Getting Certified???

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horrorsix

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Harrisburg PA
I have some questions about getting certified.

I have 15 years experience as an electrician. I've worked for and subbed for electricians in different parts of the country. Just over a year ago I started my own contracting business full time. I myself do all the electric while the rest of my crew does everything else.

I am very experienced and knowledgeable in the electrical field. I have many contracts in the area I live and often get called to repair stuff that certified electricians have worked. But I am not certified.

I would like to get certified but I have one problem. The 4 year apprenticeship. I make a minimum of $40 and hour right now and cannot afford to take a pay cut for 4 years to work under somebody who I probably know just as much as.

Not being certified has not really been an obstacle for me. I would like to get certified for myself mainly.

Does anybody have any thoughts or advice on this.
 
horrorsix said:
Harrisburg, PA.
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PA has no statewide license, but the city of Harrisburg does. When I took it around 93, it was a real hum-dinger. You need to stop in the building department's office at 10 N Second (a couple doors up from the Hilton) to get the application. They don't have it online. You probably will need to scrounge up proof of your work history since the board is technically supposed to decide on whether you're qualified to take the test or not.
 
Thank you. I don't like the sound of hum-dinger. I know you have to be a Harrisburg city certified electrician to work downtown. Getting city certified never even crossed my mind because I thought a person had to be state certified first.
As you can see I'm a little unsure of the certification requirements.

So what about the 4 year apprenticeship I heard about. Is that not a requirement?
 
You can go take the ICC Journeyman or Masters test in Reading, Lancaster, or a num. of areas around here, once you pass, you can take that and your experience to get a license in HBG or whereever, as long as you meet their requirements. You don't need to be certified. If it were me, I would go pay $100, take the test, pay license fees and walla. I just went through it all about 2 months ago. I'm from central PA as well.

edit to add: Anyone can take the ICC test, but you won't be able to get a license without experience. (City of Hbg,reading,etc)
 
You need to get a 'mercantile license' also from Harrisburg to conduct any sort of business in the city. It's nothing more than a form you fill out and a fee you pay. I don't think it is much.
 
SiddMartin said:
You can go take the ICC Journeyman or Masters test in Reading, Lancaster, or a num. of areas around here, once you pass, you can take that and your experience to get a license in HBG or whereever, as long as you meet their requirements.
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That sounds like the easiest option. That wasn't an option until recent times. You had to take the time to take a lot of tests.
 
mdshunk said:
That sounds like the easiest option. That wasn't an option until recent times. You had to take the time to take a lot of tests.
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at least now you only have to take 1 test, pay 1 test fee. ... Now, if they could only make the license's that way...
 
Wow. That's awesome. Thank you guys for all your help. I'm going to look into the test this week.
I suppose there's study guides I can find on line.
Is there any study guides that you recommend? I assume the test covers residential and commercial codes.
My least amount of knowledge is with commercial work and I have absolutely no experience with industrial wiring. Do you see this being a problem. Should I study up on my commercial and industrial codes?
 
I took the masters test in March, study sizing standard residential services... sizing pipe w/ dif. sized wire and dif. types of ins. , derating wire (temp, # of cond., etc.)... hazardous locations...

for studying, do the Mike Holts online tests and also his quizzes,. Go to www.iccsafe.org click on contractors, you can get all of the info there. Even take a "mock" electrical exam, show you how the computer program operates when you take your test. You can take your code book with only your highlights and anything written in pen and manufactored tabs. You can take a non-alpha calculator.
 
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