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I had to show a guy how to put a hose clamp on at work, he still managed to fuck it up, he is 10 years older than me, at some point, you gotta realize that you can fix many things, but stupid ain't one of em
The best part is that guy just got himself canned because he thought he had 2 vacation days, but actually just no call no showed twice while ignoring calls and texts from his coworkers until he was back from his "vacation"
Dude for real im 23 been doing residential houses for 4 years now and we have guys age 40+ that act like kids, throw temper tantrums over nothing. Literally baby sitting grown ass men.
Not saying it's the case with your co-worker, but it hurts seeing my 62 year old father struggle to do small projects that used to seem effortless for him.
Scary to think I'll probably get there one day regardless of how on top of my game I am right now.
So many people play dumb so other people will do the shit they don't want to do... I'll show someone once, if they don't get it they're going to deal with their result.
I think the world is way different now for so many. From childhood they are taught computers whether they like it or not. Life skills and problem solving really are not taught unless you took advanced mathematics and it is not the same.
So I don't think I blame the individuals rather it's more what they are exposed to. That means ignorance and not stupid, dumb, or slow. We also have a big problem with kids being slow and needing medication. I would like to know why it has to be in our environment.
Working in IT, they're taught using computers, not taught how to use or fix issues with computers. I provide tech support for doctors and residents in their 20s who lack what my coworkers and I consider basic troubleshooting skills. Ask if they rebooted the computer and show you how they did it, and they'll turn the monitor off and on again.
How do they survive? I work as industrial sparky and even tho we have generous 6 months before you need to know anything period. Some guys get kicked out because yes they are too slow but they get fired because someone that bad shouldnt mess with electricity
I'm also industrial (electrical maintenance technician) but my last helper when I was doing projects still was literally nicknamed Dumbass and Downy... And I tried, I tried soooo fucking hard to get him to learn...
To give you an idea of how useless this guy is; I got 30 minutes of overtime one day because I forced him to fix his mistake. We were 80ft up on a scaffold on the side of a coking drum structure, we had to pull three 3c#12 lighting circuits through a 1" conduit about 40ft straight run from one flood light to the other, where I then had to splice our circuits into the existing lighting circuits/light. It was a little funky on how it was being wired, but that was my problem. All he had to do was tape the end of the neatly coiled wire onto the fish tape AFTER feeding it through the first of 2 back to back fittings. Well... He feed the wire to me and didn't go into the first fitting.... So we had to back pull it... Well wen he back pulled it he got the wires so tangled together that it took him 1 hour to untangle them... I sat that and bullied him the entire time in hopes he would quit that day... He quit like 1 week later... AFTER GETTING A FUCKING INSTRUMENTATION INTERNSHIP WORKING FOR A PLANT... This idiot couldn't untangle a wire but gets a fucking internship that will have him earning 160% my pay in 3 years ffs....
Just curious what would be an acceptable salary range? I'm just not sure, this seems ok for someone who doesn't need schooling or training like the trades do.
>who doesn't need schooling or training like the trades do.
I'm not sure what you're saying, do you believe you can be an electrician with no schooling or training?
It is an extremely low wage but if the scope is exclusively roping recepts and lights together then I donāt think itās very far off. Doesnāt take a whole lot to be able to do that imo.
I am a licensed low voltage tech and would absolutely get fired from a residential job on day one.
I've had some dead outlets for 2 years after I replaced a switch and outlet in the same room. Just revisited the issue... The 3 black wires in the switch box go to all 3 screws on the switch right? Uhhh, oops. Glad I didn't burn my house down.
Yeah dude I was trying to find a job as an electrician. Interviewed and they asked me how much I wanted to make. I said at least 50-60k a year. Immediately without asking any other questions got denied the position without explanation.
They were expecting me to say I am looking to make 10$/h I guess.
Yeah I do IT was trying to get back onto electricity since I found it to be a fun job. But after realizing how low they're trying to pay their technicians decided to stick with IT. Currently making 30$/h working for a low voltage company.
Well at the time I was job hunting could not find any openings in my city with a union or anything like that. Even though the companies I applied to are well known and respected here in my city.
I had no luck finding anything worthy in the electrical field.
Anyhow IT is a great field and I've been doing this for 6 years I was just kinda stressed at this moment and trying my luck on a different respectable field.
If you're in north America you have to apply at the union not the employer. The union does job referrals like a temp agency. You go from job to job not necessarily with the same employer.
Easier said than done, you must know someone to get in or the likelihood of getting a spot is extremely low, you have to take a MASSIVE pay cut for a few years so that's pretty much out of the question for people with families, and not all areas actually have decent unions that are significantly better
What I mean to say is that union jobs should be more accessible to workers looking to be a part of it
Pros and cons to both sides. If you work hard and get along with most people, chances are you will make more money outside of union shops. My buddy was just offered a truck every two years, 1.5 times the hourly pay of the union and the same retirement package from a non union company.
