Speaker 1: What when I went up?
Speaker 2: What Up?
Speaker 1: Everybody?
Speaker 2: Welcome to another episode of Let's Ask Paul, the podcast
where you can ask me Paul Abernathy anything you want
about the National Electrical Code and all things electrically related.
Thanks for joining me on today's show. We have a
great one today. Uh, for all of you out there
who maybe you're somebody in high school, maybe you're you know,
you're in one career and you want to shift to
another career something like that, and maybe you're you're thinking
of making.
Speaker 1: A career move and you hear that.
Speaker 2: The life as an electrician is glamorous and that's where
you want to be. But you want to know how
you get started or what my recommendation. So today's episode,
I'm gonna do top five things that really can help
you decide whether or not you want to get into
this trade. Now I will tell you, you know, obviously we
live the glamorous, glamorous life. Yeah, but you know, in
all seriously, we you know electricians is being an electricians
One of the proudest things I've ever done in this
profession is just having the ability to originally starting out
in the industry, was you know, working with my hands
and the ability to create things and be in demand.
And I learned early on that while I went to
college later early on, when I wanted to get out
of high school and wanted to get right into the
working world, I realized that, you know, I had options
when it became a trade. And of course I started
in the electrical program while I was back in high school,
so I was there's a shot out to the Charlottesville album.
All Vocational Tech School that's where I started. Since then,
it doesn't have a dedicated electrical program, but it did
back when I was there, and my instructor was Bob Barrett,
who was my mentor, and he was a great guy
who was like a second father figure to me through
the years. But when I got started, you know, I
was I was not always the best teenager, right I was.
I always did didn't do what I was told, you know,
hated authority, all this kind of stuff, YadA, YadA, YadA.
And it's kind of interesting that I would even have
this this podcast today considering when this one releases, it
will be the eleventh anniversary of my father's passing, who
you know, probably wasn't sure that electrical was the thing
that I should go into back then, although he didn't care.
As long as I was working, he didn't care, but
you know, it was really he didn't understand the relationship
that I had with my electrical instructor, but he respected
it and he supported it. And when I went into
business for myself, it was my dad who actually helped
me out. My mom was like, dude, you're all over
the place, and I'm not going to invest in you
right now, and I get it. I wouldn't have either,
but my dad did, and he believed in me and
he helped me where he could and got me into it,
and not really in the electrical business, but it helped
me get the equipment I needed for my first business.
I paid him back in about six months after getting
into business, and it was great to be able to
do that, that pride of being able to pay him back,
but at least he gave me the opportunity. So I
learned early on that electrical is where I wanted to be.
That was the profession that I wanted to be into.
So in doing that, I started and I went to
like I said, I went to a vocation school, and
in that vocational school is where I learned how to
to to do the hands on stuff right, how to uh,
you know, run the circuit's bend conduit and tubing and
and and and learn all those type of things the
hands on and it was a two year program and
that's how I got started. Now, some of you out
there who are wondering that are in the you know,
want to get into this trade, and they're like, what
what is How do I get started into it? I
understand you went to a vocational school and if you
have that opportunity and you're a teenager, don't let them
push college down your throat. I know quite a few
college graduates who are struggling to find jobs and they
don't make as much as an electrician. Uh. And there's
a lot of opportunities for electricians. Whether you want to
do residential, commercial, industrial service work only, you want to
do smart homes, whatever, there's an opportunity generator work.
Speaker 1: Whether or not you know there you can.
Speaker 2: There's so many avenues that you can pick your specialty
if you want. If you just want to do residential,
or maybe you want to do commercial slash residential and
just do multi family housing. I think it's up to you.
You get to pick your path. But we all start
from the same thing, the same fundamentals. Now I'm here
to tell you that you're going to learn early on.
You're gonna hear people say, well, you must learn them's law,
you must learn all the Okay, that's just foundational stuff
that you will not, for the most part, will not
use the rest of your electrical career. And if you do,
we have apps for that, we have calculators for that.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: So I'm not here to to have people that are
out there in the trade, and there are plenty of
them that want to scare you and say, oh no,
you got to learn all these algebraic equations. They're full
of shit. Don't listen to them. Okay, I'm here to
tell you that don't listen to them. You don't need that.
You do have to have a good foundational understanding of
the National Electrical Code. Well beyond all of that stuff
about formulas. Okay, all that stuff can be it out
with an app on your phone. But when it comes
to the code, there are certain things that you're going
to be doing while you're immersed in the work, learning
with your hands, working on something as a helper or
an apprentice that you're going to wonder why do I
Why do I secure this cable this many feet? Why
can't I go further? I mean, why can't I do this?
Why can't I do that? But if I'm running in
the ceiling over joyce is, why do I have to
secure it? I mean, it's supported, but why do I
have to secure? So there's so many little things that
you're ultimately going to do in your career that you're
wondering why you do it, And that's.
