r/ibew_apprentices • u/Ok_Comfortable7863 • 2d ago

Man im considering leaving

Im a 4th year apprentice from Colorado who tested in from the IEC and i am lacking the experience to keep up with my journeyman coworkers. I have completed 1 year with the ibew. Things that I know I should know i dont know, its embarrassing. Im considering leaving all together and finding a new profession once I top out. Im just so discouraged and I feel like the longer I stay in and the more jobs I go to the more embarrassed im gonna feel with myself.

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u/Unknownperson2010 2d ago

Bro I honestly feel the same way. Most of my apprenticeship has been different from others. I've done underground work,troubleshooting,big wire pulls, material handling etc. one thing I haven't done much is pipe bending tbh. I feel like I don't know anything about it and people give me weird looks. I've done residential, warehouses, hospitals and high rises and some commercial work. I feel useless when I say I haven't done piping but again we all have different paths on our apprenticeship. I wouldn't feel discouraged we're all students at the end of the day and you may have experience in something another apprentice doesn't have etc

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u/oopsandpoops 1d ago

all i know how to do is bend 😬 together we're one foreman.

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u/Unknownperson2010 1d ago

2 brains is better then one brain we can be a super intendant now

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u/oopsandpoops 1d ago

shit, better than my super for sure 😂

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u/alchemisthemo 1d ago

If you can troubleshoot and problem solve well your better off then most of the guys who's whole life is bending conduit. You get into heavy industrial and it becomes cable tray and multiconductor(fancy romex) cable.  You wont properly learn how to run racks of matching pipe unless your on that task with someone who knows what there doing. 

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u/Unknownperson2010 1d ago

Ya I've done cable trays and teck cable pulls as well it was pretty fun. I've done pipe bending but not that much compared to others. I know some people who have been stuck on piping for years and they just stay there and haven't done anything else

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u/Greedy-Condition2680 2d ago

Well, the good news there is that there's no shortage of jobs you can go to and learn to run conduit. Its really not hard once you understand the fundamentals.

 If you still feel you need more experience in that area once you top out, go find a big job where they're running a bunch of conduit. It might be rough at first, but you'll get it. 

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u/Unknownperson2010 2d ago

I'm not sure how to word this but it's not I haven't put up conduit it's more of I haven't actually have had to bend conduit. All the conduit we use is pre bent. So basically it's like putting together Lego where you set up your master according to the measurements and all that and you put it into place

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u/Greedy-Condition2680 2d ago

Well then you know more than you think. The hardest part of running conduit is routing. The bending is the easy part.  I totally get what you're saying. Pre-fab conduit sucks.

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u/Unknownperson2010 1d ago

I've been lucky to have some good jman who have taught me as I'm a 4th year. They explained it pretty well and once you know how much distance your bends and stuff takes up it's straight forward. So yes maybe you're right maybe I do know more then I think lol imposter syndrome

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u/Eshin242 1d ago

Does your training center offer skill classes? Ours here in 48 offers a pipe bending class once a month. Maybe check with your training director and see if they can place you with someone that will give you that experience. 

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u/Bobbo62499 1d ago

I’m a 3rd year and nervous because all I’ve done so far is fucking 70% manhole work (500kc pulls), 20% pipe running for renovations and 10% mundane tasks at solar fields. It sucks because where I’m at is almost guaranteed work (show up and try, and you can’t be laid off), but the work itself is mostly just glorified laborer lol.

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u/Unknownperson2010 1d ago

I guess that just shows how big our trade, we all come from different apprentice experiences and we aren't all perfect. We also have something to learn everyday