Electrician trade school opinions?

[AZ RANGER]

My son is trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life. He is not really interested in going to college. He has been toying with the idea of trade schools and has interest in becoming an electrician. There is a four year program in Idaho that gives you all the schooling.while simultaneously working under a journeyman to get OJT. The program prepares you to pass the Idaho journeyman exam. He has some connections in Idaho that would help him with a place to live, but his end goal would be to get back to Arizona and work here.  I’m assuming he could just take the Arizona licensing exam after completing the school and OJT.   I know next to nothing about this kind of stuff. Any opinions from Cwt electricians? Seems like a pretty efficient way to do it in my limited research. 

[TOBY]

Go work for the bnsf. my nephew has 10 years in and making six figures working 40 hours a week. High school education. Or be a nurse. My employer starts nurses at 80k a year with 50k sign on bonus.

If he goes to be a spark go commercial and union or he will be a romex monkey.

[thegunsmith2506]

Any of the skilled trades are a good choice. Workers are becoming hard to find. The railroad is good but a lot of guys have to move wherever they tell them to. 

[SHOOTER]

With an electrical Journeyman card he will be able to find a 6 figure job anywhere he wants to live. The money and better work seem to be in the maintenance side of the world unless he wants to be the contractor (that’s where the real money is)but if he wants to work for good wages find a job in electrical maintenance  when he is done with his apprenticeship.In the maintenance world From what I’ve seen most place hiring don’t care what state the journeyman card is from as long as he has a card and can pass their test/interview. I’m sure if he was contracting he would need to get an AZ card. If that makes sense. 

[PRDATR]

2 hours ago, AZ RANGER said:

My son is trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life. He is not really interested in going to college. He has been toying with the idea of trade schools and has interest in becoming an electrician. There is a four year program in Idaho that gives you all the schooling.while simultaneously working under a journeyman to get OJT. The program prepares you to pass the Idaho journeyman exam. He has some connections in Idaho that would help him with a place to live, but his end goal would be to get back to Arizona and work here.  I’m assuming he could just take the Arizona licensing exam after completing the school and OJT.   I know next to nothing about this kind of stuff. Any opinions from Cwt electricians? Seems like a pretty efficient way to do it in my limited research. 

Have him go down to the union hall in Tucson and talk to them. No sense paying to go to a trade school when he can be earning money and going through the apprenticeship locally. Tucson has some great union shops.

 A friend of mine has one of the biggest shops in Tucson and I can give him a call to see what he says. He has been in business for 30 years. Also hunts and when I spoke with him last year he told me he had 150 guys on the payroll. Both new construction and tenant improvement build outs. They do a lot of hospital work.

Super nice guy. Feel free to call me or PM me. Going out of town to a trade school co$t's and then there are always all the "distractions".

Chris 602-499-0610

[AZ RANGER]

Good info so far. Thanks and keep any suggestions coming 

[AZ RANGER]

30 minutes ago, PRDATR said:

Have him go down to the union hall in Tucson and talk to them. No sense paying to go to a trade school when he can be earning money and going through the apprenticeship locally. Tucson has some great union shops.

 A friend of mine has one of the biggest shops in Tucson and I can give him a call to see what he says. He has been in business for 30 years. Also hunts and when I spoke with him last year he told me he had 150 guys on the payroll. Both new construction and tenant improvement build outs. They do a lot of hospital work.

Super nice guy. Feel free to call me or PM me. Going out of town to a trade school co$t's and then there are always all the "distractions".

Chris 602-499-0610

Thanks Chris all good suggestions. 

[daryl_s]

Commercial and industrial is the way to go, IMO, if he wants to be an electrician. I did an apprenticeship through the IBEW here in Phoenix from 2005-2009. I graduated and had no school debt while making good wages and contributing to a pension. I was lucky enough to get into the utility side of things 2 years ago, so now I'm working on pension number 2.

This is where I did my apprenticeship:

https://www.pejatc.org/

This is the apprenticeship in Tucson:

https://www.tucsonjatc.org/

[Saguaro]

Commercial definitely.  It’s just a better place to be over Residential.  There are a few Commercial Electrical contractors that will hire him and he can go to school, once a week. The program is called IECA.  I’m sure you can google it and find those that participate.  When finished with the apprentice program, he will get a raise and be on his way to being a foreman, at least for a small TI.  I know plenty that have been through the program and it was nice to watch them grow from a helper to a leader.  One of the main persons over there was the head of AZ elk society.