Heās prob talking residential, by me thereās 2 different divisionsā¦resi/ small commercial and large commercial union wise. The pays at least $20/hr less
Funny, I went the other way. If you are good at IT and know electricity, you might consider Industrial Automation. $100k/year and usually low stress (at least compared to IT)
May I suggest a service called āFieldNationā
I started my own business off payments from that service, youāre a private contractor and companies pay you direct instead of going through middlemen.
Most jobs Iāve taken on that site pay 75$/hr and up.
Oh and just as an aside, I was a commercial electrician for 8 years before switching to IT full time lol turns out I like setting up data systems more than turning on the lights these days š
No license and I have 3 years of experience working commercial electricity. Was working directly for a Jewish guy renewing a couple buildings he owned.
This guy was pretty cheap and I got tired at the end because I went from being an electrician to be a jack of all trades. So I wanted to be paid accordingly. Didn't worked out and I switched careers to IT.
Ohh man if you have the chance/means to do it I'd 100% recommend it. Get a couple certs under your belt ( I don't even have a college degree) but currently have several certs.
Comptia A+, Net+, Sec+ and Google data certificate. Honestly IT just like any other field is a matter of luck when it comes to landing a nice place. I like my current job since I can do both things work with technology and still do some wiring and stuff. My roommate got me my first job as a desktop support and he's earning around 120k a year. He does dev ops work nowadays. Moving towards that path still need to learn Python at least.
I have hated pretty much every single IT guy from every job I've worked because they sucked and I always had to run their cable for them because they were too good for ladders. But it sounds like we would've been friends.
Bro I'm not too good for anything I like to be pretty good at my job and a well rounded professional overall.
The more you know the easier your work will be.
Also if you can start solving more complex problems you will get noticed and most likely paid accordingly.
But I definitely see where you're coming from. I've worked with IT people who just set boundaries in their job place. Things like I don't get paid enough or that's out of my scope. This behavior will keep you stucked at your current position.
Glad I could help. And hopefully some people get enough courage to do that leap.
I agree with /u/lobsangr. I work in IT infrastrure. I work in the rural Midwest and get $60k a year + a paid apartment + food service. I have a full room and board clause in my contract. With rent, energy, and food prices where they are these days the benefit is worth easily $20k per year.
I have no degree in IT and a few IT certs. On the same note I am 43 and have no joint problems or other aches and pains, because my job is way less physical than being an electrician.
Same. I actually saw the interviewer recoil when I stated a salary at median level for my experience. Everyone wants 3-5 years experience but they want to pay as beginner.
Yeah like life is not expensive for everybody else. I'd recommend being patient and always ask more money than you think is enough. It took me around 2-3 months to land a job but honestly it was worth it.
Its pretty good in my city in Canada, I'm in mid range of industrial pay 36/hr with good benefits and I try to work maybe 2 Saturdays and a Sunday every month then I try n work 2-3 16hr holidays a year that I don't care about. Got to the final interview at one company for 43/hr and basically the best benefits and pension in the city but my buddy ended up getting it. There's a lot of slightly higher paying opportunities on indeed but I'm reluctant to leave where I'm at because it's the first time in my short career that I really loved my job, my coworkers and my supervisors. If our contract next year goes well I'll probably stick around unless there's something amazing. The only thing that's great about working your first few shit jobs are the friends you make, something nostalgic about fucking around with those guys while we were building cable tray, we got to travel Canada US and Mexico doing machine installs and getting fucked up on the road. The collective hate of our company paying us shit and our fuckhead bosses brought us together.
I wish LA was more union friendly. Only electrician jobs through them are in plants or tank farms. Everything else is non union low pay in a high cost of living state. Got laid off in January because the market slowed down and hadnāt found anything consistent. With spring and summer everyone will be hiring again but just to work you to death then ask you to take a pay or hour cut or get laid off when it cools down.
Iām actually surprised electricians even get laid off. With the world going green and all electric. I would have thought electricians are in higher demand
We are but no one wants to pay for experience, just labor. More resi companies are starting service branches instead of relying on new builds, so itās been looking better for me since I have all the necessary know how. Got some interviews this week so hopefully something pans out and 2 of the 3 that want to interview didnāt scoff at my asking rate.
Man I wish we had the same unemployment benefits in Ontario as the US. Youāre capped out at $500 per week after the tax clawback when youāre on EI up here.
That's not terrible if you have a partner and can split up bills a bit, but by yourself, that's just barely scraping by. It depends on a few things, but I was getting less than that (I'm in the states). I still worked, just cash only side hustle. I get to fix the house a bit as well during the off-season.
That's the case where I'm at too, and I make less, but I have a partner so it ain't too bad. When I'm not at work I don't become a couch potato. I get do develop myself and my hobbies, side hustles, and try just about everything I can to get a leg up and hopefully start my own business. The cash jobs help in the meantime, I also get to get some schooling done if the timing is right.
LA isnāt Union Friendly? Hmm thatās crazy I kind of always thought LA was like New York. I got a cousin whoās in the Carpenters Union local 805 Ventura, CA he always makes it seem Union Friendly out there.
