What Is Apprenticeship and How Does It Work

While it would be nice to graduate from electrician school and jump right into working for yourself or someone else as a full-fledged electrician, the industry unfortunately doesn't work that way. Rising to the status of independent Master Electrician is a gradual process, and once your education has been completed you must participate in an apprenticeship program.

What is an apprenticeship? In its most basic form, an apprenticeship can be thought of as an extension of the practical learning that took place in the classroom at electrician school. Instead of heading into the classroom every day, you will instead be put into real life work situations and given a limited set of responsibilities which are designed to both test your skills and introduce you to new situations. You will be reporting to whoever is in charge of the job site that you are working on, either a Journeyman Electrician or a Master Electrician. A significant part of your apprenticeship will also be watching these two higher levels of electrician as they go about their own tasks. They will mentor you and show you the tricks of the trade as well as the safest and most reliable ways to do a job.

It is not always easy to apply to and be accepted into the apprenticeship program of your choice. Depending upon the area of the country that you live in, apprenticeship programs could be subject to a long waiting list. Sometimes it can take up to two years to get into the program you are interested in. You may also have to pass a test of the skills that you learned during your classes. Some programs limit their participation by only offering restricted periods wherein new graduates have an opening to apply. In some cases, there may only be a few weeks out of the year when a program accepts general applications. Another factor which limits the availability of apprenticeship positions is that in order for an apprentice to be placed in the field a Master Electrician has to request one.

Apprenticeships for electricians are quite long – usually they last at least three years, and four-to-five-year apprenticeships are not unusual. The good news is that you will be paid during the entire period that you are acting as an apprentice, so in a sense it is like being compensated for on-the-job learning. The not-so-good news is that the rate of pay at the beginning is usually a little bit less than half what the average electrician earns. This means that your median pay will probably be in the $9 to $10 per hour range, although as time goes on you will receive incremental raises thanks to the increased level of experience that you will accumulate and the responsibility that goes with that. At best, an apprentice can earn about 80% of the hourly wage paid to a Journeyman Electrician. Keep in mind that there may also be expenses that go along with your apprenticeship, including union dues as some contractors and shops require you to join a union before you can start to work.

An apprenticeship might be a learning experience, but it is also real work, and the people you interact with on the job site will expect you to produce results. Exact figures are hard to come by, but only about 50% to 85% of electricians actually complete their apprenticeship. For those that do choose to stick it out, however, the rewards can be high. Working as an electrician allows you access to some of the highest wages available in all of the construction trades, and it also gives you a window into more lucrative industrial and specialist electrical work.