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Kevin Helfers

Inverno

English 402H

5 May 2020

Career Project
What I know:

As long as I have been alive, my family has been involved in the trade of electricity. We

have a family business in the industry so I felt it would only be right for me to choose it for this

project. I chose Electrician because it is What I know about being an electrician is that you don't

just apply and become a foreman, there is a bit of a process in it. You have to go to school for it.

But the good news is that you have to be working in the field to go to school.

What I want to know:

People who look at this job from the outside looking in would say it requires no

schooling. This is why I would like to know exactly how much schooling is required to go into

the field. Before I go into classes, I would like to know how much I am being paid as well as

what the description of the job is. If it is hard labor and gueling tasks, I would like to be paid

well for doing such work. I am very big on family time, so I would also want to know what the

daily and weekly hours would be. When I finish schooling, how competitive is the job market for

electricians? If I get sick, I would want to know if I get any PTO, paid time off. I want to know if

I will end up investing my own money into tools or if I even need tools at all.

Findings:

While looking around the internet seeking the answers to my many questions, I came

across a very important website. I found out that if I were to become an electrician, it is required
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that I go through four years of paid, on job training​("FAQs" 2019)​. If I do it through a company,

I will not have to pay, But if I do it on my own, I will have to pay for my own schooling. I also

found out that the average salary for an electrician is around 60 thousand per year

(Beelineweb.com 2020)​. This was based off of 40 hour work weeks which seem to be quite

normal within the trade. Which is not bad, but for San Diego it will make buying a home very

hard. Working for 40 hours in this trade is very hard on your body because of how physically

demanding it is. The market for jobs itself is pretty competitive if you have been in the line of

work for awhile. People are willing to pay you up to 80 thousand a year for you to work for them

("Electrician Jobs in San Diego, CA" 2019)​! When it comes to the job itself, you will have paid

time off, but it is limited to a certain amount every year. I also found out, by asking my dad, that

you do in fact have to buy your own tools and they get pretty expensive as well.

What I learned:

The job sure does seem to be quite tough. It is physically demanding with not that great

of pay. The work itself is pretty mindless and I would prefer to work with my brain rather than

my hands. With the knowledge I now have about electrical contracting, I have come to the

conclusion that I will not be pursuing a career in electrical contracting. I have friends within the

trade who tell me it is not worth it and to get a job using my brain. I did not come to this

conclusion through their words. I came to this conclusion because I feel that I can get paid more

to do something I enjoy and will be fine with doing for the rest of my life. I am planning on

studying mechanical engineering in the fall, so I will go into a line of work where I can use my

knowledge and expertise to my advantage. With that in mind, I will either go the car route and

become a mechanic or I will get a minor in aeronautics and work on airplanes.

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Works Cited

Beelineweb.com. “Here Are the Answers You Need About Becoming an Electrician.” ​Trade​,

Trade-Schools.net, 21 Feb. 2020, ​www.trade-schools.net/articles/electrician-schools-faq​.

“FAQs.” ​ABC San Diego​,2019, www.abcsd.org/faqs.

“Electrician Jobs in San Diego, CA.” ​ZipRecruiter,​

www.ziprecruiter.com/Jobs/Journeyman-Electrician/-in-San-Diego,CA.