Thinking outloud a little....Call it a 5year plan.

[mommy4ever]

As I am helping my eldest start his career path, I find myself wanting a change.

I don't plan on working out of the home until the youngest is in at least 6th grade, but preferably 7th. I'm currently homeschooling, but plan to have them return to school. She is currently going into 3rd...so we're looking at 3-5 years before I want to do the change.

I'm looking at trades. Electrician would be where I land, due to size, I can't do seriously heavy lifting. But I am interested in sprinkler systems as well, should the schooling for it be local.

We have an organization here, that helps get women some basic training so that they can enter the trades as an apprentice. They have a 95% success rate finding placement with their students. This is the path I'd take, I just spoke to the program and most people get full funding for the course through the apprenticeship board, plus you get a monthly stipend to offset some of the living expenses, aka...no student loans.

First year electricians earn 60% of Journeyman wages, approx 40k+/year depending on the company. That alone would be a 25-30K raise from what I'm earning! plus benefits. After the first year schooling, it jumps up to 70% of Journeyman wage. and so on until you do your 4th year schooling then it's 100%.

This would help the family SO much. It would also get our mortgage paid off, the kids educations would be easily supplemented, and retirement savings really built up. As a Journeywoman I'd essentially be over doubling my income, more like triple, and easily doubling our income, it would also take the pressure off dh to do it all for us.

I'm really excited at the prospect. It's a great time for me to entering the trades as LOTS of the babyboomers are retiring and employers are looking.

I guess before I get there, I could learn some basics from dh and ds, then potentially skip the training, if I could get a placement on my own, that would eliminate the loss of income during those 4 months....in fact it might even be an income gain..

Now I'm not sure..lol.

All I know is I need dd7 to at an age where she can be home alone. Dh is home by 4pm, so it would only be about 30 minutes on her own. Summer would be a non issue as there would be 2-3 of them home together.


Anything I'm not thinking of?

[NaturalFamilyMama]

If the work interests you, I say go for it! Just don't commit yourself to something that will be boring for you...

[mommy4ever]

Thank you. I do like doing things, we did some house renovations, I learned LOTS, I can lay tile, grout, paint. Electrical, dh did, but I watched and learned, and I can now change a light switch, plug in, fish wire..lol.

To do management in retail, which is as qualified as I am now, it's BORING. Being in different places with a variety of tasks is much more up my ally.

Down side is I will be a 40yo apprentice..lol. But companies are getting grants to hire females especially with the baby boomers retiring.

Plus it would be a very frugal education

[tmffv]

I have absolutely no experience with this line of work, but it does sound very promising from what you have posted. I would do a lot of research about the career itself by trying to find info on the internet or talking to others in the profession in your area to find out what it is really like. Where did you gather this information from? If it is from the school offering the program, I would be a little wary. Often admissions reps are really sales people in disguise and will paint you a rosey picture that is simply not realistic. Take nursing for example. So many people have been feed the "nursing shortage" line the past 5 years and have been graduating only to find out the market is oversaturated with new grads in many areas across the country and can't even get interviews, much less jobs. Promises of an in demand job had so many going into nursing programs completely blind and ignorant to the reality of what was really happening.

[daylily]

Two things I would consider: you mentioned that you couldn't lift heavy stuff. You need to be strong to pull wires. Also do you ever have issues with claustrophobia? You can be sent into some pretty tight spots, especially if you are petite.

[NicJean]

DH is a master electrician - some jobs he groans about not being 20 years old anymore. It can be rough on your body. We just pulled wire from our generator to the MIL's house (next door) it was a straight shot, mostly, with 3 bends - it was tough!!

[Stacia]

As I am helping my eldest start his career path, I find myself wanting a change.

I don't plan on working out of the home until the youngest is in at least 6th grade, but preferably 7th. I'm currently homeschooling, but plan to have them return to school. She is currently going into 3rd...so we're looking at 3-5 years before I want to do the change.

I'm looking at trades. Electrician would be where I land, due to size, I can't do seriously heavy lifting. But I am interested in sprinkler systems as well, should the schooling for it be local.

We have an organization here, that helps get women some basic training so that they can enter the trades as an apprentice. They have a 95% success rate finding placement with their students. This is the path I'd take, I just spoke to the program and most people get full funding for the course through the apprenticeship board, plus you get a monthly stipend to offset some of the living expenses, aka...no student loans.

First year electricians earn 60% of Journeyman wages, approx 40k+/year depending on the company. That alone would be a 25-30K raise from what I'm earning! plus benefits. After the first year schooling, it jumps up to 70% of Journeyman wage. and so on until you do your 4th year schooling then it's 100%.

This would help the family SO much. It would also get our mortgage paid off, the kids educations would be easily supplemented, and retirement savings really built up. As a Journeywoman I'd essentially be over doubling my income, more like triple, and easily doubling our income, it would also take the pressure off dh to do it all for us.

I'm really excited at the prospect. It's a great time for me to entering the trades as LOTS of the babyboomers are retiring and employers are looking.

I guess before I get there, I could learn some basics from dh and ds, then potentially skip the training, if I could get a placement on my own, that would eliminate the loss of income during those 4 months....in fact it might even be an income gain..

Now I'm not sure..lol.

All I know is I need dd7 to at an age where she can be home alone. Dh is home by 4pm, so it would only be about 30 minutes on her own. Summer would be a non issue as there would be 2-3 of them home together.


Anything I'm not thinking of?

I have been thinking the same way lately, I'm one of those self sacrificing people who does everything for everyone else and nothing for myself. I always put everything I wanted on the back burner, to give everyone else what they needed.

For the past 13 years my whole life has been for my kids. (That's since I was 17 mind you, and do not regret it at all) I did finish school and manage to get a scholarship, but never finished college due to working crazy hours to get everyone everything they needed. I'm currently working on my Paralegal, but would really enjoy being a Police officer. I plan on going back to school in the next 5 years and improving myself. I might even take a vacation ALONE can you imagine that..lol

[saver]

My DH completed the electrician program at our local adult education program. He said the surprising thing about the program and the one which many students struggled with was the amount of math skills needed, specifically algebra.

He said that anyone considering taking the course should first concentrate heavily on getting their math skills up to speed before taking the class.

He took the class to prepare for retirement from his current job.
So far he has not worked as an electrician, other than stuff around our house.

[strezzed]

I think it's a great idea! You seem to have thought it through logically.