- Location
- La Habra, CA
A firefighter with asthma?
need a better job
- Thread starter tribal_4x4
- Start date
Boatwrench
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Petaluma, CA
Yeah... I was thinking the same thing but didn't want to be the one to crush a dream.
toofarfromjune
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- sf bay area
If you are fairly mechanically inclined, you might want to think about different trade unions (primarily mechanical related trade unions), starting out as an apprentice.
I am a millwright apprentice, one year in, making 25something/hr.
Typical apprenticeship length is 4 years although it is possible to finish in 3.5, which i will be doing.
Every three months I take a week off of work for a fourty hour class. After every two classes, six months in, and so many hundred work hours, you get bumped up another 5% towards the full journeyman wage. First period apprentices start off at 50% I believe.
Great health/dental/vision/vacation/pension/etc benefits, schooling/training paid for (18/mo union dues oh my).
I enjoy working on cars/jeeps but after talking to many automotive technicians, have found that their personal time with cars nearly diminished after wrenching on them daily. I want to keep this passion as a main hobby, not work.
As a millwright I am just as mechanically inclined as any mechanic with a wide interesting range of work that doesnt involve cars on the daily.
Any day of the week I could be building/installing/aligning/rigging/maintaining/repairing: conveyor systems, turbines in power plants, structural steel work, pipe fitting work, precesion machinery, etc, etc, etc. Welding is a big part of millwright work that happy to be learning as well.
Another +, I can take a leave of absence for at any point during/after my apprenticeship for any length of time and go right back at whatever stage I was at when I left. If I decide to go to school for something, start my own company, or my band takes off and has to tour, there is nothing to worry about if things "don't work out." I always have a solid career to fall back on.
Elevator mechanics, I mean "technicians", have a really great wage, but are more likely to be working in hot uncomfortable places, and often times having to work solo.
I thought about going the electrician route, but I get really sick of pulling wire through conduit all day.
Did hvac for a few years, crawling under/above houses 247 and dealing with lots of fiberglass insulation on ducting/plenums all the time really sucked, and the work in general feels repetative.
I am a millwright apprentice, one year in, making 25something/hr.
Typical apprenticeship length is 4 years although it is possible to finish in 3.5, which i will be doing.
Every three months I take a week off of work for a fourty hour class. After every two classes, six months in, and so many hundred work hours, you get bumped up another 5% towards the full journeyman wage. First period apprentices start off at 50% I believe.
Great health/dental/vision/vacation/pension/etc benefits, schooling/training paid for (18/mo union dues oh my).
I enjoy working on cars/jeeps but after talking to many automotive technicians, have found that their personal time with cars nearly diminished after wrenching on them daily. I want to keep this passion as a main hobby, not work.
As a millwright I am just as mechanically inclined as any mechanic with a wide interesting range of work that doesnt involve cars on the daily.
Any day of the week I could be building/installing/aligning/rigging/maintaining/repairing: conveyor systems, turbines in power plants, structural steel work, pipe fitting work, precesion machinery, etc, etc, etc. Welding is a big part of millwright work that happy to be learning as well.
Another +, I can take a leave of absence for at any point during/after my apprenticeship for any length of time and go right back at whatever stage I was at when I left. If I decide to go to school for something, start my own company, or my band takes off and has to tour, there is nothing to worry about if things "don't work out." I always have a solid career to fall back on.
Elevator mechanics, I mean "technicians", have a really great wage, but are more likely to be working in hot uncomfortable places, and often times having to work solo.
I thought about going the electrician route, but I get really sick of pulling wire through conduit all day.
Did hvac for a few years, crawling under/above houses 247 and dealing with lots of fiberglass insulation on ducting/plenums all the time really sucked, and the work in general feels repetative.
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SeanP
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Rocklin, CA
brilliant advice in this thread from Smitty and the last poster. Of course Smitty's advice is suspect due to the penchant for giving (more!) money to steve jobs.
My friend is a union pipefitter. Makes about $100K a year, 34 years old, owns a house, PSD, built Early Bronco and 2007 Z06. He works his ass off and is really damn good at what he does.
My friend is a union pipefitter. Makes about $100K a year, 34 years old, owns a house, PSD, built Early Bronco and 2007 Z06. He works his ass off and is really damn good at what he does.
kdailey4315
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Pacifica, CA
I'm a project manager for an electrical contractor. The trades are where it's at.
- Location
- Port Orchard, WA
A small business owner that I met on this forum offered me the job that I worked the past two summers...Smittie said:
I also met the guy I lived with 2 summers ago on this forum...
and the guy I lived with this most recent summer...
and the guy that got drunk with my dad on my dad's last birthday...
and the guy that loaned me his tube bender for a school project...
and...
and...
kdailey4315
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Pacifica, CA
XJ_ranger said:
"and this one time at band camp"
Matt S.
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Fresno, CA
XJ_ranger said:
No wonder your life sucks.
is a bad influence:laugh:
oo7ravisXJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- San Ramon, Nor-Cal
Look, if your going to try and become a paid professional firefighter (I'm doing the same thing), you should get some wild land firefighting experience this summer and join the Davis Hand Crew as a Type II hand crew. Its am "on-call" job. The pay is great, and the work is hard as hell, but you come back after two weeks with about $2500. And you may be dispatched multiple times during the season. If you do go out for it we may end up working together talking about jeeps all summer.
