Results 1 to 10 of 11

Hybrid View

  1. Default NOT Sure what to do

    Hey guys, new here. I have a question currently in a bind. Right now im working for AT&T on cell towers. I have done line work in past for AT&T. They are doing changes over nexts few years. My job is more than likely going to disappear. I could always go back to installing tv with them but, not sure that's what I want to do. I am not sure if I should stay with AT&T, ride this out and get back in school(I have 7 years with them) or take a pay cut, lose senority and start apprenticeship with power company here. They have offered me an apprentice lineman position. I am 29 have a wife with 2 kids. How secure is this position? I m looking for something secure and long term. Any advice is appreciated

  2. #2

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by jriden37 View Post
    Hey guys, new here. I have a question currently in a bind. Right now im working for AT&T on cell towers. I have done line work in past for AT&T. They are doing changes over nexts few years. My job is more than likely going to disappear. I could always go back to installing tv with them but, not sure that's what I want to do. I am not sure if I should stay with AT&T, ride this out and get back in school(I have 7 years with them) or take a pay cut, lose senority and start apprenticeship with power company here. They have offered me an apprentice lineman position. I am 29 have a wife with 2 kids. How secure is this position? I m looking for something secure and long term. Any advice is appreciated
    First of all I would name the power company and talk to a lineman here who has worked for that company.Some may be great to work for and others may be not so good to be with.A younger lineman's advice may help you decide.Lots of us older guys know a time when we would have said hell yea go for it,but those days are long gone and not much is secure anymore.We worked in a time when a lineman was a lineman....meaning you free-climbed.There was no such a word,we just called it climbing.And we only needed and used a safety,not the other crap used today.On any given day today's companies can add more stupid shit in the name of safety.I would stay put,but that's me.To be more honest,I don't know if I would do it all over again,not with the rules they have in place these days,and with the idiots they selected to manage the crews.If it sounds like I'm unimpressed with the way things are, its cause I am.The older guys will tell you that the trade went to shit ,and the younger ones may not cause they never knew how great it once was in the first place.But anyway good luck,cause your going to need it if you choose to take the power company choice.
    Last edited by reppy007; 03-05-2016 at 03:15 PM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Northern Michigan
    Posts
    1,716

    Default

    With your background you seem to be a great fit for that apprenticeship. OSHA had made the changes in climbing tools, not companies. Think about it, OSHA says the company has to provide the equipment. The young guys have taken to using it just like previous guys learned to use a double-locking buck strap. There is a big shortage of linemen, the future is good if you are good.
    Note to self, just because it pops into my head doesn't mean it should come out of my mouth.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Florida in the winter Canada in the summer.
    Posts
    340

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by duckhunter View Post
    With your background you seem to be a great fit for that apprenticeship. OSHA had made the changes in climbing tools, not companies. Think about it, OSHA says the company has to provide the equipment. The young guys have taken to using it just like previous guys learned to use a double-locking buck strap. There is a big shortage of linemen, the future is good if you are good.
    I agree except for one thing. OSHA only writes the regulations. Because of accidents and law suits the companies from all over the US with their attorneys had meetings, and came up with a consensus of what they could live with. Edison Electric played a hugh part in this. These regulations were written to protect the companies. So if a law suit comes about because of an accident the companies attorney can say " the company did everything it could to protect it's employees it is the linemans fault". The only thing OSHA insisted on is that the company must pay for the safety equipment. Other wise we would be paying for the fall arrest and the FR clothing.

    I am NOT protecting OSHA because they can be nasty, but I know what happened because I had to sit in on one of those meetings. I would quit before I was forced to do that again, and the word "Attorney" is worse than a four letter word!

  5. Default

    Quote Originally Posted by duckhunter View Post
    With your background you seem to be a great fit for that apprenticeship. OSHA had made the changes in climbing tools, not companies. Think about it, OSHA says the company has to provide the equipment. The young guys have taken to using it just like previous guys learned to use a double-locking buck strap. There is a big shortage of linemen, the future is good if you are good.
    Thanks everybody for the responses, I am taking a 10hr paycut. So just a little stressful, I just wanted to get the opinion of some lineman on what they feel like future looks like. Because that's the reason I'm taking such a cut is for something more stable and secure for future.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    New York, Long Island
    Posts
    343

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by jriden37 View Post
    Thanks everybody for the responses, I am taking a 10hr paycut. So just a little stressful, I just wanted to get the opinion of some lineman on what they feel like future looks like. Because that's the reason I'm taking such a cut is for something more stable and secure for future.
    the next 3 years will be a little tight but it's the best move for you and your family... Just my 2 cents.
    "Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Jersey
    Posts
    2,512
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default

    Take the cut and go with the power company, yeah the cut will hurt but you'll be ahead in the long run.
    "It is not the critic who counts:The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena" Teddy Roosevelt

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •