Checking In

It’s been some time, so here I am to say hello!

I’ve changed crews over the last year. The same company but with an oil field emphasis. Being outside all the time is my absolute favorite. The cold gets a bit rough, but I feel like a living creature. There have been some rough social impacts to the move. I like to talk about anything and everything deep or otherwise and these coworkers do not. Strictly professional here.

The social adjustment has led me through times of suspicion about my co-workers and times of feeling isolated. The environment, however, was really good for my life outlook.

Since last I was here I have begun to consider myself Christian. There is a good story leading to that, but I’m not yet ready to share. Just know that there was a flaming truck, ridiculous amounts of birds, and eerily accurate stories involved.

I wish you well, reader dear!

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Yay Spring

Happy spring everyone!

I’ve got some changes to report since the last post. There’s been another large project at the factory in which the team updated old infrastructure in a freezer to include a lot of stainless steel. The freezer was defrosted for this task. *Sigh of relief*. It was a lot of long hours and working between Journeymen. There’s not much for stories to share. *shrug*

The Journeywoman I was working with has left the company for an opportunity more in line with her goals. We still keep in touch as she’s become a pretty good friend to me. The change has left me feeling like an extra at the shop much of the time.

I reached out to our Electrical Board to see if the electrical theory I took in college would be accepted for any portion of my classroom hours. The response I received was very hands-off and I need to contact the school I’m using for my apprentice studies to see what they allow.

We’ve been working on a church addition and it’s the closest I’ve come to new construction in this field. I find it very monotonous. Note to self: do not become a residential electrician. It’s technically not resi, but the addition is done in wood instead of metal… so it feels very residential.

That’s all I’ve got for today. Enjoy spring things whenever the weather decides to show up!

-Vessa

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Robot Update and More

The robot project finally went through and it was not at all what I was expecting.

Before I dive into that, I’ve got some other updates for you. I’ve officially been in the trade for a year! I’m trusted alone with more tasks (Journeyman still on site). The thing about that is that I make more mistakes due to the small things that the Journeyman would usually catch. Things like measuring from inconsistent sides of the conduit for bends or cuts. Not realizing that using the arrow on the bender means the offset won’t be where you measured it to be. It’s good and bad. Just another level of learning that is motivated by guilt of wasted materials. We’ve also got a couple new crew members.

A journeywoman has joined us. She joined up when I was on vacation and spent some days with my usual partner. (This shop usually has one apprentice to one Journeyman.) Then, when I got back, it was the three of us. This went on until another apprentice was hired. I’m now partnered with the Journeywoman and the new apprentice with my usual Journeyman. This has made for a big change in my day-to-day.

I went from working with a very experienced electrician to a very new Journeywoman. It’s been struggle after struggle and we’ve been pretty stressed. My coworkers assure me that everyone goes through that after licensing, and I probably will too.

The new apprentice has been doing well as far as I can tell. His schooling was done at a tech school in SD and he’s here to get hours in. I have no doubts he’ll excel in the industry.

Now for the fruit of this post: the robot install. Turns out there is another crew that does all the robot hookup, testing, and programming. Five of us were there to roll out wire for conveyer photoeyes and power. Those were landed in the PLC cabinet by our Master Electrician. We ran all the conduit for incoming power for the cabinets and motors. We also did the shit work in the freezer for IT and the other electrical team. On top of these things, we were being directed on locations of J-boxes by the head of the other electrical team.

It was a dirty trick to get info from someone who considers us a competitor. He was giving us wrong information from the get-go, then coming in and telling us that what we did was wrong, and we’d modify locations of control boxes and photoeyes only to find out from the programmers coming in at tail-end of the project that everything he told us was wrong and there were additional materials that came with the equipment to make our jobs much easier. We were working long hours from 6AM to 8:30PM or 11PM. Some members were out until 2AM. The team is fried and after being thrown under the bus several times about deadlines. Now the client has apologized after watching footage of what was all taking place and a talking to from our shop owner.

All in all, not a great update. I think I haven’t felt the need to update the blog because I haven’t had many positives to talk about. There are, however, a few.

It was my first time working with cable tray and I got to satisfy a little OCD in making the cables lay nice in order and landing the wire into the majority of the conveyer feeders and motors. This was a solo task of mine much of the project while The Journeyman kept his apprentice and my new partner with him to run conduit, pull wire into conduit, and assemble basket tray. This resulted in me knowing much of the details of the project and what wire needed to go where for what purpose. There was an incident on site which resulted in me directing the team for some hours. I’m proud of myself for being able to keep the pace going without too much stress. Everything and everyone was ok by the end of the day.

