How To Become An Electrician In 2025

ZenTrades

How To Become An Electrician In 2025: A Complete Guide

ZenElectrical
October 15, 2024
9 Min Read

A career in the electrical trade is not child’s play and definitely not for the faint-hearted. Being an electrician takes dedicated time, patience, discipline, and hard work. Those who can keep upskilling themselves and staying updated with the electrical codes and safety regulations stand longer in the face of complexity and challenges.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were 762,600 job opportunities in 2022, with an average growth rate of 6%. However, despite the challenges, the role brings adequate satisfaction and opens up lucrative job opportunities, making it a robust career path.

A career path as a licensed electrician comes in levels based on your experience, knowledge, and expertise. First, you must prove yourself as an apprentice electrician, and then you must pass your test as a journeyman electrician. It’s only after that that you can reach the ultimate stage of electrical expertise as a master electrician. Furthermore, you can gain enough experience and expertise to get yourself the electrical contractor license to have a business of your own and start earning in six-figure digits.

In this blog, we will explore how you can become a licensed electrician from scratch and turn your job into a promising career with remunerative benefits. We will also guide you on how to polish yourself better with more electrical experience and earn more jobs.

How To Get Started?

Delving into a career in electrical work and electrical systems can be dangerous and fatal if you don’t know what you are doing. Consequently, extensive training and classes are imperative starting points for preparing yourself for what lies ahead.

As the journey is long, you should know what you are getting into. Otherwise, the time invested will go down the drain, and you might have to start all over again in a new field.

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General Requirements

If we talk about the basics, first of all, you will need a high school diploma or GED equivalent. This also ensures that you are 18 years old and eligible to start your career as an electrician and get your licensure. Proficiency in math, English, and science subjects can help you a great deal with acing your license tests and examinations.

Secondly, you are also expected to have your driving license to showcase that you have reliable transportation that helps you do your job with diligence.

Last but not least, in some states, its mandatory to pass a drug test to make sure that you’re a responsible citizen who will abide by the laws and conduct any repair or maintenance electrical work safely and responsibly.

Becoming A Licensed Electrician

Most states require electricians to pass a test and get a license to practice. You necessarily don’t need to enroll in a community college or have a college degree to be a licensed electrician. All you need is proper and extensive electrician training to level up in this field and showcase your expertise in the practical world with real-life experiences.

To get started, you need to glide through the apprentice phase first.

Preparing To Be An Apprentice Electrician

If you want to start your career in electricals, you need first to gain experience as an apprentice in the field. Gaining solid skills in the field with hands-on training in practical areas can help you boost the initial years of your career.

Working as an apprentice electrician signifies that you will be mostly shadowing a senior electrician (journeyman or master) in the field while attending classroom instruction, which is a necessity for jumping to the next level: journeyman electrician.

The electrician apprenticeship program lasts four to five years, with around 800 classroom training hours and 8,000 hours of on-field experience guided by a journeyman electrician or a master electrician. Upon completion, you will be eligible to sit for the journeyman electrician examination, followed by getting a journeyman electrician license that you can use to take on more jobs as an intermediate-level electrician.

Trade School or Apprenticeship Programs? Choosing the best option for you.

To work as an apprentice electrician, you need to enroll yourself in apprenticeship programs or attend trade schools, which are requirements for the position. Enrolling in a technical school might be easier than getting into an electrician apprenticeship program, such as the one offered by the International Brotherhood Of Electrical Workers (IBEW). They also entail pre-apprenticeship programs designed to help individuals understand their future jobs and decide on the right career path.

Getting into IBEW apprenticeship programs can be difficult as it is a renowned institution with limited availability of seats. Hence, you always have the chance to get yourself trained at a trade school.

Apprentice Electrician To Journeyman Electrician

Taking the journeyman electrician examination requires you to be thorough with various complex and crucial topics, such as electrical wiring, electrical systems, electrical theory, and most importantly, the national electrical code. You should have valid experience working on electrical projects and a thorough knowledge of safety protocols.

Transcending to a journeyman electrician means you will now be working on more complex projects and preparing yourself all along to aim for the master electrician level. A journeyman license allows you to take on projects and work independently. However, there may be certain situations where you might need to shadow or work with master electricians to get some further on-the-job training.

To become an electrician, it’s imperative to always be on the go and take as much knowledge as you can to broaden your experience level. The best way is to work on more complex projects that will give you deeper insights into the challenges that lie ahead for a senior technician.

Subsequent to working as a journeyman electrician for the required years, which is a minimum of one year amounting to 4000 hours of additional work, you are eligible to sit for the master electrician license exam.

The Final Step: Master Electrician License

Getting a master’s electrician license is the last step to prove your proficiency in this field. Being a master electrician means you are proficient at not just interpreting but also creating blueprints, which is the case for a journeyman electrician (blueprint reading).

At this advanced level, you are the master of your own. You don’t need to shadow anybody or need any kind of supervision. In fact, your job role will include providing adequate training to other electricians, such as apprentice or journeyman electrical workers.

Building A Successful Career In The Electrical Trade

With hard work and patience, getting better at the electrical trade business and any other trades is feasible. It’s right that the highest level of certification is achieved by obtaining your master electrician certificate.

But your growth doesn’t end there!

There are actually a lot of scopes for doing more with your career and, in turn, increasing your revenue to a great extent.

With your master electrician certification, you definitely do have the freedom to work independently and have your own team for projects.

But here’s a better alternative—you can also work with electrical contractors, gaining experience and building skills to enhance your expertise. Maybe then, you will be confident enough to have your own electrical trade service business someday.

Note: You do need to get an electrical contractor license to have your own electrical service business.

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Remember!

Always remember that maintaining and tracking your license’s expiration date is vital to ensuring that you are never penalized for violating local regulations.

Continuing education courses can help you maintain your electrical license and stay compliant with the rulebook’s non-negotiable parameters.

Furthermore, you must stay up-to-date with every change in the National Electrical Codebook (NEC).

In Conclusion

Being part of the electrical trade business, be it as an electrical contractor or a qualified electrician, can not only help you reach your goals but also provide lucrative pay. In this field, the more hands-on experience, the speedier you can jump through the level and reach your career goals. Catering to licensing requirements is imperative. Otherwise, it can get challenging to establish yourself as a qualified electrician and find job sites that have something suitable for you.

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