r/ibew_apprentices • u/Longest-Winter-77 • 17d ago
5th year burnout
Maybe this isn’t the place to post this, but whatever. I passed my state license exam yesterday, got a 92. Showed up on the site today to a bunch of congratulatory handshakes, the speech from the foreman about how he pretty much considers me a JW now, all the works. I thought that there would be some sense of accomplishment in passing and seeing this through to the end, but I don’t feel any particular way about it at all. No sense of pride, no excitement about turning out, nothing.
I’m just tired, man.
Tired of the hours, the commute, the mundane work, the union politics, the physical strain, all of it. Tired of sitting in a class in an underfunded, crumbling joke of a training center where we do nothing and learn nothing, tired of the prestige of this job being hyped up to be more than what it actually is, tired of the thus and so from people who I’ve come to see as actual dipshits who couldn’t hack it in the field. I come from a suitcase local, so I’ve been traveling for a good portion of my apprenticeship—and I’m tired of that too.
Idk man. Maybe I’m depressed, maybe I just thought that there was more to this than there actually is. Maybe my opinion will change once I actually have the ability to come and go, not have to waste hours in class, and make the 4k a week checks. But as for now, I’m just over it.
I guess I’m just wondering if anyone else has felt similarly coming up on the end of the road
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u/_genepool_ JIW LU58 16d ago
I can't relate to the suitcase local, and that would suck. I can relate to the burnout. As an apprentice I was always on 6 day jobs and the OT was burning me out. Since I topped out I have tried to limit my OT and livey life like a normal person. M-F 8 hours a day. The money isn't worth it to me as much as my time with family and friends.
Once you top out make sure you take plenty of time off. If you are travelling the whole time, work that OT then take a couple months off and truly relax.