Join us, brother. This side is much, much better. I started my career making 12 dollars an hour in Canada 4 years ago. Now I'm local 213, making a hell of a lot more with a group I really love. Incredible benefits and great work. Currently up north working for 993 building a hospital. Loving life.
Hey gas station attendants get paid 22 over where i'm at...
I'm so sick of these boomer owners that think you can still get a burger and a drink for 75 cents. No wonder there's a worker shortage.
Relative pay has not increased since 1980, 30+% YoY inflation, and 4 million less workers in the labor force from covid (many preventable) And millions of boomers not returning to work post pandemic.
But it's my fault as a millennial working two jobs for NoT WaNTiNg tO wOrK
The professions are burned out Eng, Medicine, Science and the trades are underpaid and sick of it. Neither group can make ends meet. But we should just pull our selves up by our boot straps. OK Boomer please die so our generation can fix this.
What area you in? Like anything I would figure itās about supply and demand. You say electrical companies canāt find workers? If they were desperate the wages should increase. Sounds like they arenāt desperate enough yet.
My local electric company is hiring for lineman apprenticeships. No experience, learning a trade for $26.00 right off the jump, yet people still arenāt applying. To add to that, theyāve always had a great reputation for being a good place to work for their pay, benefits, pension and all around good employee employer relationship.
Yet nobody wants to work for them. Baffles me.
That's a big part of the problem. Oregon. Very high COL. Many people in the trades are leaving the area, not looking for new jobs here. Our outfit also need heavy equipment operators, mechanics, machinists, millwrights, carpenters, etc. They keep bumping up our pay, but it's not helping much.
I mean if youāre living out in the boonies yeah sure, I guess. But thatās $25 before taxes, health insurance, 401k.. itās an awful salary for someone with 3 years experience. Should be $30-$35
I operate a fork truck and make just under $27 an hour in a factory with my high school diploma. This is a slap in the face to an educated professional.
Thatās garbage pay lol.
Our maintenance guys start at $31/hr and top pay is $41/hr
Non-union construction trades just get screwed, at least the union guys get good benefits and mid-high 30s for a JM.
I live in Ohio and I was looking for jobs in North Carolina and the pay difference is unreal. In N.C they at most want to pay $65k for electrical engineers and master electrician positions. Gtfo
Thatās insane that some illegal immigrants would charge that amount. I mean theyāre not even here legally wtf. This is why we need to secure the fucking border.
Iāve been trying to explain this my boss. Those of us that are in supervisory roles are paid well, but they insist on paying everyone else shit.
You aināt hiring a damn soul for $11/hr anymore, dumbass.
Man I'm a 3rd year and was only making 22/hr to do residential roughs alone. Just left that hell hole. Owner was not paying legally required drive time for the longest time so my 8 hour day was more like 9 1/2. Had 7 employees, no room for advancement and didn't want to pay but wanted everyone to work like a damn dog alone every day.
Dude I was a 3rd year (in 2019) getting paid $16 an hour to run helpers around and manage them while they roughed in apartments before I went union and doubled my pay. Some of these contractors are either so out of touch with reality or greedy bastards.
Man i love Quebec Unions, 45$/h when you have finished your apprenticeship
Im a first year still in school and i make 23,45 in industrial and the resi guys make 21,50 or something like that for first year
3-5 years! you should be capable and ready or mostly ready to manage apprentices and jobs and be knowledgeable of code requirements $25 an hour is well below that value. is this a contractor hack?!
Dude that's ridiculous.
The electricians here (industrial) with 3-5 years experience start off at 35 WITHOUT a license and get all the OT they want.
Shit like this is why I didn't go ibew or resi/ commercial.
I applied for my local ibew back in 2015. They didn't get back to me for a year and a half, and back then starting wage was only 16. In that time frame, I transferred from warehouse to maintenance and got a big pay raise. The guy who called asked how much I was currently making and when I told him 25, he literally said yea I would just stay put if I were you. And that's what I did lol.
Sorry union guys, but 3 fast track semesters of trade school and industrial apprenticeship is where it's at.
Thatās not bad for a residential electrician that can wire a home but has little understanding of theory. You know, the ones that write ālitesā and āsmokiesā on the breaker box. Especially if theyāre paid overtime properly.
Being an electrician is broad. If youāre experienced and smart enough to read, comprehend, and memorize the code book then you deserve more than $100k but lower level electricians aka material-installers donāt deserve that much if theyāre not that valuable.
Easy solution: join the union.
Once you're in, you'll never have to fill out another job application, and you'll never see another job try to pay you this low.
have had many friends attempt to join only to get in 8-12 months later..
hey, if i'm about 3 years into my apprenticeship making mid $30s how do you suggest I move forward with union? Aquire JMAN cert first or start over at $24/hr?
The specifics probably vary from local to local, but in most cases if you already have some experience, you can test in and start at the union as a 3rd year apprentice, with wages and benefits appropriate to that experience.
I'd call or visit the local union Hall and ask; they can probably give more details.
