Rough Day in the Office

So lately at Mona things have been a little frustrating for me in the fire alarm (life safety) division. The foreman I was working with went to a new contractor so I've been bouncing around for the pass the month or so. Well being an apprentice seems to make the new people I come across doubt my ability. Now granted being only a year deep in the trade there is a world of things I will learn and a ton of space to improve, but at the same time there's only one way to learn and this isn't rocket science. The real thing that has been bothering me the most is that when I'm working with a journeyman and there's an issue completely our task in a timely manner instead of stating the reason I've pretty much been thrown under the bus by statements like "well you know Mike's only a 2nd year apprentice". That statement right there just burns me up but I digress.

So yesterday I was was feeling pretty vindicated because I had to organize some material and wasn't a part of the same team I was working with before and the same task we all were working together on the previous day took a little more than twice the time without me. I felt like I dealt a little smack to the face of the whole "well you know Mike's only a 2nd year apprentice" bs.

Well today I was feeling pretty good moving at a good pace demoing and rewiring some duct detectors. One of the journeymen happen to come across one he believed to be inaccessible because of the location. We always mess with eachother so I talked a little trash on how I would make it happen and show him how its done all that good stuff. So I flew through the one I was working on so I could get a shot at this detector and possible bring some credit to my name instead of just being known as the "help". Well it was in a pretty tough location but after moving the 2' by 2' tile while the fixture still attached I managed to get most of the work done as far as the wiring and just had to remove the detector. At this point I just had enough space for my arms but I needed to get my upper body in the ceiling as well and the fixture was getting caught ont he grid preventing the tile from moving any further. So I decided to take the cover off to make a little more room. That still wasn't enough so I noticed the screws holding up the fixture were already loose so I just took them out let the fixture hang and this gave me the space I needed. Well I managed to get the detector out and I was feeling like the man. So I began to put the fixture back and while doing so I was thinking about all the trash I was going to talk to the journeyman and just as im putting the last screw up for the plate bam the plate nicks the wire and causes a big arc than the light goes out. Boy did that suck I felt like doodoo. Luckily it was the emergency circuit we just had to cut the feed wirenut a new piece of wire down to the fixture and everything was all good but it was definitely a humbling experience.

Big Move

This week I have finally moved out of Baltimore and about 35 miles south which is a lot closer to DC and Virginia. I've been traveling on average 100 miles a day for about a year now and I'm extremely excited that I will be cutting that in half. Being an electrician we travel to a lot of different job site locations to the point it becomes second nature so I know this week I am going to feel spoiled.

Experience

Well this week I have been learning a valuable lesson. I'd have to admit doing fire alarm can be pretty boring sometimes especially as an apprentice since we're not always delegated the most complex tasks. But the past few days I've been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to have my own long pipe runs. It's just some 3/4 pipe which it feels like I've ran thousands of times before, but I've usually been making bends and assisting in the thought process but never actually just my own run start to finish. These few days have made me realize that the little things that come with experience are sometimes the hardest. It felt like I wasted lots of times just having to run back and forth to forget some material that I probably should have thought about before hand. Another thing I had to work on was my soft touch. One of my runs was on a wall with slight angle changes neck to a plumbers pipe. So I felt it would only be craftman like to match all the kicks in the plumbers pipe and have everything match up perfect with the wall. Let me tell you this took quite the soft touch and mines needed a lot of work. At the end of the day I've been accomplishing everything and my journeyman thinks my pipe work looks pretty good, so I'm happy to be gaining experience and I definitely notice my own improvement.

The pain of not studying

I know I'm going to get a good lecturing for this one but here I go. So yesterday was the usually bi-weekly class session which of course comes with the usual test. I'll admit that I don't have the best studying habits but I'm a pretty quick learner and I usually go through the lessons and make sure I understand everything before it's testing time. Well this time around I kept pushing back studying til it was the last weekend before the test, but I also happen to be going to NY to visit my family at that weekend so I figured I just bring my books along and study in my downtime. Well I did glance at the books second and than once again pushed studying back figuring that I was pretty comfortable so Monday would be enough time to touch up on my weak spots, which probably would of worked if I didn't leave my books in NY at my mother's house along with the covenanted lesson packet :-|. The test ended up being extremely nerve racking for me just because I had recall stuff I learned 2 weeks ago. I ended up with a mediocre grade which was disappointing but I definitely learned a lesson. Procrastination is never a good thing.

So far so good

So I been with my new contract about 2 weeks now and it's been pretty cool thus far. I'm in the life safety department which means I just service and upgrade preexisting fire alarm systems. Fire alarm systems and service work are definitely different from what I'm used to. The environment is a lot more relaxed and the work load seems a lot litter but the system seems a lot more complex. Sometimes I miss the big construction field since it feels like I was starting to get pretty good and comfortable with everything, but on the bright side I definitely appreciate the opportunity to learn something new. I'm hoping by next year I'll have a new talent under my belt, still retain what I've learned the year before and be able to learn some more new things.

First day with new contract

So today was my first day of work with my new contractor, and I must say it already seems like this is going to be a very different experience. The company I am with is a lot bigger than the previous one and there are some noticeable differences. And the biggest difference I must say is the subdivision. In my previous company I was working doing just about everything except fire alarm. New company what do you know look who's a new fire alarm guy. I'm used to the seeing a bunch of different guys throwing up dry wall and drilling and bending and plugging with all types of dirt flying and now I'm working in nice occupied buildings in nice clean electric closets servicing and replacing fire alarm systems walking around with no hard hat and practically having clean hands at the end of the day. It's definitely a new experience, fortunately my new foreman is real cool and I can see myself enjoying my time with this company if today dictates how my future will go, but at the same time I kind of miss the diversity and manual dexterity required for the big commercial projects.

Last week with my contractor

Well guys this first year of my apprenticeship seems to be flying by and now I'm coming to that stage where I have to transfer contractors. I'm a little nervous after getting so used to the people around me and being unsure of where I'm going to next. The company I'm going to is much larger are here there are advantages and disadvantages with that but guess I'll find out first hand in 1 short week. I'm just hoping that I can learn new things and tune the skills I've already developed. Wish me the best folks!