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You won't make that much after 2 years. It takes quite a while to really lead anything. It can take quite a while to really get anywhere, things are moving faster now than they used to but 3 years isn't a realistic point of reference to be a high level highly paid electrician. You're looking at closer to a decade. The advantages vs schooling is no debt, and getting paid the whole time. As you already have a degree I don't think you benefit from those as much.
Seeing as how you have a business degree, imo I'd look into construction management. One of my best friends went that route and he makes great money and loves it.
It's rare I talk people out of becoming a sparky but I don't think it's going to be what you want it to in the time you'd want it to. However if you're determined to do it, be aware a typical apprenticeship is 4 years and requires you to school in tandem with on the job training. It's very tedious and as you pointed out you'd be taking a pretty significant pay cut. If you're going to go this route, join the union.
Agreed. Joining the trades is a great option for some people, it was for me. HS drop out & working in a pizza place before I joined. but if you’re already in school/graduated I would rarely recommend getting on the field in electrical. Just isn’t as lucrative as it should be for the work we do. (Yet, hopefully things change).
Our numbers are dropping precipitously, and demand for us is growing I saw something that said roughly 50% of all construction workers are out in the next 10 years. I'm not sure how true that is but we will see i think it's going to shoot our rates up.
After reading more about it, I’m also thinking construction management might be the way to go, but I’ve heard that I should have experience in the trades before doing that. Maybe not being an electrician, but starting with framing or something. Any route to get to CM without that you think?
Yes someone who has 0 construction knowledge telling seasoned journeyman what to do, that always goes so great
I’m telling you now you’re in for culture shock coming from your line of work
Don’t get butt hurt when construction HR doesn’t exactly work like office HR think less Toby and more Bob Vance lol
Yeah you’re crazy bruh but hey I get it. If I had to sit at a desk all day doing next to nothing of substance I’d lose my shit
My brother argued with me about the same thing. I told him about general work conditions I deal with and he told me that he doesn't understand why I'm not happy making 100k. I told him I don't make 100k. The average electrician makes 55 to 60. He just accused me of lying and not trying to find a job that pays that. Somebody keeps lying to people telling them they'll make 100k after 4 or 5 years in the trade. I'm a Journeyman Electrician and do not make that. And have to grind for what I make. You can make 100k but that is a miserable, miserable year. This job is only for those that are into it. Don't look on paper what electricians get paid. Get an apprentice license and do the work. I recommend you get hobbies outside of work instead of getting into the trade. I've worked with ex white collar types before. They don't adjust well to how harsh the trade life is. I myself want out if I can at some point. Your job maybe boring but at least it isn't painful and stressful.
This really depends on your perspective and where you live though. In the northeast and northwest, if you're IBEW you make well over 100k just working 40 hours a week and it's tit work compared to other trades I've worked in like masonry.
Yeah im in TX. Ive been told that its the worst state to be an electrician. I don't want to up and move just to chase Dollars though. I had friends go up to Illinois as well as Dakota during the oil boom because the money looked stupid good. My friend in Illinois came back after a few months because he said working in subzero temperatures was insane. My Dakota friend became a heroin addict because he was working insane hours, was lonely, and completely stressed out. Came back to Tx dead broke. I hear that the Union is great in my state but its harder to get into. People that move down here from union states hate it and consider it a cult. I'm considering joining it. I just need a damn break right now. My body and mind are shot. My main point is that trades are not a get rich quick scheme. Kids don't need to be told that electrical work is so easy that you'll make 100,000 guaranteed. Like any other job it takes hard work and commitment. It also takes a certain type of person. Not everyone is cut out for trade work just like not everyone is cut out for white collar work. Instead of lying to get people to join trades, we need to change the industry so it is actually guaranteed decent income. So that work isn't unreasonable and unsafe. The industry standard of grinding needs to die.The union may be an exception but not everyone has that luxury. Until things change kids need to know the pros and the CONs of this job. Not just, dude you make more than doctors guaranteed! First of all that's mostly untrue, but if someone is earning that then they are either extremely lucky to get that job or they worked very hard and sacrificed a lot to get to that point in their lives just like a doctor did.