Speaker 1: Why you learn the National Electrical Code.
Speaker 2: But let's kind of back it up a little bit
and kind of give you a little bit of an introduction.
My name's Paul Abernathy. If you don't know who I am,
I'm the CEO and founder of Electrical Code Academy. I've
been working in the electrical industry for just at forty years.
I've worked as a journeyman electrician, master electrician. I've worked
as a helper while I was in school. I grew
up to work start a company with my brother in
UH competed in the in the Vica contests and did
very well. I ended up branching off and opening my
own electrical contracting businesses away from my brother who incidentally
still in electrical contracting business even now in his sixties.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: And so I branched off and did mine, and I
did it in both Virginia and in Texas. So through
the years i'd been a the electrical plans examiner. I
have been the electrical engineer too, for the for a
major city, the capital city in Virginia. I was a
code supervisor in northern Virginia for a large I wouldn't
say large, but it's the city is adjacent to DC
and a lot of the politicians live there.
Speaker 1: And so you kind of get an idea.
Speaker 2: Then I also worked for NIMA, the Nation Electrical Manufacturing Association,
as a Southern field representative. Basically, we're the NEC code
experts and there was four of us around the country.
I handled thirteen states in the South and they were
under my purview. Means that I would travel around teaching
and helping manufacturers understand the code and how it's applied.
And then of course I was able to get offered
a position at uncuore Wire which is now Prismium, but
it's the world's largest wiring cable manufacturer, as a director
of technical services.
Speaker 1: So oversaw their.
Speaker 2: Thing in all that time creating academies and creating lessons
and training and courses and doing continuing it. In fact,
in Virginia, I was the first to create the continuing
education program. I was the very first approved educator, and
I helped have a part in that program and so
have a bit of a history in it. But again, I,
like everybody else, started back with digging the trenches and
pulling the conductors, pulling the cables and getting the hands dirty.
Speaker 1: I've got the cuts still to prove it.
Speaker 2: Now you go online and you do a lot of
stuff and you get you know, you have all these people.
Who's what's amazing to me is I can write books,
teach the code for decades now and still have the
young people go, who are you?
Speaker 1: What have you done?
Speaker 2: You don't live it, You just talk about it. You
just teach it because you can't do it. It still
amazes me that those people don't realize that you're gonna
be my age, You're gonna be fifties and sixties, and
you're gonna have the younger generations say exactly the same
thing about you, Especially if you're in the limelight or
you're in the know or in the talking point, So
get over it. You're gonna be there, trust me, And
I'm probably gonna be gone, but you know I'm gonna
be up in heaven laughing, going, Yeah, you're right there
where I was. The reality is electricity, for the most part,
in the code is like riding a bike. Once you
learn it, you just maintain your balance.
Speaker 1: You can keep on learning.
Speaker 2: You just keep learning and you get better and better
and better at it, and you have to put in
that time. You have to put in that effort. So
that all leads me to when people say, Okay, well,
what is your advice for somebody who's just getting in
the trade or just wanting to get into the trade.
Can you give them advice? I say absolutely. And one
of the biggest questions I get from high school graduates,
from those that are still in high school. Younger folks
are in a transition or wondering what can I do
because I've been groomed to do this thing, college thing,
or I've been groomed to do this or that. But
I really see opportunity because being an electrician is a
path to being ownership of your business, to have destiny
in your hand. Now, I'm not saying that's only electrical,
I mean plumbing, mechanical, they have.
Speaker 1: This as well.
Speaker 2: But you have the ability to branch out in so
many things. Okay, even more so with electrical because of
how technical it can be. But for anybody that tells
you now you got to learn all kinds of complicated
algebraics and all this kind of stuff, they're full of shit.
Don't listen to them. Don't let that be a deterrent.
You ain't got to be the best and the best
in the world at math. Okay today you do not. Okay,
So I have people say, Paul, I've got no experience,
but I really want to become an electrician. Where do
I start? What do I do? What is the path
that I need to take? Okay, well, number one, you
need to identify that licensing path. Because you can go
get a job as a helper. You can go get
a job as a prince. And we're all going to
talk about why that's important, because that's all about building
the experience. But the first thing you have to identify
this is not going to be a short trip. There's
no ready fixes, there's no overnight snap your fingers and
you can just start doing your own thing. I mean,
remember when you're wiring, and I think a lot of
people out there and I use the term electricians loosely
for this, forget that anything that you do, you are
putting other people's lives in your hands. Now, as cliche
as that may sound, you are you are literally putting
other people's homes, their dwellings, their property, anything that they
interact with. When it comes to electrical you have to
do it right. Whether it's bonding, whether it's grounding, whether
it's GFCI, AFCI, whatever it is, you have to do
it right. There's always the wolf waiting in the wings
to jump on you when you do it wrong, especially
if there's an incident, a fire, something happens and they
come to find out that you're the electrician that did
it and you didn't do it right, and you say, well,
the inspector didn't catch it. No, it's your responsibility to
do it right. So that's why I tell people all
the time, especially younger folks, don't joke around.