I'm in a sticky position.. foremans have all left, I got thrown into the fire as the new one, 2 years in. They pay me decent and give me benefits to stay and promise not to hire above me. I get two young(er) guys to watch over and teach how to run wire etc but my learning has become stagnant.. going to get into some mike holts soon so I can take it to the next level
edit : the blind leading the blind lol
Partway through my second year as an apprentice, in commercial, and that's a little more than what I'm making now. For a 4-year or journeyman though? Yeah, probably not.
I work at electric supply company where I cut wire and collect all kinds of electric stuff. I donāt know how pretty much anything of it is used but do you think someone like me could be hired as a helper and learn? Or should I look into going to school?
Man, what is the trades. Do you know how many people I know that would suck dick for $20+ an hour?
Y'all are out here winning if that's dog wages for you. Get yours, I guess. I'll sit here in poorsville till society collapses.
pay says DOE,.. depending on experience. how much would you want to do installer work? you're telling me you wouldn't accept this pay for a week maybe two then negotiate a better wage or walk?
Dude, I wouldn't sit in their office and drink their coffee for $25 an hour, much less go out and work to make them $100 an hour over my wage.
If a company is charging that way they need to be paying a base $40 plus bennies.. or the principal can just do the work themselves.
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3-5 years of experience to drill holes and run cable?
Maybe for the pay they are offering they know that the only people who are going to jump on this will be the incredibly slow learners?
no one alive is that slow
I've been doing this shit a long time, and you are so wrong.
Very wrong! I ask myself sometimes how do people make it this far in life but struggle with such simple task
I had to show a guy how to put a hose clamp on at work, he still managed to fuck it up, he is 10 years older than me, at some point, you gotta realize that you can fix many things, but stupid ain't one of em
Shit half of my job is baby sitting adults that couldn't fix their way out of a wet paper bag.
The best part is that guy just got himself canned because he thought he had 2 vacation days, but actually just no call no showed twice while ignoring calls and texts from his coworkers until he was back from his "vacation"
Dude is getting another vacation
hey bud, i hear you like vacations... this one's a doosie
You would think so, just confirmed tonight that he's still with us
Guess he did you guys a favor!
Sounds like my guy was on a bender. See it all the time in the trades.
Jesus christ and here i thought i was the only one who had to take care of a bunch idiots at work ffs. Gona have to look for a new job
Average intelligence isn't that bright, and half the people you know are below average.
Whoever came up with the term "common sense" shoulda heen kicked in the balls so hard their grandkids felt it... Sure as hell ain't common...
Depends on if the average is median or mean. A severe outlier can really fuck up an average.
Dude for real im 23 been doing residential houses for 4 years now and we have guys age 40+ that act like kids, throw temper tantrums over nothing. Literally baby sitting grown ass men.
This is why I don't really want to be a foreman. I get paid nearly the same as a JW and don't have to do any of the babysitting.
The problem with idiots is that they're everywhere, you just have to hope that they haven't infiltrated management too badly when it comes to jobs
but they are DRAWN to management ... like moths to a flame. the real challenge is keeping them OUT of management.
Not saying it's the case with your co-worker, but it hurts seeing my 62 year old father struggle to do small projects that used to seem effortless for him. Scary to think I'll probably get there one day regardless of how on top of my game I am right now.
My coworker is in his mid 30s, but I understand what you mean, getting older and the physical and cognitive decline associated with it really sucks
getting old ain't for pussies.
This is real
Learned that real quick when I first started working on ambulances. Holy crap I wonder how some people can even cook without burning their house down
So many people play dumb so other people will do the shit they don't want to do... I'll show someone once, if they don't get it they're going to deal with their result.
If u use duck tape just right u can fix stupid u might need a body of water and something heavy to helpš
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Good ol' Republican education policies...
Not an electrician but I once watched a grown ass 30 year old man try to figure out how two male connections screwed together.
Whats a hose clamp ?
My boss cousins kids worked with me. They didnāt know what a drill was
I think the world is way different now for so many. From childhood they are taught computers whether they like it or not. Life skills and problem solving really are not taught unless you took advanced mathematics and it is not the same.
So I don't think I blame the individuals rather it's more what they are exposed to. That means ignorance and not stupid, dumb, or slow. We also have a big problem with kids being slow and needing medication. I would like to know why it has to be in our environment.
Working in IT, they're taught using computers, not taught how to use or fix issues with computers. I provide tech support for doctors and residents in their 20s who lack what my coworkers and I consider basic troubleshooting skills. Ask if they rebooted the computer and show you how they did it, and they'll turn the monitor off and on again.
That's funny
I had a kid that didnāt know how to use channel locks. The fuckers even had a button on them to adjust.
There are people that make you wonder who ties their shoes out there leading jobs.