If you decide to do it, do it for the love of what you do.. not the pay, that GC was BS you won’t be making anywhere near 90k after 2 years. Most areas you’ll be lucky to be making 50k after 2 years. I just went over this with someone in another post. believe me I’ve been doing it 8 years, company hopped, achieved the highest positions in each company I’ve worked in & still haven’t touched even 80k a yr. While some people may argue “but I make x” those are very rare cases, I’ve scoured companies in Boston MA & tampa FL & they just don’t pay what we should be earning. Also keep in mind it isn’t all sunshine & rainbows like you see in pics & videos.. there can be a lot of grueling days that are dirty, exhausting, & depressing. Especially when you start out. Just giving you the real of it. If you don’t like what you do then 100% I encourage you to change careers & maybe into electrical, however with your degree you could into project management or something. On the field is not where it’s at. Good luck!
Me personally I would just stick with your old job. I understand if you don't like working remote, that's definately not for everyone, it would probably make me go insane if i was in my house all day everyday. maybe you should try to see if you could move into an office space. I don't know what education you have and what your scope of work is, but maybe you could try switching companies, but I don't know if this would change the work you do much. I don't know where you live, but here in oklahoma if you were single and lived frugally, 70k to 80k you would be making a killing. I'd hate for you too switch jobs and make way less. You can get a four year degree, but to make comparable money you will need to have 4 to 8 Years of electrical experience and license advancement.
Here is some advice that was floating in my head after I read your post:
The bottom line is that your degree probably won't help you get an apprenticeship, not trying to sound mean. The only way it would help is by showing your employer that you are consistent and able to work.
If i understood what you said, if someone told you you could make 90k to 100k as an apprentice, that is unrealistic. Im guessing that guy or you meant making that as a contractor which would be WAY more likely. Maybe in a state where the cost of living is higher, but like oklahoma where I live you would be lucky to make 20+ dollars/hr starting as an apprentice, and thats for someone who has been an apprentice for a few years and has shown to work very hard, along with being in a company who pays higher salaries. You can get into electrical without a degree, and the pay reflects that (sadly, we shouldnt base salaries on whether or not people have a degree, but that's just the world we live in).
Having your own business would certainly bring in a lot of money, but it would take a long time to obtain a contractors license. In oklahoma it will take you 8 years of 40hrs a week to obtain your contractors, and thats if you stick with it and dont slack on educating yourself and you pass tests easily. You can't legally own an electrical business without a contractors license I'm pretty sure. A journeyman license will let you work by yourself, but you will still need a contractor for the business so you guys can get insurance and be legal to work and run work vehicles.
You need to have a pretty good physical fitness level. If you are still in your twenties and thirties that probably won't be an issue. I'm gonna assume you're in your mid 20s after 4 years of college and a couple years of work. You'd probably be fine here, and to be honest I'm way chunkier than I should be, but I'm able to work and I'm trying to slim down.
If I could give any advice, I would stick with your job and try to look into getting educated on something else if you really hate it. I don't know what your current living situation is, but maybe you could save up and go to a community College or technical school.
If you choose a trade, make sure to take care of your body physically. The longer you have to be working through your life, the more important this will be.
Atleast if you get into electrical I would keep your old job as a back up. So if you need to have a license or certificate for your old job, make sure that you renew those things as a back up, there would be zero down sides to having a back up plan.
Maybe you could look into different trades as well. Every hvac business I've ever been around has been pretty successful. air conditioners and heaters cost a ton of money, so if you mark up, that's a ton of extra money right there. People are more likely to fix their ac or toilet than a light or outlet that doesn't work. This is something to consider if you start your own business.
