I’m becoming an electrician

[Mada_]

I’m 24 and starting an industrial electrical apprenticeship. I get paid to learn an incredibly sought after trade and grow my cognitive ability as mathematics is essential for this job. I’m excited to use my maths brain again and might be able to tackle Gödel Escher Bach finally haha
 

I was pursuing music for a little while, even met some incredibly successful people who gave me inside information into the industry. And I realised I don’t want to make short form content, ever. I want to bin my iPhone actually as soon as my work allows for it haha. 
I want to do my time, get incredibly skilled at this blue collar skill.

 

My passion for music remains, as does my nascent joy of tinkering. I’m getting visions of using my time off to invent new instruments with therapeutic application, to create one of a kind synthesisers using foraged materials, repurposing discarded amplifiers etc. Eventually I see myself leaving the industrial/manufacturing sector, only working in renewable energy. Having my own property and workshop where I can use my skills creatively and with full integrity. I also have informal qualification in permaculture so want to live close to nature and semi off-grid. 

Admittedly I am conforming. I worry about the economy, I worry about never having property, I worry about being in a career that is replaced by AI (electrical/instrumentation will be one of the last professions to be replaced). On the flip side, I’ve spent my early adulthood starting projects that I keep quitting. I have an excellent understanding of business development and have dabbled in each area (lead gen, marketing, sales, ad building etc), and I hate it, I hate selling shit that isn’t worth selling, I hate these bullshit artist jobs where I am inflating people’s emotions, I feel like I can’t see straight after a days work. I feel like if I go full steam on art and work odd jobs there is a genuine chance I’m going to fail financially, which jeopardises my other ambitions (health, spiritual, owning property etc.), if I go full ball on business I’ve gotta go full steam and jeopardise my creative ambitions. I’ve had a go, I’m not special, I’m not amazingly talented, and it’s time for me to go back to school haha. This doesn’t exclude me from my ambition and passion for life, I’m humbled by the enormous organisational and effort it takes to go 100% your own way, and have enormous respect for Leo and all of you that are choosing this path. 
 

As soon as I start work I’m enrolling in one of Peter Ralston’s courses to keep myself growing whilst I work for the man. By the time I’m 28-29 I’ll have a skill that I can work 6 months of the year with for excellent pay if I want to, or charge a high rate for contracting. Then I can use the rest of the year to grow, create etc. I’ve got my own music/creative computing projects to keep busy with along the way. 

[Natasha Tori Maru]

@Mada_ Wow, yeah. Ok. HELL YEAH

Do it. I work in construction - so we subcontract out to the services trades.

You can pursue consciousness work and creativity while also doing a trade. In fact - if you grasp the right insights into the material reality of what you are doing correctly, you will find overlap with electrical manual work, creativity and truth. In the field you will always have plans issued from consultants, but there are many ways to creatively find solutions given constraints. Many ways to skin a cat, is the saying

I would highly recommend aiming for commercial work. Domestic work is fraught with shitfights and clients withholding pay. They have you by the balls. Commercial can be slow to pay - but they always cough up. Even better if you can get your foot in the door with state/federal work. 

Most of what you learn will be A/C I suspect. DC definitely for data - but you probably have a good grasp of DC already if you are musical. You sort of have to with any electric work + music. Custom pedals for guitars, amps etc. I've repaired a few! 

I used to work in an electronics store, so I love all electrical stuff within my work. I've even designed some performance solutions for hospitals based on what I have picked up (obviously consultants and BS pass this, but it was my design and proposal).

Good luck with the Ralston course. I am green with envy!

Edited July 23 by Natasha Tori Maru

[Mada_]

1 hour ago, Natasha Tori Maru said:

@Mada_ Wow, yeah. Ok. HELL YEAH

Do it. I work in construction - so we subcontract out to the services trades.

You can pursue consciousness work and creativity while also doing a trade. In fact - if you grasp the right insights into the material reality of what you are doing correctly, you will find overlap with electrical manual work, creativity and truth. In the field you will always have plans issued from consultants, but there are many ways to creatively find solutions given constraints. Many ways to skin a cat, is the saying

I would highly recommend aiming for commercial work. Domestic work is fraught with shitfights and clients withholding pay. They have you by the balls. Commercial can be slow to pay - but they always cough up. Even better if you can get your foot in the door with state/federal work. 

Most of what you learn will be A/C I suspect. DC definitely for data - but you probably have a good grasp of DC already if you are musical. You sort of have to with any electric work + music. Custom pedals for guitars, amps etc. I've repaired a few! 

I used to work in an electronics store, so I love all electrical stuff within my work. I've even designed some performance solutions for hospitals based on what I have picked up (obviously consultants and BS pass this, but it was my design and proposal).

Good luck with the Ralston course. I am green with envy!

Shit fight… You sound Aussie haha

Appreciate your response, avoiding domestic like the plague. Have met some bad apples already for whom safety is a bottom priority.  
 

 

[Natasha Tori Maru]

28 minutes ago, Mada_ said:

Shit fight… You sound Aussie haha

Appreciate your response, avoiding domestic like the plague. Have met some bad apples already for whom safety is a bottom priority.  

