How long is the probationary period? Hopefully I can get in soon enough after yall and long enough to be safe by next winter

And TxVet, that's one thing I'm nervous about. I'm a mechanical minded person, and am a good mechanic, but have little electrical experience at all. I was an Army Airborne medic, so my military skills are less applicable lol.

Hi guys. I'm new to this forum. I am testing for an apprenticeship on December 9th in Orlando. Just curious if anyone else out there is. I live in the Tampa area witch means I'm like 2 hrs away. I just purchased a house with my wife and would hate to have to move yet I would if I got hired. Any advise for someone new to this trade? What tips do you guys have for someone in my position 80+ miles away? Tampa has a local but i have no idea when they are recruiting again. Also if I got hired in Orlando is there a chance I could transfer to Tampa or would I still have to wait for a recruitment?

I'm not sure if I was supposed to writ this post in a new feed or if it's ok to post where I did.

Thanks in advance
Chris

Banshee, they don't throw you out there to do stuff you aren't qualified for. They pretty much start everyone at the same position at the very bottom and treat you as if you don't know what a wrench is... its not bad they just don't know peoples backgrounds so its safer to assume we don't know anything than give us something that we don't know and mess it up. I think the probation periiod is a year but i also heard its 6 months... i don't really know for sure. Where were u stationed? I was in south padre island, virginia and northern washington.

6 months is when you start to receive beni's if you get your hours in, but you have 9 months to get your hours in if you don't get them in the first 6, you'll get the beni's after 9.

Just found out I am 28 on the list here in MN. how fast is the list moving elsewhere?

Ckelly, your post might get a little lost in this thread. You could try creating a new thread and you might get a bit more exposure. As far as tips and what not, you got 14 pages worth of prospective apprentice information you could skim through.

As far as probation goes, I think (but am still not concrete) that we can get sworn in after 6 months of 100 hours, and we start getting bennies. If you read the agreement it says probation is 12 months, but I think the second half of that is really just a company probation. It's confusing though, that's just how I've had it explained.

Jrr1982, a lot of us here who are in Austin are dealing with a super small local (100 something guys), so we were all disproportionately high up because of that. 28 sounds like a good ranking if it for a zone/local that is maybe a bit larger than Austin.

Banshee, electrical work in a commercial setting is for the most part is super basic and easy to comprehend (just be a little more cautious in the machine room). Being mechanically inclined is more than enough.

I've been doing wiring this past week, and your mechanic will pretty much know how everything needs to be wired, and if not there is always going to be a wire diagram and a foreman more than happy to tell you how he wants something done. The type of electrical that will be expected of you early on is likely only going to be dealing with flex/j-boxes/fittings/small wire pulling/connecting stop switches and other basic things. You can honestly learn all that on the fly no problem.

Damn you Txvet, jealous as hell of your stations. On one hand if I could do it agaon, I'd go CG or Navy maybe for the assignments. But on the other hand, I joined to jump out of airplanes and to earn the title doc. Was also aspiring for Ranger medic, but was put out medically before I got to go back to Ft Sam for the schooling. I was at Ft Sam, Ft Sill and Camp Mabry

Banshee, the coast guard was one of those grass is greener things. I couldn't wait to be out now I miss it. I am technically on a temporary separation for care of new born child and can go back with in two years but don't have to, I really have thought about it if work doesn't pick up.

Damn, that sounds like an interesting setup you've got going. How many years do you have in?

5.5 years.

Meh, over 1/4 to retirement

What about u?

Any of ya'll guys hear any more info about when you might get picked up again?

Hey guys just reading over some of these posts. I've been in the industry for 10 years. I was a navy electrician and transitioned into the elevator trade after a short period as a maintenance electrician at a plant. I took a pay cut to get into the trade and moved 4 hours away from my wife and children to Austin local 133. I crashed on my buddie's couch and only saw my family on the weekends. I did this for my whole 6 month probationary period, then sold my brand new house and moved the family into a small 1 bedroom apartment in a not so nice complex. After 1 year with Tejas elevator I was laid off. I had to again move this time to California to go to work for Thyssenn, again leaving my family back in Austin. I went another 6 months without seeing them. After moving them out to California I got set-up as a temporary mechanic and never looked back. I went from making $14/hr to $48/hr in a matter of 3 years. Now I am a troubleshooter loving every minute of this crazy trade.

The point of my post is this. Keep your head up and keep striving for your goal of becoming an elevator mechanic. Sometimes in this trade if you want to keep working you have to be flexible. There are tons of old timers getting their retirement papers ready, so the work will be there. Don't let the layoffs get you down. You're on the list and your name will be called, remember though if you turn the offer down you might not get called again. Answer the call future brothers. God bless.

Thanks sccjr. I just got done visiting with my mechanic at the JW marriot to get my school sheet signed.. He said 11 people total got laid off.. 6 of them were out towners. Seems like they did alot of switching with the helpers. My mechanic new helper has a year of experience on me. Makes sense because the helpers mechanic was from san Antonio and he got laid off.. Word from my mechanic is they are suppose to hirr back up in January.
Oh and sccjr, if i were to get laid off here in auatin would there be anyway to pick uo work out in San Antonio?

If you are a Probie working in another local is near impossible because they have their own hiring list of probies, but if you are a 1st year apprentice or higher you can go work in another local as a transient.

Hey sccjr, I appreciate your post and it actually answered a question I had for a while now.

How does school work as a transient though? Lets say you got laid off mid way through the semester, and wanted to travel to another local as a transient. Do you just go to school with your new local and pick up where you left off or what?

Also, it sounds like you ended up staying in California for the long haul. Do you plan on transferring permanently into the California local you've been working out of? Also, don't transients have to be laid off before members from the local are? Did this make staying employed as a transient more difficult, or was California full of work preventing you from getting laid off?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just interested in how you pulled all that off and I think that it's an incredible benefit of being a union member that you could do that.

I did transient into local 18 and yes when you are working as a transient you will be the 1st mechanic or 1st apprentice let go. If you are considered a valuable peice to the company they will actually forgo layoffs until you deposit your card. This wasn't my case at the time, I was a 3rd year apprentice when I deposited my card into 18 and work was bountiful. Honestly the companies care less about apprentices, you are overhead for them. If they could they would only use a second guy when absolutely necessary. Thank God for our Union.

As far as school is concerned I jumped right into my NEIEP curriculum with no interruption when I jumped locals. I also tested out of year 2 based of my electrical degree I earned in the military so if any of you have the background look into that.

Could you define what you mean when you say "deposit" your card? No ones mentioned that to me before.

You have up to six months before you have to "deposit your card", whereas at that time if you have gameful employment and work is good, that new local can accept you and then you work out of that local. Not your previos one. If work picks up where you want to be and you have deposited your card, you could withdraw from the local that you deposited it in and no harm no foul. I've been fortunate enough to never having to travel but the wife has. Never transfered thought, at Schindler now. Hope this is correct, but in any event it's close.