The REALITY of Being an Apprentice in the Pipe Trades! (Welding, HVAC, Pipefitting) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00what is it like to be an apprentice in
2. 0:02the pipe trades when I say pipe trades
3. 0:04I'm talking about pipe fitters Sprinkler
4. 0:06Fitters welders HVAC technicians all
5. 0:09these trades pertain to a certain Union
6. 0:12called the UA the United associations
7. 0:15what is it like to be an apprentice
8. 0:17within the
9. 0:18[Music]
10. 0:21UA so I came across this video on
11. 0:23YouTube life in the pipe trades with
12. 0:25real United Association apprentices
13. 0:28let's hop in to see what these
14. 0:30apprentices have to say don't know if
15. 0:32they're going to be honest about how
16. 0:34being an apprentice in the trades really
17. 0:36is or if it's just going to be like hey
18. 0:39join the UA but anyway let's hop into
19. 0:46it the job of a UA Apprentice is tough I
20. 0:49had to do what I have to do to support
21. 0:51my family definitely uh do not expect it
22. 0:54to be easy I wake up at 3:30 in the
23. 0:57morning I get my kids rest and ready I
24. 1:01have to be in the parking lot for work
25. 1:04at
26. 1:055:30 now if you don't have the will to
27. 1:08learn and to persevere and push on you I
28. 1:11wouldn't recommend
29. 1:12it yeah it's definitely a grind you
30. 1:15going to have some good days some bad
31. 1:17days don't give up don't be a quitter I
32. 1:21still sometimes think uh did I make the
33. 1:23right
34. 1:25choice well so far 45 seconds in they
35. 1:28haven't let me down yet they're actually
36. 1:30kind of speaking uh a little bit of
37. 1:32Truth which if any of you who are
38. 1:34watching this video work in the trades
39. 1:37who have gone through an apprenticeship
40. 1:39or are an apprentice right now you know
41. 1:40what I'm talking
42. 1:41about I mean I heard nothing but facts
43. 1:44if I'm being
44. 1:45[Music]
45. 1:48honest a career with the United
46. 1:50Association of Journeymen and
47. 1:51apprentices of the plumbing and pipe
48. 1:53fitting industry can be rewarding and
49. 1:55open up doors to a bright future but is
50. 1:58life in the pipe trades right for you
51. 2:00I'm easing my way into it I didn't think
52. 2:02it was going to be the way that it is it
53. 2:04definitely was different from what I
54. 2:05thought do not expect it to just come to
55. 2:09work sit around do whatever you want I
56. 2:12expected it to be tough um I'm not a
57. 2:14quitter even though there was times
58. 2:16where I actually did wanted to quit it's
59. 2:18really fast-paced um you have to you
60. 2:21know keep moving because you don't want
61. 2:23to sit down and look lazy traffic is the
62. 2:26is is even is the worst part about it
63. 2:28especially after work when you're
64. 2:30completely tired so I have to drive an
65. 2:31hour here and an hour there it's a lot
66. 2:33it's a lot of driving you still have to
67. 2:35I will say if you get into like a union
68. 2:39apprenticeship like this a lot of the
69. 2:40unions do a lot of the work in the city
70. 2:42so if you live outside of the city and
71. 2:44you want to get into the Union you
72. 2:46probably are going to have to drive like
73. 2:47for me I lived an hour away from the
74. 2:50city so I ended up having the majority
75. 2:52of you know doing that commute uh
76. 2:55probably half of my apprenticeship that
77. 2:57is something if you don't live close to
78. 2:58a city you know like 15 20 minutes away
79. 3:00you live an hour plus away there's a
80. 3:02good chance that you'll be having to
81. 3:04make that commute but you know that's a
82. 3:06little bit of a risk you're willing to
83. 3:08take or not even a risk with something
84. 3:10that you will do to become you know an
85. 3:13apprentice and build your career you
86. 3:15still have to drive two two class and
87. 3:17then back so sometimes you're getting
88. 3:18home around 10:00 I mean to get up at
89. 3:205:00 in the morning the following day
90. 3:224:00 in the morning it's it's tough you
91. 3:24know UA apprentices Begin work
92. 3:26immediately learning a longside
93. 3:28journeyman on real job sites while going