Speaker 1: Focus because this is a profession.
Speaker 2: So the first step that I tell people all the
time is now before you even touch a wire, before
you even touch a conduit or tubing, or before you
even bought your own.
Speaker 1: Your first set of tools.
Speaker 2: You have to understand that there's a licensing path for
every state, and it is different in every state. So
the first thing you have to identify is Okay, before
I even done it, you're like, Okay, I want to
be an electrician. I know that I got some steps
I have to go through. I know I've got time
that I'm going to have to do. And the funny
thing about time is when you're younger, you think it's
it's infinite, and when you get in your forty, late forties, fifties,
and sixties, you realize time is fleeting, that it goes
by very quickly. And it's when you get fifties and
sixties you realize and you look at your family history
and you go, you know, dude, I might have only
ten years left on this earth.
Speaker 1: It's a reality. Sucks, but it's a reality so well.
Speaker 2: The years of growth that I tell people all the time,
assuming you live to seventy, is to realize that your
twenties and your early thirties are the point in your
life where you're going to make the decisions that are
going to dictate the comfort level that you have in
your late forties and fifties and sixties, and.
Speaker 1: They can be wonderful years. I'm living those years.
Speaker 2: But you have to set up the foundation, and that
is where you're going to absorb as much knowledge. You're
going to get much hands on as you can. You're
going to dabble in doing many things. Some things so successful,
some things will not be. But that is your learning period.
So if somebody's in their late twenties, they're thinking, oh,
my ship is sailed. I wasted my early twenties to
get that education. It's never too late. But what we're
saying is we're reaching out to the younger folks that
are in their mid twenties, early twenties, this is the
time if you're gonna make a career change. Again, that
does not mean somebody in their late thirties or forties
can't make a career change. You most certainly can change
your career at forty and have thirty good years in
the industry. You definitely can't. Don't miss.
Speaker 1: Don't think that. I'm not saying that.
Speaker 2: What I'm saying is if you decide to make that decision,
and you make it early, that you have to realize
that there's a period, and you're gonna have to put
in your dues, they say, And you're like, that sucks.
It seems like you know, take my son for example,
he was he's in the pool industry, or wants to
be in the pool industry, but he thinks it's gonna
happen overnight. He wants a contractor's license now, and he's
got like two years in it. He's never done a
full job by himself. And he's like, I know, people,
I got connections, I can. I can do this just
just if I get a contractor's license.
Speaker 1: I can. No, that's not how it works. Okay, certainly
not how.
Speaker 2: I'm not investing in that because I think that's a
recipe for failure. So the number the one thing is
you need to understand the licensing path. Every state is different,
sometimes even every city is different and have their own rules.
You know, some call it a journeyman license, other states
will call it a wireman's or electrical mechanic license. It
doesn't really matter. They all follow the same type of process.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: You just have to go to your state's Department of
Labor or their electrical licensing board and they have documents
for this.
Speaker 1: So that's your first step research.
Speaker 2: Is look and see what is the path that you
need to focus on. You know, like I tell people
for exam prep all the time, and y'all know, we
create the probably the most definitive exam prep experience you're
going to get to try to learn the NEC for licensure.
We create that. That's our fast Tracks program. But you
hear me talk about structured plans, structure, getting from point
A to B with a structure, because that's how we
logically learn things better. That's why we have grade one kindergarten, first, second, third, fourth,
this sixth, seventh, eight, nine, tenth, eleventh to twelve.
Speaker 1: It's structure. This is not reinventing the wheel. This is
structured learning.
Speaker 2: We just created an exam prep but in the process
it helps you become a better electrician because you're learning
things under a process, not just watching videos all the time.
And hell, I know that I watch a video on
something and within after watching it, within a week, I
forgotten what I watched. I forgot it. It's just something
about the way we're wired. You have to read it
to understand it, to comprehend it. It may be dull,
it may be boring. It may seem mundane. It's like Jesus,
it's just I'm reading over and over. But it's proven
for long term success. It's proven. Okay, So you don't
deviate from a proven plan. Now you enhance the plan.
You had videos for confirmation, you add graphics, illustrations, you
add you know, competency reviews, you add all this kind
of stuff to kind of help you with that path.
Speaker 1: But you don't deviate from the proven path.
Speaker 2: But what you need to do is you need to
to really realize what stayed am I in and when
I get started? I need to know what are the hours,
what are the time, what are the expectations for licensing,
so that I don't deviate from that plan and then
waste time. Because your goal is to follow the requirements
in order to get licensed.
Speaker 1: That's your goal.
