Career - Construction Trades

The last in our Youth Career Day series...

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Speakers

• Jimmy Fish, Executive Director, Oklahoma Building & Construction Trades Council   
• William Bryles, President, AFSCME Local 2406, AFL-CIO  City, County & Municipal Workers of Oklahoma

Two routes to construction trades (during or after graduation)

• Career Technology Center
• Apprenticeship Program

About fourteen different crafts are involved in the construction industry, e.g., electrician, carpenter, plumber, pipe fitter, bricklayer, insulator, iron worker, operating engineer, painter/decorator, sheet metal worker, and others.

Training is monitored and certified by the U.S. Department of Labor.

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In 1971, motivated by his friends' making more money than he would have if he had finished college, Fish began looking at the trades industry. 

Apprenticeship

An apprentice learn a trade while working in a three- to five-year program and pays no cost for this training. He or she can also attend school.

Journeyman

Becoming a journeyman, an endorsement with a higher level of skill, accomplishment and income, has requirements and certificates [testing] beyond completing apprenticeship training.

Advice

• Prepare yourself in math and science. Algebra, for example, is important in electrical training. 
• Be a high school graduate.
• Don't waste your high school years.
• Get your G.E.D., even if you are an adult.
• Prove you can 

            -  Be punctual 

            -  Be responsible

            -  Handle class

Competition for Jobs

Limitations exist on the number of positions available, perhaps 50 to 15. What do you need to be employed? Three things

• Interview
• Grades
• Practical experience

Resources

• Oklahoma Career Technology Centers http://www.okcareertech.org/ *
• Apprenticeship Training Programs http://okbctc.org/

* At technology centers, students can earn college credit.

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Did you know? 

Six cranes helped build the Devon Tower, and each crane had a highly trained operator. At peak, 1,500 people worked on that building. (Bryles)

Focus

A minority of high school students know where they want to go and in what to focus. Those who have not determined a direction can attend career tech or a two-year college until deciding. While pursuing training or education, a minimum wage job allows a degree of independence while building experience and connections.

Illustration

An adult went to a career tech center for welding at a cost of about $1,000. Although he earned a position as one of the two top welders of his class, his having taken welding at career tech while in high school and/or appropriate preparatory classes in high school would have saved time and money.