Greens

Hello,

I am currently a third year university student (20 years old) in Ontario, Canada. I have spent the last 3 years working in sciences and achieving so-so grades. I did well in high school, but I am finding all this book work extremely daunting I have lost my motivation for finishing my degree (BSc). I do like to work with my hands, but I rarely get to do that here.

I have been thinking of a career in a skilled trade, like being an electrician as a possible alternative. I have been looking at a local union website (if you are interested) : http://www.electricalapprenticeship....ine/index.html

Anyways my question is what is life like for you? How does your day go from start to finish? What is your main complaint as an electrical worker? How much difference is there between an electrician that works for construction and maintenance vs. a low rise residential person? Is it satisfying? Did you always know what you wanted to do with your life? Do you have a family? Do you have financial security?

Sorry for the length, but I am at my wits end with this "university life" and I am trying to look at all my options. Any other tidbits of wisdom will not fall on deaf ears.

Thanks,

Kyle from Canada Eh!

BryanMD

I'll tell you what I would tell my own kid.

Don't worry so much about what the degree will do for you wrt a career. Most people will change several times over their working lives and relatively few will end up doing what they originally went to school for. Most of the value of a college degree is just in having one. The school, the program and even the grades won't really matter that much.

Stick it out and *finish* your program. In your future having done so will be of immeasurable importance.

As regards shifting into the trades... the next 12-18 months will be the worst time in a generation to try to get in. After you have completed the BsC program you can explore what job opportunities will be available then.

As to the relative merits of the various aspects of electrical work the general rule is the more you use your head and the less you sweat and groan... the better the earnings will be. But to get to that stage you'll be expected to do your fair share of sweating and groaning in order to gain the specific experience required for your brain work to be relevant.

Good luck.

__________________
"Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then." ~Katharine Hepburn

JohnJ0906

Welcome!

I have to agree with Bryan's advice.

__________________
John from Baltimore
"One day at a Time"
All responses based on the '08 NEC
It's not my fault, it's not my problem, I'm not your solution.

Greens

I don't know, I took too many dentistry prerequisites, so I am stuck with courses I hate, and if I was to finish my degree, it would take me my 4th year and at least another half after that. Then I would basically have no job after that and require a masters (another 2-4 years) before I can work in a field I might like. I am visiting a career counselor this Friday, I will see what they say, I guess. Thanks for the input though. I guess my first post was very long winded.

headrec

Welcome to the forum! My biggest concern/complaint about the trade right now as already stated is the slow time. Just being worried about having a job kinda sucks. Other then that I'm loving my job.

__________________
-Jay

randomkiller

Welcome to the forum. I agree with Bryan as well. The trade has been good to me and continues to do the same. See what the career counselor has to say and how you feel about it. Back when I started this many years ago my mother wanted me to be a dentist and I had no desire to do so.

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A Veteran - whether active duty, retired, guard or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America," for an amount of "up to and including my life."

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JohnJ0906

Bustin' teeth, not fixing them?

__________________
John from Baltimore
"One day at a Time"
All responses based on the '08 NEC
It's not my fault, it's not my problem, I'm not your solution.

jrannis

Kyle,
Just suck it up and finish your degree. This is what will seperate you from those that do not have a degree. Many doors will be open for you that are closed for others.
If you want to learn a trade when you finish your degree do it then.
Start a new thread with a Poll. See what the vote is!

william1978

Welcome to the forum!

barlow

Man what ever you do just finish! Finish before you get bogged down with all the responsibilties of life like alot of people who try to go to or back to college later in life. Yeah so like these guys say finish in the mean while maybe you could get a job as a helper on the weekend or over the summer to see how you like the building trades. But to paraphrase what BryanMD said "use your brain not your back"

ce2two

I was always told to work smarter not harder , being a dentist you have constant work they pay much more than an electrician ...you have a goal already ,work on achieveing it first ...try working with a contractor for the weekends , as a helper...it may or may not be for you...air conditioning techs make good money yet it to can be hard work,,, too ? 90% of a a/c work is electrical ,trouble shooting , air balancing, repair etc

randomkiller

What was she thinking? She knew I liked working with my hands and tried to talk me into dental school as soon as I came back home.