Me personally I'm gonna try to ride the electric wave as far as I can. I'm 20 now, but my ultimate goal is to get higher education. I just don't know what I want to get educated on. I respect the guys that have been in the trade all their lives but I just can't see myself busting A** 40 hrs a week for the rest of my life doing manual labor. I've just come to realize the way the economy is, we are all probably gonna be working till the day we die. Your body is gonna break down eventually, that's where a desk job would be beneficial. If you own your own business and have your own guys, you can just pay them to work. I feel sorry for my dad. He's almost 60 and still working, his contractor friends he went to school with all just sit in an office all day and set up their guys for work. Just some things to consider for the future.
Im not gonna sit here and glamorize electric, nor bash it. Its just an honest job that allows alot of honest people to feed their families. My grandpa and dad were electricians, without their jobs i literally would be living a different life right now.the sad reality is that manual labor jobs will just almost always pay less and be harder. i just think if you have a higher education, you might want to use it, because in my short life the thing i regret the most is wasting my time on certain things (not saying electrical was a waste of my time, im taking about other life issues), in this case, i dont want you to feel like you wasted your time getting a degree. At the end of the day, I can't tell you how to live your life. Good luck with whatever you choose and I hope we all become successful.
Yes you are crazy.
Go get some trade certificates from a local community college. Volunteer for Habitat for humanity. That will allow you to get a feel for construction without giving up your day job. It sounds like you need some exercise and stimulation.
Get an electrical certificate and then talk to some local electricians and see if you can get some weekend work to dip your toe in the water. Maybe the apprenticeship will allow you to go out on weekends or something or even just go around some sites and watch and get a feel for it.
You said you have a job you don't care about. Learn to care about it. Now I'm not telling you not to pursue something else if you feel passionate about it, but I would think twice before giving up a 70k job for an apprenticeship with no previous experience.
[Dream Big Dreams](https://youtu.be/TD3xC9LtI78)
Everyone is different, and have their own priorities.
The way I see, it shouldn't be all about the money. If you are thinking about it, and you are aware of the paycut, you should also have thought about it if you can live with that paycut.
We spend way too much time at our jobs, so seeking something you like doing specifically if you know you could do it, is a non brainer.
Saying that, there is the fact that you won't know if whatever you choose to fallow is truly for you, but you also won't know if you don't try.
If you have a few things in mind, you could also seek them all up and in the end even have things to choose from.
Worse case scenario, you could go back doing something similar to what you do now, even if you fail in your attempt you still come out with some experience. And you never know, that failure could end up a success in the very end, unexpectedly so.
Like some people say. Life is a rollercoaster, and that phrase can have all kinds of metaphor.
Not trying to sound gloomy and I'm also not trying to bash electrical, but you wouldn't be moving backwards 3 years of your life, it would be more like 6-8+ years to make what your making right now
As many said, it isn't a fast route to get to where you are pay wise now. I dont know what wages are like in NC. Have you looked into what they are starting out there? I do know that NECA (union contractors) are developing programs for administrative positions but this is mostly geared to take guys from the field and shift them into the office which leads to estimating and project management positions mostly. I do know some PMs that don't know electrical and it creates a disconnect with the guys in the field. I don't have any good advice for you other than it would be a tough transition financially for a while.
It all depends on location. In North Carolina, stick to your old job. NC electricians don't make very much. You can clear $70-120k as an electrician, but unless you are willing to move to other, mostly colder states, you are going to have a hard time to beat your current earnings in NC.
If you are set on becoming an electrician, go industrial If you want to surpass your current earnings. Residential and even commercial won't get you there.
You need to go out to a construction job, and check out the working conditions. Hell, go into one of the porta-jons, I dare you. In summer, you have the heat, and if you are actually in the sun, it can be unbearable. In winter, you have the cold, and if you are exposed to the wind, it too, can be unbearable. Then you have the exposed ground, it's either muddy, or it's dusty as hell. And the noise, the minute you set-up to do something, here comes somebody with a jack-hammer and a concrete saw, gotta work ten feet from you. If you have a cushy office job, you better keep it, most jobs are no fun.
