How to Become an Electrician: 6 Basic Steps to Journeyman Status

Here’s a general overview of how to become an electrician when you’re starting from scratch: First, make sure that you’ve earned a high school diploma (or the equivalent such as a GED). Next, take the optional (but recommended) step of completing a pre-apprenticeship electrician-training program at a local trade, technical, or vocational school. After that, apply for an electrician apprenticeship and, if required, register as an electrician apprentice or trainee in your state. Complete your four- or five-year apprenticeship under the guidance of a master or journeyperson* electrician. Finally, if required, get your electrician license or become certified in your state and/or municipality, which may involve passing an exam. Electricity could very well the most essential commodity in a typical home today and make sure if you are in trouble contact emergency electrician Brisbane.

Those are the basic steps to becoming an electrician. Of course, it’s wise to look into each of those steps in more detail so that you know exactly what to expect. After all, confidence is an important trait to develop, especially while you’re learning how to be an electrician. The more you know, the greater your confidence will be as you move forward. And electrician careers are definitely worth all of the attention. They often provide reliable and meaningful ways to earn good wages and benefits.

So check out what the following steps involve. And explore the whole article in order to learn the answers to additional questions like:

  • How long does it take to become an electrician?
  • What education do you need to become an electrician?
  • How do you get an electrician’s license?
  • How hard it is to become an electrician?
  • What is a typical electrician salary?

1. Earn a high school diploma or equivalent

This step is essential. You may not be able to progress any further until you can show that you’ve successfully completed high school or earned a GED or other type of equivalency certification. It’s one of the most basic educational requirements that you’ll need to meet before you can become an electrician.

If you’re still in high school, then pay special attention to subjects like math, physics, and English. Shop and mechanical drawing classes are also helpful. Among many other things, being an electrician requires knowing how to perform algebra, read technical documents, and understand basic scientific concepts.

If you are an adult who didn’t complete high school, it’s possible to earn your high school diploma online. This is a convenient way to take care of this important first step.

2. Consider getting pre-apprenticeship training at a trade school or vocational college

Increasingly, this step is vital for making you stand out among your competition. Learning the basic fundamentals of electrical work is often easier when you aren’t yet employed as an apprentice and worried about pleasing your boss. Electrician programs at trade schools, technical institutes, and career colleges provide a more comfortable introduction to this trade and can help you gain the foundational expertise that you’ll need going forward.

You’ll be able to learn about the National Electric Code, workplace safety, electrical theory, and many other things that can give you a head start on other people who may apply for the same apprenticeships. Most trade-school programs even include hands-on training in addition to regular classroom instruction. That way, you’ll have solid footing when you pursue the next step of the process.

3. Apply for an apprenticeship

Once you’re ready, begin looking for apprenticeship opportunities as soon as possible. You never know how many other people might be applying for the same apprentice jobs, so it’s good to get a jump on them if you can. In fact, having a sense of urgency may be one of the most essential aspects of knowing how to become an electrician apprentice.

You may be able to find a local apprenticeship through the United States Department of Labor or by exploring newspaper classifieds and online job boards. In addition, electrical apprenticeship openings periodically become available through organizations such as:

  • The National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA)
  • The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
  • Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC)

As part of the application process, you may need to pass a basic aptitude exam. In most cases, the exam will test your reading comprehension and ability to perform simple arithmetic and first-year algebra. In addition, you will need to pass a job interview. And you may need to meet specific physical requirements, pass a drug test, and be able to demonstrate a certain level of mechanical aptitude.

That’s why a lot of employers recommend getting some basic electrical training before applying for the apprenticeships that they sponsor. Trade and vocational schools specialize in helping students get up to speed on what they’ll need to know in order to succeed during the application process.

4. Register as an electrician trainee or apprentice in your state (if required)

Some states, such as California and Texas, require electrical apprentices to register before being allowed to work on actual job sites. It’s generally a very easy step since it only involves filling out a form and potentially paying a small fee. But every state has its own requirements, so be sure to check with your state’s department of
licensing, labor, or consumer affairs.

5. Complete your apprenticeship

This step is the heart of the whole process. Your apprenticeship will combine on-the-job training with courses online and/or in the classroom. You’ll be mentored and supervised by a master or journeyperson electrician throughout four to five years of training. And you’ll get paid an hourly wage.

Along the way, you’ll study important concepts and receive practical job-site experiences that are related to a typical electrician job description. For example, you’ll get the opportunity to practice and learn about aspects of the trade such as:

  • Reading construction blueprints and technical diagrams for electrical plans
    Installing, repairing, and maintaining electrical wiring, lighting fixtures, electricity-distribution equipment, and various control systems
  • Making sure that all work complies with the National Electric code as well as state and local regulations
  • Testing and inspecting electrical systems and components for problems by using special devices

At the beginning of your apprenticeship, you’ll be performing very basic tasks. But you will gradually get to carry out more and more complex tasks as you refine your skills and practical understanding of relevant concepts. By the end of your apprenticeship, you will likely be capable of performing a full range of construction- and maintenance-related electrical work at the journeyperson level.