94. 3:31to classes in the evenings making a
95. 3:33livable wage while taking part in the
96. 3:355-year program yeah just anybody can be
97. 3:38apprentice and try out the
98. 3:40program but it takes a certain kind of
99. 3:42person to actually complete the
100. 3:45program the average day in the
101. 3:47construction trades begins as early as
102. 3:496:00 a.m. and can often go longer than 8
103. 3:53hours typ typically I wake up around
104. 3:573:30 every morning um some sometimes
105. 4:00three depending on traffic depending on
106. 4:02the project the work week may not be
107. 4:04limited to 5 days as to meet tight
108. 4:06project deadlines on the weekends I've
109. 4:09been working I've been getting overtime
110. 4:12I mean sometimes they want the job done
111. 4:14after hours or before hours so there was
112. 4:17times where I was getting up at like
113. 4:194:00 in the morning to make sure I made
114. 4:20it on time because the job started at 5:
115. 4:23in the
116. 4:24morning life in the construction trades
117. 4:26isn't always comfortable as you'll be
118. 4:28required to work in high places
119. 4:30confined spaces and often in the mud
120. 4:33yeah if you have phobias that's a um
121. 4:36there is there's plenty of bugs yeah I'm
122. 4:38just observing for
123. 4:40spiders and those spider bites will that
124. 4:43will get itchy if you're afraid of
125. 4:45heights uh I was actually out of the job
126. 4:48and I was on an aerial boom just about
127. 4:49every day for about a month and a half I
128. 4:51was about 80t in the air well I heard
129. 4:53about a guy who left because he was
130. 4:55scared of heights and he didn't want to
131. 4:57get on the lift so they like he quit
132. 5:00they'll be bad yeah I mean if if you're
133. 5:03kind of afraid of heights or there's a
134. 5:06lot of things that like the guy was
135. 5:07saying hopefully you don't have any
136. 5:09phobias because if you have phobias fear
137. 5:11of heights or fear of insects or fear of
138. 5:13confined spaces and things like that
139. 5:15there are some trades that you're
140. 5:16probably not going to want to get into
141. 5:18uh depending on your phobia but that is
142. 5:21very true I know people who were
143. 5:24terrified of heights but they're they're
144. 5:25linemen they just worked through that
145. 5:27fear comes down to personal decision
146. 5:29really I guess bad smells it's loud and
147. 5:33sometimes there's yelling and in a field
148. 5:36people talk all the time so you just
149. 5:38going to have to get used to the yelling
150. 5:40there it's going to be yelling and as an
151. 5:42apprentice sometimes uh you may mess up
152. 5:45that's actually a lot of what you're
153. 5:47going to do you're going to fail and
154. 5:49sometimes these guys will come out and
155. 5:51uh you know you'll get yelled at it's a
156. 5:53part of it guys are cussing guys are mad
157. 5:56it's hot outside everybody's tired they
158. 6:00want to go home well there was one day
159. 6:02that I just tired of getting yelled at
160. 6:04I'm like I want to go home I'm done use
161. 6:06common sense don't use your emotions
162. 6:08that's the biggest thing too quit using
163. 6:10your emotions on it you're at work don't
164. 6:12bring them to work just simp yeah I was
165. 6:14always told you know leave your feelings
166. 6:16at the gate so essentially before you
167. 6:18even come in the gate to work just leave
168. 6:21your feelings there you can get pretty
169. 6:23emotional you know times get kind of get
170. 6:25hard at work working the guys working
171. 6:28with different guys you know they can be
172. 6:30you know and that's the way it
173. 6:32is
174. 6:34emotions as hard as it may be try to
175. 6:37leave the emotions at home not going to
176. 6:39say that's always going to happen work
177. 6:41it's as simple as that the work doesn't
178. 6:44stop on the coldest days or the hottest
179. 6:46days often you'll be working Outdoors or
180. 6:49on construction sites without air
181. 6:51conditioning or heat my first day
182. 6:54starting it rained it poured down
183. 6:57raining and I did not come prepared with
