Apprenticeships, Licensing, Supervision...Griping

[personusa1]

Hey all, I'm just past the 4-years mark for my work hours and about to finish my 600 education hours. I started in NH at a couple fantastic commercial shops and dipped my toe into residential just before moving to VA for my wife's career, where I got into generators, resi service, and HVAC before settling into a solar company where I get to do PV, ESS, MPU's, Services, and larger commercial installs on the daily. It's been a great apprenticeship, feel I've been exposed to a lot of cool, fun stuff. In the end, I'm grateful for the opportunities I've been afforded to learn this great trade. HOWEVER....

How the heck is it that there's no consensus on supervision requirements, hours, education, reciprocity. Like it's such a mess. I'm going to have to appeal my board in NH in month or so for them to consider accepting my hours from VA. I knew it would be problematic going into it. My hope is that by my experience being half there, and being enrolled in a state approved school using M.H.'s curriculum that they'll look at the variety of experience I got and be lenient with me. Currently the law says I'm a no-go. Just sucks that I served in the military 5 years, went to college for electrical engineering for a couple years before starting my apprenticeship, did 4 years, and still don't have a guarantee that I'll finally be able to get my license so I can make a REAL living wage.

I also want to call out the bureaucratic tyranny that is requiring a license to do work and have a legal business, but allowing said licensee to not be onsite to supervise the work and mentor said apprentice. If I have to do it alone again and again without supervision and pass inspection, I ought to be able to remove the middleman between me and my customer. I get the need for training and the fact there's a lot of poor work out there....but the LICENSED guys I work for/with have been the worst offenders I've witnessed thus far. (I'm surprised daily by the limited/misinformed understanding of basic electrical theory/circuitry by multidecade electricians I work with.) I can respect the lower wages of the commercial companies I first worked for who assisted with class tuition, mandated education enrollment, complied with supervisory regulations, and really taught me the trade through mentorship by genuinely awesome journeys and masters. I owe whatever measure of success I've had to them.

I just pissed about not being able to afford a home, feeling used by (absentee) license-holders, and no certainty I can move if I need to while retaining my license. I know I'm the "Nth" person to go through this, but why hasn't it changed? Has it really gotten better? Does the economy just suck? I'm glad I don't have to use a flathead and hacksaw to do my work every day in -50f blizzards, I know it could be worse...It just feels like it could be better. As I crest over the hill here, it's no wonder to me that we don't have more people entering the trades.

 

[phawk]

If you had gone through a 5 year apprentiship through an electrical union, I believe you would have been better off. There are 3 IBEW eletrical unions in VA. See if any our close to you and go fill out an application. Since you have your licensce, they may accept you as a journeyman and not require you to go through the apprenticeship program.

 

[ramsy]

into residential just before moving to VA for my wife's career

Ingratiating general contractors that see licenses like you coming should not be your goal, and spouses leveraging career advancement will eventually tire of your slaving for GC's without a profit. Much less tolerate carrying all construction defect liability on their mortgage, for the GC's indemnity.

 

[ramsy]

started in NH at a couple fantastic commercial shops and dipped my toe into residential

Reacting to my service business model, a retired General Contractor who specialized in custom homes recently told me his GC license seemed useless most of the time. There was no further explanation, except my distinct impression that nothing avoids Permits, or Tax assessors more than residential real-estate.

What made a lasting impression on me, was the genuine regret this man still feels, after witnessing dissolution of multiple client marriages, before their custom home project could be finished. He described married couples as conflicting change-order kings, doing battle over the same castle. In the end, getting paid relied on dragging out mechanics leans, and lawyers in the courts, where everybody is a loser.

 

[ggunn]

...He described married couples as conflicting change-order kings, doing battle over the same castle.

When I was designing residential PV systems, this was often a problem when they had different goals. The husband OK's a module layout. The wife takes issue with the aesthetics and has me move modules in the design plan, which I do, but then I show them the resultant reduction in the estimated kWh production. The husband objects to the reduction and has me move the modules back to where they were, but then the wife objects again and has me move the modules to some other roof plane, which I do, but then there is another reduction...

 

[electrofelon]

How the heck is it that there's no consensus on supervision requirements, hours, education, reciprocity. Like it's such a mess. I'm going to have to appeal my board in NH in month or so for them to consider accepting my hours from VA.

It certainly is, but we live in a nation of 50 states, and there is a different government in each state. State A government doesnt trust State B government's certification of an electrician but trusts their own government to do it, even though they are both governments. Its fascinating.

 

[mtnelect]

I was lucky enough to complete my apprenticeship with the IBEW Local 11 back in 1974, went on to start my business in 1976. That scenario is not happening anymore. They removed shop classes and started teaching socialisms. It will take a while before the pendulum swings back again.