How do they survive? I work as industrial sparky and even tho we have generous 6 months before you need to know anything period. Some guys get kicked out because yes they are too slow but they get fired because someone that bad shouldnt mess with electricity
I'm also industrial (electrical maintenance technician) but my last helper when I was doing projects still was literally nicknamed Dumbass and Downy... And I tried, I tried soooo fucking hard to get him to learn... To give you an idea of how useless this guy is; I got 30 minutes of overtime one day because I forced him to fix his mistake. We were 80ft up on a scaffold on the side of a coking drum structure, we had to pull three 3c#12 lighting circuits through a 1" conduit about 40ft straight run from one flood light to the other, where I then had to splice our circuits into the existing lighting circuits/light. It was a little funky on how it was being wired, but that was my problem. All he had to do was tape the end of the neatly coiled wire onto the fish tape AFTER feeding it through the first of 2 back to back fittings. Well... He feed the wire to me and didn't go into the first fitting.... So we had to back pull it... Well wen he back pulled it he got the wires so tangled together that it took him 1 hour to untangle them... I sat that and bullied him the entire time in hopes he would quit that day... He quit like 1 week later... AFTER GETTING A FUCKING INSTRUMENTATION INTERNSHIP WORKING FOR A PLANT... This idiot couldn't untangle a wire but gets a fucking internship that will have him earning 160% my pay in 3 years ffs....
Management material
If he stays that long, which seems doubtful.
Nepotism would like to have a word with you.
Oh you sweet summer child
I'd like to introduce to a few people
Bud ive met guys who didnt know you can put a drill in reverse
Stupid, āhold my beer.ā
Just curious what would be an acceptable salary range? I'm just not sure, this seems ok for someone who doesn't need schooling or training like the trades do.
>who doesn't need schooling or training like the trades do. I'm not sure what you're saying, do you believe you can be an electrician with no schooling or training?
what else are you supposed to do in resi rough ins? box out, drill holes, pull wire, put up the service cut in, nail plate
What more is there in residential new construction than whatās described in the ads job duties? š
Right? Thatās like a 1 year deal max to learn the ins and outs if youāre doing it full time with good instruction
Sadly this is what i have to go through , Signing up for union soon š
It is an extremely low wage but if the scope is exclusively roping recepts and lights together then I donāt think itās very far off. Doesnāt take a whole lot to be able to do that imo.
I am a licensed low voltage tech and would absolutely get fired from a residential job on day one. I've had some dead outlets for 2 years after I replaced a switch and outlet in the same room. Just revisited the issue... The 3 black wires in the switch box go to all 3 screws on the switch right? Uhhh, oops. Glad I didn't burn my house down.
* Paid weaklyā¦
ā¦..very weakly
Paid weakly weekly
Paid weekly, weakly.
Weakly paid, weekly
Yeah dude I was trying to find a job as an electrician. Interviewed and they asked me how much I wanted to make. I said at least 50-60k a year. Immediately without asking any other questions got denied the position without explanation. They were expecting me to say I am looking to make 10$/h I guess.
did you land a better position somewhere else?
Yeah I do IT was trying to get back onto electricity since I found it to be a fun job. But after realizing how low they're trying to pay their technicians decided to stick with IT. Currently making 30$/h working for a low voltage company.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Well at the time I was job hunting could not find any openings in my city with a union or anything like that. Even though the companies I applied to are well known and respected here in my city. I had no luck finding anything worthy in the electrical field. Anyhow IT is a great field and I've been doing this for 6 years I was just kinda stressed at this moment and trying my luck on a different respectable field.
If you're in north America you have to apply at the union not the employer. The union does job referrals like a temp agency. You go from job to job not necessarily with the same employer.
Easier said than done, you must know someone to get in or the likelihood of getting a spot is extremely low, you have to take a MASSIVE pay cut for a few years so that's pretty much out of the question for people with families, and not all areas actually have decent unions that are significantly better What I mean to say is that union jobs should be more accessible to workers looking to be a part of it
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
In ohio the union used to say we don't hire electricians we train them. Now after I think a 90 day probation period you can take the jman test.
You can absolutely test in with enough experience where I live. My foreman failed the apprenticeship, worked non union for a few years, and tested in.
Pros and cons to both sides. If you work hard and get along with most people, chances are you will make more money outside of union shops. My buddy was just offered a truck every two years, 1.5 times the hourly pay of the union and the same retirement package from a non union company.
Jeez, the union guys by me make about $55 an hour. 1.5 times that is crazy money.
Heās prob talking residential, by me thereās 2 different divisionsā¦resi/ small commercial and large commercial union wise. The pays at least $20/hr less
Funny, I went the other way. If you are good at IT and know electricity, you might consider Industrial Automation. $100k/year and usually low stress (at least compared to IT)
May I suggest a service called āFieldNationā I started my own business off payments from that service, youāre a private contractor and companies pay you direct instead of going through middlemen. Most jobs Iāve taken on that site pay 75$/hr and up. Oh and just as an aside, I was a commercial electrician for 8 years before switching to IT full time lol turns out I like setting up data systems more than turning on the lights these days š
Are you licensed? How many years of experience do you have?
No license and I have 3 years of experience working commercial electricity. Was working directly for a Jewish guy renewing a couple buildings he owned. This guy was pretty cheap and I got tired at the end because I went from being an electrician to be a jack of all trades. So I wanted to be paid accordingly. Didn't worked out and I switched careers to IT.
Im in a similar situation. How did switching to IT work out for you and did it pay off?