184. 7:00a jacket or anything I didn't even look
185. 7:01at the forecast cuz I was just so
186. 7:03excited to work and I got rained on
187. 7:07really bad from that day forward soon as
188. 7:10I got off work that day I went to buy me
189. 7:11rain boost rain cold welding in the in
190. 7:14the heat that's hard uh cuz you know on
191. 7:17top of the heat you're wearing leather
192. 7:19gear could have arm pads uh thicker
193. 7:22sleeves you know your helmet has weight
194. 7:25on it so that's weighing your neck down
195. 7:27there's a lot of things going on so on
196. 7:29top of sweating from just the heat
197. 7:31outside you have uh you know molten
198. 7:34metal that you're carrying and that's
199. 7:36going to add on to it as well so yeah
200. 7:38that's a very very very valid point that
201. 7:42some people I think don't realize or
202. 7:44think about is uh working in the
203. 7:46elements most I mean most trades are
204. 7:48working in the elements as a lineman you
205. 7:50know I I quickly realized working
206. 7:53outside working at Heights you know uh
207. 7:55working long hours and in all different
208. 7:57weather elements right rain snow wind
209. 8:01Sun it doesn't really matter it's
210. 8:02something that you have to try to
211. 8:03prepare for the best you can pack like I
212. 8:06like in Washington when I worked in you
213. 8:08know in the Northwest I'd always come to
214. 8:10work with an extra pair basically an
215. 8:12extra pair of clothes socks underwear
216. 8:14pants shirt sweatshirt because if it
217. 8:16starts raining or you end up working a
218. 8:18long day and and you're soaking wet
219. 8:21because you work more the rain and your
220. 8:22rain gear got it's just like it's always
221. 8:25a good idea to have an extra set of
222. 8:26clothes so when you get done with
223. 8:28working you put a a dry set back on you
224. 8:31know those are things I quickly learned
225. 8:33and quickly realize you know like here
226. 8:35in Arizona it's 115° in the summertime
227. 8:38or you know in Texas it's hot being able
228. 8:40just to to hydrate and make sure you're
229. 8:43taking those proper steps to be more
230. 8:45prepared for the elements you deal with
231. 8:47at work that's something that you
232. 8:49definitely have to keep in mind wearing
233. 8:51proper safety gear is essential in all
234. 8:53conditions and is just as important as
235. 8:56dressing for the weather so if you think
236. 8:58you're going to come to work without a
237. 8:59hard hat on without safety glasses
238. 9:01without gloves without all that basic
239. 9:04PPE well you're not working that day and
240. 9:06you're not getting paid either
241. 9:08especially with the lifts too we have to
242. 9:09have our vest and have our harness and
243. 9:11everything on so it's not uncommon for
244. 9:13UA apprentices to take lunch breaks in
245. 9:15their cars or on the go this is your
246. 9:17lunch your lunch table this the truck 30
247. 9:20minutes does not feel like enough so
248. 9:23once I get out to the car I'm sitting
249. 9:24there just eating my sandwich or
250. 9:27whatever it is that I decide to make
251. 9:29just just relax in the car for that
252. 9:31little bit of time that I have and throw
253. 9:32my vest back on and get right back to
254. 9:34work also getting accustomed to using
255. 9:37Portable Restrooms is essential when it
256. 9:39comes to adapting to life in the
257. 9:41construction industry I think that's the
258. 9:43one the one main thing that I do not
259. 9:45like about this is uh the POR John
260. 9:48honestly for the first week I didn't go
261. 9:50to the
262. 9:51restroom I just held it till I got off
263. 9:54honestly apprentices start at the bottom
264. 9:58on the job they're asked to do tasks
265. 10:00that require the least amount of skill
266. 10:02moving materials unloading trucks it's
267. 10:05physical requiring heavy lifting
268. 10:07climbing and hours on your feet if
269. 10:09you're told to dig a
270. 10:11ditch you're going to be digging a ditch
271. 10:14I'm actually pretty surprised so far how
272. 10:16accurate they're actually talking about
