0:02 after a short 5year stint as a mechanic
0:04 I decided to become an electrician 20
0:06 years later I have some things I'd like
0:09 to share welcome I'm Carl morowski and
0:10 this is the channel that helps you own
0:12 better look better and live better I
0:13 began my electrical apprenticeship in
0:17 2004 got licensed in 2019 I've worked in
0:19 residential commercial industrial I've
0:23 run Crews of 20 plus men and I've worked
0:25 in transportation as well recently the
0:27 trades have been promoted a lot and I
0:30 admit that the idea of hiring potential
0:33 with pretty low educational costs is
0:35 pretty enticing and while most people
0:38 point at the earning potential and all
0:40 that stuff very few ever talk about the
0:42 downsides but before I signed up for the
0:43 apprenticeship and got started I
0:45 actually found an electrician and I
0:47 asked him many of the questions that I'm
0:48 going to discuss today because I see a
0:50 lot of people today who are offering
0:52 career advice who have never actually
0:54 worked in the field and to me that's
0:56 absolutely useless so if you're
0:58 considering a career in the electrical
1:00 trade here are some of the things that I
1:01 would advise you on let's start with the
1:04 pros variety is number one now I think a
1:06 lot of people have an idea of an
1:07 electrician as somebody who's in a
1:09 building twisting wires together or
1:11 maybe running racks of conduit overhead
1:14 but I got to tell you it's way more vast
1:16 than that I found myself in the middle
1:18 of a state forest on the side of a of a
1:21 railroad in uh at night I have found
1:23 myself keeping my lunch safe from
1:24 snapping turtles in the middle of a
1:27 swamp electricity is everywhere and it's
1:29 probably going to be even more places as
1:32 more things go electric so you get your
1:34 choice of where you want to work if you
1:36 like to work Outdoors look into becoming
1:38 a lineman if you want to work in a
1:40 climate controlled environment look at
1:42 maintenance work and if you want to be a
1:43 complete hero look into Disaster
1:46 Recovery kind of stuff if you're a 6'4
1:49 300lb monster there are plenty of jobs
1:51 that could use your strength and
1:53 alternatively one of the best finishers
1:56 I've ever seen was a 98lb woman who
1:58 worked circles around plenty of the guys
1:59 who were on the same crew almost no
2:01 matter who you are or what you want to
2:03 do you'll be able to find something in
2:05 electrical that suits you number two and
2:06 the big one that everybody talks about
2:08 is earning potential and it is true you
2:10 can make pretty good money but it really
2:13 depends on location now according to the
2:15 US Bureau of Labor Statistics the
2:17 average electrician makes about $660,000
2:20 a year which is far above the median
2:22 average wage in the United States but
2:24 not all electricians are the same I
2:26 found that most of the time working in
2:28 residential pays the lowest at least it
2:31 seems to commercial and Industrial could
2:32 be somewhere in the middle and it seems
2:35 like linemen get paid the most I know
2:37 some linemen who have made multiple six
2:39 figures doing what they call chasing
2:41 storm which is basically going around
2:42 and restoring power to areas that were
2:45 hit by storms like any job pay increases
2:48 with required skill and potential danger
2:50 and let's not forget overtime and side
2:52 work so you can usually pick up some
2:54 extra money if you want to there are
2:56 plenty of weekends that I would bang out
2:57 a service with a buddy of mine and we
2:59 both have some pretty decent money for
3:00 it so so being able to earn a little bit
3:02 more money if you have to is a real big
3:04 benefit number three is demand I got to
3:07 tell you in my area with my company at
3:09 least what we do we can't hire people
3:11 fast enough and our Workforce is
3:13 definitely aging we don't have a lot of
3:14 younger people who are getting into it
3:17 so we are hiring people who before we
3:19 may not have given a Second Glance to so
3:21 what that basically means is if you're a
3:23 halfway decent worker or at least you
3:25 have the ability to be taught you could
3:27 probably get a job and keep it and I
3:29 have to tell you that in the last 20
3:31 years I've never been laid off I've
3:33 never had an issue with working I've
3:35 always been able to earn my 40 at the
3:38 very least and it's never been a problem
3:40 so depending on where you live of course
3:41 as long as you're a halfway decent
3:43 worker with a decent work ethic you'll
3:46 be able to find work number four job
3:48 satisfaction there's no doubt that there
3:50 is a big sense of satisfaction when you
3:52 flip the switch and the lights come on
3:55 or you're able to restore power to an
3:57 area that didn't have it before there is
3:59 definitely a sequence of events the
4:01 thing doesn't work or there isn't power
4:03 there you do your job and then there is
4:05 power there so there's a great result to
4:08 your labor uh one of the most rewarding
4:10 times of my career was after a storm
4:12 knocked out electricity in this area for
4:14 about 11 days and I spent that whole
4:15 week going around and hooking up
4:17 generators for different people just the
4:19 looks on their faces when they actually
4:21 had power and I got all kinds of cool
4:23 tips too like one guy gave me some maple
4:25 syrup from his farm and you know just
4:27 people were very thankful and I met some
4:29 really really cool people doing that
4:30 that was the kind of job satisfaction
4:32 that I have never found at the bottom of
4:34 a spreadsheet number five job security
4:37 Now your job is only secure as long as
4:38 you're a good worker if you're a slug I
4:40 mean there are there are people that my
4:42 company will never hire again and as
4:44 long as you find ways to keep yourself
4:46 useful and keep your hands moving you're
4:48 probably going to be okay and I saw the
4:51 housing market collapse of 2008 I
4:53 transitioned over from doing residential
4:55 to doing commercial there the demand
4:57 will increase and as long as you're
4:58 you're able to kind of think on your
5:01 feet and go where the work is you'll