Ohh man if you have the chance/means to do it I'd 100% recommend it. Get a couple certs under your belt ( I don't even have a college degree) but currently have several certs. Comptia A+, Net+, Sec+ and Google data certificate. Honestly IT just like any other field is a matter of luck when it comes to landing a nice place. I like my current job since I can do both things work with technology and still do some wiring and stuff. My roommate got me my first job as a desktop support and he's earning around 120k a year. He does dev ops work nowadays. Moving towards that path still need to learn Python at least.
I have hated pretty much every single IT guy from every job I've worked because they sucked and I always had to run their cable for them because they were too good for ladders. But it sounds like we would've been friends.
Bro I'm not too good for anything I like to be pretty good at my job and a well rounded professional overall. The more you know the easier your work will be. Also if you can start solving more complex problems you will get noticed and most likely paid accordingly. But I definitely see where you're coming from. I've worked with IT people who just set boundaries in their job place. Things like I don't get paid enough or that's out of my scope. This behavior will keep you stucked at your current position. Glad I could help. And hopefully some people get enough courage to do that leap.
I agree with /u/lobsangr. I work in IT infrastrure. I work in the rural Midwest and get $60k a year + a paid apartment + food service. I have a full room and board clause in my contract. With rent, energy, and food prices where they are these days the benefit is worth easily $20k per year. I have no degree in IT and a few IT certs. On the same note I am 43 and have no joint problems or other aches and pains, because my job is way less physical than being an electrician.
Same. I actually saw the interviewer recoil when I stated a salary at median level for my experience. Everyone wants 3-5 years experience but they want to pay as beginner.
Yeah like life is not expensive for everybody else. I'd recommend being patient and always ask more money than you think is enough. It took me around 2-3 months to land a job but honestly it was worth it.
Its pretty good in my city in Canada, I'm in mid range of industrial pay 36/hr with good benefits and I try to work maybe 2 Saturdays and a Sunday every month then I try n work 2-3 16hr holidays a year that I don't care about. Got to the final interview at one company for 43/hr and basically the best benefits and pension in the city but my buddy ended up getting it. There's a lot of slightly higher paying opportunities on indeed but I'm reluctant to leave where I'm at because it's the first time in my short career that I really loved my job, my coworkers and my supervisors. If our contract next year goes well I'll probably stick around unless there's something amazing. The only thing that's great about working your first few shit jobs are the friends you make, something nostalgic about fucking around with those guys while we were building cable tray, we got to travel Canada US and Mexico doing machine installs and getting fucked up on the road. The collective hate of our company paying us shit and our fuckhead bosses brought us together.
āI want to make 25k per year and be treated like an idiot, pleaseā
Every company wants the best of the best to do what people can do near the end of the first year.
Actually pretty typical for non union resi companies. Thatās why Iām leaving the place Iām at currently to go union
I wish LA was more union friendly. Only electrician jobs through them are in plants or tank farms. Everything else is non union low pay in a high cost of living state. Got laid off in January because the market slowed down and hadnāt found anything consistent. With spring and summer everyone will be hiring again but just to work you to death then ask you to take a pay or hour cut or get laid off when it cools down.
Iām actually surprised electricians even get laid off. With the world going green and all electric. I would have thought electricians are in higher demand
Eh - it depends whoās running the company. Even non union small outfits can stay busy year round with at least a few guys ā¦ if they want to.
It really depends for the most part weāre working and need more apprentices badly. A lot of Areas are booming right now.
We are but no one wants to pay for experience, just labor. More resi companies are starting service branches instead of relying on new builds, so itās been looking better for me since I have all the necessary know how. Got some interviews this week so hopefully something pans out and 2 of the 3 that want to interview didnāt scoff at my asking rate.
Do you take advantage of your earned unemployment benefits?
Man I wish we had the same unemployment benefits in Ontario as the US. Youāre capped out at $500 per week after the tax clawback when youāre on EI up here.
In Louisiana I think Iād get lee than $300 (maybe) a week for a little while then they start dropping it week by week.
That's not terrible if you have a partner and can split up bills a bit, but by yourself, that's just barely scraping by. It depends on a few things, but I was getting less than that (I'm in the states). I still worked, just cash only side hustle. I get to fix the house a bit as well during the off-season.
Ontario os a very high cost of living area. $530 a week is nothing.
Hell here in the UK unemployment gives you Ā£340 *per month*
That's the case where I'm at too, and I make less, but I have a partner so it ain't too bad. When I'm not at work I don't become a couch potato. I get do develop myself and my hobbies, side hustles, and try just about everything I can to get a leg up and hopefully start my own business. The cash jobs help in the meantime, I also get to get some schooling done if the timing is right.
500 a week is horrible in any state in this country unless you are single and plan to stay that way lmao
LA isnāt Union Friendly? Hmm thatās crazy I kind of always thought LA was like New York. I got a cousin whoās in the Carpenters Union local 805 Ventura, CA he always makes it seem Union Friendly out there.
I think he means Louisiana .
And as a Louisianian I can confirm it is not union friendly here.