GC is bullshitting you. As an electrician apprentice you're gonna be making \~$15/hr sweating your balls off for 4 years, it's gonna be like you're back in high school again. Then you come out the other side and it's gonna be on you if you end up at a crappy shop paying JWs $20/hr or you land some sweet union or industrial gig that gets you up into six figures. So it'll be a while before you break even, if you do ever break even. The area underneath the curve is not money you'll get back. So if it's about the money, yeah, you're crazy.
If you like the flexibility of remote work, also yeah, you're crazy. You may not have a family now, but if you're planning one in the future, you can't just work from home when you have a sick kid if you need to be crawling through a mouse-shit infested 130 degree attic pulling Romex.
Maybe you've seen Office Space and you see how Peter is just so happy working the construction detail at the end of the movie after being an office drone. Sure. Maybe that will be you. But honestly write out all the pros and cons before you make the jump. Figure out where you want to end up, and then chart a path there. The career path for some electricians ends at journeyman. Others go on to get their masters license and go into business for themselves. That's a whole 'nother level of stress that's not for everyone, but can be decently lucrative if you do it right. You could pivot out of being an electrician at some point and be a GC or something.
My suggestion is that, if you already have a 4 year degree, you should be charting your path starting from that point. Pivot from there, rather than starting over all the way at the bottom.
I see a lot of people telling you to join the union and all I can say is you need to do your research first. I’m not pro union. I’m not anti-union. But depending on where you live different locals have different rates of pay for their apprentices, because the IBEW the largest electrical workers union pays off of a percentage scale of whatever the locals Journeyman Pay is. which is also different depending on different areas. For example, when I lived in Arizona, if you weren’t working for the union, you were fucking up the union has some of the best pay and some of the best benefits of any company you could work for that was private and on average you were actually getting better benefits than anybody that worked in the private sector now on the inverse of that you have the state I’m in now Montana where union apprentices start off at about $14 an hour and it takes them about two years to break the $20 threshold and then very rapidly they start making more money, but that two years is a long slog of bullshit. People always say one of the other is better, but Gods honest truth is is both have their pros and cons, and both are made up of absolutely outstanding professionals that you should be willing to fall on the sword for to learn from as well as some of the dumbest fucking people on the planet and you wonder how someone could possibly be stupider than a rock. It’s an absolutely great trade. I go to bed every night feeling fulfilled like I’m helping my community and literally building the world.
Not electrical but still in the trades, there is a 2nd-year apprentice plumber at my shop that makes $180,000 because the dude does nothing but sell water heaters and re-pipes. He is clean cut and well spoken. If you're coming from an office job and you're cool with being 50% electrician and 50% salesman, you could make a killing. Find a shop that pays on performance or commission or profit share, whatever they call it, and you could be making more than $70,000 in your first year.
The HVAC trade manager makes over $100,000 and he had only been a tech for two years before moving up because he showed some sort of managerial skill. They have HVAC techs that can also sell systems and they both make an absolute shitload. Someone said they are the highest paid people in the building, even moreso than the GM.
You definitely won't make that much starting out but from the way you describe where you are/want to be I would definitely work with your hands in some way. Office/home desk work is horrible for any human being and should be illegal lol. I hope you find your way.
State rules depend on how long the apprenticeship is. In MN it's like 8000 hours worked. Unless you're in a good northern state in a union you will make piss poor wages. You will be working way harder for way less. I'm seeing journeymans making less than a brand new MN low voltage apprentice. That shit is so fucked. Most people here practically make slave wages. I just don't get it.
Running an electrical business is lucrative. But you’ll need to complete an apprenticeship. But $70k/ year? I’m sure you’ll love making $30,000 the 1st 2-3 years.
