Basic Electrical Training - What You Will Learn in Your First Year as an Apprentice
During the first year in as an electrician's apprentice, there will be both field work and seminar training. Field work, "hands-on" training, is an immersion method for basic electrical training. This method involves performing the typical duties of an electrician on a real or simulated jobsite. Before working on a site, an apprentice gathers the required equipment: hard hat, safety vest, work pants and boots, protective gloves and glasses, and basic tools.
Once on site, the foreman (supervisor) assigns a crew where the master electricians and journeymen (experienced tradesmen) will deliver basic electrical training to the apprentice, who will assist as instructed. It is important to note that field work involves mistakes. This is why apprentices are only assigned small jobs like pulling cable, assembling the wire cart, and building electrical conduits.
After some time, apprentices may be taught more intricate jobs such as the installation of relays, sensors, resistors, detectors, and reflectors. On the job or in the classroom, the apprentice will learn how electrical components relate to one another, their purposes, and why each part is important to the end result. Each work day during the first year will be a learning opportunity in which the apprentice will be briefed on what the job entails. From there the apprentice will develop a sense of what supplies will be necessary for each task, how the cart can be arranged, and which order jobs will be executed in to ensure a more productive work strategy.
Basic electrical training within the classroom involves less physical labor and more memorization. The decreased pressure of a real project allows for more studying and testing on things like mathematics skills, appropriate tools and their sizing, schematics and blueprints, color codes, and other basic qualities of a valuable employee. The best thing to do when beginning a new trade is to listen closely, ask questions, and remain enthusiastic about the importance of the trade.
There is no better way to break into the electrical industry than through training and apprenticeship with Independent Electrical Contractors. We have training centers nationwide, so contact us today to find out how to get started.
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