6. Get licensed or certified in your state and/or municipality (if required)

One of the most important things to understand when exploring how to become a licensed electrician is that every state sets its own standards. In fact, some states (such as Illinois and Pennsylvania) don’t license electricians at all. However, some towns and cities within those states do have licensing requirements.

So it’s important to contact your state as well the municipalities that you plan to work in. Ask them if you need a license to perform electrical work. In some cases, you may need a license in order to work as an employee of an electrical contractor. In other cases, you may not need a license unless you plan on starting your own electrical business.

In locations that do require a license, you may have to pass an exam that tests your understanding of the National Electric Code, various electrical concepts, safety practices, and local laws and building codes. You will probably also have to prove that you have completed a certain amount of relevant classroom instruction and practical training under the supervision of a licensed journeyperson or master electrician.

Learn more about how to get an electrician’s license in your region below.

How You Can Start Optimizing Your Site Today

As you become more experienced with SEO, you will see how even minor tweaks in a website can lead to major changes for your bottom line. This article offers some of the best tips on SEO and how you can use. There might be a lingering thought in your mind that search engine marketing can get you rankings, but the fact is that you can get ranked in natural results of search engines via SEO services only.

Find out how many years of experience. You will want to find out what risks in order to make an educated hiring decision.

This is very true for clients who found you through YouTube because it is easy to remember.

The way to do this is to create a robots text file and place it in your site’s root directory. txt file and plugging it into your site’s root directory. This will prevent any search engines from gaining access to particular files on your site.

As you develop URL monikers for individual pages, it is important to realize that search engine spiders do not understand dynamic language or session identification names. This makes it harder for search engines to find your website, so be mindful and establish relevant names for all your URLs.

Using product feed can really help draw traffic and business to your site. Feeds like this detail your services and products with images, descriptions and pictures. Submit them to sites for shoppers as well as to search engines.

A vital step towards optimizing your search engine optimization is to include a site map. Spiders can more easily decipher you site through a site map. A large site might need more than one site map. A good rule of thumb is to not have lots of links on any given site map.

Once you have decided on the keywords or key phrases that are most relevant to your website, be sure that some land in your titles too. Your title should be intelligent and relevant, so choose a title that is both intelligent and relevant. This ensures that you get hits based on because it best fits what the search engine user typed in.

Users won’t spend a lot of time at your site unless they are able to get great information, and improving your content is one of the easiest ways to drive-up traffic.

Use an accurate title tags to ensure that search engines will understand your website’s content. Your title tag should be 60 characters or less, as this is the limit of the majority of search engines. They also tend to give less importance to terms at that point.

The content in this meta tag should not exceed 30 words. Never exceed 100 kilobytes on this particular page.

The takeaway message from this paragraph is that Google looks for keywords in alt tags, so keywords included in these tags will improve page ranking.

The initial paragraph on your content should use words that are also be the HTML description tag. There are search engines that use this information rather than the tag itself as the blurb for your site is about in their results. Poor or ineffective content in this area can hurt your rankings.

Use the longer or plural form of words for keywords to generate more search engine. Keyword stemming is utilized by some of the search engines. If you chose a search term like “accountant” for your keyword, a stemming search engine would not link you to the results for searches based around “parents” or “parenting”. If you are using a search engine that uses keyword stemming, then your site will be included in the searches that include the shorter form of the word as well.

To attract traffic, you need content that’s unique and interesting. People stay and click around your site are likely to come back a second time.

Don’t create a page full of links. Blend them into the other content on your page. Pages with links are boring and search engines.

You should make sure to use a service that does not block out your domain ownership information. Google may flag you as a spammer and won’t even rank your site.

Use search engine optimization companies to help market your advantage. SEO companies optimize your website in such a way that it receives a higher ranking in search engine result pages (SERPs). You can often find excellent deals with these services.

Dedicate each keyword phrase. By narrowing down on a singular topic, you will have better content, but will return often. Having a loyal readers will always be better than being at the top of the search engine results page.

Use one of the many online tools available that will analyze your website’s information. You should be looking for “301 Moved Permanently” and “200 OK.”

Link directories are good, if you plan to use them. Many directories have lots of date. Always be careful who you plan to work with.

If you have a company name, make sure the name of the corporation appears in the title tag of each page. People are not likely to search for your company by name unless it is truly well-known.

Include keywords and phrases on your site. This means you to maximize your domain now. Your website should have keywords you are promoting.

This is a good space to be descriptive Meta tag. The meta tag you use for every page need to have accurate descriptions and make people want to click.

Use SEO to help you get the traffic you need on your website. The ideal goal should be to get high rankings in the highest rank possible. Using a “pay per click” type of search engine can be a quick way to boost traffic. This will be something you continuously.You may have to regulate bids and keep an eye on the finances if needed.

Be sure to label the pictures in your images with keywords that make sense for them. You may have your business name in your banner title, but if you have a background image, be certain to exclude keywords in its title.

Making it onto Google or Yahoo’s front page in your niche is what all site owners want to do. It is difficult to get there; however, it is possible if you utilize the best SEO practices.