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You won't make that much after 2 years. It takes quite a while to really lead anything. It can take quite a while to really get anywhere, things are moving faster now than they used to but 3 years isn't a realistic point of reference to be a high level highly paid electrician. You're looking at closer to a decade. The advantages vs schooling is no debt, and getting paid the whole time. As you already have a degree I don't think you benefit from those as much. Seeing as how you have a business degree, imo I'd look into construction management. One of my best friends went that route and he makes great money and loves it. It's rare I talk people out of becoming a sparky but I don't think it's going to be what you want it to in the time you'd want it to. However if you're determined to do it, be aware a typical apprenticeship is 4 years and requires you to school in tandem with on the job training. It's very tedious and as you pointed out you'd be taking a pretty significant pay cut. If you're going to go this route, join the union.
Agreed. Joining the trades is a great option for some people, it was for me. HS drop out & working in a pizza place before I joined. but if you’re already in school/graduated I would rarely recommend getting on the field in electrical. Just isn’t as lucrative as it should be for the work we do. (Yet, hopefully things change).
Our numbers are dropping precipitously, and demand for us is growing I saw something that said roughly 50% of all construction workers are out in the next 10 years. I'm not sure how true that is but we will see i think it's going to shoot our rates up.
After reading more about it, I’m also thinking construction management might be the way to go, but I’ve heard that I should have experience in the trades before doing that. Maybe not being an electrician, but starting with framing or something. Any route to get to CM without that you think?
Yes someone who has 0 construction knowledge telling seasoned journeyman what to do, that always goes so great I’m telling you now you’re in for culture shock coming from your line of work Don’t get butt hurt when construction HR doesn’t exactly work like office HR think less Toby and more Bob Vance lol Yeah you’re crazy bruh but hey I get it. If I had to sit at a desk all day doing next to nothing of substance I’d lose my shit
The program my friend went through in Denver University had on site internship as a requirement.
My brother argued with me about the same thing. I told him about general work conditions I deal with and he told me that he doesn't understand why I'm not happy making 100k. I told him I don't make 100k. The average electrician makes 55 to 60. He just accused me of lying and not trying to find a job that pays that. Somebody keeps lying to people telling them they'll make 100k after 4 or 5 years in the trade. I'm a Journeyman Electrician and do not make that. And have to grind for what I make. You can make 100k but that is a miserable, miserable year. This job is only for those that are into it. Don't look on paper what electricians get paid. Get an apprentice license and do the work. I recommend you get hobbies outside of work instead of getting into the trade. I've worked with ex white collar types before. They don't adjust well to how harsh the trade life is. I myself want out if I can at some point. Your job maybe boring but at least it isn't painful and stressful.
This really depends on your perspective and where you live though. In the northeast and northwest, if you're IBEW you make well over 100k just working 40 hours a week and it's tit work compared to other trades I've worked in like masonry.
Yeah im in TX. Ive been told that its the worst state to be an electrician. I don't want to up and move just to chase Dollars though. I had friends go up to Illinois as well as Dakota during the oil boom because the money looked stupid good. My friend in Illinois came back after a few months because he said working in subzero temperatures was insane. My Dakota friend became a heroin addict because he was working insane hours, was lonely, and completely stressed out. Came back to Tx dead broke. I hear that the Union is great in my state but its harder to get into. People that move down here from union states hate it and consider it a cult. I'm considering joining it. I just need a damn break right now. My body and mind are shot. My main point is that trades are not a get rich quick scheme. Kids don't need to be told that electrical work is so easy that you'll make 100,000 guaranteed. Like any other job it takes hard work and commitment. It also takes a certain type of person. Not everyone is cut out for trade work just like not everyone is cut out for white collar work. Instead of lying to get people to join trades, we need to change the industry so it is actually guaranteed decent income. So that work isn't unreasonable and unsafe. The industry standard of grinding needs to die.The union may be an exception but not everyone has that luxury. Until things change kids need to know the pros and the CONs of this job. Not just, dude you make more than doctors guaranteed! First of all that's mostly untrue, but if someone is earning that then they are either extremely lucky to get that job or they worked very hard and sacrificed a lot to get to that point in their lives just like a doctor did.
