Industrial & Engineering Technology: Electrician
Industrial & Engineering Technology
Lance Kawada: Electrician
By Mike Yoshiura
If you don’t like the idea of being chained to a desk eight hours a day in a cubicle the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, you may want to consider a career in the industrial and engineering field. “I used to have a desk job with the state. It got old really fast,” says electrician Lance Kawada.
After graduating from high school, Lance attended the University of Hawai‘i to pursue a bachelor’s degree in education. After seven semesters, he burned out on the major. He didn’t have the cash to pick a new subject and reinvent himself. His situation spurred him to explore local apprenticeship programs, where he could learn skills of a tradesman and enjoy a more active, physical job.
In 2002, Lance started training with the Wireperson Apprenticeship Program offered by the Local Union 1186, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO. The program paid Lance an hourly wage while training him as an electrician.
In order to apply for the apprenticeship program, you must have a high school diploma or a General Educational Development Diploma (GED), which includes a completed high school Algebra I course.
It normally takes about five years to complete the apprenticeship program, which includes 800 hours of classroom instruction.
“The need for electricians was a significant factor in selecting this career,” Lance says. “You can find an electrician’s handy work almost anywhere you look.”
Today, Lance is a tradesman working for A-1 A-lectrician Inc. The 28-year-old is currently classified as a journeyman electrician, because he has accumulated 10,000 hours and passed the state’s licensing exam. Journeyman electricians such as Lance can earn anywhere from $80,000 to $100,000 annually.
“We get paid well, but it’s not about the money for me,” Lance says. “I chose this career because I know that my end product is going to last, and others are going to benefit from something I created.”
However, not everyone is cut out for the job. Lance often works in very tight quarters, stands on his feet for hours at a time and climbs scaffolds and ladders to get to hard-to-reach places. All of the heavy lifting, bending and squatting—plus the constant risk of working with electrical currents—takes a toll on the body.
But for Lance, the hazards of being an electrician are less scary than the alternative—office work. He advises, “Go out in the field and get your feet wet. A skilled trade may or may not be for you, but you will never know until you give it a try.”