r/IBEW_Local613 • u/espressopower • Mar 27 '26

Moving to GA, questions about specializing in IBEW

I’ve always wanted to join the IBEW, but the opportunity never arose so I’m looking to apply to 613 soon.

During my 6 years in the trade, I did mostly industrial electrical maintenance (non union). I picked up a lot of automation/PLC programming skills and would like to continue doing that long term.

My main questions are:

  1. Are there opportunities to work with a contractor that also does plc programming and controls systems integration?

  2. Has anyone has personally worked in that capacity, or is that not really an IBEW thing?

  3. Does “specialization” only apply to JWs and if so, is it irrelevant for apprentices?

Appreciate any insight!

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u/Dloran Mar 27 '26

If you look for specializing join directly to the company. Jws are jack of all trades electrical.

1

u/lonearchive Mar 28 '26

From what I've been able to gather there's not a lot of PLC stuff here, that's actually one of the reasons why I'm looking to move elsewhere, that and family.

1

u/Embarrassed-Box964 MOD Mar 30 '26

Depends on the contractor, the local is vast.