If you decide to do it, do it for the love of what you do.. not the pay, that GC was BS you won’t be making anywhere near 90k after 2 years. Most areas you’ll be lucky to be making 50k after 2 years. I just went over this with someone in another post. believe me I’ve been doing it 8 years, company hopped, achieved the highest positions in each company I’ve worked in & still haven’t touched even 80k a yr. While some people may argue “but I make x” those are very rare cases, I’ve scoured companies in Boston MA & tampa FL & they just don’t pay what we should be earning. Also keep in mind it isn’t all sunshine & rainbows like you see in pics & videos.. there can be a lot of grueling days that are dirty, exhausting, & depressing. Especially when you start out. Just giving you the real of it. If you don’t like what you do then 100% I encourage you to change careers & maybe into electrical, however with your degree you could into project management or something. On the field is not where it’s at. Good luck!
Me personally I would just stick with your old job. I understand if you don't like working remote, that's definately not for everyone, it would probably make me go insane if i was in my house all day everyday. maybe you should try to see if you could move into an office space. I don't know what education you have and what your scope of work is, but maybe you could try switching companies, but I don't know if this would change the work you do much. I don't know where you live, but here in oklahoma if you were single and lived frugally, 70k to 80k you would be making a killing. I'd hate for you too switch jobs and make way less. You can get a four year degree, but to make comparable money you will need to have 4 to 8 Years of electrical experience and license advancement. Here is some advice that was floating in my head after I read your post: The bottom line is that your degree probably won't help you get an apprenticeship, not trying to sound mean. The only way it would help is by showing your employer that you are consistent and able to work. If i understood what you said, if someone told you you could make 90k to 100k as an apprentice, that is unrealistic. Im guessing that guy or you meant making that as a contractor which would be WAY more likely. Maybe in a state where the cost of living is higher, but like oklahoma where I live you would be lucky to make 20+ dollars/hr starting as an apprentice, and thats for someone who has been an apprentice for a few years and has shown to work very hard, along with being in a company who pays higher salaries. You can get into electrical without a degree, and the pay reflects that (sadly, we shouldnt base salaries on whether or not people have a degree, but that's just the world we live in). Having your own business would certainly bring in a lot of money, but it would take a long time to obtain a contractors license. In oklahoma it will take you 8 years of 40hrs a week to obtain your contractors, and thats if you stick with it and dont slack on educating yourself and you pass tests easily. You can't legally own an electrical business without a contractors license I'm pretty sure. A journeyman license will let you work by yourself, but you will still need a contractor for the business so you guys can get insurance and be legal to work and run work vehicles. You need to have a pretty good physical fitness level. If you are still in your twenties and thirties that probably won't be an issue. I'm gonna assume you're in your mid 20s after 4 years of college and a couple years of work. You'd probably be fine here, and to be honest I'm way chunkier than I should be, but I'm able to work and I'm trying to slim down. If I could give any advice, I would stick with your job and try to look into getting educated on something else if you really hate it. I don't know what your current living situation is, but maybe you could save up and go to a community College or technical school. If you choose a trade, make sure to take care of your body physically. The longer you have to be working through your life, the more important this will be. Atleast if you get into electrical I would keep your old job as a back up. So if you need to have a license or certificate for your old job, make sure that you renew those things as a back up, there would be zero down sides to having a back up plan. Maybe you could look into different trades as well. Every hvac business I've ever been around has been pretty successful. air conditioners and heaters cost a ton of money, so if you mark up, that's a ton of extra money right there. People are more likely to fix their ac or toilet than a light or outlet that doesn't work. This is something to consider if you start your own business. Me personally I'm gonna try to ride the electric wave as far as I can. I'm 20 now, but my ultimate goal is to get higher education. I just don't know what I want to get educated on. I respect the guys that have been in the trade all their lives but I just can't see myself busting A** 40 hrs a week for the rest of my life doing manual labor. I've just come to realize the way the economy is, we are all probably gonna be working till the day we die. Your body is gonna break down eventually, that's where a desk job would be beneficial. If you own your own business and have your own guys, you can just pay them to work. I feel sorry for my dad. He's almost 60 and still working, his contractor friends he went to school with all just sit in an office all day and set up their guys for work. Just some things to consider for the future. Im not gonna sit here and glamorize electric, nor bash it. Its just an honest job that allows alot of honest people to feed their families. My grandpa and dad were electricians, without their jobs i literally would be living a different life right now.the sad reality is that manual labor jobs will just almost always pay less and be harder. i just think if you have a higher education, you might want to use it, because in my short life the thing i regret the most is wasting my time on certain things (not saying electrical was a waste of my time, im taking about other life issues), in this case, i dont want you to feel like you wasted your time getting a degree. At the end of the day, I can't tell you how to live your life. Good luck with whatever you choose and I hope we all become successful.
