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View Full Version : Utility VS. Outside Apprenticeship.



shane
07-23-2008, 02:07 PM
Hey guys i'm kinda looking into the utility and outside apprenticeships right now and was just looking for some feedback or insight as to your experiences with the two. pro's or con's, anything would help. Thanks...

shane
07-31-2008, 02:37 PM
Come on guys, 146 views and nothing! I know some of you are app's what do you think?

grizzlybuck
07-31-2008, 09:14 PM
I started with a Utility as a clerk, making $6.35, read meters for a few years (no hiring into OH line or our Network department for 5-6 years due to the economy, think it was investors wanting more "return on their investment" and cutting staffing to and through the bone)

I took an ape-ship at 29. Now it seems because of attrition in the ape ranks (I was told by a ape school teacher that 70% of apes wash out in the first year) my company is looking for guys who went to a tech school for a year to learn the trade, the company gets guys with some basic electrical theory and an ability to climb as well as a guy who wanted the job enough to spend his nights and possibly his money to get started in the trade.

Help us out by giving your location, and where you would like to work and the guys from around there might give more help, good luck.

shane
08-01-2008, 08:54 PM
I live in San Diego, CA and it would be nice to stay somewhere in CA, but am definitely willing to travel. I looked at the utilities in CA and there are like 30 of them but it seems none are hiring right now. Anyone working in a utility in CA? If so how'd you go about getting in there?

Edge
08-02-2008, 06:55 PM
Alot of guys have different thoughts here bud... and it can be a touchy subject union or non....



I've worked both sides of the job utility and construction... I can say hands down in my opinion... the construction ape-hood will make you a better linesman... most utilities have their own specs and prints... if you work for that utility then thats about all you'll ever know.... cuz that all you "have got to know"... but as a construction linesman.... well ya gotta know all of it and be damned good at it or you don't get shit for respect... how ever if you can get a ute job grab it most construction hand spend their lives trying to get on with the local ute and spend a long time tramping.

hell I'm drunk but I hope you understand what I'm saying... theres pros and cons to both...

Edge

tell me I need to do more???
can you figure out how I can do less???
the Journey ain't easy but it's always worth it...

wtdoor67
08-03-2008, 09:25 AM
I think a lineman who has worked construction for a few years will usually be a more well rounded hand than one who has only worked only for his local utility. I have seen distribution hands when tasked with simple hi line restoration on a storm break do some pretty pitiful things. The same for people who only have transmission experience trying to do restoration on distribution storm work. You just have to try and get a fairly wide range experience in your life.

Got tickled once when a foreman walked up to another crew once and wanted to borrow their very tall bucket just to ding the static. The other crew foreman looked at him and after a few choice cuss words told him to break out his hooks. The guy didn't reply and just turned and walked away.

The best thing in my opinion is to work construction for 4 or 5 years and then get on with a utility. You will have experienced several ways to do things by then and be a pretty versatile hand.

Not a one trick pony like Swampfag.

IronLine
08-03-2008, 10:51 AM
I gotta agree with ya Door, just for the simple fact that like you said, you will be much more well rounded, and work with hands from all over, who have seen just about every issue there is out there, how to get around it and resolve it.
Only problem with wanting to get on with the Union Construction gig is...getting on with the Union Construction gig. I talked to the heads of the NW Line JATC program a while back, they kept pushing and pushing to get me to come interview and etc., then I asked how many hands they had on the out-of-work list. At the moment they have over 100 apprentices on the out-of-work list, and if you somehow magically get your number called, they expect you to report to work asap.
It'd be an awesome opportunity, if you could keep in work. That would be my only concern Shane is walking away from a steady job into potential unemployment.
Just my piece, I'm just a dumbass ape anyways :D

wtdoor67
08-03-2008, 01:12 PM
I guess my advice would to be make Journeyman anyway you can. Be it Coop, Muni. or whatever.

Most decent locals will make a concerted effort to make sure an apprentice completes his training and when work gets short they will ship him to whatever local happens to be busy. The funny part about it I have always thought is no matter what your back ground, when you get the magic of 4 years provable experience most locals will get you a Journeyman ticket. You may have to work on probation for awhile and test etc. but it will happen.

All locals seem to have different rules and practices in this matter. I have never really understood it. Also there are a lot of locals that are dominated by kin ship and brother-in-law stuff that should not be allowed, but I'm sure it will continue.

Despite a severe shortage of hands there seems to be many barriers out there and I think it's stupid, but I don't know how to get around a lot of it.

Most of the strange rules etc. eminate from the home town hands I think. I worked one place where it was thought that the new hire Journeymen were getting all the foreman jobs. Since the home town boys were in the majority they made a rule that you had to be in the local for a year before you were elgible for permanent foreman positions.

Another place started your seniority from the day you began your apprenticeship, which led to a lot of hands making foreman that were actually junior in experience to hands hired off the street. Led to a lot of tongue biting situations where real junior foremen were telling very experienced hands how to do things.

Another place used dock seniority as the gauge for foreman. A man with years in the co. and local who transferred from another dock might find himself junior to a man that had worked at that dock longer than he. Dumb, but that's how they do it. Led to the same situation as before.

shane
08-04-2008, 04:43 PM
I thank you guys for all of your input. Even the drunk input Edge! haha. kidding. Its all very helpful for someone trying to start over. I worked in a utility for a few years and long story short i gotta strt over again. So i'm just tryin to figure out what would be best for me.

Pootnaigle
08-04-2008, 07:09 PM
Back when I started ( at a utility) we did all the work Transmission, distribution, and urd. there were no contractors on our property,Because of this I was fairly well grounded .We also usta switch crews up on a reglar basis and thus had the benefit from working with many different linemen rather than with the same guys all the time.One guy did what worked for him and the next did what worked for him I was able to maybe take sumpin from each of em and decide what worked best fer me. and needless to say I watched several guys and decided immediately I may not know how to do it But I damn sure knew how not to do it.
Much later in life I joined the construction trade and while much more attention was paid to an apprentices bookwork They were somewhat handicapped by what they were allowed to do by employers.( My best guess is thats just in this area) And at the same time the utilities no longer do all the work or specialize in one or the other limiting the degree of training for thier newhires. And they now have less qualified and fewer Journeymen that are so strung out trying to accomplish their appointed tasks that they dont have time to properly train anyone.
So to answer your question no matter where you go if YOU dont have the desire and the DRIVE to learn all you possibly can from every source you can then it dont matter a bit .You can prolly make an "average Hand" with a lil effort. But at the end of the day when you hear the word Lineman you wont be sure if that truley pertains to you or if its reserved for those guys that have seen and done it all and just keep comin back for more.

mainline
08-09-2008, 09:11 AM
The construction trade will force you to adapt more. Utilities tend to have a more insulated view of things, and there work tends to be more limited. Either route you choose, listen, and volunteer for anything you can as far as work. If they ask for help on transmission offer, if they want help on underground offer. The key is a variety of experience. That and watch people. I have found that I could learn at least something from even the dumbest guy. Even if it was, I will never do that. Whatever the path you choose work safe, listen to the JL you are with, and never say I know when you don't.