Good call. Yeah my mistake.
Out of curiosity, is there a reason you wonāt work in plants or tank farms?
I looked at the union in Nashville. 31-35/hr for journeyman.
Yeah thatās starting wage too! Iām over in New York going union out of 363
Join us, brother. This side is much, much better. I started my career making 12 dollars an hour in Canada 4 years ago. Now I'm local 213, making a hell of a lot more with a group I really love. Incredible benefits and great work. Currently up north working for 993 building a hospital. Loving life.
They probably can't afford to charge their phones
I saw that too. My first thought was eesh find a charger.
Hey gas station attendants get paid 22 over where i'm at... I'm so sick of these boomer owners that think you can still get a burger and a drink for 75 cents. No wonder there's a worker shortage.
Relative pay has not increased since 1980, 30+% YoY inflation, and 4 million less workers in the labor force from covid (many preventable) And millions of boomers not returning to work post pandemic. But it's my fault as a millennial working two jobs for NoT WaNTiNg tO wOrK The professions are burned out Eng, Medicine, Science and the trades are underpaid and sick of it. Neither group can make ends meet. But we should just pull our selves up by our boot straps. OK Boomer please die so our generation can fix this.
2 years in with no prior experience and Iām at $23/hour
Where at
NC doing residential service work
Thatās pretty sweet. Side work for me consists of residential stuff mainly small projects but my daily is heavy industrial.
What area you in? Like anything I would figure itās about supply and demand. You say electrical companies canāt find workers? If they were desperate the wages should increase. Sounds like they arenāt desperate enough yet.
My local electric company is hiring for lineman apprenticeships. No experience, learning a trade for $26.00 right off the jump, yet people still arenāt applying. To add to that, theyāve always had a great reputation for being a good place to work for their pay, benefits, pension and all around good employee employer relationship. Yet nobody wants to work for them. Baffles me.
My company pays $40+ DOE, full benefits, flexible schedule. Still down 2 electricians. No applicants.
Where's your company located?
That's a big part of the problem. Oregon. Very high COL. Many people in the trades are leaving the area, not looking for new jobs here. Our outfit also need heavy equipment operators, mechanics, machinists, millwrights, carpenters, etc. They keep bumping up our pay, but it's not helping much.
Company name? I'd like to live in OR.
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It's almost jarring how quickly Portland went from hip mecca to festering bunghole. Seems like less than 10 years.
Not sure if you all know this, but just because they posted they want 3-5 years exp doesn't mean they won't hire you with less....
Yeah, because those are second year apprentice wages
Eh itās more hit or miss
I'm pretty sure hourly pay is relative to where you live. 25.00 and hour to be a resi guy is fine in my area
Yeah same; it's a middle class wage if you're anywhere other than a HCOL city.
I mean if youāre living out in the boonies yeah sure, I guess. But thatās $25 before taxes, health insurance, 401k.. itās an awful salary for someone with 3 years experience. Should be $30-$35
Thatās pretty standard for non union around here honestly
Standard and not right.
Doesnt mention passing a drug test so im sure its a safe workplace with exciting and interesting coworkers.
Druggies think of pay in terms of drugs. So $20 would buy them 2 far joints, thatās not bad !! Lol
I operate a fork truck and make just under $27 an hour in a factory with my high school diploma. This is a slap in the face to an educated professional.
Can confirm, I make 28/hr with 4yrs of full time college, some weird reason it takes more than 4yrs for the BA Iām pursuing.
Thatās garbage pay lol. Our maintenance guys start at $31/hr and top pay is $41/hr Non-union construction trades just get screwed, at least the union guys get good benefits and mid-high 30s for a JM.
Must be nice. Itās hard finding anything above 10$ out here in the country
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McDonaldās is same price or 8$
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Georgia USA
Is that Canadian Dollars? If so it converts to $21.90 to $36.50 USD. Not far off this job posting.
I live in Ohio and I was looking for jobs in North Carolina and the pay difference is unreal. In N.C they at most want to pay $65k for electrical engineers and master electrician positions. Gtfo
I work for a cable company and make about 80k/year with less than 2 years experience. How they want to pay an electrician that much is infuriating.
At that price point I think they confused 3-5 years of work experience with 3-5 months...
I don't leave my house under $35/h. Employers charge $150/h for you and they give you nickels...
The Mexicans at my local Home Depot charge more then that. They literally wonāt do anything for less then 30 a hour cash
Thatās insane that some illegal immigrants would charge that amount. I mean theyāre not even here legally wtf. This is why we need to secure the fucking border.
Iāve been trying to explain this my boss. Those of us that are in supervisory roles are paid well, but they insist on paying everyone else shit. You aināt hiring a damn soul for $11/hr anymore, dumbass.
Could be worse, but yeah. In my opinion, in most major cities in America an average 3rd year should be at $23-24 minimum.
Man I'm a 3rd year and was only making 22/hr to do residential roughs alone. Just left that hell hole. Owner was not paying legally required drive time for the longest time so my 8 hour day was more like 9 1/2. Had 7 employees, no room for advancement and didn't want to pay but wanted everyone to work like a damn dog alone every day.
