The Noob: The Story of a Wanna Be...Canadian Edition
Hey guys,
I saw the original "The Noob:The story..." thread on the site while I was browsing as a guest and thought it was an awesome idea. I really enjoyed reading through all the posts so I thought I would steal the idea and give everyone a feel of how it goes down here in British Columbia, Canada.
The Program:
The program here is called the Power Line Technician Pre-Apprenticeship Program and is being offered through the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) and the Electrical Industry Training Institute (EITI). It is 8 weeks long, cost us $8000, and will be held at a new training facility in Abbotsford, BC. At the end of the 8 weeks there is a job fair where employers from across the province are invited to come and watch us work which will hopefully end up landing us a job.
The Process:
In order to get accepted into the program there was a orientation, or try out, back in July that myself and about 30 other guys attended. On this day we were required to write a half hour english comprehension test, a 30-45 minute math test, do some readings and answer questions on basic lineman gear, mechanical advantages, climbing techniques, and a few other subjects. While we were do the readings each guy was getting called into the room next door to do a interview with both the instructors of the course that asked us basic question such as "Do you have a fear of heights?", and "Are you able to work in all weather conditions". The process took about five hours and we were on our way back to wherever we came from. It was 9 days later that the 18 of us received an email with an offer for a seat in the program! Before school started we were required to make a trip into Langley, BC to get fitted for our climbing belts. For $2700 we are supplied with all basic tools, climbing gear, bag, textbooks, and everything else we might need for the program. The only exception to this was our boots. After countless hours reading the forums I went into the shop thinking I was going to walk out with a pair of Wescos but my feet told me otherwise. I ended up with a pair of Hoffmans.
Tomorrow, Monday September 8th 2014, is the first day of class and I am super excited. Class starts at 8:00 am. We have been told that the first week will be basically all electrical theory work and that we should be hitting the poles the following week.
If anyone has any questions or comments feel free to ask or post. I will try to keep up with my days as much as possible! I hope this helps some who may be interested in a process like this and hopefully it will be interesting for the others that will read just for fun.
Stay safe out there!!
To be continued...