Changing directions in the field

RdmanElect

RdmanElect

Member
Location
Poughkeepsie NY
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Hey guys, I am currently a working foreman and manage multiple jobs. I spoke to my boss and am going to make the transition to be a project manager soon. I do enjoy being on the tools but our office could really use my experience in the office. Does anyone else have experience giving up the tools and going into the office? How do you like it?

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RdmanElect said:
Hey guys, I am currently a working foreman and manage multiple jobs. I spoke to my boss and am going to make the transition to be a project manager soon. I do enjoy being on the tools but our office could really use my experience in the office. Does anyone else have experience giving up the tools and going into the office? How do you like it?

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I had to give up the field after my bout with cancer in 2009. I basically did paperwork and bid jobs and I didn't like it. If I wasn't so sick I probably would have hated it but you do get use to it. I am a type A personality so I am use to being on the go.
 
I spent the last 18 yrs of my career in the office as a PM. From the get go I missed the field and it didn't take long to figure out it wasn't a good choice as far as my body and health. The sleepless nights worrying about projects being a superintendent couldn't compare with the sleepless nights associated with being a PM. IMO the best position I had was as a superintendent.

Sorry for being so negative and you shouldn't take that as being the case you might have.
 
At my current job, my supervisor retired. I thought about the Peter Principle and so wrote a nice letter of recommendation for a co-worker. Decided I wouldn't be a good fit, and am much happier about that. Semi retired now, and he is a very good at the job. Some of us are better where we are, some are better moving up.
 
I agree with the above posts. I worked 46 years for 5 different companies including my own for 6 years. While I liked being in the office estimating, looking at jobs and running jobs, I would have preferred working with the tools that is just my make up. On four of those jobs, I ended up in the office.

I found it extremely tiring, working in the office and it was really hard not to gain weight being less active I would go home at the end of the day completely exhausted. I got in the habit of getting up at 4:30-5:am and hitting the gym before going to the office at 7;00 just to keep some physical activity going.

So it was a love - hate thing for me.

Usually what would happen was that they would land a tough job 2 hours away and when they landed the job no one else would want to do it so back in the field I would go.

So my career was very strange. Commercial oil /gas burner technician, refrigeration, Master Electrician in 3 states, gas fitter (no plumbing) pipefitter and a little sheet metal and lots of rigging.

As I look back on things I wish I had picked 1 thing to stick to. I was a jack of all trades and master of none. Things were too hectic.

But it kept me employed for 46 years and never got fired or laid off....so there is that

But everyone is different and has a different make-up so what works for one may not work for another.
 
I went from construction for 5 years to basically a production electrician on custom buildings for 4 years.
Same company moved into quality control for probably 20 years. ( I loved this job.)
Same company I then moved into design checks
(Electrical) and NEC compliance for 14 years.
After 38 years with that company I am now retired.
Once I took my tools off full time I didn't miss it.
But I did do side work to remind me of why I did.
 
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