273. 10:19being an apprentice in a trade most
274. 10:22times they fluff it up and make it sound
275. 10:24better than it really is but this video
276. 10:27so far they're doing a really good job
277. 10:29job of actually telling the truth and
278. 10:31being honest with how it is being an
279. 10:34apprentice for the most part and there's
280. 10:36no getting out of it I mean if you if
281. 10:38you want to get out of it you can hit
282. 10:40the road that's all there is to it was
283. 10:42one day we had to take off from
284. 10:44production of move material for the
285. 10:47roofers I'm talking big heavy headers
286. 10:51carbon steel heavy moving them from the
287. 10:53East side to the west side just carrying
288. 10:56them I had back pains for I want to say
289. 10:593 to 5 days with the pipe that we work
290. 11:02with is so heavy and then we have five
291. 11:05floors on it on this building itself so
292. 11:08we when we didn't have the buck ho we
293. 11:10have to walk up and down up and down up
294. 11:11and down today I cleaned the uh debris
295. 11:15from a chiller yeah you know for the
296. 11:17most part as a friend you're stuck doing
297. 11:19stuff like this um but I'm the type of
298. 11:22guy who you know let's just get it over
299. 11:25with uh whether you're a journeyman or
300. 11:27not I'd rather get in there and get out
301. 11:31you know I think this guy probably has
302. 11:34the easiest job he's get to drive around
303. 11:38you from jobsite to jobsite to different
304. 11:40locations and just work on HVAC systems
305. 11:44honestly I would probably pick the HVAC
306. 11:46Apprentice ship just because like I
307. 11:48don't know it seems more up my alley
308. 11:50welding's cool but like he he's
309. 11:52different locations he's working
310. 11:54different places he's driving around
311. 11:56seems a little bit more up my alley than
312. 11:58just working at one job site like
313. 12:01sprinkler fitter or pipe fitter
314. 12:03something like that but this guy's job
315. 12:06is like the easiest out of all these
316. 12:08guys jobs the work doesn't end when the
317. 12:11job site shuts down all apprentices are
318. 12:13required to attend classes at their
319. 12:15local training center of course after
320. 12:17you're taking a brutal beating at work
321. 12:20working 8 hours then you have to drive
322. 12:21to the training center at least for me
323. 12:24my home I mean come on to be honest
324. 12:26taking a brutal beating after eight
325. 12:28hours of work
326. 12:30it's not much for brutal beating I think
327. 12:32they're kind of exaggerating a little
328. 12:34bit too much on some of these things
329. 12:36where they're making it less appealing
330. 12:39which is surprising to me most of the
331. 12:41time they usually make it sound more
332. 12:42appealing than it actually is but
333. 12:44they're kind of making it sound like
334. 12:46this is Hell uh it's it's not that bad I
335. 12:50mean I went through pretty rigorous
336. 12:53apprenticeship you know a Northwest ibw
337. 12:56Union lineman apprenticeship I won't say
338. 12:58it was easy but I don't have too many
339. 13:00bad things to say about it me my home's
340. 13:03an hour almost hour and a half away I'm
341. 13:04not driving all the way home and coming
342. 13:06back so that's not an option for
343. 13:08me I don't do it every day but some days
344. 13:11like maybe near the end of the week
345. 13:13Thursday Friday is if I have class that
346. 13:15day I will definitely show up I get
347. 13:18there about 3:00 sleep till 5:00 or
348. 13:21about 4:45 get up go in the classroom
349. 13:24once I get off of work then I try to
350. 13:26make it home to shower if not I just go
351. 13:28dirty dirty and stinky and just sit in
352. 13:31class and just try to get my work done
353. 13:33try to stay awake on nights I have
354. 13:37school I have to shower and I get in bed
355. 13:40pretty late and have to be right back up
356. 13:41the next day repeated almost an hour and
357. 13:44a half away from me so I I don't get I
358. 13:46don't get to bed until about midnight in
359. 13:48addition to learning about the trade