5:04 probably always have work so the idea of
5:05 being laid off and then back to work and
5:07 then laid off and back to work at least
5:10 where I live it's only for people who
5:12 either want that kind of lifestyle or
5:13 other companies don't really want to
5:15 hire all right let's talk about some of
5:17 the cons to being an electrician number
5:20 one is physical labor you know it breaks
5:22 down your body so you have a finite
5:25 resource in your body and every day
5:28 you're using that resource and guys who
5:30 were in their 50s and 60s simply can't
5:32 move as fast as guys in their 20s I
5:34 certainly am feeling it now I really
5:35 don't want to be going up and down
5:37 ladders all day pulling wire overhead
5:39 that kind of stuff really beats you up a
5:42 lot more as you get older of course the
5:43 people who seem to be in the best shape
5:44 are the ones that take care of
5:46 themselves on the outside so if you're
5:49 somebody who is active and exercises and
5:51 eats well and all that stuff and lives a
5:53 more or less healthy lifestyle well
5:55 you're probably going to be okay but if
5:57 you're somebody who's having a Monster
5:59 energy drink for breakfast and drinks
6:01 yourself to to sleep at night yeah
6:02 you're probably not going to be in this
6:04 game very long but it's not as Bleak as
6:06 it may sound because most people
6:09 eventually will join the support team
6:10 that's behind the electrical
6:12 installation some will get into more
6:13 supervisory roles where they'll be
6:16 running Crews of men ordering material
6:17 kind of looking ahead and working on
6:19 coordination other people will go into
6:21 the office and maybe they'll work in the
6:23 cad department or maybe they'll become a
6:25 project manager or an estimator that
6:27 field experience is really valuable in
6:29 doing any number of those roles and most
6:31 of the people who are doing those jobs
6:32 are people who simply didn't want to
6:34 work in the field anymore number two job
6:36 site conditions now I got to tell you
6:38 there have been times that I've eaten
6:41 lunch in an air conditioned cafeteria
6:43 but honest to God that felt like a huge
6:45 luxury although most of the time big big
6:47 jobs now we'll set up some sort of
6:49 cafeteria with picnic tables and stuff
6:51 like that but for the most part in my
6:54 career I have eaten at my toolbox or in
6:57 my van or someplace on the job site down
6:59 in the utility room something like that
7:01 the porta potty situation is a whole
7:03 issue in and of itself it's disgusting
7:07 for the most part some nasty person goes
7:08 in there and usually messes it up before
7:10 anybody else gets to use it and if
7:12 you've never been in a porta potty on a
7:14 90° day when nobody's cleaned it for a
7:16 few days you know so it is getting
7:19 better on some job sites on mine however
7:21 it doesn't seem to be getting any better
7:24 and working on a job site can be pretty
7:25 rough I mean most of the time these
7:27 companies will have some sort of an
7:29 anti-hazing anti-harassment sort of
7:30 thing but but they have those same kind
7:32 of things in prison I believe so you
7:34 know just because they have the rules
7:35 doesn't mean that anybody's following
7:37 them now a lot of times this is good
7:38 natured and people are just ribbing each
7:39 other and that's sort of how you build
7:41 camaraderie but at the same time if
7:43 you're somebody who maybe is a little
7:45 bit more sensitive to that kind of thing
7:47 maybe the big job site isn't for you
7:50 number four the image of being a
7:52 construction worker matter of fact I had
7:53 a friend tell me recently that he was
7:55 having a hard time dating because every
7:57 time he would sort of get into the next
7:59 phases of a relationship and they would
8:00 talk about what they did for a
8:03 living usually the the girl wasn't
8:04 interested and I think that this is
8:07 changing a little bit more but he kind
8:09 of put it this way he said look if if
8:11 she has her choice between me and a
8:13 lawyer she's going to go with the lawyer
8:15 and I know that that's just totally
8:17 speaking in Broad terms there are plenty
8:18 of people who appreciate Tradesmen and
8:21 And Trades women but uh I think that the
8:22 image is still there of the dirty rotten
8:25 construction worker number five Moochers
8:28 all right now if you're an electrician
8:29 you're going to meet so many people who
8:31 have electrical problems is going to
8:34 blow your mind everybody I know since I
8:36 became a licensed electrician seems to
8:37 have something that needs to be done and
8:39 as soon as you introduce yourself to
8:41 somebody new and you tell them what you
8:44 do they will usually find a way to work
8:46 in oh you know I have this light that's
8:48 never worked right in my house now a lot
8:50 of times it's really hard to say no to
8:52 friends and family especially if they do
8:54 something for you and they're close and
8:56 everything like that by all means it's a
8:58 great way to also do a favor for those
9:00 who are close to you but there are
9:02 plenty of people who are looking to take
9:03 far more than they give yeah you're
9:05 going to find a lot of MERS that you
9:06 didn't realize were there before most
9:09 people are saying learn a trade learn a
9:10 trade it's sort of like that learn to
9:12 code thing but now it's more learn to
9:14 weld or learn to be an electrician the
9:16 earning potential right everybody sees
9:19 that the desire for workers all that
9:21 stuff is real but it's still a job and
9:23 it could still suck thank you so much
9:25 for watching again this is all my
9:26 experience and I hope that you got
9:27 something out of it whether you're
9:29 looking at this as a career or You're
9:31 simply exploring your options it's
9:33 always good to know the pros and cons of
9:35 a potential career and they're all
9:36 different so my experience is going to
9:38 be a lot different than maybe the person
9:40 you'll talk to but either way I
9:41 appreciate you watching thank you so
9:43 much to my patrons my supporters you
9:45 guys are the best I'll never be able to
9:47 thank you enough for your support you're
