Career

challenging.

Apprentices work five days a week, 40 hours a week and go to class two nights a week for five years before they graduate and become journeymen.

In addition to the grueling nature of working and going to school is the demands of the job itself.

“Our guys, they work in the heat, they work in the cold,” Adams said. “You have to understand when you’re at work and it starts raining and they hand out raincoats, they don’t send anybody home.”

Even after the program is completed, these electricians continue to learn.

“You get to work with hundreds of different people and you get to learn from a lot of different people, whether it’s other electricians you work for, you’re working for different employers and even the other trades,” Adams, a 32-year IBEW electrician, said. “You’re working around all these guys so you’re learning a lot about the construction industry.”

And one thing, Ries said, is he’s found fellow IBEW members to be helpful on the job too.

“I didn’t think everybody would be as friendly,” he said. “They go out of their way to make sure you know what you’re doing on the job. Sometimes, you work on things you haven’t done before and guys are making sure you know what you’re doing, explaining it to you. They’ll stop what they’re doing to make sure you’re not just doing what they told you but that you understand why and how it works.”

Garvey said that’s one of the parts he enjoys about the job – how everybody gets along.

“I work with 50 of my buddies every day,” the Brookhaven resident said. “I enjoy going to work. I like my job, 12 years later.”

Adams confirmed they will help each other out and they have tutors for those having difficulty with the material but the apprentices have to do the work.

“We don’t cut anybody loose who we think is making the effort,” Adams said. “(But,) we don’t push anybody through by the same token.”

Garvey said going through the program was a decision he’s glad he made.

“I was an 18-year-old kid that didn’t really know what I was doing tomorrow,” he said. “I had scholarship offers and colleges I could go to. I said to my dad last minute, I said, ‘I don’t know what I want to do.’ He laughed (and said,) ‘Welcome to adulthood.’” So, he decided to try the IBEW. “When I was 23-years-old, I bought my first house, on my own,” Garvey said. “My dad’s sitting back like, ‘I could’ve never dreamed of this.’” He understood the awe. “I don’t have a cent of debt,” Garvey said. “To be able to go to school for five years and graduate with no debt? Everything’s covered through the union and that’s the most beautiful thing right there. I got selected (for the program and) it’s just been opportunity after opportunity ever since.”