 

https://iecaz.org/

[daryl_s]

56 minutes ago, daryl_s said:

Commercial and industrial is the way to go, IMO, if he wants to be an electrician. I did an apprenticeship through the IBEW here in Phoenix from 2005-2009. I graduated and had no school debt while making good wages and contributing to a pension. I was lucky enough to get into the utility side of things 2 years ago, so now I'm working on pension number 2.

This is where I did my apprenticeship:

https://www.pejatc.org/

This is the apprenticeship in Tucson:

https://www.tucsonjatc.org/

I guess I should have mentioned that I worked as an apprentice while doing the schooling. I went to a 6 hour class once a week during those 4 years. You get raises as you reach different levels of schooling and on the job training hours. I believe now they do a 3 hour class twice a week in the evenings. This way you don’t have to miss any work. You also get health benefits that the contractor pays for. 

[Zeke-BE]

Ok Im a lic plumber and business owner.  My best best friend is a lic electrician and business owner.  You won't find a 6 figured job unless you travel the country for the union non stop.  But if he really wants to apply himself it won't be hard to get a head of piers in AZ.  Just take code classes at MCC and some Architectural classes from there too.  Soak it up.  Apply yourself!  If its something he has not done raise your hand and say i want to learn.  Business owners love these type of people.  In 4 years he can get a JM card in AZ.  In 5 years he can own his own business.  If not he is already miles ahead in field.  He will be making more then most.  Keep at it he will be running jobs with 10 people under him.  IN 8 years he could have 20 people under him making 6 figures.  If he is there just for the paycheck then he is just like everyone else at at 45k-65k.  Nothing wrong with that but if he wants it, construction in AZ the hungry person for advancement makes it far!!  Some of my good guys are at 66-70k.  My real hungry guys for achievement are at 70-90k.  And Ive had 2 people work with me that were the best!  But they started their own company.  That is how AZ works though    

[idgaf]

I'm in electrical distribution. I can honestly say, go to any contractor.  Tell him/her you want to learn the trade and he can start working tomorrow. 

[LorrieRobins]

It's great that your son is interested in becoming an electrician and considering a trade school path, especially with a structured program that combines schooling with on-the-job training (OJT). The four-year program in Idaho sounds solid, particularly since it prepares him to pass the journeyman exam. After completing the Idaho program and OJT, he would likely be eligible to take the Idaho journeyman exam, allowing him to become licensed as a journeyman electrician in Idaho.

Regarding his goal to work in Arizona, many states have reciprocity agreements for journeyman licenses. This means that if he earns his license in Idaho, he might be able to transfer it to Arizona without needing to take another full set of exams. However, Idaho and Arizona don’t always have direct reciprocity, so it would be essential to check with the Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC) to confirm which qualifications from Idaho they recognize. For finding relevant opportunities, he can search for 'electrical jobs near you' to get a sense of the job market and requirements in Arizona.

[knothead]

A lot of great careers in the skills areas and there is HUGE demand for people willing to work and who have the appropriate skills.  I recommend he take an aptitude test and find out what he is mostly suited for or at least point him in right direction.  There are lots of them out there on internet.  My school district subscribes to one, but I also use O*net online.  www.onetonline.org   Too many people start out in careers that they end up hating because it isn't a good fit for them.  

[forepaw]

2 hours ago, knothead said:

A lot of great careers in the skills areas and there is HUGE demand for people willing to work and who have the appropriate skills.  I recommend he take an aptitude test and find out what he is mostly suited for or at least point him in right direction.  There are lots of them out there on internet.  My school district subscribes to one, but I also use O*net online.  www.onetonline.org   Too many people start out in careers that they end up hating because it isn't a good fit for them.  

Good suggestion right there.  He could also go talk to a recruiter for one of the branches (Navy probably best for electrician category) and sit down and take the ASVAB.  The recruiter will be pitching enlistment, but in reality he can walk away any time.  The scores he comes up with will be a pretty good aptitude indicator.  Not sure how they do it now, but it used to be broken down by math, general knowledge, language, shop practices, sonar (hearing), electrical, mechanical, science, etc.