Speaker 2: That should always be your goal first is to get
that license. If you're working at somebody and you've been
doing it for ten years and you've got the time in,
but you still aren't licensed yet, and you think, well,
I don't need to be licensed because my state doesn't
require it or who I work for, you're living a
fool's dream. Get your license whether it just sits in
your wallet and it just sits there get your license.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Now, when you go to your state's licensing board in
that type of thing, you're going to see that it's
going to tell you how many hours it's necessary on
the job. It's going to also tell you how much
classroom training is required.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: It's also going to let you know possibly what states
have reciprocity with other states, right, which is just opens
up the door. And that doesn't mean you're looking for
a short cut in one state in order to get
licensed in another through reciprocity. No, that most of the
state's licensing is going to be very similar. Like some
states that you have to have, you know, a certain
number of years as a helper, and then you have
to have to say, two hundred and forty hours of
vocational training, a legit training, whether it's doing an apprenticeship program
with the vocational school or whatnot. And then at that
point you'll accumulate the hours it's necessary and then you
can look at the hands on. The hands on can
be anywhere from four thousand hours to ten thousand hours,
and how do you achieve that? Well, w Two's that
you get that you work for a contractor can validate time,
but you also have worksheets that many states use that
will you utilize that in order to be able to
confirm and they notarize the amount of time you've had
in the trade. And so that's just a matter of
putting in your time. Most places around the country. Again,
don't hold me to this. Every state is different. You
have to look at your state. I get calls all
the time and say, what are the requirements to be
an electrician? I'm like, I don't know, and they get disappointed.
They're like, well, you mean you don't know. I'm like,
because every state is different. So some have eight thousand
hour requirements of hands on work and then some have
up to five hundred hours of classroom hours before you
can even take your journeyman exam. Or you can get
into an apprenticeship program IBEW if that's your flavor, NIKA
type apprenticeship programs and they will keep track of your
hours and go through a three four five year program. Now,
there are also some states that maybe you've been working
as an apprentice in electrical work for ten years, well,
there's some states that will take all of that time
as equivalent to the classroom and with the signature of
a master electrician that has overseen your work and it
can attest to your work, then you can sit for
the exam. Okay, so every state is different, and so
that's the first thing that you've got to understand. And
people say, well, no, let me get the time in
and then I worry about that when I go to
get licensed.
Speaker 1: That is opposite. That is not what you do.
Speaker 2: You first have to identify what the path is so
that you can make sure that you don't deviate from
the path. You want to put the shortest amount of
time possible to get to that point where you can
take an exam and you don't want to accidentally deviate
from that.
Speaker 1: You have to be laser focused.
Speaker 2: If I'm required to have two hundred and forty hours
of training vocational school and I have to have five
thousand hours of hands on immediately, that's what your target is.
That's what you're shooting for. Okay, immediately, that's it. That's
your goal. Now, part of that way is where you're
going to learn the hands on. It's where you're going
to start accumulating the knowledge and trying to retain it.
That's part of the trade. So it's a commitment and
you have to first identify what your state requires. Now
after that, then you say, okay, this is where I
need to go. I got to have the hands on
got it. And a lot of the programs will include
some hands on so that starts calculating out your time.
But then you also look at it and say, okay,
now need I need to find a program. Now every
states can be different, so some states it may be
your your they don't have a classroom requirement. Other states will,
and they will give a list of schools a qualify. No,
this is not going to be a trade where you
can get it easy. Okay, it's not what we're talking
about here. So once you understand your path what you
need to achieve, you can start going and looking at programs.
And there are programs that are union programs from IBW,
from NIKA, you have non union programs like IEC or ABC,
a bunch of different types of programs. You can even
start with an online code training like our Fasttracks program. Okay, now,
whether or not that counts for any hours, that's not
hands on, so it's just going to increase your knowledge.
That type of thing, right, most of the people come
to our programs after they're already accumulated the hours and
they're preparing to take an electrical exam. Then they come
to us because at this point they've done the hands
on they've kind of learned a little bit about the code,
but they you know, they really focus on the installation
and running them. You know, they teach you different things
to make you aware of of how to run the
business and all this. Well, at that point that's when
you get into a program like our fast Tracks program.
So our program is designed to work very well with
things like the IBW, NIKA, i c S, and ABC
type of things. So when you need that online training,
that's where we pick up right now. The key here
is to find legitimate state approved training programs, okay, and
that is something that your state will have a list
of those that are going to help you caut because
you know what, if you've got to get two hundred
and forty hours of training, then that has to be
documented training, Okay, that that has to be a process
that's documented, kept track of so that they can give
you your hours. And that's really something that the nikas
and ib w's and i CS and ABC's of the world.
They do that very well, very well, Okay, now it
and don't worry if you don't know a thing yet,
doesn't matter. Everybody has to start somewhere. I think the
biggest thing that I see for people is they see
people owning a business. They say, I can do that,
I can do that, but they never actually see the
behind the scenes. Right. I have helpers that have worked
for electric contractors and goes, shit, this is easy. I
could be doing this what I need this guy for
but they don't have the time, they don't have the license.
