Is Being an Electrician Worth It in 2024?

After a short five-year stint as a mechanic, I decided to become an electrician. 20 years later, I have some things I'd like to share. Welcome, I'm Karl Mirowski, and this is the channel that helps you own better, look better, and live better. I began my electrical apprenticeship in 2004, got licensed in 2009. I've worked in residential, commercial, industrial. I've run crews of 20-plus men, and I've worked in transportation as well. Recently, the trades have been promoted a lot, and I admit that the idea of high earning potential with pretty low educational costs is pretty enticing. And while most people point at the earning potential and all of that stuff, very few ever talk about the downsides. But before I signed up for the apprenticeship and got started, I actually found an electrician, and I asked him many of the questions that I'm gonna discuss today, because I see a lot of people today who are offering career advice who have never actually worked in the field, and to me, that's absolutely useless. So if you're considering a career in the electrical trade, here are some of the things that I would advise you on. Let's start with the pros. Variety is number one. Now, I think a lot of people have an idea of an electrician as somebody who's in a building, twisting wires together, or maybe running racks of conduit overhead, but I gotta tell you, it's way more vast than that. I found myself in the middle of a state forest on the side of a railroad at night. I have found myself keeping my lunch safe from snapping turtles in the middle of a swamp. Electricity is everywhere, and it's probably gonna be even more places as more things go electric. So you get your choice of where you want to work. If you like to work outdoors, look into becoming a lineman. If you wanna work in a climate-controlled environment, look at maintenance work. And if you wanna be a complete hero, look into disaster recovery kind of stuff. If you're a six-foot-four, 300-pound monster, there are plenty of jobs that could use your strength, and alternatively, one of the best finishers I've ever seen was a 98-pound woman who worked circles around plenty of the guys who were on the same crew. Almost no matter who you are or what you wanna do, you'll be able to find something in electrical that suits you. Number two and the big one that everybody talks about is earning potential, and it is true. You can make pretty good money, but it really depends on location. Now, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average electrician makes about $60,000 a year, which is far above the median average wage in the United States. But not all electricians are the same. I found that most of the time, working in residential pays the lowest, at least it seems to. Commercial and industrial could be somewhere in the middle, and it seems like linemen get paid the most. I know some linemen who have made multiple six figures doing what they call chasing storm, which is basically going around and restoring power to areas that were hit by storms. Like any job, pay increases with required skill and potential danger. And let's not forget overtime and side work, so you can usually pick up some extra money if you want to. There are plenty of weekends that I would bang out a service with a buddy of mine, and we both have some pretty decent money for it. So being able to earn a little bit more money if you have to is a real big benefit. Number three is demand. I gotta tell you, in my area, with my company, at least what we do, we can't hire people fast enough, and our workforce is definitely aging. We don't have a lot of younger people who are getting into it, so we are hiring people who before, we may not have given a second glance to. So what that basically means is if you're a halfway decent worker, or at least you have the ability to be taught, you could probably get a job and keep it. And I have to tell you that in the last 20 years, I've never been laid off. I've never had an issue with working. I've always been able to earn my 40 at the very least, and it's never been a problem. So depending on where you live, of course, as long as you're a halfway decent worker with a decent work ethic, you'll be able to find work. Number four, job satisfaction. There's no doubt that there is a big sense of satisfaction when you flip the switch and the lights come on, or you're able to restore power to an area that didn't have it before. There is definitely a sequence of events. The thing doesn't work, or there isn't power there, you do your job, and then there is power there. So there's a great result to your labor. One of the most rewarding times of my career was after a storm knocked out electricity in this area for about 11 days, and I spent that whole week going around and hooking up generators for different people. Just the looks on their faces when they actually had power, and I got all kinds of cool tips too, like one guy gave me some maple syrup from his farm, and just people were very thankful, and I met some really, really cool people doing that. That was the kind of job satisfaction that I have never found at the bottom of a spreadsheet. Number five, job security. Now, your job is only secure as long as you're a good worker. If you're a slug, I mean, there are people that my company will never hire again, and as long as you find ways to keep yourself useful and keep your hands moving, you're probably gonna be okay. And I saw the housing market collapse of 2008. I transitioned over from doing residential to doing commercial. The demand will increase, and as long as you're able to kind of think