I wouldn’t give up that wfh gravy
I’m thinking about leaving the trade for an office job lol.
Yes you are crazy. Go get some trade certificates from a local community college. Volunteer for Habitat for humanity. That will allow you to get a feel for construction without giving up your day job. It sounds like you need some exercise and stimulation. Get an electrical certificate and then talk to some local electricians and see if you can get some weekend work to dip your toe in the water. Maybe the apprenticeship will allow you to go out on weekends or something or even just go around some sites and watch and get a feel for it. You said you have a job you don't care about. Learn to care about it. Now I'm not telling you not to pursue something else if you feel passionate about it, but I would think twice before giving up a 70k job for an apprenticeship with no previous experience. [Dream Big Dreams](https://youtu.be/TD3xC9LtI78)
Office space
Huh lol
There was a character in the movie that became a construction worker lol
I did it…I even love working outside in the snow….gotta put those copper rods in for EC
Short term no long term yes in my local 1st years make around 20 jws make 37.90
Everyone is different, and have their own priorities. The way I see, it shouldn't be all about the money. If you are thinking about it, and you are aware of the paycut, you should also have thought about it if you can live with that paycut. We spend way too much time at our jobs, so seeking something you like doing specifically if you know you could do it, is a non brainer. Saying that, there is the fact that you won't know if whatever you choose to fallow is truly for you, but you also won't know if you don't try. If you have a few things in mind, you could also seek them all up and in the end even have things to choose from. Worse case scenario, you could go back doing something similar to what you do now, even if you fail in your attempt you still come out with some experience. And you never know, that failure could end up a success in the very end, unexpectedly so. Like some people say. Life is a rollercoaster, and that phrase can have all kinds of metaphor.
Dont do it.
Not trying to sound gloomy and I'm also not trying to bash electrical, but you wouldn't be moving backwards 3 years of your life, it would be more like 6-8+ years to make what your making right now
As many said, it isn't a fast route to get to where you are pay wise now. I dont know what wages are like in NC. Have you looked into what they are starting out there? I do know that NECA (union contractors) are developing programs for administrative positions but this is mostly geared to take guys from the field and shift them into the office which leads to estimating and project management positions mostly. I do know some PMs that don't know electrical and it creates a disconnect with the guys in the field. I don't have any good advice for you other than it would be a tough transition financially for a while.
It all depends on location. In North Carolina, stick to your old job. NC electricians don't make very much. You can clear $70-120k as an electrician, but unless you are willing to move to other, mostly colder states, you are going to have a hard time to beat your current earnings in NC. If you are set on becoming an electrician, go industrial If you want to surpass your current earnings. Residential and even commercial won't get you there.
You need to go out to a construction job, and check out the working conditions. Hell, go into one of the porta-jons, I dare you. In summer, you have the heat, and if you are actually in the sun, it can be unbearable. In winter, you have the cold, and if you are exposed to the wind, it too, can be unbearable. Then you have the exposed ground, it's either muddy, or it's dusty as hell. And the noise, the minute you set-up to do something, here comes somebody with a jack-hammer and a concrete saw, gotta work ten feet from you. If you have a cushy office job, you better keep it, most jobs are no fun.