How Long Does It Take To Become An Electrician?

There are many people who are truly excited at the idea of a life-long career as an electrician. They’re so excited to get started, that they’re a little shocked when they find out:

It takes a while to become a fully-licensed journeyman electrician. If you need a 24 hour electrician Brisbane after hours, Emergencybrisbaneelectrician.com.au are available 24 hours a day 7 days a week for electrical emergencies.

In fact, it takes about four years.

Yep! It usually takes four years to complete the apprenticeship and become a journeyman electrician. That’s a long time.

The good news is, you don’t need to be a fully-licensed journeyman electrician to get a job and start getting paid.

In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the questions a lot of people have at their start of their careers:

How long is an electrician apprenticeship?

How long is electrician school?

And finally, how can I get started as soon as possible?

The Process

We’ve discussed the process on a few of our other posts, but it’s worth repeating. Your goal is to become a fully-licensed journeyman electrician. That takes a lot of work, and you’ve got a couple of different options:​

  • You can become an electrician helper, which is an entry-level position. A helper basically does menial tasks: he or she digs ditches, retrieves tools and parts, and does a lot of the busywork on a site. It’s an important position, but you will learn very little, and helpers are never promoted. You will, however, be getting paid, and more importantly, you’ll be getting some experience, which you can use to go to school or get an electrician apprenticeship. The good news: you can start right away and if you make connections and show your employer you’ve got potential, a job as a helper can lead to an apprenticeship.
  • You can go to an electrician school, graduate, and become an electrician’s assistant. The pay is better, and having a degree may help you get into an apprentice program. For more on schools, look at our “Find a School” tool. For more on apprentice programs, check out a few of the posts in the right sidebar—we’ve provided a lot of information on what apprenticeships are, why you’ll need one, and how to get one. The good news: a diploma or certificate looks good to employers.
  • You can skip electrician school and apply for an apprenticeship through the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) or Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC) or Association Building Contractors (ABC). You’ll have to take an entrance exam and go through a few interviews. The test and the interviews can be challenging, so you want to be on your game. The good news: it takes a while to get started, but you’ll “earn as you learn” and get paid as soon as you start the apprenticeship.

The commonality between all these options is that you’ll eventually need to get an apprenticeship to become a journeyman electrician. So why not simply enter an apprenticeship program through IBEW or IEC or ABC right off the bat? There are a couple of reasons: space is limited, apprenticeships only open up once or twice a year, and the entrance exam can be really tough.

That said, if you can find a job or apprenticeship, that should be your first choice. You’ll make money, and you won’t end up with any school debt. If you can’t find a job or an apprenticeship, you might want to consider school.

How Long Is Electrician School?

​That depends on the program. Some programs are only a few months, and others can last up to a year-and-a-half. Programs may have a different aim—some may prepare you for residential work (that is, installing and maintaining electricity in peoples’ houses) whereas other programs may show you have to work in a commercial or industrial setting.

There are usually schools at local community colleges (and those offer a tremendous value) and there are schools at vocational/technical training centers.
How Much Does Electrician School Cost?

Again, the cost of electrician training at a school depends on the program. A community college—again, a very good place to get an education—can be as low as $3,000 or $4,000, up to $10,000. Vocational/technical schools can be more pricey, and may run you from $5,000 to $15,000 or more. Private schools can be even more expensive, and can be anyway from $5,000 to $20,000. Be careful with schools—make sure they’re teaching exactly what you want to learn, that you’ll get the diploma or certificate you want to get, you’re not paying too much, and that your class credits will transfer if you need them to. Do your research.

Something else to keep in mind: your apprenticeship will require you to take classes during your apprenticeship. Those may be taught at a local community college or in a union hall or IEC/ABC building.
How Much Is An Electrician Apprenticeship?

​That’s the great thing about electrician apprenticeships—they’re much more affordable than school. Again, it’s different from place to place, but usually there’s an annual charge (a couple hundred dollars for more affordable programs, up to a couple thousand dollars, for the more pricey ones), and each apprentice needs to buy books for class (usually a couple hundred dollars per year). Ultimately, that’s much, much less than you’d spend at a four-year college. Electrical apprenticeships are incredible way to get trained and start a career.

There are some things you’ll need to think about when trying to get an apprenticeship, and to help you out, we’ve written a post called “Apprenticeship vs. School”. Definitely give it a read.
Bringing It All Together

So, how long does it take to become an electrician? Let’s recap some of the things we discussed in this post:

  • To quickly get an entry-level position, you can become an electrician helper. All you need is a high school diploma. If you play your cards right, make connections, and show people you’ve got potential, it can result in an apprenticeship.
  • To get some experience that will help you get an apprenticeship (and better pay), you can go to an electrician school, graduate, and become an electrician’s assistant. To search for schools in your area, see our “Find a School” tool.
  • To become a fully-trained journeyman electrician, making great pay and going on every job in the area, takes about four years, and you’ll need to get an apprenticeship through IBEW, IEC, or ABC, and you can visit the other pages on our website to see how you can make that happen.

There you have it! If you decide to become an electrician, we wish you all the best.​