Wazup, you are putting everyone on the union hiring list in the same category, YOU ARE WRONG!!! You don’t even know the guy and you are chopping him up like that! You don’t know anything if that is the way you look at it! What is wrong with a career change at 40? It takes balls to change a career in mid life, my hat off to anyone who does it! I have seen guys in their 40's get into the trade and become supervisor as soon as they get their license because of their maturity and then get asked to estimate and manage projects.
Take it from someone who has been there for many years, there is allot of politics in the union, if you don’t believe that Wazup, then you are one of the suck ups that works weekends and evenings for straight time, setting us backwards from what our union brothers fought hard for, you probably break all the safety rules, maybe even a scab!! Remember lay-offs happen because a job may take 3x - 10x the manpower that the company will have on hand, so they call the union hall for more manpower. When the job is over the really good ones and the suck ups will keep their job, the remainder will go back on the hiring list; it is a bit of a tough life sometimes when you don’t gobble for your job.
Starting rate through the IBEW union (approx $18-$20/hr) is better than most average jobs out there and when you get your ticket the wage package is currently around $50/hr with awesome benefits, 10% VP, and about $40/hr on the weekly paycheque and don’t forget about making double the rate when you work overtime, I have had a few cheques come in for $2500/week after taxes, I worked one job in the 90's with heavy OT and most guys easily made over $50k by July.
Most of the construction trades pay similar, (masonry is physically very tough) but if you hook the right job in electrical such as fibre optics, fire alarms, security systems or building automation systems (BAS), the work isn’t that physically hard, but it is a speciality and you may be there till the very end of the job with allot of time inside out of the cold. New construction always starts outside. I liked hooking a new construction job in April/may and by winter the job would be closed in with heat blowing, really not as bad as some are making it sound here. And when it is cold you wear the right clothing.
Yes, there is allot of studying and the C of Q exam is not easy and the masters exam is a tough one also, and it should be that way to make sure only the capable ones succeed. Electricity can kill you in a blink of an eye. I would suggest taking an aptitude test to see if it is something you are mentally capable of doing. Get the Ohm’s law table and study the crap out of it, if you can understand Ohm’s law, then there is a possibility you can do it. Second year theory is not a walk in the park either, induction, capacitance, code books, some algebra formulas you will have to memorize.
I personally preferred construction rather than industrial plants, more diversity. In industrial you go to the same plant every day, same people, same everything, not my thing. When the construction job is over you get a fresh change of scenery. The best money was industrial construction, existing plants that are making changes, new machines, moving things around. This falls under construction and was a lot of fun and usually always inside and warm.
I got into electrical in my late teens and was licensed by 22, and I used the trade as a stepping stone to other careers in construction and if the whole economy goes to the crapper, I still have a trade ticket in my pocket that is worth a minimum of $50k per year. Dad always said there is nothing better than a trade to fall back on! Call the union hall for more info. Good Luck!!