That’s all for today’s post. I may have more to write about in the days to come; assuming this overall negative period is over.

Best to you all,

-Vessa

P.S. Don’t be shy to comment on here. I don’t care if you work in the trades or not. Feel free to chime in a little. I could use the motivation. 🙂

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Apprentice Studies

Seems like a great day to talk about the school part of the trade. Not all states require some kind of college to achieve Journeyman status, but North Dakota does. I’m taking classes online through NDSCS and I really feel like the program has been forgotten about. Many of the books are from 2008 and the newest ones from 2017 which may sound new enough, but for a trade that evolves so fast, it’s kinda old.

Perhaps I’m judging too soon, after all, I took on the longest course first and have yet to get into another. That and just yesterday I logged onto my little homework submission to find some changes to the program. I’m glad they’re working on it. Stay tuned for any updates on if the program has gotten better.

Before I started classes at NDSCS, I was dead-set on doing the IEC program. There’s one book per year and a set day and time for the in-class portion. It can be done online or in person. I didn’t do the IEC route because it’s more expensive than what I’m doing now. The shop did not think the extra cost would be warranted.

Here’s the thing, the schooling is a more recent requirement so nobody I currently work with has taken it. *Sigh* Anyway, if you’re considering the two, IEC all the way. The books are updated and everything is included in the up-front cost. You do not have to be a member, but it’s cheaper if your shop is.

There are, of course, other places and ways to get the classroom requirement. The NDSEB website will outline all your options and include links. In short, there’s two main ways to go about it. The first is to go to school full-time for two years and then find a shop to work at for 3 to 4 years. The other is to take classes while you’re working for 3 to 4 years.

If you’ve been looking into the trades, you’ve definitely heard about the union. Here, there’s not many union options. The electrical trade has a great union setup to ensure good pay and benefits. Definitely look into it, but don’t discount the merit shops. They’re just as good or bad as you’re willing to accept a job for.

That’s all for today’s winter-storm-captive,

-Vessa

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An Unexpected Lesson

Last week I was pried away from the factory. Just a few service calls in some apartments which turned out to be changing some lightbulbs. A few that turned out to be breakers off… not tripped, just off. Some wall packs to retrofit, and an explosion-proof light fixture to wrestle open. I’ll talk about those later. Lastly there was one apartment renovation that took some time.

The apartment was to get new receptacles and light switches a well as a bit of wiring for heaters and demolition of old appliances. Pretty straight-forward. Until… we got a call back for one of the receptacles tripping a GFI whenever it was used. I assumed I hadn’t tucked the ground wire away from the device enough and it was causing a short. That was not the case. It turns out that there were two circuits sharing a neutral connection. The old devices didn’t have issues, but the safety-conscious devices of today defiantly did. It was a learning moment for both me and the journeyman.

That was also the week I was in the bucket of the bucket truck for the first time. Remember how I’m bad with heights? Well, it was an underwhelming 18 feet in the air, but the feeling of being in a bucket truck vs a scissor lift is very different. I had a case of the ‘forget everything you know because you’re terrified.’ I still got the light changed and the experience was pretty good. Not nearly as bad as it was in my mind. Add some more height and wind, that might change. It was a proud moment. For me.

The explosion-proof light fixture. So, we were asked to change the light bulb because the company’s truckers and maintenance couldn’t figure it out. We were able to get the whole fixture down, but that’s where it stopped. After use of truck, very large ridged wrenches, strap wrench, chisels and hammers, the thing wouldn’t budge. We could not change the bulb. The thing lived up to its name. Explosion-proof. So the company is now looking at over $3,000 to get a replacement.

Now, I know a few of you were at the edge of your seats to hear about the robot arm installation, but you’ll have to wait a bit longer. The project is now set to start in January.

That’s all the excitement for a little bit. Hope the week treats everyone well.

-Vessa

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Closing Out October

This week I received my first raise since entering the trade. I certainly feel that marks an important step in my career.

The upcoming week holds an exciting new experience. The factory has bought a robot of some sort to help with the freezer duties and I will be helping set that up. I’m personally very excited to play with the new tech.

In other news, I’ve been doing more and more installs myself. With supervision, of course, but I enjoy putting my knowledge and skills to work. Haha, there are a lot of details I find myself overlooking until I’m doing a task alone.

That’s all I’ve got for this update. If there’s any subjects you’re curious about or you want a post on a specific topic, please comment below.

