Electrician Apprenticeship Training Programs
By definition of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Division of Apprenticeship Standards at the Department of Industrial Relations, an electrician is a person who participates in connecting electrical devices for a licensed electrical contractor. If you are a technical person who enjoys working outside, work in different places each time and have a good attitude for electrical devices this might be a great opportunity for a long fulfilling and satisfying career that also pays a pretty good salary. You should know there is a huge demand for electricians over the world and this number keeps increasing and breaking records every day.
What is electrician apprentice program
The big majority of individuals who want to know how to be an electrician begin their careers in electrician union apprenticeship program which are sponsored most of the time by one of the biggest worldwide electrician unions and sometimes by both of them jointly. The more famous electrician unions as the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) or the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) created and constantly support the NJATC (National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee) who’s responsible for most of apprentice electrician training programs in the United States. Their goal is to provide a comprehensive electrical training for those who seek career in the electrical trade and want to be an electrician. There are four different kinds of electrician apprenticeship programs and while most of the subjects are similar the 1st year apprentice electrician, there is a big difference when going further into detail and starting the actual electrician training course.
Most students who choose to become apprentice for electrician go with the most familiar type of electrician: The residential Wireman. He is the person responsible for installing and maintaining electrical systems in houses, apartments and other residential structures. The VDV Installer Technicians electrician apprenticeship training devoted to workers who install lines for computer networking, video and security systems and other specific products also known as low voltage systems. Industrial electrician apprenticeship include the last two types of the NJATC union electrician apprenticeship programs work more with commercial and industrial buildings and equipment. Some of them (the Outside Linemen) install the power lines which move the electricity from the plant to everywhere else (even your own house!) while the others install all lightning, equipment and special devices and wiring in any structure other than residential ones.
Apprentice electrician wages and pay
One great benefit of learning how to become an electrician one of these electrician training courses is the fact that almost all of them are paid electrician apprenticeship. Since this programs show how to train to be an electrician in pretty long a period of time (sometimes over 5 years) and will require extensive work and travel times it is only reasonable that you will also get paid. And to be honest, it is not such a bad salary even still as an apprenticeship trainee. Apprentice electrician wages vary a lot depending on the place where you live in but an average apprentice electrician pay starts at around $3,000 dollars a month on the first year apprentice electrician and grows up to almost $5,000 dollars by the end of the training course. Needless to say, after finishing a union electrician apprentice, successfully passing the apprentice electrician test and graduating from a respectful certified electrician training program, only the sky is the limit. Full-time professional electricians can potentially earn more than $200,000 in a year, much more than any electrician apprenticeship salary.
Electrician apprentice job description
As mentioned before, most of the more accepted electrician apprenticeship training programs combine both classroom training with on-site job training. For the period of 4 or 5 years you will have around 200 hours of school-class electrician education and training (annually) and between 1500 to 2000 on-the-job apprentice electrician training.
How to be an electrician apprentice?
Most electrician apprenticeship programs require you to be at least 18 years old and that you be a high school graduate or have a General Equivalency Diploma (G.E.D.) at the time of application. You must be a able to perform the work required by this electrician job training course (physically speaking). You should also have a minimum grade of “C” in high school or college algebra. Some electrician training courses will also ask you to take the electrician apprenticeship aptitude test in order to be qualified. A drug test and some other requirements might be required by the state where the electrician apprenticeship program is being taken.
