Chapter One: Introduction

CHAPTER ONE:

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to this audio course on preparing to pass the Journeyman Electrical Licensing examination! I will guide you through the course material.

If you’ve decided to take this exam, you’re likely already an electrician in training with some degree of experience. At this stage, you want to gain your license. Perhaps you’re earlier on in your apprenticeship and you want to get ahead. Either way, I would like to congratulate you for pursuing such a potentially rewarding career path.

Journeyman status indicates that you have completed a four to five year apprenticeship and you’re recognized as being competent in the electrician trade. After a number of years’ experience with Journeyman status, you can take the Master electrician’s exam. Passing this exam shows that you have a high level of competence and experience in your field. Master Electricians can earn a salary of more than one hundred thousand US dollars per year. Part of a Master Electrician’s role can even include supervising and mentoring other electricians and overseeing projects.

The Journeyman electrical exam is based on the content of the NEC: the National Electrical Code. The requirements to obtain this license vary by state. Each state has its own licensing board and sometimes, requirements are specific even to certain regions or cities. However, most of the knowledge you need is based on the NEC. I’ll talk more about these requirements later in the course.

Other information you need to know is based on the NESC: The National Electrical Safety Code. The IEEE, or Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, develops the NESC.

Let’s explore a bit more about the opportunities that a Journeyman license can afford you. First of all, electricians are never going to have any trouble finding work. The demand for electricians is ever increasing and the job options are diverse. To begin with,

you can be a residential electrician, working mostly in people’s homes. Similarly, you could be a low voltage electrician. Low voltage electricians work with a broader range of electrical systems. They only work with low voltage systems, as the name suggests, and these systems are usually up to forty nine volts. As a low voltage electrician, you may have the opportunity to work with fiber optics and other types of computer networks.

After you have some experience as an electrician, you may decide to become a commercial or industrial electrician. Commercial electricians work in a range of environments, including hospitals. Industrial electricians have the opportunity to work in government facilities and even power plants. Their roles include working with high voltage systems and industrial systems that require large amounts of electricity.

If that’s piqued your interest, there’s even more good news. The average salary of an electrician in the United States is fifty five thousand, five hundred and ninety dollars. And that’s just the average. Electricians with earnings in the top ten percent have an average salary of eighty eight thousand, one hundred and thirty dollars. These figures are based on a twenty fifteen survey by the Department of Labor.

As an independent contractor, you could earn even more. And remember, if you eventually go for the Master Electrician license, that could take you into six figures.

As an electrician, your services are indispensable. Electricity is the foundation of modern society. We rely on having functioning electrical systems for so many crucial purposes. Just think; as a commercial electrician working for a hospital, you are, in fact, helping to save lives. So, once again, I’d like to congratulate you on your commendable decision to pursue a career in this field.

This course will help you to prepare for the exam itself. I'll tell you more about it in the next chapter. You will also learn about the actual licensing process.

Right now, I want to give you an overview of this course. I will tell you about the content and what you can expect as we go through the material together. Thank you, again, for your interest in this course.