I've been incredibly tempted to do an electricians apprenticeship, so it's cool to hear someone from an academic background that's actually done something similar and gone into a trade. My study was Electrical and Electronic Engineering so I imagine the career swap would be trivial, but it's a large time investment.
How did you find the time to do it? To become a licensed electrician in the UK apparently takes about 4 years, and I'd earn pittance until qualifying so that's the only thing stopping me currently. I assume plumber would be as similarly stringent.
Plumbers and electricians don’t go to school for multiple years to learn a trade, they apprentice - learning on the job, until they get to the point where they propel themselves forward.
Do you actually have data to back that up, or just one anecdote from a friend? Median pay for electricians is about $57k/year [1], and that's after 4 years of apprenticeship and passing the exam. That's compared to a median salary of over $100k for software devs [2]. Sure, you can make a lot of money as an electrician, HVAC person, welder, etc. if you own and run your own business, but your average tradesperson is not in that category, just like your average software developer isn't running their own dev shop.
The licensed electricians I know make far more than degree holders, outside of comp engineers/doctors/MBA from select schools. For the vast majority of non selective schools and non rigorous degrees, an electrician should easily outearn them.
Electrician pay will also continue to rise quite a bit over the next decade. I already pay far more every year than the year before, if I can even book a decent electrician.
In the case of Electricians and Plumbers the time requirements for becoming licensed are steep. In Maryland for example to become a "Master" electrician you need to work in the field for 7 years as an apprentice. That's kind of nuts when you consider that's about the same amount of time it takes to train a doctor.
Around here they make about $150 an hour if they are contractors and work for themselves. So I would guess 80-100 for an electrician with 5+ years experience. About the same as most other semi-specialized trades.
> The main issue with lots of trades in the US is the onerous licensing requirements: 4 years of experience under a licensed electrician before you get a license. In most parts of the developed world, vocational training was/is seen as a lesser field despite trades absolutely making bank these days.
In Germany, you need a Meister (=Master) title (not the academic degree) to start your own electrician business. Usually, after the apprenticeship which is 3.5 years you need at least another 3 years... so Germany has even stricter requirements.
> Also, technology has evolved in lots of trades making work a lot easier than it used to be: Wago connectors and a variety of push-fittings for electricians, PEX for plumbers and so on.
Technology maybe, but it has also become way more complex. Smart lights, smart HVAC systems, smart plumbing, energy savings requirements... planning an energy-efficient home requires insane amounts of knowledge these days, and you need to plan energy-efficient because no one will buy a house without top notch efficiency.
I know a couple (so, n=2) of highly-skilled tech people who made the jump to being an electrician. They actually progressed rapidly. Neither regret making the jump.
One downside: they get pulled into more low voltage/systems work and they hate that part of the job as they wanted to get away from computers.
The regulatory requirements for electricians and plumbers take so long to advance through that if you don't choose it at a young age it's hardly possible to justify doing later.
Makes sense. Electrician is a skilled job which requires a lot of training. It's not the kind of thing you just fall into as a temporary stopgap when you can't get real work with your B.A. in Medieval Basket-weaving.
My brother was an electrician for a few years. He quit because of long hours, lots of travel, and low pay. Maybe things are better now that there's a shortage? This was 10 years ago
At least you don't need to spend 4+ years on a degree that's not worth anything.
Don't know how accurate this list is, but I'm pretty sure an electrician in my area wouldn't even want to get out of bed in the morning for 40K euro per year.
Might be anecdotal, but hooo weee, if you are a good electrician right now, you can essentially name your price. Companies will pay it because they aren't willing to take the risk of having it done wrong. Family knows a couple career electricians -- company is paying for them to come out of retirement, paying $50-55 an hour, AND letting them keep their retirement benefits.
My brother went to school for residential and commercial electrician stuff. He quit after a few years because of low pay, long hours, traveling, and unexpected layoffs.
I almost forgot the craziest part. The Christmas bonus at his company was funded by all the copper they were able to take from jobs and sell
There are skilled trades that don’t pay well. In any case there’s no canonical list of “skilled trades” to begin with.
I fail to see how you can be an electrician longer than a software engineer, but even if that was true there are far more careers a college degree enable that pay more.
There is such shortage of skilled contractors. It's unreal, so I've considered getting in via being an electrician.
The starting salaries always stop me though. How can I reset the salary clock 10 years?
Maybe if I had started out at 20 on this route I could do what my father did: carpet cleaning and supported two sons and a homemaker on his one truck operation. We were solid middle class. All the needs met.
It's amazing what quality hard work, calling people back, and time can do.
There are five electricians in town, they each make $40/hour. They have a hard time finding qualified apprentices.
After education, there are 7 electricians. The same 5 electricians still make $40/hour, but the two new electricians make $25/hour. Turns out there's a previously unserved market for a cheaper and less experienced electrician.
Or maybe that the majority that possess those traits go into other higher paying jobs that also require those traits. Starting around here for electricians is closer to $25-35. If you are concentrating and studying the NEC, you could alternatively study to be a dev and make more.
I guess you’re in USA. Luckily I am in poor Germany with way lower salaries. Which opens me another option
6) go into trades. Becoming certified electrician takes a lot of time or money or both. My university degree with an expensive course was enough. Salary stays the same as long as I am self employed.
Otherwise 5) since 4) does not really work for me. Helped too many brilliant guys as an electrical engineer. Products got traction, but nothing big happened.
Do you know people who switched from IT to electrician because their salary got lower?
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