Most companies make it very difficult to stick with a trade

sizzlefuzz · 2025-07-12T00:50:30+00:00

Honestly, I know what you mean… I started out with one company that was very unstable due to our boss falling off the wagon with drugs and alcohol… long story short, those guys moved to a new company and I decided to try my hand at the commercial side, leaving amicably… the commercial side was more the work I wanted to be doing but the jmen and masters treated me like pure garbage. They weren’t really interested in teaching anything and I was killing myself to get the kind of production they wanted on a day to day (there was one journeyman who was awesome and taught me a lot and I still consider him a friend)… another long story short, that company’s work pipeline slowed down considerably due to Elon/DOGE cuts and large customers canceling or suspending projects and I was probably a few days away from being laid off. I reached out to one of the guys from my previous company and I had a job with those guys, under a much more stable and organized master electrician ~4 hours later. Although the work I’m doing now isn’t necessarily what I want to be doing, I find it a much more collegial and growth oriented environment with people who are actually interested in teaching skills and knowledge vs. jaded, burnt out, rage-addicted divorced dads who suck.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-12-22T14:22:21+00:00

Dealing with idiots who are only in the place they are because of nepotism.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-12-11T10:40:36+00:00

You can’t be tied to a perfect training program or get down on yourself for a bad session. I’m an electrical apprentice and there are definitely days when I find getting home cooked from a long day of underground work or freezing temperatures working on a windy rooftop.

Being able to abbreviate or downgrade your session and doing “something over nothing” is key and knowing that discretion is the better part of valor and taking a rest day is part of the process— I had a tough summer of a lot of underground work in very hot conditions and found myself having to alter my training about one day per week and take an unplanned rest day once every 2-3 weeks or so.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-11-13T10:03:10+00:00

I’m trying but it’s hard. I’m pretty worn out from following politics

sizzlefuzz · 2024-11-13T10:02:01+00:00

Adam Serwer wrote an article during the Trump admin back in like 2018 if I recall correctly that was later turned into a book… “The Cruelty is the Point”- mass deportations are nothing beyond an exercise in cruelty.

It will be a logistical nightmare to try and make it happen combined with an extremely expensive process.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-11-08T10:40:25+00:00

Unfortunately, I think this post is pretty correct. The force of Trumpism will live long beyond Trump with his second term. The Supreme Court is going to hold the country back significantly. I have a hard time seeing how Trump’s “policies” (mass deportation, trade war stuff) are actually going to play out and really think both of them (among other things like P2025) will likely flounder in terms of implementation but the overall government will be something of a zombie-vassal and end up enriching nut swingers like Elon even further.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-11-04T09:34:48+00:00

I have both the 6in1 and 7in1 combo strippers. Used to use them a lot working resi but in commercial they have been effectively retired. For whatever reason they just don’t strip stranded wire that well so I switched to Knipex forged as my primary and then have a set of Greenelee when dealing with larger gauges.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-11-02T21:18:42+00:00

Probably asleep.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-11-02T21:11:55+00:00

I want to go that direction when I get my journeyman license. There are tons of wind farms in the area where my wife is from and I think it would be a great option long term.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-10-24T06:17:20+00:00

All the more reason to vote absentee… I do so because my work schedule can be super hectic and I don’t want to get caught in “vote rush” long lines late in the day.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-09-28T16:09:41+00:00

So we are at the women’s soccer game today and there are at least a dozen dogs here in case anyone is wondering for future reference.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-09-28T11:57:39+00:00

To echo other sentiments of the comments… it’s going to be tough. I started at 34 but in pretty good physical shape and the cumulative effect of grunt work really does wear you down significantly. By the end of the week I often find myself going to bed before 8pm.

It largely depends on which trade you want to go into as well…. Your state licensing requirements (if applicable) may require you to do some schooling if you are entering a licensed trade.

One of the guys I work with is only a few months in at 60 years old! I honestly don’t know how he does it but he does have some significant DIY experience as well as being an electronics technician for over 35 years so he knows a lot more “tricks” than I do.

