I Wish I Knew These 4 Things Getting Into The Lineman Trade

Austin shares 4 things he wished he knew before getting started in the lineman trade!

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00:00 - Intro
00:47 - 1st Thing I Wish I Knew...
03:30 - 2nd Thing I Wish I Knew...
06:33 - 3rd Thing I Wish I Knew...
08:48 - 4th Thing I Wish I Knew...
11:00 - Closing Thoughts
11.43 - Outro

#lineman #bluecollar #education

[alphabassfishing]

I heard a guy say on power line podcast.. "some kids grow up doing plumbing or carpentry or roofing with their dad and have some sort of experience in that... no one grew up doing power lines with their dad". That being said you and quite literally everyone else has no experience when they first start in the trade either as a groundsman or apprentice. Just show up everyday willing to learn and progress, be a sponge. Your work ethic will set you apart from others. I am half way through my apprenticeship and its a lot to take in at first but you will get better with time. Good luck to all.

[tonybauer]

Been in the trade for 2 years, And I completely agree this trade is not for everyone. Don't let those tiktok montages you see where everything looks bad ass all the time fool you. Because they never seem to show when your out on storm digging a trench or a hole in pouring rain freezing your ass off covered in mud. (That's just one example.) This trade is the definition of hard work, there are days you are gonna go out and earn your paycheck, and then there's days just be sitting making easy bank.

[scottdean]

I was a lineman for 32 years just retired worked all over seen a lot learned a lot made killer money was best thing I ever did only downfall away from home alot

[KrabLewis]

My piece of advice is prepare to get 40 hours, no ot and no per diem. I got that out the gate and All of my buddies got 6-7 12s with per diem making big money. Everyone’s apprenticeship is different that way. That being said if you do get the big money stuff, save it in case you get knocked down to 40 hours somewhere else. Great video

[jackflynn]

I just retired from the trade comfortably after 30 years 2 years ago. Really thought you had some really good points that the guys coming up should pay attention to. First is try to have FUN because it’s a Super Fun Job if it’s not drag up and go somewhere and find people and or a place that’s Fun. But you gotta take a lot of BS till you top out, maybe you’ll be that dicks boss someday and make him remember you 😂. Other important thing you said was you can learn from anyone (forever) Being intelligent and having common sense is learning from watching a bad lineman as well as taking instruction. Anyway I liked your video be safe.

[ncnwrrd]

Retired after 47 years in the power line business. Started out with contractor. Worked 10 hour days 5 days a week Multiple storms call outs. You name it I did it for 5 years. Learned a lot about the trade. Could climb terminate build operate every piece of equipment available after the 5th year. Got full support from the company when I put in application with the local power company. I was hired and didn’t take long for the harassment to start just because I worked for a non union contractor. And it didn’t take long before I smoked the union hands on skills test and climbing. Really made them mad when I was promoted over the hands that had been there for awhile. I took all the classes and schooling offered. It took 10 years but moved up to operations manager. Like any job you get out what you put in. Being in line working you have to be thick skinned and dish out what you take in.

[djmarkndasiauxgthigpenn]

I’m 29 years old nd wanna learn everything. Thanks for telling me to just listen nd learn. I’m gonna start studying today was the first day I really looked in to this type of job.

[RyTyTech]

applied, tested out, interviewed and waiting for the call for boot camp. been almost a year. Been doing natural gas pipeline union work for the last 6 years. Hoping that helps me

[Komrade]

my uncle worked for nyc for 25 years union then went on vacation with his wives and kids ended up in Dubai and now has doing it over there getting paid 600k

[ghalgren]

Great video advice. He is pretty much right on with his opinions. I retired as a Lineman for 45 years.

[leastcoast]

I was lucky in 1970 fresh out of the Air Force and got hired by the local power company in Virginia. Started as a groundman for a couple years and got in the 5 yr apprentice program. Worked mostly as a troubleshooter by myself in my bucket . Retired after 37 yrs IBEW and had a pretty good time. It's a good trade just be safe. I saw some bad stuff. Never harassed in my time, good guys.

[nicklosoya]

Austin good info, always have good content never fail us, appreciate your channel

[clumsome]

Non union Irby construction in ‘83 Worked transmission for them mainly.
Tower assembly Se Georgia in tge swamps.
We took over a hotel in Nahunta.
Learned to run all manner of equipment. And turn a torque wrench.
Yes all young guys were put through a hazing process. And yes it sucks.

[MattMorris]

All I can say is anyone starting out do your best to make it a goal to get hired at a co-op sooner rather than later. Now this is my opinion they have small areas so they aren’t going to move you far away like an investor owned company and traveling being a contractor for the rest of my career was not for me I think the co-op’s are better to work for all around. As far as the lineman school 25 years ago was really as big as now I learned on the job from the bottom up.

[Kosttaa]

I’ve been a journeyman electrician for about 2 years. I’m thinking about making the switch. I feel like I have a good foundation.

[UltimateSnowman]

Im on the waiting list for neat, currently got a position as a power lineman for another company. Working towards getting 1000 hours to notify neat so that i can be bumped on the list.

[clumsome]

I offer no advice other than be motivated. I ate a lot of crap to get to the true journeyman status. To be a journeyman lineman you must know how to climb wood and steel and sometimes concrete poles. Work with transmission and distribution including underground circuits. A distribution guy can learn transmission techniques pretty easy as rigging is a basic talent in both fields.
A true journeyman lineman can do it all.

[public_risk]

For me, the travel sounds the hardest. That would take some getting used to but I think I could eventually adapt. Thanks for the vid

[martinlutherkingjr.]

How much do you make and with how many years of experience? Do any of your superiors make more than $300k?

[Artecus]

So, how exactly did you overcome Point No. 3? Did the way the JLs speak to you as an apprentice have any lasting effect on you? When I was indentured, I had built a reputation as one of the top groundman in my company, excellent JATC scores, attendance, proactive, hungry to learn everything, and humble. But, I, too was not prepared for the way they spoke to me. It has made-me gun-shy. Other apprentices tell me to get it out of my head, to snap-out of it, that it gets better with time, that I will laugh about this when I top-out. However, it causes me anxiety because I am older and have never been treated like this, and it is like I convinced myself that they are right that I make mistakes, am an idiot, a dummy, and lost. Ironically, unlike the other apprentices, I have never really been yelled at. It is just what they say, and I let it get percolate my skull. Like I think it will forever be like this and it is a sign I am a moron. What do you think, BCB?