If you’re considering a new career with plenty of stability and room for growth, or if you’ve always been fascinated by the world of electricity, you might consider becoming an electrician. But before you get too far down this career path, there are some fundamentals and principles you’ll need to familiarize yourself with first.
What should you know before trying to become an electrician?
There’s More Than One Way to Be an Electrician
First, you should know that there’s not one single, set career path you have to follow as an electrician. With the right training, you can become a formally certified electrician and work your way to becoming a master (making more money in the process). You can choose to work for a specific company or organization, or you could start a business of your own. Depending on your priorities, you could also use your electrical skills as just one of many in your arsenal and become a handyman – or even flip houses for a profit after rewiring them.
The Standards Can Be Confusing
Electrical standards can be confusing. One glance at the standards from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Once you spend time on the job and get the right training, everything will seem more comprehensible, but as a newcomer, this could be an area in which you struggle.
The Education Doesn’t Take Long (at First)
Getting started as an electrician doesn’t take much time or effort. Generally speaking, to start your journey, you’ll only need a high school diploma or a GED. From there, you can enroll in a trade school or even start as an apprentice – an electrical trainee with limited responsibilities. Even in your earliest days as an aspiring electrician, you’ll have a chance to make money.
That said, if you want to get your full education and become a fully licensed electrician, you’ll need to enroll in vocational training, taking dozens of hours of classes to become licensed. You’ll also need to spend time in an apprenticeship for 2 to 7 years before you can become a journeyman. From there, you’ll need to continue learning and advancing your trade to become a master – and keep up with the latest changes in relevant electrical codes.
In other words, it’s going to be several years before you’re a licensed journeyman electrician, and several more years before you can call yourself a master. Accordingly, it’s not an easy career to “dabble” in.
You’ll Need to Pick an Area of Expertise
The term “electrician” implies a wide range of general electrical skills. But if you want to be successful in the electrical field, you’ll need to choose an area of expertise as your main focus. For example, you could focus on residential electrical work, wiring and rewiring houses for individuals, or you could focus on commercial work, working in offices or buildings. You could also choose to become an industrial technician, working in a factory or a power plant, or a lineman, doing electrical work on the lines that run to individual homes.
Electrical Work Is Risky
No matter how you look at it, electrical work is risky. You’ll often be working with lines that carry high voltages – which means if you make a mistake, you could suffer a massive shock, resulting in intense burns, or even death.
The good news is, most training programs and educational materials emphasize safety as a top priority. In your course of development, you’ll learn the steps necessary to keep yourself and all your teammates absolutely safe. From then on, it’s on you to continue following these steps to prevent the possibility of harm.
The Money Is Enticing
Many people look to become an electrician because of the money. As an apprentice, you won’t make much. But once you’re fully licensed, you’ll stand to make an average of $50,000 to $60,000 per year. As you gain more experience and knowledge, you’ll be able to make even more.
Job Security Is a Given
The world is always going to need electricians because we’re always going to need electricity. No matter what happens in the future, demand for this position is going to be high. On top of that, there’s a shortage of people willing to go to trade school – so you’ll be in a prime position to land a job as soon as you have the necessary education and training.
Becoming an electrician isn’t the right career path for everyone, but it does have a lot of advantages. Though it will take you many years to become a master electrician, you’ll never have to worry about job instability, and you’ll be able to make an impressive salary.