But they look at it and go They don't realize
the work that gets done behind the scenes, whether it's billing,
keeping up with the company, hiring, firing, benefits. They don't
see that. They never see that. Nobody ever looks at that.
Nobody ever peels back that onion. They just see they go, oh,
I'm doing this work and he's paying me this, and
I know what this he's probably priced this job at
I could make that money. That's what everybody sees. That's
the outside of the onion. They don't peel back the layers,
and that's when you peel an onion. That's when you
start crying because there are other layers. There's fees, there's
continuing ed training, there's local licensure, there's permits. There's so
much more that people don't see. So you've got to
put that time in.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: The next thing I'll tell you is that you really
once you get into a program. The people ask me
all the time, and they do this in apprenticeship programs.
A lot is they wait until like the third year
to start teaching the National Electrical Code. Big mistake, big, big, big, big, big, big,
big big, big, big, big big mistake. Every program should
start introducing some type of electrical code training into their lessons,
even the hands on they should be explaining why we're
securing non metallic cable every four and a half feet.
They should be explaining when you're bending a raceway. They
should be explaining this. And so there is, whether you
know it or not, you're actually getting code. But instead
of saying it in these schools, I'll tell you, instead
of just saying it to say it right, they need
to say it and put a code reference behind it
so that you start learning that. And why do I
say that, because at some point you're going to have
to take a licensing exam, and at some point you
want to be able to be fluent and understand why
you're doing what you're doing. So my next advice is,
if you get into you find a program, you get
into it, they start to teach you the program that
and even if you're in a state where you don't
have a program requirement or hours technical vocational school or
some type of training that type of thing that's documented,
maybe they just say that you got to work four
years for a master. I want you to know that
you need to always be pushing your master or whoever's
technically teaching you to explain, and it may get on
their nerves, but you have to ask to explain, why
are we doing this?
Speaker 1: Why are we.
Speaker 2: Securing this cable within eight inches or twelve inches depending
on the type of box that we have. Why are
we boring these holes in the middle of the frame, remember,
and when we don't, why are we putting this nail
plate up?
Speaker 1: You get me.
Speaker 2: You have to ask these questions instead of just accepting
things as gospel. I mean, obviously teens today, people growing
up today, younger generation are asking all kinds of questions. Now, granted,
they're also eating glue in dishwashing fluid or soap or whatever.
But at the end of the day, we are in
a generation where people want to ask questions and they
want to act like they're in the nose. So ask
the questions, be inquisitive, Be the person in the front row,
don't be the person in the back row. That type
of thing, all right, and remember the codebook is not
your enemy. So that's number three. Learn the NEEC daily,
Get involved and learn. Okay, that's what our programs do.
It helps you not we can't do anything with the
hands on well, we can ask. We can hit you
with the mental part, and that's what our courses do
here at the Academy. That's what we're focused on. We're
focused on the mental part. Number four obviously is going
to go hand in hand with the others. You need
to get real job site experience. It's hard to have
a communication about something and learn the electrical trade without
actually touching it and feeling it. And I think that's
the one thing that I laugh about when people say, Paul,
you're just a mouthpiece on podcasts and videos and things
like that.
Speaker 1: They don't know me.
Speaker 2: They haven't researched me to realize that I'm an electrician
who has been in the crawl spaces, crawled through the attics, okay,
put in the switch gear.
Speaker 1: Things like that, put in the generators.
Speaker 2: I think they forget that because again they think the
older guys never did it. And you know, electricity technology
has changed made things easier for us. Right now, I
got a tool that does almost everything for you.
Speaker 1: We didn't have that.
Speaker 2: Shit, We didn't have a tool that you could strip
five hundred kc meal. What we had was a damn knife,
that's what we had, okay, and we used electrical tape
as band aids. Okay, different today, So I mean, you
got a tool for everything.
Speaker 1: Racketeer makes something for every freaking that. We didn't have that.
Speaker 2: So running of the wires is no different. Installing the
cables are no different. It's just you have easier ways
to do it now. That makes you work smarter, not harder.
But we didn't have that back then. But at the
end of the day, principles are the same, electrons are
the same, the circuits flow the same, so the same
things apply.
Speaker 1: Calculations still apply.
Speaker 2: So again, I don't listen to those people say that
they're just pounding their chests because they they just don't
get it. They're mentally not able to wrap their head
around the fact that they're going to be fifty and
sixty and sixty five and seventy in a blink of
an eye, and they're gonna be looking back and saying,
oh shit.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: One thing I will tell you is, once you get
to this stage, you decided your path. You know what
your path is. You've contacted the state, you understand your path.
The next thing, like I said, is you get into
a program that's going to get you those hours you
need quick as you can get them. You might as
well not put a kick that can down the road.