__________________
A Veteran - whether active duty, retired, guard or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America," for an amount of "up to and including my life."

"One Nation Under God"

sparkie

Finish your studies, doesn't matter where you are the situation is crappy.
Throwing away your work so far would not be a good idea.

Personally all this current situation is due to irresponsible lending and greed, now would not be a good time to bail out

regards
Daniel

shorttimer

You stated that you have been in college for three years,my suggestion is that you should stay in school and finish your degree.If I had it to do over again I would have went to college.The older you get the harder this st gets.

gokingsgo888

Get your degree man. I'm 22 years old and I just got my BA in Communications-advertising 6 months ago. I realized I don't like the careers that it offers, so I'm taking the apprenticeship test at the IBEW this Wednesday. My dad is a JW. I've gone on a few job sites with him and I love it. He already has be stripping wires and testing me on the colors in single phase and 3 phase systems.

In the meantime, my degree has been paying off already. It has been much easier getting some kind of work while this apprentice things gets going. And even then, it may take months before an interview or a call to start working. With this economy, a degree will definitely help. Plus, your degree would be a lot more prestigious than mine. Think about it in the long run. If your company needs to promote someone to a project manager, you would have an extra notch under your belt over the next guy.

You don't carry knowledge in a backpack, it never weighs you down.

---I'm stepping off the soapbox---

mikeh32

i agree, finish the degree. i did not, and took a job. now finishing it is a pita.

Greens

Wow just want to say thanks for all encouragement, and various insights. It is one more day until my career counseling session.

Just some more info for people who are suggesting I finish. I have a GPA of roughly 2.3 (nothing to be proud of) over the course of these 3 years (+1.5 - 2 still to go).

The way I see it I can do a few things.

- Take a break for 1 semester, see if my other university will accept me for plant science. Collect myself try again.

- Take a whole year off to work minimum wage, see if I like it (probably not), but it might give me more reasons to persevere

- Apply to be an apprentice electrician see if I like it.



Do any of you think I might be able to get some experience in the field before actually applying for an apprenticeship? Could I just ask an electrician to see if he was interested? How would you expect someone like me to ask if they could spend a few weeks with them at work? Where would I find someone to ask?

Thanks again for all the helpful thoughts and advice.

cdnelectrician

I would just grab the yellow pages, get a resume together and start calling electrical contractors in the phone book. You are bound to find someone that will take you on! Work nights and/or weekends while going to school and see if you like the trade. That is how I got started back in 2001!

mikeh32

you can find contracting jobs and what not. ive been doing low voltage(not the same as many here) yet its still something. i have never applied for apprenticeships till now.

Im in chicago, and lately there have been a good amount of 1-2 day 1099 projects coming up.

Greens 2.0

Firstly I have lost access to my old email account which I first used to make this account, so I've made another, because of all the good advice I got I felt I needed to post an update on how this are going for me.


"As regards shifting into the trades... the next 12-18 months will be the worst time in a generation to try to get in. After you have completed the BsC program you can explore what job opportunities will be available then."

-BryanMD

You were 100% right. There was a message on the JAC website (where you apply etc.) That said they were not accepting anybody this year, and that we should try this coming June for a "limited" intake period.

I transferred universities. I am at the University of Toronto, working on finishing my Honours Bachelors of Science, Major in Integrative Biology.

I realize that when some things are difficult, if I just focus on getting a decent grade in it, and getting the credit, rather than curling up and dying because I can't get a 4.0 on it I am that much closer to getting the "Piece of Paper".

Slow and steady and I will be there soon.

Thank you for the words of encouragement!

I was wondering a couple things, from what I remember I need a few basic skills to help me out in applying.

-Algebra (How would you use this "everyday"?)
-Trigonometry (How would you use this "everyday"?)
-Basic knowledge of circuits etc.

I was thinking of just going out and grabbing some textbooks on these subjects and working on them.

Anyone know of any recent books that may help me? Maybe ones for mechanical aptitude tests?