360. 13:49you'll also study math algebra
361. 13:52everywhere you go like in a union
362. 13:53apprenticeship the classes uh the
363. 13:55in-class training it's all going to be
364. 13:57structured a little bit differently I
365. 13:59mean everywhere you go how they do it
366. 14:01here is going to be a little bit
367. 14:02different or a lot different than how
368. 14:04the UA does it somewhere else even
369. 14:06within the line of prip in the Northwest
370. 14:08we do be one uh every other Saturday for
371. 14:12six months and then other places it's
372. 14:13one week and a month for the full year
373. 14:15so it's a little bit different
374. 14:16everywhere you go but yes you can exp
375. 14:18expect to spend you know a couple
376. 14:21evenings a night a whole weekend a month
377. 14:23or every other Saturday dedicating to
378. 14:25in-class learning and this kind of stuff
379. 14:28algebra and geometry and be expected to
380. 14:30complete homework my first day soldering
381. 14:33andrais and we had some asymmetric
382. 14:35drawings and some elevation and I'm
383. 14:38looking at the board I'm like okay I
384. 14:41know I haven't graduated too long ago
385. 14:43but this looks hard physics uh chemical
386. 14:46formulas all that fun stuff apprentices
387. 14:49can also the agback guy of course it's
388. 14:51physics and chemical formulas and all
389. 14:54that kind of stuff so if you do want to
390. 14:56get an ageback I will say you know there
391. 14:59it probably is a little bit more I would
392. 15:00say yeah physics and chemistry and like
393. 15:03math because there's a lot more that
394. 15:04goes into the the heating ventilation a
395. 15:07conditioning and refrigerant systems
396. 15:09than just like welding or uh like doing
397. 15:11actual just pipe work but there's places
398. 15:14you can learn if you get like some
399. 15:15online HVAC training at HVAC roadmap.com
400. 15:17you can learn more about these different
401. 15:20systems in the math and the
402. 15:21certifications and things that are going
403. 15:23to help you if you like to you know dip
404. 15:25your toes in the water before jumping
405. 15:27straight in appren can also apply their
406. 15:30classroom learning towards an associate
407. 15:32degree of Arts or science uh I actually
408. 15:34didn't even know that these classes were
409. 15:37considered college credit through wash
410. 15:39Community College but I plan on using
411. 15:41those in the future uh that's definitely
412. 15:44a big thing for me yeah that's another
413. 15:47thing people don't realize I did make a
414. 15:48whole separate video about this about
415. 15:50the bachelor degree uh in the blue
416. 15:52collar world is going through a union
417. 15:54apprenticeship you do get uh college
418. 15:57credits that you can use toward like an
419. 15:59applied science or a construction
420. 16:00management degree of some sorts like
421. 16:02that at certain community colleges
422. 16:04whatnot so you do get college credits
423. 16:07for completing a union apprenticeship
424. 16:11which is pretty cool a lot of people
425. 16:12don't even think about that I have
426. 16:13credits I just don't I don't really see
427. 16:15myself using them towards a degree but
428. 16:17they are there if I want to use them big
429. 16:19thing for me being on time is critical
430. 16:22to class and on the job you'll be taking
431. 16:24what you learn online and in the
432. 16:26classroom and applying it daily on the
433. 16:28job s it giving you realtime
434. 16:30applications of the principles you've
435. 16:32just studied not only is this important
436. 16:34for doing the job correctly but it will
437. 16:36allow you to work safely so you and your
438. 16:39co-workers make it home in one piece at
439. 16:41the end of each day who wants to get
440. 16:43hurt you never know how bad you're going
441. 16:46to be hurt you're going to be off the
442. 16:48job construction work is not for
443. 16:51everyone but for the right people it's a
444. 16:53rewarding career with Endless
445. 16:55Possibilities there's continued
446. 16:56education the ability to advance within