Get your hours now, they don't expire. Okay, that's hands
on that. That's the training part that don't expire. Get
it done. Knock your hours, whatever they may be in
your state out of the way. While you're doing that,
you're working for somebody. You're getting that job experience, and
that clock starts ticking.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: My advice to you, even though you will get a
W two, but there are gonna be occasions where you
may do some work and I'm not condoning it where
you don't get a W two All I'm saying is
you need to document, keep your own ledger, keep your
own journal, mark down your hours. I mean, look, people say, well, Paul,
that's being too technical.
Speaker 1: Dude. This is a trade. This is a profession. You
can make good, great money in this profession. Don't take
it lightly.
Speaker 2: I see too many videos online where people are joking
about different things like this trade. Dude, this is a profession.
People can get hurt if you do things wrong here.
And I see so many things done wrong on social media.
I cringe. But you know we're litigious. Is that a
litigious litigious litigus whatever. We're a society where people soue shit.
So be careful what you do, okay, and do it right.
But track your hours.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Now, once you do that, you're gonna you know, you
gotta put your time in.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Rome wasn't built in a day, they say, And the
same thing when it comes to be an electrician. You
may think you know it all, you do not. I
learned something new every day when I look into the
codebook and I read something that I look at it
and go.
Speaker 1: Oh, well that's cool.
Speaker 2: This is why I love coaching because it allows many
forces me to get back in there and read and
say whoa Okay, okay, okay, maybe I didn't see that.
A great example of that, great example is what is
happening in two twenty dot sixty and in the new code,
the twenty twenty six code that changes and it's one
twenty dot six. Is understanding what you're dealing with when
it comes to the things like when doing non coincident loads.
It's totally opened my eyes understanding that's where we were at.
But now it just it's so much clearer, and I
think the code making panel for a doing that. And
this is something that took place over the last couple
of cycles, but it was subtle and it was confusing
in the twenty twenty and twenty twenty three where the
foundation was set up in the in the in the
twenty seventeen, and then got clarified in the twenty twenty
eight by the code panel, but it still didn't reson
and it got messed up in the twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 1: And now it's clear.
Speaker 2: Okay, And if you don't know what I'm talking about,
you need to listen because I'll obviously be covering that
in a video and a podcast.
Speaker 1: It's clear.
Speaker 2: Now I get it. It's like an epiphany. It's like, oh,
I understood what we were trying to achieve.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: We were doing it right all along, but it's the
methodology of how we did it was wrong.
Speaker 1: And I'll break it down in a future.
Speaker 2: Episode so you can say, oh, damn, now I get it.
Speaker 1: I get it. It was never about that twenty five percent.
You know what I'm saying. So anyway, the point now.
Speaker 2: Is put in your time, be patient. It's gonna suck.
The pay's not gonna be great. You can do some
side stuff. You might have to have a second job.
Suck it up because at the end of the day,
the other side of the rainbow, it's going to be
great for this trade.
Speaker 1: Are you gonna be a millionaire? No, But it's the
amount of money you make in your destiny.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, you're making twenty five to thirty dollars an hours
an electrician, but that's not enough for you. Then you're thinking,
how do I make sixties sixty five, seventy. Well, maybe
ownership's the path, Maybe side hustles the path. Maybe you
work for somebody during the week, but you also have
an emergency service that you work in the evenings or
weekends or whatever you're doing. Your hustle years. Your hustle
years are your twenties to early thirties. Those are where
you set the foundation for the comfort that you're going
to experience in your.
Speaker 1: Late forties, fifties, and sixties.
Speaker 2: I have said that multiple times, and it is the
fact you work your ass off in your twenties and
your thirties. You burn the candle at both ends. Yes
you still might be raising the family. Yes you might
be out more than you want. Maybe you don't get
to spend all that time with your kid. Welcome to life,
Welcome to life. The goal is that what you do
in your twenties and early thirties is setting the tone.
And you notice I leave a gap in there right
from the early thirties. What about the mid thirties and
early forties, because you see that I jumped straight to
the late forties to fifties and sixties, because now there's
a period in there that is your decision making period
whether or not you go in business for yourself or
whether or not you need to transition period. So your
late thirties to your early forties is typically that transition
life period where you're like, Okay, I reflect back all
the hard work that I've done, all the hands on,
all the training, everything that I've done, right, and now
that transition is do I want to be my own boss?
Do I want to be a lead for some company?
And then I'm going to take that proximately ten years
between thirty five and say forty five. Am I going
to take that ten years and build my nest egg
so that again I'm relaxed in my late forties to
my fifties and sixties. Yeah, yeah, because you're definitely going
to be hustling to get the experience in time in
your twenties, in your early thirties so that you can
decide your path, whether it's your own boss. That's the
point where you start making your money if you plan
your early years right now. Again, that's not to discourage
anybody that's already after thirty five or forty.
