What Are the Benefits of Being an Electrician?
Although electricians aren't required to earn college degrees before practicing their craft, apprenticeships serve a similar purpose. Years of classroom study, coupled with hands-on training under the tutelage of journeyman electricians, provides electricians with solid foundations for lifelong careers. Competition is keen for electrical apprenticeship slots, and for good reason. Electricians' salaries can approach or even surpass those of many occupations that require college degrees, and the historical need for electricians provides peace of mind through consistent job security.
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Pay
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Depending on an electrician's years of experience, his employer and his own competence, wages for an electrician are relatively high. Self-employed electricians can expect to make even higher wages than those who work for companies or contractors. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, electricians enjoy a national median salary of nearly $51,000, with an hourly mean wage of about $24.50. Depending on the industry, electricians can make $75,000 a year, not counting overtime pay. Again, depending on employer factors, electricians also enjoy good benefits, such as health care, sick and vacation time, and generous pensions. Pay level also is mostly in the hands of each individual electrician, with increased licensing levels assuring higher pay.
Lifetime Satisfaction
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Knowing a skilled trade provides benefits beyond a steady salary. Most people would no sooner remove their own impacted tooth as they would install a new circuit breaker or rewire a house. People respect the skills that an electrician has, and that he provides to society. In addition, electricians can earn extra income by doing freelance work on the side --- from wiring a house for audio and video systems, to installing lighting and power to a garage. Just like hair stylists and auto mechanics provide specialty services and often make extra money with side jobs, so, too, do electricians. And most electricians, once they've established themselves in their careers, stick with it for their entire lives.
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Stimulation
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Being an electrician offers physical and mental challenges on a daily basis. Tackling a job often requires mental acuity and physical dexterity, and self-employed electricians enjoy the additional benefits of owning their own businesses --- with all the attendant challenges. Unlike many professions, electricians usually have the satisfaction of seeing a job through from beginning to end.
Variety
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Not only do electricians move from job site to job site, they also experience variety within the duties they perform everyday. Depending on an electrician's skill level, she may supply cables for traffic lights one day and rewire an amphitheater for sound the next day. Housing, commercial, industrial and other environments all are possible work atmospheres.
Job Security
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Although electricians who are totally dependent upon the construction or housing industries may experience periodic unemployment, most electricians are fairly immune to recessions or other economic downturns. BLS predicts that job growth for electricians will be at least as good as for the rest of the national workforce, with prospects best for electricians who have high-tech and new-tech knowledge and skills. Electricians also can dictate their own worth to a great degree by performing their own "continuing education" programs, updating their knowledge of new systems and techniques and keeping abreast of industry trends.
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References
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