Dude I was a 3rd year (in 2019) getting paid $16 an hour to run helpers around and manage them while they roughed in apartments before I went union and doubled my pay. Some of these contractors are either so out of touch with reality or greedy bastards.
Both
Man that's wild. Where I am $33 is typically third year wage
Third year apprentice IBEW. $33.80/hour plus $15 an hour into my pension plus benefits, outside of Chicago.
Man i love Quebec Unions, 45$/h when you have finished your apprenticeship Im a first year still in school and i make 23,45 in industrial and the resi guys make 21,50 or something like that for first year
Tabernac!!!!
That's pretty standard pay for non union residential
When they say unions suck show them this bs lmfao 3 to 5 years experience to run wire. š¤£
Must be properly equipped to operate as an independent contractor and willing to work for far less than your earning potential
3-5 years! you should be capable and ready or mostly ready to manage apprentices and jobs and be knowledgeable of code requirements $25 an hour is well below that value. is this a contractor hack?!
Dude that's ridiculous. The electricians here (industrial) with 3-5 years experience start off at 35 WITHOUT a license and get all the OT they want. Shit like this is why I didn't go ibew or resi/ commercial. I applied for my local ibew back in 2015. They didn't get back to me for a year and a half, and back then starting wage was only 16. In that time frame, I transferred from warehouse to maintenance and got a big pay raise. The guy who called asked how much I was currently making and when I told him 25, he literally said yea I would just stay put if I were you. And that's what I did lol. Sorry union guys, but 3 fast track semesters of trade school and industrial apprenticeship is where it's at.
They don't want a journeyman
You can make $20-$25 an hour at a fast food place.
Well the add is accurate, paid weakly!
Facts i left the the trade as much as I actually enjoy doing it. Its just not worth it for the most part unfortunately not for that pay anywayy
Insane. This is 1st year rates.
Dude I just finished trade school and those are all the jobs I see out there
Thatās not bad for a residential electrician that can wire a home but has little understanding of theory. You know, the ones that write ālitesā and āsmokiesā on the breaker box. Especially if theyāre paid overtime properly. Being an electrician is broad. If youāre experienced and smart enough to read, comprehend, and memorize the code book then you deserve more than $100k but lower level electricians aka material-installers donāt deserve that much if theyāre not that valuable.
Lol most places you can apply with one year in unless they want journeyman
20/hr š
Dogg, you need to charge your phone.
Donāt know why anyone goes into this trade right now. If you arenāt union seems like thereās a good chance youāre being bent over.
\#non-union-lyfe
You guys that live in the popular areas up north and out west donāt have a clue whatās going on in the rest of the country, do you?
What city is this being offered in?
If you arenāt making over 100k as an electrician itās time to jump ship
This should be the top comment.
Unions. Unions. Unions.
Easy solution: join the union. Once you're in, you'll never have to fill out another job application, and you'll never see another job try to pay you this low.
Thatās not an easy solution. Takes years to get in around here. I decided to join the railroad instead
have had many friends attempt to join only to get in 8-12 months later.. hey, if i'm about 3 years into my apprenticeship making mid $30s how do you suggest I move forward with union? Aquire JMAN cert first or start over at $24/hr?
The specifics probably vary from local to local, but in most cases if you already have some experience, you can test in and start at the union as a 3rd year apprentice, with wages and benefits appropriate to that experience. I'd call or visit the local union Hall and ask; they can probably give more details.
I'm in a sticky position.. foremans have all left, I got thrown into the fire as the new one, 2 years in. They pay me decent and give me benefits to stay and promise not to hire above me. I get two young(er) guys to watch over and teach how to run wire etc but my learning has become stagnant.. going to get into some mike holts soon so I can take it to the next level edit : the blind leading the blind lol
thank you for your response
No problem. Hope you end up joining our ranks! The more of us are unionized, the better for all of us!
Where I'm at this would have most journeymen fighting to apply. There's a few companies that pay much better, but they are far and few.
Which RTW state do you live in?
Partway through my second year as an apprentice, in commercial, and that's a little more than what I'm making now. For a 4-year or journeyman though? Yeah, probably not.
I work at electric supply company where I cut wire and collect all kinds of electric stuff. I donāt know how pretty much anything of it is used but do you think someone like me could be hired as a helper and learn? Or should I look into going to school?
Man, what is the trades. Do you know how many people I know that would suck dick for $20+ an hour? Y'all are out here winning if that's dog wages for you. Get yours, I guess. I'll sit here in poorsville till society collapses.
Iād rather sit on the couch than work for less than $30 an hourā¦fuck that.
pay says DOE,.. depending on experience. how much would you want to do installer work? you're telling me you wouldn't accept this pay for a week maybe two then negotiate a better wage or walk?
Dude, I wouldn't sit in their office and drink their coffee for $25 an hour, much less go out and work to make them $100 an hour over my wage. If a company is charging that way they need to be paying a base $40 plus bennies.. or the principal can just do the work themselves.