This content provides a realistic, insider's perspective on a career as an electrician, detailing both the significant advantages and often-overlooked drawbacks based on 20 years of experience.
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after a short 5year stint as a mechanic
I decided to become an electrician 20
years later I have some things I'd like
to share welcome I'm Carl morowski and
this is the channel that helps you own
better look better and live better I
began my electrical apprenticeship in
2004 got licensed in 2019 I've worked in
residential commercial industrial I've
run Crews of 20 plus men and I've worked
in transportation as well recently the
trades have been promoted a lot and I
admit that the idea of hiring potential
with pretty low educational costs is
pretty enticing and while most people
point at the earning potential and all
that stuff very few ever talk about the
downsides but before I signed up for the
apprenticeship and got started I
actually found an electrician and I
asked him many of the questions that I'm
going to discuss today because I see a
lot of people today who are offering
career advice who have never actually
worked in the field and to me that's
absolutely useless so if you're
considering a career in the electrical
trade here are some of the things that I
would advise you on let's start with the
pros variety is number one now I think a
lot of people have an idea of an
electrician as somebody who's in a
building twisting wires together or
maybe running racks of conduit overhead
but I got to tell you it's way more vast
than that I found myself in the middle
of a state forest on the side of a of a
railroad in uh at night I have found
myself keeping my lunch safe from
snapping turtles in the middle of a
swamp electricity is everywhere and it's
probably going to be even more places as
more things go electric so you get your
choice of where you want to work if you
like to work Outdoors look into becoming
a lineman if you want to work in a
climate controlled environment look at
maintenance work and if you want to be a
complete hero look into Disaster
Recovery kind of stuff if you're a 6'4
300lb monster there are plenty of jobs
that could use your strength and
alternatively one of the best finishers
I've ever seen was a 98lb woman who
worked circles around plenty of the guys
who were on the same crew almost no
matter who you are or what you want to
do you'll be able to find something in
electrical that suits you number two and
the big one that everybody talks about
is earning potential and it is true you
can make pretty good money but it really
depends on location now according to the
US Bureau of Labor Statistics the
average electrician makes about $660,000
a year which is far above the median
average wage in the United States but
not all electricians are the same I
found that most of the time working in
residential pays the lowest at least it
seems to commercial and Industrial could
be somewhere in the middle and it seems
like linemen get paid the most I know
some linemen who have made multiple six
figures doing what they call chasing
storm which is basically going around
and restoring power to areas that were
hit by storms like any job pay increases
with required skill and potential danger
and let's not forget overtime and side
work so you can usually pick up some
extra money if you want to there are
plenty of weekends that I would bang out
a service with a buddy of mine and we
both have some pretty decent money for
it so so being able to earn a little bit
more money if you have to is a real big
benefit number three is demand I got to
tell you in my area with my company at
least what we do we can't hire people
fast enough and our Workforce is
definitely aging we don't have a lot of
younger people who are getting into it
so we are hiring people who before we
may not have given a Second Glance to so
what that basically means is if you're a
halfway decent worker or at least you
have the ability to be taught you could
probably get a job and keep it and I
have to tell you that in the last 20
years I've never been laid off I've
never had an issue with working I've
always been able to earn my 40 at the
very least and it's never been a problem
so depending on where you live of course
as long as you're a halfway decent
worker with a decent work ethic you'll
be able to find work number four job
satisfaction there's no doubt that there
is a big sense of satisfaction when you
flip the switch and the lights come on
or you're able to restore power to an
area that didn't have it before there is
definitely a sequence of events the
thing doesn't work or there isn't power
there you do your job and then there is
power there so there's a great result to
your labor uh one of the most rewarding
times of my career was after a storm
knocked out electricity in this area for
about 11 days and I spent that whole
week going around and hooking up
generators for different people just the
looks on their faces when they actually
had power and I got all kinds of cool
tips too like one guy gave me some maple
syrup from his farm and you know just
people were very thankful and I met some
really really cool people doing that
that was the kind of job satisfaction
that I have never found at the bottom of
a spreadsheet number five job security
Now your job is only secure as long as
you're a good worker if you're a slug I
mean there are there are people that my
company will never hire again and as
long as you find ways to keep yourself
useful and keep your hands moving you're
probably going to be okay and I saw the
housing market collapse of 2008 I
transitioned over from doing residential
to doing commercial there the demand
