California Journeyman Certification

[The Machinery Killer]

As a person who has worked with the wires for just short of two decades it is finally time to get this certification issue out of the way and out of my hair.

With regards to the enforcement of those on a job site working with a card in hand and those who do not consider this. Between April of 07 to August 07 the State Contractors Board was hiring inspectors to go job site to job site and perform inspections of all working personnel. At present I have been on several job sites with different companies and have yet to be asked for my card.

A very good friends dad once told me "A smart man learns from his mistakes, a wise man learns from the mistakes of his friends"

So if you think or even I think that this will continue to go on without being asked for a card much longer is only a foolish thought. It is only a matter of time before its time to pay the piper so get with it gang. The current electrical inspectors do not have the time nor the compensation to take on the extra burden of asking for cards. So they do not have the desire to take this issue on after all they are state employees who are not independently wealthy.

Several Foreman I have worked with are mad about the whole lack of enforcement issue let alone the amount of illegal aliens working on the job sites performing electrical work. (With that Foreman I was more pissed off with the fact that only one other person in the crew of 12 including myself could pass a random drug screen test.) The fact is they were certified years ago and are up for recertification and are sitting there saying why should I do this if it is not being enforced. So I would assume their comments have been heard and the state will soon have patrols out inspecting sites on a regular basis. You have to admit if I had gone through this certification in the past I would be raising bloody cane with them over the phone with the same comment.

With regards to the test itself from what I have gone through first hand the application needs to be filled out and signed then submitted with the proper fees depending on which test or certification you want. From there time to process the applications is approximately three to four weeks. From there you can call the testing centers and set up a date on short notice since they are able to have the computers ready to go at a moments notice.

I have not taken the test yet but will be studying my tail off the next week before I take it. I have talked with the test facility and you DO NOT NEED TO BRING ANYTHING!!! The test facility provides the materials so do not bother.

Based on a few other archived posts on this website that I have read the key appears to be the ability to utilize the index then from there you can get the rest of it done. I was told by a coworker who took the test three weeks ago that the test had two math questions and the rest was in the book. I am not sure I would want someone who can just read and answer questions working on a job site with me since they may not have all of the needed field troubleshooting experience to understand how it all goes together.

This state had the reputation for being the center of entertainment. What most people outside of this state fail to realize is we have the highest tax rate in the nation. A excessive amount of government agency overlap and each one claiming to be more important then the other. And finally a business environment that is not conducive for the successful operation of any small business due to the excessive over regulation.

I am sure it will keep CALOSHA busy.

I will post what information I receive to help others.

Semper Paratus

 

[The Machinery Killer]

California Journeyman Certification Continued

California Journeyman Certification Continued

A few things were missed on this original statement that I need to bring up to speed. With regards to those who are certified and those who are not the current mentality in the state is ?We hire Certified Journeymen Only? so if you wonder why you are being consistently turned down here is your indicator. Therefore if you are out of state and considering relocating here be advised you will need to address this issue if you are not coming from a state with a reciprocity agreement.

The current literature that I have purchased including the books from Mike Holt Enterprises has some very good points. However, many of the other publishers produced books that are neither as detailed nor as through as those from Mike. That is a very important key on the basis that the code itself relies heavily on the exact interpretation and or the definition of a word.

Due to the changes in the three year intervals you need to make sure that all of your study material is consistent on the basis that one book will ask you to reference a certain point in the code. Therefore if you are using another book from another year you will end up a bit wound up and frustrated. I admit I am working through this at present as I relied heavily on a local bookstore that did not keep the 2002 volume one and the 2002 volume two. The one benefit is that Mike?s books are detailed enough in a format that you can understand the point being made much more clearly then reading the code directly and attempting to work off it for study.

By design the biggest point I consistently find is that the index and the table of contents are key points when referencing the location of the subject at hand. A full understanding on how to work directly with this will make life a lot easier on you at the time of the test. Remember the test is 100 questions in four hours for the General Journeyman Exam. There is an option at the two hour mark for a five minute breather which will not count against you. I have been told that the 100 questions come from a base of 3500 possible questions so plan on using all four hours or should I say 240 minutes.

Thanks Mike for creating a detailed instructional study guide.

 

[DIRT27]

It is not that hard or that big of a deal. Answer the questions you know first skip all the ones you have to look up go through them again and answer the rest if you are spending to much time on question guess flag it and go back when you finish everything else. It shouldn't take most people the 4hrs although it does take some. The test should be harder than it actually is.

I did not using any study guides to take the test just an online service that cost me about $80 that you can use for a year has many different test you can take and shows you where in the code the answer is. There were hardly any questions off this course on my test, but it helped me get much faster navigating through the code book and was worth every penny.

I am pissed that the certification is not being enforced, I have not recieved any more money and we still have several unlicenced guys working for the company I work for. I hope they really crack down soon.