How to Become an Electrician

The shape of the path

Almost nobody pays their way into this trade through school alone. You get hired as an apprentice or a helper, you work full time under people who know more than you, and you take classes at night or one day a week. Four to five years later you have the hours and the knowledge to sit an exam.

The hour count is the part people underestimate. Most programs ask for somewhere near eight thousand hours of supervised work, which is four years of full time employment with no long gaps.

What you need before you start

A high school diploma or equivalent, algebra at a working level, a driver license, and the physical ability to be on your feet, on ladders and in attics all day. Most programs test math and reading and many drug test.

The math matters more than people expect. Ohm law, ratios, percentages and basic trigonometry for bending conduit come up constantly. Someone who is rusty should spend a month on algebra before applying, because the entrance test is where most applicants are lost.

Three doors in

A registered apprenticeship, which pairs paid work with required classroom hours and is the cleanest route. A non union contractor who hires helpers and brings them up, which is common and varies enormously in quality. Or a trade school first, which teaches theory and gets you hired faster but does not replace on the job hours.

Read Electrician Apprenticeships, How They Actually Work for how the registered programs work and what the application year actually looks like.

What you earn on the way

Apprentices are paid a percentage of the journeyman rate that steps up as hours accumulate, often starting near forty or fifty percent and rising every six months or thousand hours. In Southern California that means a first year apprentice earns a real wage and a fifth year apprentice earns close to journeyman money.

Nobody pays tuition for the work part. Registered programs charge modest fees for books and classes, and many union programs fold that in.

After the journeyman card

You can stay on the tools, which many people do for a whole career. You can move into foreman and superintendent work, which is scheduling, manpower and reading plans more than it is pulling wire. You can specialize in controls, low voltage, solar, service work or industrial maintenance.

Or you take the contractor exam and go out on your own. That is a different job, and Going Out on Your Own covers why most who try it struggle with the business half and not the trade half.