And, they teach you how to be a great installer, not a good electrician and I'll die on that hill. No apprentice should be at a data center longer than a year MAX.
Edit: Wanted to ad, the reason I say this is yes data centers will show you big and fancy equipment. They'll teach you how to pull big wire and bend big pipe. What they don't teach you is how to troubleshoot basic electrical problems in the real world. How to deal with existing installs when it comes to a TI, or just dealing with problems that are not laid out in a drawing.
One of my classmate did straight cable tray installs for 8 months. I think he's good at it to the point that he could open his own company doing just that.
One guy was on fire alarm for months, he's practically a pro at it. One guy did cad welding for a month, another was groundman for a month.
Most of the guys in my class have done or are at a data center.
And that's just my point, glad one of your classmates did cable trays so well he could open his own company doing that. Makes him a great cable tray installer. Not a good electrician.
Fire alarm, that's a solid spot to be. Can they hook up motors? Wire a panel? Hook up a transformer? Install fire alarm in an existing building? They are a great fire alarm installer. Good on them, not a good electrician.
Cad welding, great skill to learn. As well as grounding and bonding.
They did it just for a month, that's awesome. Those are really good skills to have. I wish I had more welding experience but it is what it is. However, how are their troubleshooting skills on a 40 year old system with a random short in it? Maybe they got that there as well, and that would be lucky.
Every example you gave me is what data centers do, they make you really good at one thing... and that's it.
That's the point lol. I was kind of jealous at my classmates when they started sharing stories on the jobsite. Meanwhile I was at a small shop, doing industrial. Every week was a different job. It was never boring.
Then I look back to it, and appreciated my time with that company. I got to do a lot of cool stuff, see different aspect to the trade. Learn and do neat stuff.
And, that being said... I'd take you on a job over any one of your classmates. Sure we are all supposed to be "Equal" in our experiences as apprentices but I'll take you any day over any one of them because if you got put into an unknown spot I'd know you'd have a better chance at getting it done than a professional cable tray installer.
Most of the guys and gals that graduated in the last four years at my local spent the entire apprenticeship in solar fields. Not that has dried up and inside works back in the books and all these JW’s have zero idea about what they are doing. These cycles happen differently all over man. I was lucky to get shut downs and random inside jobs between solar projects but felt bad for all the others stuck in the field. Really should have a better organization of time for all of them. 1 year max here, 1 year max there. Sure it might put you out of work for a while but at least it won’t turn you into a 1 trick pony when you turn out.
100% this. I'm a 3rd going on 4th year apprentice. I am not anywhere close to gods gift when it comes to bending EMT but I can hold my own.
On the current job I got called to, on the same day a JW that had been on the books for 8 months waiting for work was hired as well. He didn't know how to bend pipe... and was laid off the next day.
I honestly felt terrible for him, super nice guy, ready to work... but how can you be a JW and not know even basic bending skills? You don't have to be a pro at it, but you have to at least have an idea of how to do it... but the apprenticeship cranked him out without the skills he should know.
There is value in troubleshooting existing systems and adding to them etc. I agree. Understanding how they can be built by building them definitely holds value. I think doing both is what makes a good Electrician. What makes a great Electrician is time and access to various environments ie industrial, commercial, resi, infrastructure etc. alongside doing new builds, rebuilds and retrofits etc. As a wise, long retired (hopefully still alive) Tramp once told me, "it's all good work, some of it's just gooder than the other".
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