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.