industrial electrican or millwright?
 

having a hard time decide what i want to do, please guide me...

pros/cons for both?

millwright. You have a base of most trades so if you dont like your job you can go onto something else.

Electrician. Lots of computer work, conveyor systems, etc.

I have a pair of friends, conveniently they're also brothers, who are both an industrial electrician and a millwright. I don't have a lot of knowledge about each field, but I'll share what I do know.

Industrial Electrician: Depending on who you work for, you may be used as a catch-all person (doing everything from grunt work of hauling equipment to and from different sites) or you may end up being just a specialized unit (doing, say, only mounting T5HO units 40' in the air). My buddy does pretty much everything in the company, so one day he'll be setting up a laser trip system in a logging mill and the next he'll be crawling over a giant smelting vat in order to run a bunch of 0 gauge wiring for a new generator. There's a lot of heavy lifting involved, and you'd better not be afraid of heights.

Millwright: You're basically a jack-of-all-trades. You need to know everything from basic electrical to welding to having some sort of ability to come up with new ideas on the spot in order to fix something. Millwrights tend to be the general purpose repairman on most industrial sites, so your daily work load will likely vary greatly.

The plus side is that both trades are Red Seal recognized, so should you plan to travel and work at the same time, you shouldn't have too hard of a time finding a job. Personally I think if you're looking to eventually work for yourself, becoming an electrician is probably the better bet... however, if you become a millwright, your knowledge base will much that much wider and you should be more easily employable should you decide to focus on one specific trade.

anyone take millright level 2,3,4 at bcit and kwantlen, just want to know whats a better school? Also how is the math for level 2,3,4?

School doesn't matter, experience is the real teacher. A good journeyman is priceless to learn from. Learn how to spell the job you want to do too. Helps on resumes.

I was thinking of going to school for Millwright my self next year as well

***update***

so i went and decided to go with electrician

back story: im involved in the step program that helps set people up with trade skills/connections, gives free funding for education and tools for whatever field you fancy

anyways, they helped me get started and ive been working with this one company but theres been so many downtime. loads of days offs. its been almost 2 months now that theres been no work for me. to be fair, boss told me to do something else if there is something else...

ive faxed my resumes off to other nearby electrical places but no response

my case manager whom told me that there arent any entry level electrical places that he knows of atm, offered me other trade jobs and ive accepted but he hasnt even replied back to me and its been a week...

i viewed BC Electrician Apprenticeships, Electrician Courses | Electric Joint Training Committee but i do not meet the requirements.

i would need to upgrade, however i do not have money for schooling and i do not have time as im low on cash; (not even sure if i can pay for car insurance when its up). my moms been supporting my freeloading ass and i want to repay her and i thought it would smooth sailing if i took up a trade

anyways, i really want to get more experience in the electrical field, but if theres no other option for me i'll have to go through all the blue collar phases of finding and bsing my way through interviews and saying this and that just for a job and i really dont want to do that

guess what im asking for is if theres hope?? need some guidance please

What electrical field are you doing? Residential or industrial?

im trying to go for industrial long term.

but it doesnt matter what field im in as i'll eventually have to do everything

Lol I was going to post the millwright vs elec. video. That is so funny.

I personally went with Millwrighting but never finished my apprenticeship and switched to engineering. I now work up north with millwrights, pipefitters and welders. I still believe millwrights have the coolest job. Especially if you like cars, millwrighting is awesome.

I asked a couple of my friends who work in the industrial side and unfortunately they just finished hiring new guys for the summer. Sorry, I tried.

Just keep applying for places. Even some bigger unrelated companies (ie: wood mills, some fabrication places, etc) will hire an apprentice to help out their on-staff electrician/millwright. Always worth a shot; worst they can say is no.

thank you, and will do