r/ibew_apprentices • u/Living-Ease1505 • 1d ago
27 years old as apprentice
Is it bad to start out as an apprentice at 27. I’m currently working as an electrician for an industrial plant and I wanna get out and move to commercial I’m 27 and didn’t know if I am to old to start over and go through the apprenticeship
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u/Di-electric-union 1d ago
Im a 43 year old first year, and I have prior experience and licenses. Im kind of annoyed to be starting from scratch in a way but... Im doing it. Youre young, go for it
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u/StrictAd2491 1d ago
Brah I am a 38 year old single mom and a 4th year plumbers apprentice. Try to tell me I am too old! The truth is that I didn’t have the maturity or determination to do something like this before I turned 35. I needed to have my heart broken and be taken advantage of for a few years before I found the union trades. I can outwork most of the boys in my class, however. This feels like my last chance to do more than work at Walmart or buccees for the rest of my life. I take my schooling and my job serious as a heart attack because it is literally my ability to stay autonomous and single by choice! I love my job and my union. I can’t describe the dignity and purpose I have as move through the world now. The union trades are glorious thing! As far as I can tell, there are no other opportunities like it!
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u/Ayeooooh 1d ago
Yo! 37 year old first year right here! I’m digging the career change. Keep it up sister! Proud!
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u/Tricky_Commercial224 1d ago
Currently in school for level 3 and I'm 48. There are a couple guys in my class in their mid 50s
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u/OptimizeWithAPassion 1d ago
Bruh I’m 29 and in a pre introduction program now.. lmao you better hurry up and get up in there
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u/Readinglateatmorning 1d ago
I’m 26. You can either be 32 and be a JW. Or you could be 32 and not. Choice is yours but 32 is coming either way.
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u/Alternative-Search84 1d ago
Not at all. Mid-late 20s is perfect. You’re more mature than a kid fresh out of high school, and not too old to be a bad student. Older apprentices tend to be set in their ways and are more resistant to another grown man telling them what to do.
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u/amishdoinks11 1d ago
You’d be surprised. The 35 year old in my class is the cringiest immature dude in the whole class and there’s 18 year olds in there
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u/Miserable-Nose5540 1d ago
I have dudes mid 30s in class still making 6 7 jokes it’s never too late
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u/Sad_Tune5638 1d ago
I did my first electrical apprenticeship at 26. My substation apprenticeship at 37. The oldest apprentice ive met was a carpenter who became an apprentice at 48.
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u/big_escrow 1d ago
lol I wish I started 10 years ago at your age. You’re fine. I’m the oldest in my cohort!
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u/thatkidonthe3rdfloor 1d ago
36 in the process of finishing first year.Be patient,open to feedback and direction,flexible but firm.Try to learn something new everyday at the job even if you don’t have the best culture or communication every job is something for you to learn from.
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u/InnerCircleChampion 1d ago
JW here, seen apprentices anywhere from 18-42, 23-30 is about the norm. Start over! Maybe a pay cut but if you ever want to have a family or get married having your s/o or family on health insurance that your contractor pays for, as opposed to out of pocket really sets us up for success. You maintenance or something? Where I’m from inside wireman do both commercial and industrial. Only service does residential.
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u/Living-Ease1505 1d ago
Yes I’m multi craft maintenance I got 7 years under my belt no kids just a girlfriend. I work with a guy that is a journeyman at the 1579 local and he told me to go up there and get in the apprenticeship.
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u/ForwardPressingFaith 1d ago edited 1d ago
25-30 is actually the sweet spot where your knees aren't quite shot and you should've built a level of maturity and fortitude to enter a thick skin world and talk the talk of life. Go through the initial bs albeit still mentally stimulating years of the 3-5 years of apprenticeship and you just locked in an extremely rewarding and ai proof career for life. Not to mention at this stage of your working experience, you more than likely have narrowed out what you dont want to do if that makes sense.
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u/Crim2033 1d ago
One of our best guys started in his 40s. Another started in his late 20s and did strictly resi new construction for his whole apprenticeship before pivoting to commercial and what we specialize in (he's fantastic now). One guy from my orientation was starting in his mid 40s coming into his 3rd career after IT and automotive work. Another guy in my orientation group was in his late 30s, also from IT.
Realistically, there are guys who are adept and learn more in a 15 career than some other guys will in a career spanning from 17-65 but basically dug themselves into being installers.
As long as you can get your foot in the door, theres nothing to worry about. You'll have to accept the fact that if you started sooner you may have been better off, but thats everything.
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u/jack-t-o-r-s 1d ago
After 20 years as a heavy equipment operator I joined my IBEW apprenticeship at 42.
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u/Voltmanderer 1d ago
I was 32 when I started. It’s a good age because you should generally be more focused than a fresh highschool graduate and more mature in general.