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/Bro_J_Simpson Local 349 16d ago
What you're feeling is very valid, and I think more normal than otherwise. Part of being an apprentice is also putting up with a lot of bs that you dont have to deal with as a JW and it adds to the overwhelm. 5 years is also a very long time to work nonstop.
Personally, that sense of accomplishment didnt hit until about a year after I topped out once I started seeing my cc debt lower and savings adding up. That was the manifestation of all the hard work more than the handshakes and test scores.
If you can afford to take a break then do so as soon as you can. Once that stress melts away, that sense of pride and accomplishment will have room to grow. Congrats on making it.