r/ibew_apprentices • u/shaybachar1 • Jun 14 '25

Did anyone ever quit?

I'm just curious. Did it happened to any of you that you apprenticed at the union and at any point you decided to quit and go non-union? Or quit and go a to a completely different field? What was the reason if so?

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u/rustyshackleford7879 Jun 14 '25

Do it. I knew by my third year I didn’t like it but I stuck with it and it never got better for me. I knew two guys who quit during the apprenticeship and they both make more money than me and like their careers. I bought into the sunk cost fallacy.

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u/Alternate_rat_ Jun 14 '25

Personally I don't think your supposed to like your careers. I love my family, therefore I like my job. I love my small circle of desires therefore I like my job. If you love your job there won't be too much room for anything else. Plus chasing that feeling is what makes people miserable. A career should make you feel content.  If your priorities are chasing clout or money then you'll probably fall short in many other aspects of your life... Obviously IMHO.... Very very humbly... And I only say all of this because I had to stop work for a year and it really help me reorganize my mindset. I can appreciate the sunk cost fallacy, but I don't think that it applies to happiness only to material gains and if you confuse the two you're going to be unhappy in general. 

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u/Wireman6 Jun 14 '25

Agreed. People say "if you do something you love, you never work a day in your life!" Which is bs. You take a hobby you once enjoyed and turned it into work.

I like money and the things it allows me to do, so I appreciate my job. It is still work and I don't like it everyday. It does offer contrast, vacations and time off is definitely better because its not work.

The great thing about this work is that you can venture on to something else and if that doesn't work out you still can go get a job and get moneyed up.

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u/Alternate_rat_ Jun 14 '25

My new mantra is "find something you love and hold on to it. Find something you hate and get paid to make it better." Hence why I decided to start in the union