IBEW Local 26 offers career opportunities through apprenticeship, training | WTOP News
This content is sponsored by IBEW Local 26.
As the director and adjunct conductor of apprenticeship at the International Brotherhood of electrical Workers ( IBEW ) Local 26 will tell you, there is no ideal apprenticeship campaigner, only one who is bequeath to learn. Each applicate comes to the program with their own singular perspective and the travel for each one is evenly unique. What do they all have in common ? For a diverseness of reasons be it the pay, benefits, consistent agenda or the opportunity to learn and get paid while in educate, the apprenticeship provides the prospect at a fulfilling career with illimitable electric potential .
Stephanie Lashley is no exception, she came across the course of study at a time in her life when things felt a bit dead and uncertain. It was then that a friend back home recommended she look into becoming an electrician just as he had done .
“ I was in an admin job, I wasn ’ thyroxine in truth making that a lot money, it felt very dead-end and he ( my friend ) recommended I become an electrician. ”
With no prior cognition about the career field, she applied for the Joint Apprenticeship & Training Committee broadcast at IBEW Local 26 and was accepted. now in her second year, Lashley says that the prepare started with the basics, learning about materials, what goes into the structure, pipe bending and the mathematics that ’ randomness much involved in electric function .
“ My trigonometry ( all those years ago ) came in handy ! ” Lashley laughs. “ There ’ s a lot to learn when you ’ re starting off green but the best thing to do is just have a good attitude, ” she says .
Lashley admits, her friend had prepared her for what to expect in the field i.e. lots of construction sites, commercial buildings, a long ton of hard shape .
Something she didn ’ thymine expect ? The chumminess .
“ I was surprised by how the people made me feel, I was identical pleasantly surprised. They did not make me feel like I was under stipulate or imposter syndrome, like why are you here kind of thing. They were identical welcoming and they ’ ve teach me a distribute so army for the liberation of rwanda, ” she says .
For James Moss, the experience has been similar but the travel to get there ? Different .
Starting out his department of education and career across the bridge at Salisbury University, Moss graduated college and was a reserve Marine working full time as a non-union electrician when a ally of his mentioned the benefits of an apprenticeship program at IBEW Local 26. The competitive side of Moss didn ’ thyroxine want to miss out on what was inevitably a strategic career move, with his ultimate goal being retirement. He shared this longterm goal with WTOP during a late consultation .
“ ( My longterm finish is ) Get to retirement, learn ampere much as I can and be angstrom helpful as I can along the way, ” said Moss .
What surprised him the most about the course of study was how well the 40-hour workweek and the apprenticeship/schooling parcel are integrated together allowing each participant to make a survive engage while in school. This means each apprentice gets the learning and on-the-job feel they need all without accruing any debt unlike many degree programs.
Moss wasn ’ metric ton sure what to expect but the program has exceeded his expectations. The amount of things he is learning, the have he ’ second getting and the benefits that come with the program all make for a satisfy career and outright likely .
“ I can ’ thyroxine think of any early thing that you can do without needing a college degree to make this total of money and however be able to have the work/life libra, so get in ! ” said Moss .
Moss admits, you do have to choose it for the right reasons, waking up early on, working a full 8 hours may not be appealing for everyone but having the time after make to do the things you want to do makes it all worth it. Spending time with family, friends or out doing hobbies during the week is precisely one of many benefits for apprentices ’. While his journey to get here wasn ’ t a straight note, and Moss has no regrets about how he ’ s done it, although he does much think about how things might have been different had he gone straight into the program before college and recommends anyone considering the platform to start angstrom soon as they can .
Fourth class apprentice Shane Weinberg came to the plan having already begun his career as an electrician but not feeling like there was much room for advancement where he was. Having heard about the apprenticeship program from a acquaintance, it felt like the perfect opportunity to progress and move forward. Weinberg applied, was accepted and began working his direction up. As a fourth class, he says he ’ south learning drive controls which in truth challenge him deoxyadenosine monophosphate well as more advance code like limited occupancies and particular conditions. As person who already had about two decades of cognition, Weinberg says that the skills he ’ south learned within the program will continue helping him advance his career .
“ I feel like I ’ ll just have better cognition of a batch of different aspects of the electrical field, ” said Weinberg .
His favorite subject has become Direct Current ( DC ) and Alternating Current ( AC ) hypothesis because he loves that you can take a circuit with obscure values, break it down to its simplest form, rebuild it and find all those values. Learning more about health and base hit has besides become highly valuable for Weinberg .
“ Where I was earlier, non-union, residential, they kind of arrange condom on the back burner and I feel like that was one thing I actually enjoyed was the base hit aspect, ” said Weinberg .
Weinberg ’ sulfur day normally starts around 3:30am, he gets up, gets quick and gets to the job by 6am. His day normally ends around 2pm giving him batch of time to spend with his kids, versus getting home late in the flush and rushing through dinner, bed time and getting ready for the adjacent day. There ’ sulfur enough of other benefits besides like the fiscal ones .
“ A common sense of security, where I was before it was about as though I was going more and more into debt each day and when I joined the program that all changed. I make a decent, livable engage now and they do pay me to go to school which is an excellent fringe benefit ! ” said Weinberg .
He besides mentions the healthcare benefits that each penis of his family presently uses. In his non-union work, the more syndicate members he had on the plan, the more it cost him per paycheck, and therefore, the more wages he lost and debt he accrued. But with the IBEW Local 26 program that all changed and now health coverage international relations and security network ’ t something he worries about anymore .
“ I feel like ( this program ) gives me the security of knowing that my future is being taken worry of, I ’ megabyte work towards my retirement, ” said Weinberg.
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Looking ahead to retirement, being able to save, not accruing debt or worrying about the future, these are barely a few of the benefits that offer peace of take care and a carry through career for the apprentice ’ sulfur at IBEW Local 26 .
And each apprentices ’ advice for anyone considering an alternate career path ? A resounding “ Apply for your local ! ”
