My Experience As A First Year Electrician Apprentice

Every electrician starts as a first-year apprentice, whether they come from trade school, enter an apprenticeship or start work with a local contractor. That first year is when you begin learning the trade.

I started my electrical career at Bates Technical Community College in Tacoma, Washington. After learning about an IBEW apprenticeship program – I applied and was accepted, then left trade school to begin.

My dispatch slip arrived on Friday, with work scheduled to start the following Monday.

Nervous? Yes.

I knew nothing about working in the trades. As a first-year electrician apprentice with zero experience, I knew it would be interesting.

My First Day As An Electrician Apprentice

My first day as an apprentice was at the Hilton hotel in Bellevue, Washington. At the time, it was a skeletal structure surrounded by traffic cones and detours. People shouted instructions while I stood there more nervous than ever. It was a day I wouldn’t forget.

Parking was hell and I was sure I’d have a ticket by the end of the day.

The foreman had told me to call him when I arrived on site. I called the number he’d given me, and he told me where to meet.

He could tell right away how green I was. My hard hat, safety vest and work pants were clean, my tools were shiny and I had no idea what the hell I was doing.

He showed me the job site, break area and port-a-johns, then told me where to park…tomorrow.

He said I was going to be part of the fire alarm crew and introduced me to a journeyman named Kaz who would apparently “square me away.”

For the first few months, I mainly pulled thousands of feet of fire alarm cable. I found the work confusing and monotonous.

I got the labeling wrong, set up the wire cart incorrectly before pulls and left the other ends of the wires unlabeled. If it was wrong, I was doing it.

I thought to myself, “This is stupid. I’m not learning anything I thought I was going to learn about the trade. Do electricians really do fire alarm? I don’t want to do this.”

Turning My Attitude Around

My attitude started to slip, and I considered finding something else to do. Fortunately, I stayed and started to get really good at the work.

I learned to place the reels correctly before each pull and make a good head on the wire so it wouldn’t bind in the pipe. I also learned to feed and pull wire properly as part of a team.

After four months of pulling cable, I began learning more of the trade. Kaz introduced me to conduit bending and gave me 40 feet of 1/2 inch EMT to bend and secure.

“Umm, what do I connect the ends to? How does this conduit bender work? What holds it on the concrete beam?”

Kaz patiently showed me how to bend conduit.

After bending my first conduit run, I secured it with anchors and attached a box to the end. I stepped back and beamed.

I felt like the Michaelangelo of pipe bending. Then Kaz said, “That looks like shit. Take it down and do it again, but this time do “this” instead of “that”.

I was crushed but ready to try again. I followed his instructions and got a silent nod of approval.

I went on to bend tens of thousands of feet of EMT in 1/2 inch, 3/4 inch and 1 inch sizes.

Even Though I Was First Year Electrician Apprentice, People Noticed My Progress and Ability

Once my foreman saw that I wasn’t an idiot and had some initiative, he began teaching me more technical work. He had me mount lighting cabinets, install relays and wire various sensors, along with a few other random tasks.

I learned how to terminate different devices and install end-of-line resistors, including why they’re needed. I also installed smoke/heat detectors, photosensors, reflectors and alarms. That helped me understand how and why we did the work and how it affected the result.

By the end of my first year, I felt I was contributing to the crew.

After the morning brief, I knew which fittings, connectors, anchors, tools and wire we needed for the day.

I’d load the work carts with boxes of fittings and tear off the tops for easy access. I worked out a layout in my head so we could use the material cart more efficiently.

Fittings, couplings, straps and anchors went on one side. Screws, bolts, washers, boxes and covers went on the other, with a box for miscellaneous stuff.

At the end of each day, I cleaned and reorganized our cart and noted which materials were running low. I considered it mine because I kept it well stocked.

A pocket notepad and pen in my safety vest helped me keep track of wiring diagrams, color codes and material lists.

Getting Laid Off and What I Learned

Being laid off at the end of my first year hurt, even though hotel construction was wrapping up. The break area was emptier each Monday because many people had been laid off on Friday.

I was certain I’d be sent to another job site. I thought I was a badass apprentice, and I couldn’t imagine anyone laying me off.

Then I was laid off. I wasn’t mad, though I was a little disappointed in myself at first. I came to understand that the job was over and the other jobs had full crews.

I asked the foreman how I could improve and wrote down his tips. We shook hands and parted ways.

As a green first-year electrician apprentice, I had no idea what to expect when entering a skilled trade. I learned how to survive a job site. 

Over that year, I became useful to the crew by learning, paying attention, asking questions and getting the job done. Eventually, I became a Journeyman electrician and went on to make a great electrician’s salary.

Every job has bad days, hard days and long days. Then there are days when you step back and realize you’re actually DOING something. Those are great days.