[DnO]

Hello everyone,

Hope this is the proper place for this..

I am currently working full-time as a utility locator and wanted to change my career path. I took electrical engineering fresh out of high school but was forced to drop out seeing as my school relocated to a place I was not willing to commute (I live in Toronto and the school moved to Ottawa) With that being said I havent used my electrical exp. much since then (I am now 24) and have forgotten most of it - my knowledge can be summed up as minimal / basic (although I will most likely be refreshed once I start studying again) Long story short...

I have a house and a mortgage and want to continue to work (full time with my current company if possible) but also want to study construction electrician in the process.

Based on my situation I was looking to get some recomendations as to the best path to take - best schools as well - online perhaps?

I am sure some of you here are in my shoes or have once been and I am motivated and ready but lacking direction.

I have a few possible contacts of contractors who may be willing to train me without pay but want to do it the proper way (school and certificate, etc)

When taking online courses how does one do the hands on aspect?

Any help appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[whatever]

I'm not sure exactly what you're after, but if by "construction electrician" you mean that you want to learn electrical as a trade that you could practice on construction sites then you need to look at a recognized training program that includes an apprenticeship and leads to a provincial certificate of qualification. And then you have to ask yourself if you want to do residential or commercial. And whether you want to go union or non-union. And how committed you are exactly.

That said, I'd get in contact with someone at http://www.ibew353.org/ and take it from there. Not sure if they're taking new apprentices (most trades have put in a freeze on new hires to deal with the slowdown), but it's definitely where you want to be if you're serious about learning a trade.

 

[Tza]

You say you work as a utility locator? Q-X or Promark? If you are looking for schooling I would go through George Brown as many hydro distribution providers use them as a source of new employees through their engineering programs and usually scout people straight out of there. You can also go and try to get work with one of the many utility contractors that have alliance agreements with hydro providers. For instance:

Toronto Hydro - Powerline Plus & Entera (Somerville McDonald)
Enersource - Transpower
Powerstream - Transpower & Aecon
Veridian - Aecon
Horizon - Greely

Working for any of these companies is good experience before making the jump. Plus all of these companies do lots of different utility work and you may find something else you prefer such as gas work. Gas fitters make great money these days.

 

[kettal]

Here's a link to George Brown's apprentice guide: http://www.georgebrown.ca/Marketing/FTCal/buildtech/build-apprent.aspx

Good luck!