The Apprentice...So after 1 month in the field...

[growler]

Lets just say being a gofer gets boring after a while. Sometimes you wanna be the one making connections.

All working gets boring if you do the same thing enough times. I've had a helper that was bored after installing 30 or 40 receptacles. I had to ask him if he he was bored after 40 just what made him think it was going to be any more fun after he had installed hundreds of thousand of them.

Electrical work isn't all glammer it's mostly boring with a few interesting jobs thrown in for good measure.

In many ways you are very lucky, you could still be working in the same ditch where you started a month ago ( it happens ).

It sounds like the guy you are working for is pretty laid back and not a slave driver so just enjoy the experience. Before the first year is over you will probably end up doing lots of real electrical work. :smile:

 

[EBFD6]

There is no problem when you mess up a bend on 1/2" or 3/4" EMT. I've seen guys take all the bend right out like the pipe was never bent. Please, learn the fundamentals of bending (i.e. stub deducts, back bends, offset multipliers).
Some day, you will have one stick of 2" EMT and a Chicago Bender and one chance to get it right. Practice doing the math on 1/2 or 3/4. If you mess up, then fall back on the hacksaw and coupling. Learn on the skinny stuff. 3" and up boneyards are an expensive mess.

By the way, practice using the hacksaw rather than the sawzall. Hacksaw use is starting to be a lost art. Sawzalls (reciprocating saws) can be dangerous. Hacksaws cut EMT fast and safe and are very portable.

I still see a lot of very nice new pipe installs. Its nice to see a good craftsman's work.

Good housekeeping is a top priority for me and helps with organization. You will see some jobs where foremen, supers and G.C.s don't mind grabbing a broom.

Anticipate your journeyman's fastener need. Have a nail apron with drywall screws or teks or tapcons or whatever is appropriate. He will know he hired the right apprentice when he looks down from his ladder to yell for an EZ anchor but has to stop to reach out for the one you have just thrown him.

I agree with your whole post except the hacksaw part.

Work smarter not harder.

You can cut pipe with a hacksaw if you want, but I'll use my cordless sawsall, thanks anyway.

If I need to cut a piece of pipe, and someone hands me a hacksaw to do it with, I'll be handing the hacksaw right back along with the pipe.

"Here you do it, I can't find where the battery goes on this hacksaw you gave me."

I used to work with a guy who's favorite saying was "Don't confuse activity with productivity"

just because your busy all day, doesn't mean your getting anything accomplished.

 

[jeremysterling]

EBFD6 quote: Work smarter not harder.

I believe a one month apprentice should have good feel for cutting mechanics, including hacksaws. Let him feel the difference of a 24 TPI relative to 32 TPI. Eventually, he'll master all saws. My hacksaws in my bag and if my service call has me running pipe, I can make the one cut I need.

And that is another reason to know how to bend pipe: saves on sawzall blades!

If he can't afford a sawzall, he won't carry mine up that twelve footer to cut allthread hangers marked with the laser. His aching shoulders will likely motivate him to buy his own sawzall.

 

[360Youth]

All working gets boring if you do the same thing enough times. I've had a helper that was bored after installing 30 or 40 receptacles. I had to ask him if he he was bored after 40 just what made him think it was going to be any more fun after he had installed hundreds of thousand of them.

That's one of the reasons I never got turned on to large commercial work. We did a string of Food Lions about 10 yaers ago. I was just a resi electrician helping out when the workload increased, but I still remember being on a lift hanging the 4 and 8 foot lay-in lights and looking down on the floor to see the stacks of hundreds more. Ugh! :grin: The only joy was racing the guys in the other lift to see who got their row done first.

 

[360Youth]

And that is another reason to know how to bend pipe: saves on sawzall blades!

I know a guy in AZ who will sell you some. Oops, wrong thread.