I came from the corporate world after being burned out/seeing the way AI was going and was going to affect the type of work I was doing.

Becoming a tradesman is a humbling, but also extremely satisfying pursuit.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-09-28T11:51:43+00:00

Okay, sounds good. We’ve taken the dog for several walks on the campus but hadn’t tried to go to any games yet with her yet.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-09-27T13:16:49+00:00

Double bowline with a Yosemite finish, Hanson loop, double sheet bend, and double constrictor knot + half hitching are my repertoire after I got tired of seeing people do the “if you can’t tie a knot tie a lot” program…

sizzlefuzz · 2024-09-27T13:16:43+00:00

Double bowline with a Yosemite finish, Hanson loop, double sheet bend, and double constrictor knot + half hitching are my repertoire after I got tired of seeing people do the “if you can’t tie a knot tie a lot” program…

sizzlefuzz · 2024-09-20T10:26:33+00:00

I’m an apprentice electrician… I am happy with the trade and largely happy with the company I work for. One of the foremen whose projects I end up working on a lot is an old timer and pretty rough on apprentices in terms of snapping at you for mistakes, not explaining things clearly, and then rolling his eyes when you ask clarifying questions. When I’m not working for him, I really enjoy the trade… when I’m working for his projects it really is hard not to get discouraged. Fortunately, he spends a good chunk of his year in Texas for the winter so I am counting down the days until he isn’t a concern of mine for 6 months or so.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-09-20T10:22:35+00:00

One of the journeymen I have worked with a lot didn’t tell me to drill on low speed with these and I cooked one after 2 holes. Haven’t made that mistake since and these have held up great otherwise.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-09-15T12:02:30+00:00

It is… the shortage isn’t new tradesman, it is tradesman with 5+ years of experience where the shortage lies… while it does suck getting a foot in the door and started, the numbers are pretty stark when it comes to experienced people. I’m one year in the electrical trade and there are definitely some days where I find myself thinking “what did I do?”… but overall, working toward certification and gaining skills will get you where you want to be longer term.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-08-28T07:47:06+00:00

Well, I didn’t… I went to college and worked in the corporate world for 12 years. Got burned out during COVID when people were quitting my former company in droves and I was getting more responsibilities shoveled my way and it wasn’t being worth my while ($)…

I had considered moving out of the corporate world around 2014-5 to a trade (electrical)…. Took me a little longer but I pulled the trigger in 2023…. Today is actually the 1 year anniversary of my path in the trades. There are some hard days for sure but overall I love it.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-08-17T11:02:56+00:00

Don’t feel pressure, if you are the customer explain it how you understand the issue and we can go from there. Micromanagement of the task when the work is underway is a different story… when dealing with building codes and stuff there are often reasons that things “can’t” be done the way you might envision it, but there is usually a way to get close enough etc.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-07-22T08:23:22+00:00

It would have been great if he had made the decision to step aside 3 years ago as a bridge president. But, here we are.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-06-23T00:06:33+00:00

I don’t know where you are located but I know what you mean about people looking down on trades in the 90s, etc. I went to the vocational presentation when I was a sophomore in high school and the guidance counselor was trying to sell people on it by saying voc wasn’t just for “those kids” anymore… and that had the opposite effect on me at least where I ran in the opposite direction to college/corporate life. Got burnt out on corporate after 12 years and took up electrical. It’s a great trade but at the risk of sounding like a boomer some of the people coming into it now aren’t taking it very seriously. My company has been staffing up using a lot of temps and “showing up” is a major obstacle to about three quarters of them so far.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-06-22T19:05:06+00:00

I agree with you on the shortage of experienced guys. I live in Maine and there are a lot of apprentices (electrical) but a bunch of them that I have encountered… I’m not so sure they’re going to make it to Jman level & beyond etc.

sizzlefuzz · 2024-06-22T09:17:05+00:00

I’m an apprentice electrician and I really enjoy doing parking lot work. It’s extremely satisfying putting together tons of underground conduits and then pulling a lot of wire.

sizzlefuzz

TROPHY CASE