this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2023
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Apprenticeships are infinitely more competitive than college applications. Not to say that the quality of education isn't much better, too, but most mentors are already swamped with dozens of apprenticeship requests. It's so competitive that most will expect you to already have some familiarity with the trade, whereas most colleges go into your education assuming you have very little experience with it.
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Lmao only in already high COL areas. Plus having to compete with the 1,000+ other applicants (see above). Plus "we'll select a candidate in 4-6 months." Plus "must provide own tools. Our shop only allows Snap-On brand, here's a $2,200 shopping list in case you get chosen." Also "oh yeah that position was already filled last month, so-and-so's son just got out of rehab and needed a job."
T. An actual tradie of nearly a decade who has a proper 4 year university degree and tech school certification
Electrician in IBEW here in a poor rural region. Those pay numbers are pretty close to our current rates, actually. And if you can pass a test, you can get into the apprenticeship program pretty easily. They don't expect much from first year apprentices. I had a trade school diploma and my Limited Liability Electrician license already when I applied, but it didn't matter much. The competitiveness is very dependent on your local.
You gotta buy your own hand tools, but power tools, conduit benders, etc are all provided.
So... like with everything career-related, it's gonna depend on where you live.
‘Appreciceships’ is a pretty broad thing too. I can think of more mechanics and carpenters I know that had to buy their own tools then plumber and electricians.
This is pretty representative of my area as well. The thing that is weird for me is that they priced it at 40 hrs per week. A friend of mine was an Electrician Apprentice and he worked 21 days in a row 10 hrs per day and he's in a union.
Damn, that kinda OT is some good money but miss me with that. After 50 hours of solid work in a week I'm worthless lol.
But I do light commercial construction mostly, which is pretty go-go-go all day long with bird-dogging foremen. If I was doing industrial or large commercial there's usually some more breathing room.
Yeah I said the same, but he was pretty pumped for it. Apparently it's not so bad when you get out of the apprentice phase, but this is one of the concessions that their union makes. Essentially, the job has to get done by the deadline. The pros of it is that they have better benefits than government workers (his wife is a teacher), as an apprentice he was making $80k/year in 2019, and they were paying for him to go to night school for certifications (and giving him the time to do so).
I'm not sure on the classifications of work, but the kinds of jobs they did were things Amazon warehouses.
What would Bernie Sanders do?
Where are you from? I am a carpenter from Ontario, Canada and I was an apprentice in the carpenters union for a few years. They literally hired me on the spot when I sent them my resume. I also worked with a 19 year old kid who'd never had a job in his life before being hired instantly when he walked into the union hall.
Also the pay started as $20 an hour for first years, and went up about $5 an hour for every year of experience. I think if I remember correctly journeymen made around $45 an hour with benefits, and my zone wasn't a super high COL area.
Maybe depends what apprenticeship you're looking for but in my experience the carpenters union was dying for guys.
Bro. Be more specific about where and what apprenticeship you are talking about. You're casting a wide web as if all the apprenticeships are in the same position. My specific trades of electrician and instrumentation are highly in demand in lots of places in Canada. Can't speak for everywhere, but there are a lot of large construction projects going on now that can't find workers.
The availability of apprenticeships are based off the economy vs going to school is based on whether you can afford it.