Thinking about becoming a Commercial Electrician, need advice from someone who is one.?

A little background, I'm 25 and live in the seattle area. I decided I wanted to join an apprenticeship program. I was going back and forth between being a Commercial Carpenter or a Commercial Electrician (not residential house work, but big building commercial work).





I don't know much about either, but I became a carpenter about 2 months ago, and I'm starting to think maybe I should go electrician instead, but I need some advice.





Heres the reason I went carpenter.


1. The starting pay was much higher $19.50 vs $14.50 (I need at least about $16 /hr to get by on)


2. It seems like (but please correct me if I'm wrong), there is more to learn as a carpenter, since you are building entire structures, rather than simply installing the wiring. It seems like other than running wires, hooking up breakers/circuits, doing conduit, etc. Seems like it would get boring.


3. I think there is more ';pride'; being able to point out all the buildings you ';built';, rather than just wired





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I think we hashed this all out a little while back for you. All the pros and cons are still the same as they were then. Do what you want to do. None of us can decide that for you. We laid out the facts, now it's up to you. But doing what you like best is important. Putting 40 years into something you don't like is not a good thing.Thinking about becoming a Commercial Electrician, need advice from someone who is one.?
i will speak from a non union perspective and from CA


out her the Carpenters union is stronger than the IBEW as you do see them mainly on high rise, but not much on low rise 2 story max tilt ups, as generally the rule of thumb goes, if no building steel ( with the Iron Workers ) in a building, then no trade unions generally on that project, and since so much of the commercial work out here is non union ( low rise 2 story max commercial parks everywhere ), if you are any good as a journeyman electrician or state certified electrician, you have plenty of work year round with the occasional slow down, ( though that's true of any construction trade field ), the nice thing about commercial is that you are somewhat immune from the residential ups and down that come with housing boom and bust cycles, since commercial TI work is always being done and it's not uncommon to re work a building some 2 to 10 years later as a new tentant moves in after the old one moves out, and this frequently involves gutting the old system out and redoing a new one, so it's a constant work cycle unlike residential work, where once the work is done you move on and rarely come back for add on work.


Part of what I like about is the challenge of newer more involved installations and realizing there are a lot of hacks out there and electricians who simply do not care and sometimes the challenge is just fixing their eff ups.


As a former carpenter for 14 years ( non union ) and my retired father who was 14 years union, then the rest non union, there is a whole generatio of carpernters who can be classified in 2 camps, those who know wood and those who know steel, it's rare that I run into any carpenter ( union or non union ) who knows both sides, old timers tend to be wood and may have been in steel framing side in the later years teaching thew up an comers a few things before they retire, but new younger carpenters are generally one sided, and of them you can even break it down to rough and finish carpenters and from their break it down to sub categories, like millwork, base n case, door hangers.. etc...I am glad my father taught me a lot as i can easily transition from one trade to the other, from one category to another with ease, today's carpenters cannot, they tend to be one sided, it seems gone are the day of the ';master'; carpenter who knew it all and was pretty darn good at it all, those who got that good generally turned non union contractor ( hence why you see so many unskilled union / non union hacks out there as there is a loss of mentors )





in the commercial side it too has been subdivided by the Union, you get low voltage, high voltage and then the lineman ( who I would really call high voltage ), from these you get residential, commercial and industrial, and if one generally you have a bit of a struggle going up the the electrical food chain, residential electricians have a tougher time in the commercial work at first, an the same goes for a commercial going into industrial world


there is plenty of hard work


plenty of brain work too


as once you know what you are doing


you realize how bad it is with commercial hacks that take short cuts or do not know the codes


is there burn out


yes


in both trades


but that's usually a personal issue and not generally a trade issue


for those who take pride in their work, they will always be in demand, as for the dopers, burn outs, flakes, etc will always be the industries bane of existence
I started in a plant that made steel products for comm. and industrial construction One day i saw a bid on the broad for an electrician helper Bid on the job and got it.The taught me how to run conduit pull wires at frist then I moved after a while to wiring the panels. All under eyes of the masters. Then they let me start trouble shooting problems with motors and controls about that time solid controls came in use the old guys where lost. Me being young then i would read all i could find about these motor controls so it got to the point all i did where motors and controls. If you kown motor and controls it all the comes pretty easy. I was 18 when I start have never been with out a job I'm 50 now and some what retried. I work if i want I also learned a/c and refrigeration which goes along with gas fitting also.work at getting as any certifications as possible you will never be out of work and will make good money.
I have been in the trade for 20 years mostly commercial and industrial. the best part is i have all ways had a job Do what you feel best at and you will be all right. money is not every thing