Electrician
So you want to become an electrician and bring down the big bucks; it is possible but it isn't easy. Electrical work involves heavy lifting and pulling, it involves tedious work on small items, it requires patience and it involves thinking for yourself and being able to figure things out on your own. It is very hard work in any type of weather and it requires teamwork and cooperation between trades so check your ego at the door.
An aspiring electrician needs math, geometry is helpful to calculate angle of bends of conduit, addition and subtraction, fractions and decimals, load-bearing calculations and sheer loads. An electrician must calculate conduit fill according to the National Electrical Code (NEC), the electrician's bible, although there are tables already calculated for common questions fills. He/she must know the amperage loads of each wire size and remember that if there are more than three wires in the conduit, to reduce the allowable amperage by 20%. An electrician must be able to calculate voltage drop over a given distance and the maximum distance between pull boxes. All this and more is what you have to look forward to.
If you don't like the weather, want to stay dry and warm, then maybe you should think about another career because you'll be neither in the field. Electrical contractors have bid a set amount on doing a job and staying out of the weather isn't figured into the bid. I've had to work outside when it was 110 degrees in the shade, when it was muddy, cold, the wind blowing like a hurricane and during a blizzard, all while getting the job done. After 35 years in the trade, I can even say I survived four earthquakes, all in California. It takes raw nerves to stay below an earthern dam just after an earthquake and watch wet seams open up in its face.
As an electrician, you're expected to work with wire the size of a pencil lead or as big as an axe handle, some of the bigger sizes weigh as much as a pound a foot. It is your job to man handle the wire into place and land it into a lug as big as your fist. There might be four wires or a hundred wires either right in front of you or over your head in an awkward position. Some jobs, like wiring wind turbines, will require the electrician to work a hundred feet off the ground, perhaps in windy conditions. It still needs to be done and you're the one to do it, safely.
Today's electrician does more than wire office building or homes; he/she must be able to wire anything that an architect and electrical engineer can come up with. You must be a lighting expert, controls must come second nature and installing conduit in an esthetic manner is a must. First came fiber optics, then solar panels, wind turbines and anyone can guess what'll come next. If it has wires running to it, the electrician will be called upon to wire it, all according to the NEC. The next time you're out driving around, take note of just how many things need electricity; signs, traffic lights, street lights, landscaping lighting, decorative lighting and even the soda machine sitting in the gas station.
If, after reading this, you still want to become an electrician, then stay in school, pay attention in math class, and all others, and learn to have patience with all things. Its tedious work landing wires the size of a pencil lead when there are a hundred of them crammed into a small box. Breaker boxes can only have forty-two circuits, per the NEC, but you also have a neutral for each hot wire, normally and a ground wire. There can be up to one hundred and thirty wires in one box and each must be landed correctly, not a situation to be losing your patience. And when you're done, it should look like a piece of art.
Working outside is probably where most apprentices throw up their hands and walk away. There are numerous conduits that must be buried underground, up to four feet in some cases. There are labor-saving machines to help with the digging but in some instances, its pick and shovel work. The ground might be hard, the pick comes into play, or it might be soft and the more you shovel, the more that falls back into the trench or hole. Yes, I've broken a shovel or two in frustration. The conduit might be service feeds, up to five inches in diameter, it must be laid out straight and the ends glued together before the inspector looks at it, nods and say, "Okay." Then you have to put all that dirt back into the trench. But think of all that money you're saving by not going to a health gym.
So now, after five years of taking everything the job, the weather and your journeyman, has thrown at you, you've taken the journeyman's test and passed. You are now a licensed journeyman electrician. Now what do you want to do? Do you want to specialize in controls, lighting, generation stations, high voltage or trouble shooting? Specializing can hinder your career but it can also take off like a rocket. A few electricians have specialized in control work and demand top dollar for their time. Others have gone on to stringing high voltage wiring for power companies, while still others have decided on wiring transmission towers for telecom companies. It's all good work and dangerous.
Electricity is unforgiving. It doesn't care if you're new to the trade or an old hand. It doesn't care what your skin color is, your religion or ethnic background; it doesn't care if you're male or female, tall, short, skinny or athletic. Given one unprotected moment, it will reach and out and grab you, just giving you a wake up call if you're lucky, killing you if you're not. But after thirty-five years in the trade, now retired, for ten years, would I do it again? You bet, nothing is more rewarding than throwing the switch and seeing your work light up or run.
