Find Out How To Become An Electrician

Electricians work hard, but it is a great career that pays well. If you’re wondering how to become an electrician, then you’ve come to the right place. We’ll discuss the basic steps you have to take in order to become one. Read on to find out what those steps are.

Attend A Trade School And Apply For Apprenticeship
Most people have to complete a few years of apprenticeship, but before you apply for apprenticeship, it’s a good idea to attend a trade school. Many trade schools have courses that aspiring electricians can take, and this will give you an edge over other applicants when the time comes to apply for an apprenticeship. There are a number of electrical trade associations that you can apply for apprenticeship with, and if you’re accepted into a program, then you will learn the skills needed to be an electrician while getting paid.

Choose A Specialty
The next step is to choose a specialty for your apprenticeship. For example, you might be interested in being an inside lineman, outside lineman, residential wire-man and so forth. Regardless of the specialty you choose, you can expect the apprenticeship to take a few years to complete.

Many programs include over 100 classroom hours and at least 2,000 hours per year spent on the job. It’s worth pointing out that you’ll be preforming a lot of helper duties throughout your apprenticeship, and this may include doing things such as cleaning the work site, holding tools and other basic tasks. However, you can expect to learn a lot about the trade.

Pass The Exam
Once you have finished your apprenticeship program, you will need to become licensed. This involves taking and passing an exam. The requirements that need to be met vary from state to state, with most of them requiring you to complete a journeyman’s examination. This is administered by the licensing board in the state or region you are taking the test in.

After you pass the test, you will become a licensed electrical journeyman. This means you can apply for electrician jobs that pay a regular wage. You will also have the chance to further expand your skills in various areas, such as telecommunications, fiber optics and programmable logic controls to name a few.

Pursue Career Options
When you are a licensed journeyman, you will have many career options that you can pursue. For example, you can try to work with a local contractor. There are many contractors that seek out the help of a journeyman. Eventually, you might be interested in becoming a master electrician, which usually results in more pay.

With that said, all you have to do now is find a good trade school to attend and then apply for an apprenticeship. After that, you choose your specialty, take the exam and then look for work. Sure, this sounds easier said than done, but it really is that easy to become an electrician, but there’s a lot of work involved with those steps. However, the work is worth it because being an electrician is rewarding, both financially and in regards to job stability.