Speaker 1: That is not what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: I'm just trying to lay out the path for a
young person who looks at it and goes, what opportunities
do I have? You have great opportunities. Earlier you get started,
the better. The earlier you make a.
Speaker 1: Decision the better.
Speaker 2: But It doesn't mean that somebody in their late thirties
and early forties can't start working that plan.
Speaker 1: You can.
Speaker 2: You're just a little late in the game, but you
can get it, and you're probably more focused now because
you realize your time is not as as expansive as
you thought it was. Okay, not every plan is perfect.
You can agree to disagree. I'm just giving you my thoughts. Okay, Now,
once you have your eye, once you put in the time.
And again you've heard people you hate, young people hate
when people say that you got to put in your time.
Speaker 1: Well I know it now.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, you don't. You think you do, but
you don't. You think you know, but you don't put
in your time quick as you can get to that point, right.
Speaker 1: I was lucky.
Speaker 2: I was started. I came right out of high school
and I was I got my license. I was Virginia's
youngest licensed journeyman electrician, and within a year I was
the master, younger than everybody. And then I started a
business with my brother, double a electric We worked together
for a while till we realized that we're probably better
working apart than we are together. As far as under
a company's umbrella I started my own electrical service specialist
company and we would subcontract work back and forth. I mean,
I would work with him, but the beauty is that
I could walk away. You see what I'm saying. There
was a sense of freedom in that. So by the
time I was in my mid twenties, I was already
owning my own b businesses.
Speaker 1: That's not the path.
Speaker 2: That everybody would follow, but it is an opportunity for you. You
can do that even if you start small just doing
service work.
Speaker 1: I have other.
Speaker 2: Podcasts that talk about how you can actually be very
lucrative in just targeting communities with where you live.
Speaker 1: It works, folks.
Speaker 2: Everybody's got a honeyde list, everybody's got things that they
want done.
Speaker 1: You just have to tackle it.
Speaker 2: So anyway, once you get all those hours, you follow that,
you put in your time, you put in your dues.
As they say, at this point, you've got to get
ready for an exam. That's when you want to get
a program like ours, because the fast Tracks program is
going to help you prepare.
Speaker 1: But even before that.
Speaker 2: You need to make sure that along that time you've
been gathering your paperwork, you show proof of your training,
you have employment verification. If the state requires a document
signed by you need to make sure that.
Speaker 1: You treat this.
Speaker 2: And there's people that do this very sloppily, okay, And
I'm first to admit I didn't have to do this
because I got into it very early. I didn't have
I mean, my experience and my hands on and my
hours of requirement was all documented by the vocational school.
Speaker 1: So it's very easy for me. Not so easy for
folks today.
Speaker 2: You need to have a folder you need to keep
everything verification of your experience, your training, your proof of
your training, anything that shows hours that you achieved wherever
you're going to school. All those type of things you
need to put together and keep so that when you
do apply it to your state licensing board, you have
every duck in a row. It's very hard for them
to turn down something that you've done very diligently, properly. Okay,
that's very hard for somebody.
Speaker 1: To do that.
Speaker 2: Now, when that comes to the NEEC, you make sure
that you get in a good course.
Speaker 1: Do not.
Speaker 2: Do not do those crash courses on weekends to twenty
four hour hour, twelve hours. That don't it's a waste
of money. They're just taking your money, folks. I'm just
being honest because I could do that every day of
the week all around the country. I could do exam prep, webinars, seminars, whatever.
Speaker 1: I just don't do it. It's a waste of money.
Speaker 2: You won't retain it, you won't keep it knowledge for
in you for a long period of time, you'll start
losing it. And a lot of times because of the
short amount of time they want to teach you tips
and tricks. There is no tips and tricks to learning
and being electrician. It's experience, it's putting in the time,
that type of thing. So when you do get all
that and it's time for you to take an exam.
And I tell people this all the time. If you've
got the number of hours in the classroom and you've
got the number of hands on and you still don't
understand the NEC, then you're not doing it right because
by the time you peak and you get your hours,
you should be ready. It's not like you, in my opinion,
and it's not like you study the NEC after you've
met all these requirements.
Speaker 1: No, that is not true.
Speaker 2: You need to be interjecting training that's going to teach
you the NEC. Why your hands on, why you're involved
in it, why you're invested in it.
Speaker 1: That's the mentality that you have to have now.
Speaker 2: Granted, I would say the vast majority of our students
come to us after they've already accumulated their hours and
now they're just preparing for an exam. But you got
to ask yourself if I just spent five hundred hours
in training in eight thousand hours on the job and
you still don't know the NEC, you still don't understand
why you're doing what you're doing. Because everything we do
in a building is based on a code. Everything the
number of services, how high they are, where they're space at,
the size of it, all of it, whether you like
it or not, is all revolved around the code. And
I know people hate to hear that shit. They literally
hate it, Like I don't need to know that code.
Speaker 1: Yeah you do, and you do.
