First year apprentice

[Commy_ute]

As a first year apprentice will you really just be sweeping floors and making coffee

[IBLOWN]

Are you McSerious?

[Rufys]

I thought school holidays were over...

[the_boozer]

youll be sweeping at times. You wont be making much coffee ,if they ask you the special mix with a tea bag in it also will stop that.
I once slipped this arsehole a coffee with laxettes in it (I ended up punching him up a year or so later).

[vicarious]

As a first year apprentice will you really just be sweeping floors and making coffee

nope, you will be getting left handed screwdrivers and striped paint

[one_and_only2004]

My first year apprentice does everything a qualified person does - just slower and instructed more. He vacuums after we're done but neither of us drink coffee so he makes my cordial up instead.

[Sabby]

i jus turned into a qualified chippy myself
from having 4 different bosses i can see how the future of building is getting dodgy

first year apprentices that sweep floors and labour for 1 year, loose 1 year of training
how to fix it? find a new boss

1st year apprentice are suppose to make mistakes and then learn from them, if the boss doesnt teach them nothng then they get signed off, how do they no how to do a job properly that wont fall down in 5 years

jus thought ide put it out there coz seems like every year that goes by, more and more dodgy things are going on

[03vyssute]

In my first year (as a sparky) i was taught something, then did it over and over untill i was comfortable with it, then taught something else and so on. If you don't expect to walk in and own the place then you will be fine with the work they give you. If you wait an apprenticeship out the rewards will come, so stick with it!!!

[Drawnnite]

first year sparky -> learn how to cable tie.
learn how to sweep floor.
go on lunch runs etc
pack up all the tools and lock everything up at end of day.

but thats what everyone says it should be.. or how it is.
it doesnt mean it is like that.
you will do alot of that. but its expected. your the bottom of the food chain!!!!!
eventually youll get to work your way up and so forth.

while i was a 1st year sparky i worked on switchboards that are worth more then your house =P
because after showing some skill and logical productivity and smarts they could trust me to not stuff up.

the 1st 2 days at work all i did was clean and resort gangboxes.
did i care? no because i knew it would lead to better work.

you were asking about tools the other day, so i would guess you only just started.

if you atleast watch while doing these "boring" jobs youll learn a hell of alot.
youll end up picking up many tips and tricks form just watching.

so really youll get out what you put in.
take the good witht he bad. and youll be fine


make sure you pick up 10L of rotor wash. and 100m of flightline before you start.
it will help you a hell of alot with your work

[njmartin]

all depends on the trade really as too what youll be doing?
im a 2nd year chippy myself, all through my first year i was doing all the same shit as everyone else, just a bit slower
now half way through my second year im gettin hooked up with a trailer and starting too run my own jobs
but i have 2 first year bitches underneath me, to do as i say and too learn off me

[one_and_only2004]

all depends on the trade really as too what youll be doing?
im a 2nd year chippy myself, all through my first year i was doing all the same shit as everyone else, just a bit slower
now half way through my second year im gettin hooked up with a trailer and starting too run my own jobs
but i have 2 first year bitches underneath me, to do as i say and too learn off me

I really don't support things like this. No 2nd year should be running their own jobs telling other apprentices how to do things when they're just learning themselves.

[elmaso]

A lot of tradies are tight arse sleazy pricks, that's why I'm not doing an apprenticeship, every site I was on was me doing all the hard work and my boss not paying me.

[Drawnnite]

isnt it illegal not to have a fully qual person on site with you?

i know at my company there is always qual guys.
but i remember reading or hearing something that your not ment to be on your own.

eg if there is only 1 qual guy on my site (which doesnt happen but yeah...)
and he doesnt show up.
all us apps from that site have to go into the head office.

[one_and_only2004]

isnt it illegal not to have a fully qual person on site with you?

i know at my company there is always qual guys.
but i remember reading or hearing something that your not ment to be on your own.

eg if there is only 1 qual guy on my site (which doesnt happen but yeah...)
and he doesnt show up.
all us apps from that site have to go into the head office.

We managed to get an answer out of the apprentice board in NSW, and apparently apprentice electricians can do anything they want (install power points, lights etc), but they are not allowed to commission work or connect it up to supply.
I let my apprentice change stove controllers, light bulbs and power points by himself - but he's with me the rest of the time.

[Pickle']

An apprenticeship will be what you make it, show no motivation and a boss will let you sweep the floor for $6 an hour. Show them you want to learn THEY WILL TEACH YOU. The thing people don't understand it to train an apprentice it takes time, the tradies still need to get the same amount of work (if not more), if the apprentice is not willing to learn then you are wasting your time (money). Show you want to work and you will go far.