I feel attacked.... yep aussie >.<

My advice is: trust your gut and don't be afraid to push back. Supers, project managers and even clients will push you to ignore safety to meet a deadline. It happens every day. The building industry is corrupt on many levels - flouting safety is common. And sad. 

[MarkKol]

Doesn’t it take like 4 years to get cert III in Australia? You’re willing so go through it? 

I looked into it too months ago, but for HVAC.

Believe it or not in some US states you don’t even need a license, whereas AU and Ireland require 4 years of apprenticeship.

Edited July 24 by MarkKol

[Elton]

@Mada_ can you share the link of the course?

[Natasha Tori Maru]

@MarkKol Diploma - and yeah takes 2 years. 4 years part time.

I sorta have to go through with it

I work fulltime and part time school - because I work in the field already they make accommodations. So weekends/nights are usually class. 

I need to have my builders license to continue running this business. If my old man croaks it the whole company will fold ! That's all the carpenters, my sister and 2 brothers out of work.

[Holymoly]

Hey I’m 28yo Aussie been wanting to get into an electrical trade… are you studying at tafe or do you have an apprenticeship? It’s crazy reading this I’m a music too and want that finically stable life haha I resonate with allot of this 

[Holymoly]

Sorry sounds like you’re getting paid so it’s an apprenticeship ! Any tips on landing the apprenticeship ?

[Mada_]

On 21/8/2025 at 5:42 PM, Holymoly said:

Sorry sounds like you’re getting paid so it’s an apprenticeship ! Any tips on landing the apprenticeship ?

No luck landing apprenticeship yet, am focusing on Cert II atm and firing out applications.

R/Auselectricians is a gold mine.

It’s really hard to get into and you need to be on the pulse of the industry. You’re competing with 17 year olds who are dropping out of school, cheap labour and often already have amazing mechanical aptitude.

the formula is:

- work experience (anywhere, any niche, free or paid). Experience and use of tools is king 

- tickets (rigging is government subsidised in VIC at the moment and will give you most of the tickets you need, check the ETU website for the most important tickets you need

- Cert II/ pre-apprenticeship. Not necessarily required but when you go for industrial jobs your resume will get binned instantly by the bots if this is not listed on there 

It’s really an all in pursuit. Keep showing up to school, keep firing out applications, get on site as much as you can. Repeat, repeat, repeat until you get a foot in the door. It takes some people over a year. If you’re not willing to move states your chances get way slimmer imo 

[PenguinPablo]

It is not a bad idea to establish a secure financial / career situation.

Who knows maybe sooner rather than later obviously good opportunities will come your way and you'll be able to jump on them.

But when you're stuck surviving it's hard to do anything but frantically swim just to not drown.

I made the same decision (doing something practical) you did except a few years later. And also estimate it should take about 3-5 years to develop some serious financial freedom.

I also went down the sales and marketing rabbi-hole and burnt out (mainly from the sales stuff. A lot of emotional baggage and stress from constant quotas).

[Mada_]

3 hours ago, PenguinPablo said:

It is not a bad idea to establish a secure financial / career situation.

Who knows maybe sooner rather than later obviously good opportunities will come your way and you'll be able to jump on them.

But when you're stuck surviving it's hard to do anything but frantically swim just to not drown.

I made the same decision (doing something practical) you did except a few years later. And also estimate it should take about 3-5 years to develop some serious financial freedom.

I also went down the sales and marketing rabbi-hole and burnt out (mainly from the sales stuff. A lot of emotional baggage and stress from constant quotas).

I don’t have the stomach for sales/marketing. I started full-time quite young in this field and learned heaps of great skills. I even had my own free seminar for a little while teaching NLP-style exercises. I hate what it does to my mind, and the culture of marketing is full of putrid, status obsessed people. 

I am still very interested in business and have an excellent big picture understanding of it. I have dipped my toes in all aspects: cold sales, bookkeeping, lead generation, building ads, building funnels/landing pages. But I kept getting stuck on this moral issue of trying to build my ship as it was taking off e.g. Just run the ad, learn as you go etc. I got sick of feeling terror and anxiety of overselling my abilities, I am not comfortable selling a service when I have skill gaps, and I don’t really fit in with the majority of business culture, I gel better with blue collar workers. I want to take my apprenticeship as an opportunity to build legitimate skills, and build my marketing channels as I go. It’s just a more stable foundation that I think my psychology requires, I get paid to learn, then when I see it through I have an electrical license. Even if none of my marketing “tests” take off I am still employable at the end of it all. If I stick to a budget I can upgrade my health and gradually invest in myself as I progress. 
 

I have a gut feeling that if I continue to develop my music skills and even personal development, there’s going to be a really interesting niche that I can fulfil. But for me it’s all about consistency and sustainability. 
 

I remember in the LP course there was an example of a guy who does consulting 6 months of the year, then makes games with full integrity the other half of the year. I love this setup, and I have some friends who do this kind of split as tradies. 
 

Not to mention as a sparky I can off-grid my own home, probably build my own home with the help of a plumber. I have certifications in permaculture and am quite skilled at gardening, am passionate about quality wild meat and am in the process of obtaining my hunting license. I can improve my health whilst cutting a lot of expenses by doing some of these things