-Vessa

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Progress of the First Year Apprentice

A problem I now face is that I’m not sure how my progress is. I’m the newest at the shop and the others have been there a minimum of ten years. I’ve looked up on forums about where I should be in my skill-set, but it hasn’t been overly helpful. See, the skill-set is different for other places many times because some people work residential, some oil and gas, and some do new-builds. So I’m using this post to detail where I am and what I’ve learned.

It hasn’t been a year yet, but I can do many conduit bends fairly accurately. Mainly, 90 degree, 4-bend saddles and offsets. I’ve played with kicks a little. I’ve learned a little background info like the maximum number of bends in a run. Why junction points are needed even if you’re just pulling straight through it. Some information on how often to strap the conduit and supports for different kinds of conduit. Also how to look up max fill and conductor requirements in the NEC.

I’m starting to grasp some of the theory on the controls side, but still need a little time there. Motors and transformers are pretty foreign yet. Also kind of learning why the different voltages (120, 208, 480) are used in specific situations. As far as working on my own, I still have many troubles. I think part of that is nit-picking from the journeyman. The pickiness, to me, just means I am developing stunning workmanship. The journeyman I’m paired with does the kind of work that would make the most OCD person feel at peace.

If I had to judge for myself, I’d say I’m probably a little further than average. When working with other crews, I can usually hold my own pretty well. At the end of the day, any of my coworkers have quite a bit of information to give and my skills are still progressing in the right direction.

Sincerely,

-Vessa

P.S. Do you like the 480V colors chosen for the blog?

Feel free to comment about your experiences!

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Entering the Electrical Trade

The goal of this is to plot out my journey as an electrician. At this point in time, I’ve been an apprentice for 9.5 months. I can’t promise that I’ll be great about regularly recording my life experiences, but here is the attempt.

My trade journey began as many do… I was tired of my previous job. I had no route to move up without someone’s approval or relocation. The lack of degree had me questioning the quality of jobs available to me. One of the many days I looked at the job finding sites, I happened upon a post for an apprentice electrician position. Intrigued, I looked into it more, going down the rabbit hole. Electrical was one of my favorite subjects during my college years and here, there would be no money out of my pocket to start an actual career I could take anywhere. Everything clicked.

The process of applying and applying to many different businesses began. After I ran out of job postings to apply to, I began emailing businesses with an attached resume and blimp on what I was about. Goals, what drew me to their shop, a dash of past work experience bragging, and a few compliments thrown in. I made a profile on forums to get advice from people who have been in the industry and touch base with apprentices who made it past that point. Finally, a couple hits.

Most of my inquiries didn’t receive responses, but one shop got back to me the very next day. The interview was a flop. There were no benefits and the pay was low for my area. My education would be paid for, and I’d be gaining experience, so it seemed worth the risk. The pay could be increased once he was sure I’d stick to the trade. There were a few hiccups for him too.

I began the journey with a fear of heights, we’re talking afraid of 6-foot ladders. A fear of small spaces as well. For those of you that don’t know, that’s a good 60 to 80 percent of the job. As soon as the owner asked about my comfort level on that, I was concerned. Here you may also wonder what the hell I’m thinking… I’m adaptive *says the waving voice trying to be confident*. Well, flash forward to the end of the interview, I was told that I’d get a call, but to call if he hadn’t reached out by the next week. Complete dud. The dude didn’t call nor answer my calls. I called twice on three different days. *Sigh* Is it no longer ok to say a candidate is not a good fit?!?

Second in person interview also didn’t go super well. I got emotional about my frustrations with my previous job and wanted this gig too badly. It wasn’t a proud moment. That being said, I got an offer letter a week later. I gladly accepted the offer that contained full benefits at no cost to me to be in full effect after some time. The pay offered was the upper limit of the range I specified. *Happy noises*

Now to summarize my months… It’s been a slow process. Lots of brainless activity mixed with very brainy activity. I was familiar with working with my hands but not with tools. It sounded silly to me before. ‘Of course I know how to operate tools! just pull the trigger and do the thing’… nooo, I had sooo much to learn. Tools alone has been such a learning curve. My hands had very little articulation when compared to my coworkers.

As far as ladders and scissor lifts, I have grown so much. I work up to 30′ in the air with regularity. At the start, ladder work consisted of me working at the heights whilst flipping my shit and compound swearing like it was my main language… but I did the work. I continue to do the work.

Do I make mistakes? Absolutely. Am I slow? Quite slow. Do I get frustrated? yes, I get frustrated the journeyman teaching me gets frustrated; there’s a lot of anger. There is also learning, patience and reward to the things I do. There’s good days and there’s bad days. Whatever happens, I’m not alone in it.

Signing Off,

-Vessa

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