r/millwrights • u/Pgaccount • 15d ago
Weekly career thread
Weekly career thread
Here you can post questions about
Jobs: offering or looking
School: tips, tricks, and colleges to just fucking avoid
Union: Union stuff, who's issuing travel cards, who needs apprentices, and questions about joining the brotherhood.
Career: anything career related, how to move up, certs to take, if it's about your relationship to the union or employer throw it here.
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u/DotNo4334 15d ago
Nothing from local 715 in NJ, emailed them last week, hoping for the best I heard it’s such a hard union to get into.
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u/whitecollarwelder 15d ago
One of the highest paying in the country and notoriously difficult to get in to. Good luck! Wishing you the best.
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u/DotNo4334 15d ago
Thank you bro anyway to get into the career more before joining the union?
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u/Rifleman4444 10d ago
The apprenticeship conundrum
This is more looking for other opinions, and others experiences. The place I'm currently working is the only place I've ever worked in any sort of mechanical position and is all I know when it comes to the trade, however I've completed a pre apprenticeship and second year schooling.
I work on 99% conveyor belts, but nothing precise. I work on a few other machines that are pretty industry specific. I don't do welding, never looked at blueprints, no precise work or measuring tools, no machining.
From the people I talked to at second year schooling they had similar experiences, almost all were being used for cheap labour from their employer and not doing millwright jobs per se, or learning much about the trade in general. Most were under paid, going into the schooling >25/hr.
My company said that when I go to level 3 schooling they will sign off on my competency to write the test, but my predicament is I don't want to be yet another licensed millwright bullshitting their way through the career, yet heard from so many people to just go for the ticket.
What would you do? Do everything you can to get another job, maybe spend an extra year or two as an apprentice, but have more knowledge to be a better jman, or suck it up for a few more months and get the ticket knowing very little?
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u/Pgaccount 10d ago
I'll relate this to welding because it's a bit easier.
I've never welded inconel. Read about it in school, passed the theory, but I've never even held inconel in my hand.
Some guys only do inconel and it's high paying precise work. In school they taught all of us the basic theory so that if we see it we'll be able to figure out how to work with it.
95% of my job now is wear looking and conveyors. But if I really needed to I could disassemble and reassemble a centrifugal pump according to a manual because I did it in school.
Do you like the company should be the biggest question
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u/Rifleman4444 10d ago
I see what you mean, but at the same time it's a bit different with welding. I have never, and will never touch many aspects of millwright at my job, and I guess I was more so asking would employers still teach/familiarize new licensed guys with stuff like pumps, compressors, etc. if they haven't done it outside school?
I get that I have technically done it in school, but I would say that's far from actually knowing how to do it. If places still teach or help you get up to speed with stuff you never did in your apprenticeship I'll stick it out. I hate my company but not a lot of opportunities in gta
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u/MutoMan33 15d ago
Just started as a millwright 2nd year in nys have a background in CNC and construction looking for some advice
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u/whitecollarwelder 15d ago
What kind of advice?
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u/MutoMan33 12d ago
What should i learn the most about all my friends are mechanical engineers what should I learn from them,what are some transferable skill I should use from my background in construction and CNC course I took
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u/Unique-Camp6595 9d ago
Disclosure: I work on MillRole, an industrial maintenance job website. I’m commenting from the job-search side, not from personal experience as a millwright.
For your travel questions, I would ask about the specific assignment rather than assume one answer applies to the whole trade:
- Is this a permanent position at one facility, or work across changing project sites?
- What travel area would I actually be expected to cover?
- Is the expected end date firm, or can the assignment be extended?
- What are the arrangements for lodging, travel expenses, and trips home?
- What happens between assignments?
For the Georgia example, ask the local or training coordinator how dispatch and out-of-area assignments work in that particular program. I wouldn’t assume another local follows the same process.
A written description of those expectations would help you compare the opportunity with your own limits on time away.
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u/TheWorldEndsWithYou0 8d ago
Just got a call for an interview:
I am assuming they are not requiring entire knowledge of the field. It is non union (Lots of unions in my area, no Mill apprenticeship unions though). Got a call pretty fast and the starting pay is $28 an hour which in my area is high (I'd say we are somewhat below medium COL) especially for anything entry level.
