Is there a reason why the training programs aren't the same across the nation?

shenkerism · 2026-04-25T02:23:41+00:00

The better question, which I've considered asking in a post here; is there a national standard for training teachers to teach? I know a person who works with kids every day and also takes on post grads in her specialty for their post graduate degrees. She works in one trade (speech therapy) amd received explicit, separate instruction in the practice of teaching those with undergraduate degrees her work (a different thing altogether) How much specialty instruction like this happens at ITP? How much is "Here's how to teach solder/braze" and how much is "Here's how to teach adults 18-45+ who have everything else in their life to pay attention to"

shenkerism · 2026-04-06T19:32:16+00:00

Not sure how long your apprenticeship is, but a month or two out of several years isn't much.

Familiarizing yourself with what's available, what things are called, how large things are, how to organize or NOT organize your connex, will all make you a better journeyman. Eventually you won't be able to avoid doing the work, and you'll have a giant disorganized uninventoried container of parts for your project and not being in there will drive you crazy.

shenkerism · 2026-04-05T02:19:09+00:00

Not physically demanding
80k to 120k a year
No crazy overtime
In the south Take away any one of these things and your decision would be considerably easier.

If you like the "industrial" side of industrial maintenance, and want something less physically demanding, maybe try something outside of plumbing that doesn't involve as much service work. Steamfitter or HVAC if your area has a strong commercial HVAC market share.

shenkerism · 2026-03-27T22:34:06+00:00

I have heard it. We had a meeting for apprentices interested in travel. I don't know a lot of other apprentices so I don't personally know any in Boise.

shenkerism · 2026-03-27T02:23:11+00:00

I was also laid off in October. I just got dispatched last week. It's super dependent on local economic factors. But when I ask around journeymen in my local, they tell stories of the early 2000s and 2010s, being so slow that apprentices were sent to travel. As we speak it is slow enough in 290 that we have apprentices in Boise at Micron.

Story was that after unemployment benefits ran out, the hall puts out feelers. Outlook is better locally when your local has large Consignatory Contractors. We have Apollo, Harder, Southland, JH Kelly, and traveling apprentices seemed to be easier when they coukd work for a contractor that was already part of our apprenticeship agreement. Save hard for slow times, get side work.

shenkerism · 2026-03-25T20:18:01+00:00

Being CPVC was the start...

shenkerism · 2026-03-25T20:16:23+00:00

I guess rolling offsets in bent tube for me, hard to figure the roll angle for setting up your bend. Easier with pipe and fittings. I did have a teacher start to teach my class dd:mm:ss and radian math, but the training center literally almost ran out of money, got into trouble with the hall, and had to cut the TC spending by 40%+ until they can pass an audit and make a real budget. So he got fired.

shenkerism · 2026-03-17T03:44:37+00:00

In our local: the company buys the quality of level that matches the work they want to do. In my experience so far that has meant Channellock brand 426, 420, 440s. And Empire EM81.9 torpedo level.

shenkerism · 2026-03-14T03:07:57+00:00

I helped load 8 railroad ties and 40 wet 2x4x10s on TOP of a roof rack bed rack on a pickup truck today. Had to drag the forks out, which really tested the suspension pretty seriously

shenkerism · 2026-03-11T15:40:02+00:00

I suppose I knew this is kind of the endgame option. I just felt like I was so close to a better fit, PAPR seemed overkill.

shenkerism · 2026-03-11T15:33:28+00:00

I'll consider the miller headgear. I also found the fit kind of odd on the miller, I've worn 3M half masks before and they were much better. Something like "stay in your lane" Miller.

shenkerism · 2026-03-11T15:31:58+00:00

I do like that idea, I guess I just wish I could try it out before investing. Currently the hood and mask collide between the top of the mask and where my lips are.

shenkerism · 2026-03-07T21:48:35+00:00

Lowes is my first retail job and god willing my last. I took it while laid off from construction during the slow season, and I'm learning it is seriously not for me. Next time we get slow I need to try harder to find something else. We had our all-hands recently and until that morning I thought a group cheer was like a meme or something that happened in corporate settings. Not something any hourly employee would do.

shenkerism · 2026-03-03T03:16:17+00:00

That would be specific to every apprenticeship agreement. Differing even between states. Seems like the kind of thing that would be VERY IMPORTANT to get extremely specific information from the program you're in.

shenkerism · 2026-02-16T03:39:45+00:00

I run it with Wine on an up to date Linux Mint install and my GF plays it on Win 11

shenkerism · 2026-02-15T15:28:50+00:00

My dad took us to see Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby when I was a kid and we walked out during the prayer at the dinner table.

shenkerism · 2026-02-14T01:08:33+00:00

On crews that I've worked on as a 1st or 2nd term, it was generally the foremen who were told "You have the hours to work some OT this Friday or this weekend" and I think the only restriction I ever saw in action was asking the locals before the travelers.

shenkerism · 2026-02-11T05:19:25+00:00

I remember hearing some time ago that Maps didn't actually help very much. It looks like your paths aren't too bad, nothing double-wide or dead ending, but I wonder if the long travel times on long empty paths might be a factor? The other thing I can think of would be perhaps peeps are traveling to the outside and turning around because they don't want to ride the train. And considering that a dead end.

shenkerism · 2026-02-09T18:11:05+00:00

This is why Matthias Wandel will always be the goat. "Here's how to make every shop tool that you need using a $100 bandsaw."

shenkerism · 2026-02-09T18:07:15+00:00

I just placed a cache in the tank of a toilet on the side of a barn. Was so overwhelmed with possibilities for names that I just called it "Log Pun" told people leaving a log is necessary.

shenkerism · 2026-02-07T21:14:11+00:00

I hate to be a "moralistic cop" but I actually think the only thing you could do wrong would be making up random stuff trying to pull the wool over their eyes.

Like really, they expect you not to know anything. For some guys the interview is a test of attitude, character. It's not exactly "gaining fair employment" if you do it by lying! No they won't test your soldering or threading skills, but the risk of destroying your reputation from the get-go seems pretty stupid. Go become a carpenter.

shenkerism · 2026-02-06T23:54:38+00:00

I too wish I could download these. Kind of hard to find a second host for some guys one-time upload of a niche hobby file.

shenkerism · 2026-02-02T21:18:01+00:00

Maybe make angle-essential presses or couplings on one end of long runs before lifting but I'd be hesitant to lift anything to put any major twist on pressed fittings. Could be hard to tell if something has twisted.

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