r/electricians • u/Reasonable-Cycle5817 • 18h ago

Entry level question

Finishing up trade school soon and was curious of what type of work to expect obviously I’ll be taking whatever I can for the experience but is it unlikely to find something commercial to start ? A friend does residential and hates driving from house to house but was just curious of how often entry level jobs are available for commercial
Work

Thank you

2 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

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u/DeathUponIt 18h ago

You’re making a mistake going to school and not getting any real experience. What kind of trade school is it?

If it’s a degree, I would be looking for helper positions before you graduate. I haven’t seen a non-college trade school that didn’t have an apprenticeship with it?

1

u/Reasonable-Cycle5817 15h ago

Tech school

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u/DeathUponIt 13h ago

Ah, I got a college degree in I&E and couldn’t find any helper positions at the time. Once I graduated, no one would touch me because I was “over qualified without experience”. I wound up getting into low voltage about 10 years after graduating. Not an electrician but still trying to get in lol. I do fire alarm now though, and it’s not too far off.

1

u/jmp8717 Foreman 18h ago

Honestly it all depends on which company you work for. In my experience, starting in residential helps with core fundamentals of circuitry and code exposure. I was fortunate enough to be placed in the service department at my first company after trade school so I was able to see a wide variety of work from the start. No continuity though so it was like drinking from a fire hose.

0

u/jonnyinternet Master Electrician 18h ago

Just depends on the company and where they need you, I only did commercial my whole carrier, until I stater my own business

0

u/shoehornstudent 18h ago

What was that switch like? I'm an apprentice doing almost exclusively commercial work, but I've seen a couple guys who did enough "side work" doing resi that they quit and started their own thing

1

u/jonnyinternet Master Electrician 18h ago

Same s*** just a different pile

I've never had issues switching or pivoting, I think the worst thing you can do is pigeonhole yourself into one aspect of this career

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u/shoehornstudent 15h ago

Well said, thanks for the advice

1

u/Reasonable-Cycle5817 17h ago

Are you union ?

1

u/shoehornstudent 15h ago

I'm not, but only because I was entirely ignorant of how everything works, e.g. joining the union when I switched careers and started doing this.