Speaker 2: You're doing it every day, but you just don't know
why you're doing it. So make life easy for you.
One big tip is to get a program like ours
to learn the code while you're doing it. And I
recommend one like ours only because it's written format and
not just video only, because videos are easy to forget
what you just saw.
Speaker 1: And you think I'll just go back and rewind it.
No you won't. No, you won't. You never go back.
People just don't do it. That's just the nature of people.
You don't think. We don't track this stuff. Y'all know.
Speaker 2: I have fast Tracks Tube, right, I can see the
amount of time that people watch videos. I can see
all that analytic on the back side. We know what
you're gonna do. Okay, been doing this long enough, you're
not gonna do it. Some of you go back and
watch things over again again. I'm not I can't say
I speak for everybody, but the vast majority do not.
Speaker 1: Okay. So you may be the exception to the rule,
but in general people do not. Okay.
Speaker 2: So this is going to help you when it comes
time to actually peak and take the exam.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Also, just remember that the NEC changes every three years,
so you know, it's always helpful. And when you get license,
you're going to have to take continuing edd classes to
bring it up, bring you up to speed on significant changes.
And that's typically people ask, for example, is your fast
tracks program good for continuing education credits? And it's not
because it's not designed to teach you what's changed. And
usually those continuing educations are designed to show you what
the changes are, not to reteach you the code, not
to take care of what you should already know, but
what has changed that type of thing. And it's what
separates a wire puller from a professional electrician. That's the
difference how you learn, how you dedicate your time, how
you study, how you make a commitment to the trade
that type of thing. So hopefully that's been easier for
you to understand that anybody out there who gets into
this trade, it's an amazing trade, but you have to
start out and understand the path that you need. What
are the hours you need, what your state requires, things
like that. First, then you set your roadmap. Then you
focus on finding a training program, and in that program
you'll get your hours. But also those programs will also
give you credit for hands on stuff they do in
workshops and things like that. And also when you're in
a program like that, you also want to find a job,
whether you're taking a helper job, on an apprentice job.
Speaker 1: Whatever.
Speaker 2: You might say, well, I can't afford it, dude, It
does not make any sense for you to be in
an electrical vocational program trying to get hours and you're
not out there. Whether it's in the evenings or maybe
you go to school in the night and you work
in the day. You need to be working in the
trade because simultaneously you need to be getting those hands
on hours. Otherwise you're just behind the curve.
Speaker 1: I can't afford that. I you know they don't make enough.
Speaker 2: Well, sorry, sorry, it is what it is. You're gonna
have to eat baloney for a while before you eat steak.
Speaker 1: You can.
Speaker 2: You like that or not, but you're gonna have a
struggle if you get in the hours in vocational school,
yet you don't have the hands on hours because you're
working at Tasty Freeze.
Speaker 1: And that is not specific to the electrical trade.
Speaker 2: I get it. I'm not talking about a part time job.
You gotta pay ends meet, you know, that type of thing.
I get it. But you need to be focusing on
where you're gonna get your hands on. Also, you can
do all this within the States requirements at the shortest
amount of time possible.
Speaker 1: That's what we're talking about. Okay, all right, So there
you have it.
Speaker 2: The top kind of kind of five things to do
when you want to become a licensed electrician. And if
you're listening right now and you've been on the FEN
some whether you don't want to, you know, become an electrician.
Speaker 1: You're in some dead end job.
Speaker 2: You're thinking, dude, I want something that's going to grow
and we're always going to need electricians.
Speaker 1: You know, AI is not going to take this. Okay.
Speaker 2: The electrical trade is one of the most rewarding careers
out there. You can earn while you learn. Okay, you
don't need a college degree. You get to use your hands.
You get to make things better, you protect people, you
make things safer. You learn an amazing skill. Okay, and again,
you want to learn the NEC. Our fast tracks programs
can teach you the National Electrical Code, which you should
be learning parallel with your hands on. This is the
mental part while you're learning the physical part, and that'll
keep you on track to get your license. But don't
think it's an overnight success. It doesn't matter whether it's plumbing, mechanical, building,
or electrical. You cannot do something for one year and think, dude,
I'm going to open my own business.
Speaker 1: I can think more money than that builder.
Speaker 2: That is not the mentality you need to be in
it for the long haul, Okay, just got to focus
and stay on the course, in the path, put in
the time. But you need to know how much time
you need to know, and that's why you go to
your state first and you find out what the roadmap is,
and then you tailor the next couple of years towards
that roadmap.
Speaker 1: That's the secret to success.
Speaker 2: All right, folks, all right, folks, till next time, Stay safe,
God bless we'll catch you on an upcoming episode of
Let's Ask Paul. But that answers the question, how do
I get started in an electrical trade? You start at
the bottom, you work your way to the top, and
that's just how you do it.
Speaker 1: Peace.
Speaker 2: Oh no, no,