Thinking about a career as an electrician?

Here’s everything you need to know to become an apprentice electrician in 2018

Becoming an electrician apprentice is a good move if you’re looking for a new career in 2018. That’s because there’s an increasing need for workers in the industry in Colorado and across the nation with anticipated growth of up to 45 percent in the state through 2024.

It’s also a satisfying career that offers the following benefits for anyone with a high school diploma:

• Employment options for your lifetime
• Ability to work with your hands
• Opportunities for problem-solving
• Career progression from apprentice to journeyman to master electrician to foreman
• Owning your own company,
• Great pay—electricians earned an average of $57,720 in 2016

What You’ll Do as an Electrician

Electricians design, install, and maintain electrical wiring systems located in homes, commercial, or industrial buildings. They can work inside or outside to make to make possible the use of lights, televisions, industrial equipment, appliances, and other items essential to life.

Electricians generally work full time with some evening and weekend hours and to address emergencies like downed lines in inclement weather.

Being an electrician requires you to have:

• Physical stamina and strength
• Troubleshooting/problem-solving skills
• Critical-thinking and communication skills
• Color vision

Becoming an Electrician

Electricians learn through apprentice training programs offered by local unions or organizations and technical schools. Or they can receive paid on-the-job training as an apprentice to a licensed electrician.

In Colorado, apprentices must be registered with the State Electrical Board and are required to have 8,000 hours of training under the supervision of a journeyman electrician before testing for licensure. They also receive 700 to 900 hours of classroom instruction over the course of the program.

Following an apprenticeship, electricians must complete an open-book examination based on the current edition of the National Electrical Code as a prerequisite to licensing by the State Electrical Board.

Two Types of Electricians in Colorado

You can apprentice as a residential wireman or a journeyman electrician in Colorado.

Residential wiremen have the qualifications, training, experience, and technical knowledge to do electrical work for residential properties of one-, two-, three- and four-family dwellings. Their duties include:

• Installing fire alarm systems
• Establishing grounding systems
• Installing new and repairing old wiring
• Installing lighting systems and fixtures
• Troubleshooting and repairing electrical systems

Journeyman electricians have the qualifications, training, experience, and technical knowledge to do electrical work for commercial buildings, including schools, gas stations, hospitals, and more.  Their duties include:

• Planning and initiating projects
• Establishing temporary power during construction
• Installing service to building and other structures
• Installing and repairing traffic signals, outdoor lighting and power
• Installing fire alarm systems
• Establish power distribution within a project

If this sounds like something you would like to do on a regular basis, then contact APower Electric Service to learn about apprentice opportunities. You will learn under the guidance of our licensed electricians and can become an electrician in about a year.