KevinM

Hello, nice site you have here.

I live in the Northbay of California and am planning on applying to WECA-IEC in a few weeks for apprenticeship. I have about five years of various trade experience, most recently about a year and a half of new construction plumbing. I just turned 23 and decided on finally taking the time and effort to become an electrician due to the higher pay scale, the large opportunity for service work (less reliance on the new construction industry for steady work), and also because it seems to be most of the more interesting and knowledge centered trades out there.

I had a few newbie questions regarding California if anyone can shed some light? From what I have been able to gather by reading online, no one can be an electrician in California, apprentice or otherwise, without either being certified or enrolled in a state-certified training/apprenticeship course. So this would mean that I cannot just turn in resumes to electrical contractors asking for an apprentice position right? So I beleive that is where WECA comes in, offering a training program and a list of contractors who could then potentially hire you to their crews. Am I on track so far?
My question then is if WECA and the local IBEW are the only two organizations in the northbay that offer these kinds of training programs. In other words, if I know of an electrical contractor and do not see him on WECA's list of affiliated contractors, then is it safe to assume that they're a union contractor and affiliated with IBEW training program? Are these the only two organizations available to someone like me for a start in the electrical trades?
The economy is a bit sluggish right now so I'm just trying to maximize my opportunity for employment and wanted to asses all of my options. The lagging economy is the reason I am not really considering trying to join IBEW. A friend of a friend who is a union electrician has been out of work for months.

Thanks for any input.

knothole

Welcome, glad you could join us......

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Danny

randomkiller

Welcome to the forum. I can't answer any of your Cali questions being from NY. I'm sure someone will shed some light on that stuff for you. In the mean time why not pick up the phone an call the IBEW local and have a talk with them about apprenticeship and what's up in your area.

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480sparky

Greetings and welcome!

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JohnJ0906

Welcome!

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Idaho Abe

Glad to have another west coaster in here. I hope you find what you need.

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rlc3854

California has required all apprentices ans journyman electricians to be licensed by the state to perform electrical work regardless whether the contractor is IBEW or open shop.

LokiVanguard

While I can't answer your question, Kevin, I can say that yes, California does require you to have a license whether you go open shop or not.

By the way, I just submitted my application for WECA-IEC as well, and I'm going to take my math test on April 17th. I'm very excited about this trade.