will increase and as long as you're
you're able to kind of think on your
feet and go where the work is you'll
probably always have work so the idea of
being laid off and then back to work and
then laid off and back to work at least
where I live it's only for people who
either want that kind of lifestyle or
other companies don't really want to
hire all right let's talk about some of
the cons to being an electrician number
one is physical labor you know it breaks
down your body so you have a finite
resource in your body and every day
you're using that resource and guys who
were in their 50s and 60s simply can't
move as fast as guys in their 20s I
certainly am feeling it now I really
don't want to be going up and down
ladders all day pulling wire overhead
that kind of stuff really beats you up a
lot more as you get older of course the
people who seem to be in the best shape
are the ones that take care of
themselves on the outside so if you're
somebody who is active and exercises and
eats well and all that stuff and lives a
more or less healthy lifestyle well
you're probably going to be okay but if
you're somebody who's having a Monster
energy drink for breakfast and drinks
yourself to to sleep at night yeah
you're probably not going to be in this
game very long but it's not as Bleak as
it may sound because most people
eventually will join the support team
that's behind the electrical
installation some will get into more
supervisory roles where they'll be
running Crews of men ordering material
kind of looking ahead and working on
coordination other people will go into
the office and maybe they'll work in the
cad department or maybe they'll become a
project manager or an estimator that
field experience is really valuable in
doing any number of those roles and most
of the people who are doing those jobs
are people who simply didn't want to
work in the field anymore number two job
site conditions now I got to tell you
there have been times that I've eaten
lunch in an air conditioned cafeteria
but honest to God that felt like a huge
luxury although most of the time big big
jobs now we'll set up some sort of
cafeteria with picnic tables and stuff
like that but for the most part in my
career I have eaten at my toolbox or in
my van or someplace on the job site down
in the utility room something like that
the porta potty situation is a whole
issue in and of itself it's disgusting
for the most part some nasty person goes
in there and usually messes it up before
anybody else gets to use it and if
you've never been in a porta potty on a
90° day when nobody's cleaned it for a
few days you know so it is getting
better on some job sites on mine however
it doesn't seem to be getting any better
and working on a job site can be pretty
rough I mean most of the time these
companies will have some sort of an
anti-hazing anti-harassment sort of
thing but but they have those same kind
of things in prison I believe so you
know just because they have the rules
doesn't mean that anybody's following
them now a lot of times this is good
natured and people are just ribbing each
other and that's sort of how you build
camaraderie but at the same time if
you're somebody who maybe is a little
bit more sensitive to that kind of thing
maybe the big job site isn't for you
number four the image of being a
construction worker matter of fact I had
a friend tell me recently that he was
having a hard time dating because every
time he would sort of get into the next
phases of a relationship and they would
talk about what they did for a
living usually the the girl wasn't
interested and I think that this is
changing a little bit more but he kind
of put it this way he said look if if
she has her choice between me and a
lawyer she's going to go with the lawyer
and I know that that's just totally
speaking in Broad terms there are plenty
of people who appreciate Tradesmen and
And Trades women but uh I think that the
image is still there of the dirty rotten
construction worker number five Moochers
all right now if you're an electrician
you're going to meet so many people who
have electrical problems is going to
blow your mind everybody I know since I
became a licensed electrician seems to
have something that needs to be done and
as soon as you introduce yourself to
somebody new and you tell them what you
do they will usually find a way to work
in oh you know I have this light that's
never worked right in my house now a lot
of times it's really hard to say no to
friends and family especially if they do
something for you and they're close and
everything like that by all means it's a
great way to also do a favor for those
who are close to you but there are
plenty of people who are looking to take
far more than they give yeah you're
going to find a lot of MERS that you
didn't realize were there before most
people are saying learn a trade learn a
trade it's sort of like that learn to
code thing but now it's more learn to
weld or learn to be an electrician the
earning potential right everybody sees
that the desire for workers all that
stuff is real but it's still a job and
it could still suck thank you so much
for watching again this is all my
experience and I hope that you got
something out of it whether you're
looking at this as a career or You're
simply exploring your options it's
always good to know the pros and cons of
a potential career and they're all
different so my experience is going to
be a lot different than maybe the person
you'll talk to but either way I
appreciate you watching thank you so
much to my patrons my supporters you
guys are the best I'll never be able to
thank you enough for your support you're
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