I really don't support things like this. No 2nd year should be running their own jobs telling other apprentices how to do things when they're just learning themselves.

I completely agree, i believe a second year should be able to, but should not work without supervision. Tradies should be around for support, atleast until mid third year.

[Potta9]

Ask heaps of questions no matter how stupid they may sound. A good tradesman will always be happy to help and answer any of your questions . After a couple of months you will probably get into a bit of a routine and figure out who will teach you and who will just make you pass them spanners. So keep your head down and work hard.

[Mbro]

as a first year panel beater i was replacing back panels and quarters.

admittedly i was always the one to sweep up at the end of the day but thats nto all i did....

[Sabbath']

Things i did as a first year:

(Workshop was approx 50m long)
Sweep workshop
Mop Workshop
Get Milk for Kitchen
Change Hand Towels in Bathrooms
Come in early to open up
Change soap in the bathrooms
Lunch runs
Clean oil room
Rearrange tool room
Empty all the bins in the workshop
etc
etc


First year's alot of shit work, and hey. I was still emptying bins in my 4th year.

[HAZZA-VN]

I did a traineeship as a suspension tech/ aligner as its all called same shit. But i wasn't aloud to touch a car for about 3 months then the guy training me went on leave and they brought in someone else to see how i was doing and i had no real confidents to begin with its sucks if you just get shown stuff but never given the chance to work it out yourself..
Funny going to trade school for a course all the blokes there were telling the ""Teacher he was doing shit wrong and had no idea"" ended up in a big argument

[njmartin]

I really don't support things like this. No 2nd year should be running their own jobs telling other apprentices how to do things when they're just learning themselves.

just beltin up house frames mate.
i have 1 week of trade school left which after that i will have my certificate 3 anyway, just not my on the job training, which these days its all competency based anyway, if your boss thinks your capable and youve done your schooling, you can be signed off.
all very basic work anyway, once you know the basics its very easy.
ive been working unaided for about 6 months, but now my boss just wants to make more money off me.
not complaining as i also earn more

[strgas]

always show interest in the job no matter what it is , give it your best and dont just half ass it or you'll end up doing it all over again , if unsure ask all the questions you need too , there's never a dumb question , pay close attention to instruction by " qualified " staff , be reliable and trustworthy this will get you ahead of other apprentices and the respect of fellow staff , look learn and listen was advice from my foreman years ago when i was starting in the motor trade.

[Jonnii]

Ive been pretty lucky with my apprenticeship (cabinet maker) being at a bigger place they cant afford to be paying an apprentice to do nothing so from day one i was on panel saws and making things. Ive come a long way already (almost 4th year) because i showed interest and wanted to learn everything i could i got the respect and am now treated like a tradesman. So it depends on your boss and mostly your own attitude to working.

[Garth]

wow, different rules for different trades/employers.

my first year,
day 1. labled all his tools, and learnt how to maintain his gear
day 2. straight into it, pulling in cables with other tradesmen
day 3. cable tieing in the cables he pulled in on day 2
day 4 re-doing his cable tying cuase he made a royal effort of it.
day 5. watching the tradesmen fit them into rcds/cbs/contactors and what ever else.

to this day, my little first year apprentice has never once gotten me lunch (unless he was going there for his own lunch also) he has never made me coffee, or swept up after me.
he now is a tradesmen and has a first year of his own. and much to my joy he rang me up and told me what he had the young fella doing with him, day 1 labling all his tools, and learning how to use them. i was so chuffed.

my first day as a apprentice i spend putting velcro on fibre cable. so not all employers are the same, they are different, should you be treated any other way than in a way that guides you and helps you learn, then you should leave.

p.s on a side note, in qld, it is against the law for a 1st, 2nd or 3rd year to be left alone on site without some form of supervision. that is the electrical industry by the way. and if i was on a site being run by a apprentice chippy i would down tools and put them into the relevent authority. aprentices are there to learn, not run jobs and make mistakes for others.

[hi_ryder]

i learned one thing from my aprenticeship.... a greek's wallet is tighter than a jew's....

[Ed]

isnt it illegal not to have a fully qual person on site with you?

i know at my company there is always qual guys.
but i remember reading or hearing something that your not ment to be on your own.

eg if there is only 1 qual guy on my site (which doesnt happen but yeah...)
and he doesnt show up.
all us apps from that site have to go into the head office.

Correct, any apprentice must have a qualified or supervisor with them on sites, it definitely doesn't occur as im almost 2nd year and the boss leaves me doing work by myself at least 2-3 days a week, Generally it is basic work that we are both confident i can do easily... yet it is illegal haha