on your feet and go where the work is, you'll probably always have work. So the idea of being laid off and then back to work and then laid off and back to work, at least where I live, it's only for people who either want that kind of lifestyle or other companies don't really wanna hire. All right, let's talk about some of the cons to being an electrician. Number one is physical labor. It breaks down your body, so you have a finite resource in your body, and every day, you're using that resource. And guys who are in their 50s and 60s simply can't move as fast as guys in their 20s. I certainly am feeling it now. I really don't wanna be going up and down ladders all day, pulling wire overhead. That kind of stuff really beats you up a lot more as you get older. Of course, the people who seem to be in the best shape are the ones that take care of themselves on the outside. So if you're somebody who is active and exercises and eats well and all that stuff and lives a more or less healthy lifestyle, well, you're probably gonna be okay. But if you're somebody who's having a Monster Energy drink for breakfast and drinks yourself to sleep at night, yeah, you're probably not gonna be in this game very long. But it's not as bleak as it may sound because most people eventually will join the support team that's behind the electrical installation. Some will get into more supervisory roles where they'll be running crews of men, ordering material, kind of looking ahead and working on coordination. Other people will go into the office and maybe they'll work in the CAD department or maybe they'll become a project manager or an estimator. That field experience is really valuable in doing any number of those roles. And most of the people who are doing those jobs are people who simply didn't wanna work in the field anymore. Number two, job site conditions. Now, I gotta tell you, there have been times that I've eaten lunch in an air-conditioned cafeteria. But honest to God, that felt like a huge luxury. Although most of the time, big, big jobs now will set up some sort of cafeteria with picnic tables and stuff like that. But for the most part in my career, I have eaten at my toolbox or in my van or someplace on the job site, down in the utility room, something like that. The port-a-potty situation is a whole issue in and of itself. It's disgusting for the most part. Some nasty person goes in there and usually messes it up before anybody else gets to use it. And if you've never been in a port-a-potty on a 90-degree day when nobody's cleaned it for a few days, so it is getting better on some job sites. On mine, however, it doesn't seem to be getting any better. And working on a job site can be pretty rough. I mean, most of the time, these companies will have some sort of an anti-hazing, anti-harassment sort of thing, but they have those same kind of things in prison. Just because they have the rules doesn't mean that anybody's following them. Now, a lot of times, this is good-natured and people are just ribbing each other and that's sort of how you build camaraderie. But at the same time, if you're somebody who maybe is a little bit more sensitive to that kind of thing, maybe the big job site isn't for you. Number four, the image of being a construction worker. Matter of fact, I had a friend tell me recently that he was having a hard time dating because every time he would sort of get into the next phases of a relationship and they would talk about what they did for a living, usually the girl wasn't interested. And I think that this is changing a little bit more, but he kind of put it this way. He said, look, if she has her choice between me and a lawyer, she's gonna go with the lawyer. And I know that that's just totally speaking in broad terms. There are plenty of people who appreciate tradesmen and tradeswomen, but I think that the image is still there of the dirty, rotten construction worker. Number five, moochers, all right? Now, if you're an electrician, you're gonna meet so many people who have electrical problems, it's gonna blow your mind. Everybody I know, since I became a licensed electrician, seems to have something that needs to be done. And as soon as you introduce yourself to somebody new and you tell them what you do, they will usually find a way to work in, oh, you know, I have this light that's never worked right in my house. Now, a lot of times it's really hard to say no to friends and family, especially if they do something for you and they're close and everything like that. By all means, it's a great way to also do a favor for those who are close to you, but there are plenty of people who are looking to take far more than they give. Yeah, you're gonna find a lot of moochers that you didn't realize were there before. Most people are saying, learn a trade, learn a trade. It's sort of like that learn to code thing, but now it's more learn to weld or learn to be an electrician. The earning potential, right, everybody sees that. The desire for workers, all that stuff is real, but it's still a job and it can still suck. Thank you so much for watching. Again, this is all my experience and I hope that you got something out of it. Whether you're looking at this as a career or you're simply exploring your options, it's always good to know the pros and cons of a potential career and they're all different. So my experience is gonna be a lot different than maybe the person you'll talk to, but either way, I appreciate you watching. Thank you so much to my patrons, my supporters. You guys are the best. I'll never be able to thank you enough for your support. You're amazing and I'll catch you next time.