447. 16:59the union or even own your own business
448. 17:02I'd say I just want to work my way up um
449. 17:04I'm thinking maybe like management or
450. 17:06you know instructor or something like
451. 17:08that so that way I can give my body a
452. 17:11rest before I retire definitely looking
453. 17:14forward to the benefits the retirement
454. 17:17401K you know the different accounts uh
455. 17:20medical Vision Dental I mean that
456. 17:22stuff's hard to come by anymore if I
457. 17:23need to go see a doctor I just see a
458. 17:25doctor I don't have to worry about you
459. 17:27know well how am I going to pay this and
460. 17:28I'm getting a every week I'm getting
461. 17:30paid so I mean my money's
462. 17:33coming you just got to keep going
463. 17:35motivate yourself if nobody motivates
464. 17:38you motivate yourself you should always
465. 17:40want to motivate yourself it is worth it
466. 17:42it is worth it and within 2 years I
467. 17:45uh 3 years and being in the in the trade
468. 17:48I've I've uh earning so much money that
469. 17:51uh we bought a brand new BR comfortable
470. 17:54new minivan we're on our path of buying
471. 17:56a new home it changes your life
472. 17:59especially if you're a woman just make
473. 18:01sure that you know what you're getting
474. 18:03into because they're going to treat you
475. 18:05like you can't but we can women can do
476. 18:08anything men can do and don't let nobody
477. 18:10ever tell you you can't if you willing
478. 18:12to come in and learn and work and you
479. 18:15have your mind set right anybody can do
480. 18:18it at the end of the day you know you're
481. 18:20going to be sore you're going to be
482. 18:22tired you're not going to want to wake
483. 18:24up you're going to want to get some more
484. 18:25sleep you know but coming to work with a
485. 18:27good attitude that's probably the
486. 18:29biggest thing the key to a great long
487. 18:33lasting career with the UA is knowing
488. 18:35what to expect hopefully this video has
489. 18:37given you a look into the realities of
490. 18:39our work and helped you decide if this
491. 18:41is the right career path for
492. 18:44you yeah so I mean honestly they did do
493. 18:47a pretty good job uh I had different
494. 18:50expectations for how they they were
495. 18:52going to depict on how the
496. 18:54apprenticeship and apprentices like
497. 18:56being in apprentices I thought they're
498. 18:57definitely going to fluff a lot more but
499. 18:59they did pretty good explain the
500. 19:01realities of it I would think so um from
501. 19:04going through a union apprenticeship and
502. 19:06being in the trade now for a while and
503. 19:08having apprentices and stuff it's they
504. 19:10did a pretty good job of explaining that
505. 19:12so hey if you want to get into a pipe
506. 19:15trade HVAC pipe fitting sprinkler
507. 19:17fitting those pipe trades check out the
508. 19:19UA unied associations I'll have a link
509. 19:22in the description if you work in the
510. 19:24pipe trades if you're an apprentice or
511. 19:26if you're a journeyman and you work and
512. 19:27you're part of the UA go down in the
513. 19:29comment section down below comment your
514. 19:31local comment your trade and uh and if
515. 19:34people have questions leave them down
516. 19:35there let's get a community going let's
517. 19:38have people helping each other out if
518. 19:40you if you have a question and and you
519. 19:42happen to be the comment section and you
520. 19:43see someone's question answer that
521. 19:45question for them just you know help
522. 19:47them out we're all Community here part
523. 19:48of the blue collar world and we're just
524. 19:50here to help each other out so hopefully
525. 19:52you guys can learn from this video what
526. 19:54the UA is and what the realities of
527. 19:56being an apprentice in the pipe trades
528. 19:57is really l the bluec edu I'm here to
529. 20:00expose teach and educate you guys about
530. 20:02bluec GRE opportunities and how to get
531. 20:04started with that being said I'll catch
532. 20:06you on the next one
533. 20:11[Music]