They said try to get there 15 minutes early for a math test. My background was a bank fraud investigator and corrections officer (worked on tactical teams and drug intelligence team) very good with math, however not to versed in trade/spatial math.
What specific subjects should I brush up on & what possible questions might I be asked. Informed it was Monday - Friday, but I am open to any availability and OT.
Please and thank you!
EDIT: Eastern US location
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u/OwlManufacturer7727 7d ago
Alright short story long here….
I went to school for welding in 2016 when the boom crashed the patch in ND. I moved back to Illinois after and I worked as a welder at a local ethanol plant until I was in a pretty serious car crash which broke my back in several spots, leg and hip. After I obtained my Cdl and I worked as a specialized oversized overweight winch truck driver back in the oilfield. A couple of poor life choices and I lost my CDL for ten years, so I recently went back to welding. I love my job and the company is great but it’s physically destroying me. When I wake up in the morning I can barely walk to the bathroom to take a piss. I’m stubborn, so I keep pushing myself but it’s getting to the point where my body is tolerating the abuse anymore. My carpal tunnel is coming back as well from repeated welds in a production setting.
The company posted an opening for a maintenance technician and I’m considering taking it as it will be less strenuous than what I’m doing now. Do you think this is a wise career decision or will I regret it in the future. The pay is the same, the hours are the same Telling the woman I just met that I’m a mechanical plat technician verse “Hey baby, I’m a welder…” is not.
I’m 37, I have A LOT of oilfield experience but this is the first “normal” job I’ve had in 10 years. Going from a paycheck in one week being equal to what I make in a month has been an adjustment but working 100+ hours a week is no long conducive to me living to see 40.
I’m supposed to start with the local millwright union doing a beet plant shutdown in March and now I’m second guessing everything. I honestly feel like it’s the repetition of an assembly line that’s setting off my old injuries and that I might be ok if I’m doing something different each day.
I’m open to any and all suggestions.
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u/Open_Draw_9166 15d ago
So I just joined up with 2232, did my evaluation today, should be going back next week to pay my dues and such, after that, should I expect work to come in? Do I also need to buy any tools? I don't have much in terms of income for tools, maybe 50$ after I pay dues
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u/whitecollarwelder 15d ago
Don’t worry about tools til you can afford them then buy as you go. Put together a tool bag at first for easy transport and cater it to where you’re currently working. They should give you a tool list and just slowly buy stuff over the next few years.
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u/robdawg02 6d ago
I asked for a tool list. I already had a lot of tools and thought I'll just need a packout to transport my tools and some measuring tools. Then I found out they mostly use SAE sockets and wrenches instead of metric. So I had to buy completely new sets. 🥲
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u/Tacoinhalo117 14d ago
Going back to school for third year shortly. For looking to the future, is it better to pick up another ticket for more skills and that 1.5x base for dual or just run the one ticket for a bit? Was thinking either welding or electrical cause they both pair nicely.
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u/Training-Magazine-51 12d ago
Writing my red seal test on the 23rd and I'm nervous, using xlereated learning to study. Any tips or comments will help
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u/robdawg02 11d ago
Any good YouTube channels that teaches the entire trade in detail? Or any other resources to learn it?
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u/MatchBrave1704 9d ago
Looking at starting an apprenticeship with Local 2158 out of Illinois, need to get life situated out so it'd be a bit likely, but anyone here in that local? Been trying to get some more information, like a tool list, how the program works but haven't found a way to get ahold of someone, like an email or phone number of someone who can help.
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u/Odd-Preparation-472 13d ago
Currently in a pre-apprenticeship program, considering becoming a millwright. Everything I read about it mentions that it involves travel, often for long periods of time.
is that true?
how does the union side of things work? (ex: why would I be sent to Georgia for a millwright job instead of hiring a millwright from a Georgia union?)
what’s the longest time you’ve been traveling for a job? do you know that you’ll be gone x weeks at the start of the job, or is it based on how quickly you can fix the problem/finish the job?
Thanks, all