticeship program as an apprentice or waiting until you get your license and then simply going to the IBEW Local union hall and signing the books and starting to work for the union that way). 4) You can always see if there are any other locals that aren't too far away that might be worth commuting to in order to start your apprenticeship with them. Basically, if you really want to make this happen, there's ways, it just might take a little bit of creativity and a lot of dedication. If you haven't yet, check out my How to Become an Apprentice Electrician playlist. I give tons of tips and advice on how to get accepted. The video quality isn't very good and my into was obnoxiously long, but the advice is still sound. Hope all of this can offer a bit of guidance! I'll be creating more helpful resources at MadElectrician.com, so make sure to sign up for my newsletter if you haven't yet. Maybe some of the stuff that I release soon will be helpful for you. Thanks for watching and wishing you the best of luck! ⚡️

Whoever is trying to start a business in any trade must have years of experience in that trade. So if you’re trying to start a business that does multiple trades you must have multiple years in each trade and thats a lot of years.

@@joeshmoe8952 ok and ? Lets saw i will start my business after having 10 years of experience then? Do you think expanding 12 to 15 tecs a year is possible?

I guess it would be biased for me to answer. But....I would do some coaching with The 360 Electrician. Lol just kidding... odds of being able to scale that fast will be a huge challenge. There is no way to answer that at this point until like it was said you have or get people around you with experience. I coined the tag line "Were all good at the trade, but we suck at business". To open shop I would argue being better at business (Sales,Management, Finances) is more i.portant then trade knowledge. I've been off the field for 14 years, yet everyday I get numerous calls from my Journeyman and Masters about what to do on the field. Why, I was a helper, apprentice, Journeyman, Master and before all that I owned 3 other businesses all not having to do with electrical. And that's still no guarantee. So in short if you have #1 enough capital, #2 Buy yourself enough time to ride out a few years of ups and dows, and #3 Get the right team together then maybe you have a chance. BTW each number has 300 other issues under them.

@@The360Electrician thank you so much for answering it definitely helped me I m thinking to start with HVAC cuz yk in Toronto Canada its cold asf so heating and cooling is in demand but yea thank you so much sir

@@The360Electrician how much capital do a person need any rough estimate?

You flatter me, Jeff! It was a mystery to me too before I got in! I make all of my videos for the Stephen of 2016, who was looking into joining the IBEW but didn't know the first thing about it. ⚡️