A walk down memory lane

So about 3 years I remember walking on to my first construction site eager to learn, get my hands wet and all that good stuff. Well I got my hands blue from all the mc I pulled with another first year for about 3 months or so with no idea of the big picture. Than after that we processed to slam every fixture into the grid while an older mechanic pointed where he wanted them and spray painted these green dots. I'm sure these sound like bitter memories and I'm not going lie back than I was a little exasperated by the monotony. But I didn't realize until this week it's been about 2 years since I've been in that same type of work setting and it's like having a completely different job. I remember my foreman would talk to my mechanic, they'd look at some prints and than he'd come back in and point some more. Today my foreman just brought me to a room set out the prints and said take care of the power and the lighting. Honestly it's not very hard of a task and at this point in the game it shouldn't be a problem. But as I worked in that room alone and laid out the device, ran that mc, wired everything and even had time to give my foreman a little grief for pulling some extra wire I couldn't help but to feel a sense of accomplishment.

Past few months

Over the past few months I've been back and forth between several different jobs and several different mechanics. Bouncing around is cool sometimes because usually if you finish a job close to quitting time you get off early and it's usually a lot more laid back. Now on the other hand it sucks having to lug all your tools around especially when I'm in the mood to ride my motorcycle into work. I'm pretty familiar now with most of the foreman and mechanics at my company so usually work goes smooth, it's nice when your familiar with the way someone works and can trust each others work. Occasionally I get that one that feels it necessary to watch me closely and baby me through everything but I guess some have a different feeling out process than others. Once i get a good feel for the whole job I usually try to stray away from my foreman and just do what I feel needs to be done. I've gotten myself in a little trouble that way a few times but most of the time it leads to good things. There's nothing like hearing mechanics are requesting to work with you.

So in a few months I'll be going into my 4th year into the apprenticeship. I think my skills are progressing nicely, but I always wonder what the next company is going to expect of me. I really want to get a little more switchgear experience under my belt. Not to say that it's one of the harder things than anything else, but it I've yet to be part of a complete gear install and it's a pretty common thing in the trade. It might be a little premature to start thinking about my transfer already but the way I see it I only have a few more months to get comfortable with the things that might make me look like a superstar with my next company and get me on the more talented work, or look like a newbie and end up doing the grunt work.