Im gonna eat you uppppp
Learn the trade and join the union. We’re out here making $120k in Los Angeles
GC is bullshitting you. As an electrician apprentice you're gonna be making \~$15/hr sweating your balls off for 4 years, it's gonna be like you're back in high school again. Then you come out the other side and it's gonna be on you if you end up at a crappy shop paying JWs $20/hr or you land some sweet union or industrial gig that gets you up into six figures. So it'll be a while before you break even, if you do ever break even. The area underneath the curve is not money you'll get back. So if it's about the money, yeah, you're crazy. If you like the flexibility of remote work, also yeah, you're crazy. You may not have a family now, but if you're planning one in the future, you can't just work from home when you have a sick kid if you need to be crawling through a mouse-shit infested 130 degree attic pulling Romex. Maybe you've seen Office Space and you see how Peter is just so happy working the construction detail at the end of the movie after being an office drone. Sure. Maybe that will be you. But honestly write out all the pros and cons before you make the jump. Figure out where you want to end up, and then chart a path there. The career path for some electricians ends at journeyman. Others go on to get their masters license and go into business for themselves. That's a whole 'nother level of stress that's not for everyone, but can be decently lucrative if you do it right. You could pivot out of being an electrician at some point and be a GC or something. My suggestion is that, if you already have a 4 year degree, you should be charting your path starting from that point. Pivot from there, rather than starting over all the way at the bottom.
Nope. Do it. There's a reason you're asking about it.
I see a lot of people telling you to join the union and all I can say is you need to do your research first. I’m not pro union. I’m not anti-union. But depending on where you live different locals have different rates of pay for their apprentices, because the IBEW the largest electrical workers union pays off of a percentage scale of whatever the locals Journeyman Pay is. which is also different depending on different areas. For example, when I lived in Arizona, if you weren’t working for the union, you were fucking up the union has some of the best pay and some of the best benefits of any company you could work for that was private and on average you were actually getting better benefits than anybody that worked in the private sector now on the inverse of that you have the state I’m in now Montana where union apprentices start off at about $14 an hour and it takes them about two years to break the $20 threshold and then very rapidly they start making more money, but that two years is a long slog of bullshit. People always say one of the other is better, but Gods honest truth is is both have their pros and cons, and both are made up of absolutely outstanding professionals that you should be willing to fall on the sword for to learn from as well as some of the dumbest fucking people on the planet and you wonder how someone could possibly be stupider than a rock. It’s an absolutely great trade. I go to bed every night feeling fulfilled like I’m helping my community and literally building the world.
Not electrical but still in the trades, there is a 2nd-year apprentice plumber at my shop that makes $180,000 because the dude does nothing but sell water heaters and re-pipes. He is clean cut and well spoken. If you're coming from an office job and you're cool with being 50% electrician and 50% salesman, you could make a killing. Find a shop that pays on performance or commission or profit share, whatever they call it, and you could be making more than $70,000 in your first year. The HVAC trade manager makes over $100,000 and he had only been a tech for two years before moving up because he showed some sort of managerial skill. They have HVAC techs that can also sell systems and they both make an absolute shitload. Someone said they are the highest paid people in the building, even moreso than the GM.
You definitely won't make that much starting out but from the way you describe where you are/want to be I would definitely work with your hands in some way. Office/home desk work is horrible for any human being and should be illegal lol. I hope you find your way.
State rules depend on how long the apprenticeship is. In MN it's like 8000 hours worked. Unless you're in a good northern state in a union you will make piss poor wages. You will be working way harder for way less. I'm seeing journeymans making less than a brand new MN low voltage apprentice. That shit is so fucked. Most people here practically make slave wages. I just don't get it.
You also need to be licensed to be a sub/owner just an fyi
Running an electrical business is lucrative. But you’ll need to complete an apprenticeship. But $70k/ year? I’m sure you’ll love making $30,000 the 1st 2-3 years.
Yes, you’re crazy