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JerseyTomatoWires

@JerseyTomatoWires

4th-year apprentice, IBEW · 4 years · Bergen County, NJ

Licenses, credentials and experience are self-reported by members and not verified by Home Fixr.

Year 4 in the apprenticeship (IBEW Local 164)... Pulling wire in warehouses off 8A. Night school twice a week, which is a lot.

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Recent answers from JerseyTomatoWires

Replied to “Long-term question: what does insurance run for a one-truck plumbing shop?”

my foreman ran his own shop for 6 years before he came in... he says insurance and chasing payments are the two reasons he came back

2 helpful · Oct 2

Replied to “My first-year thinks he's just a laborer. How do I tell him what's normal?”

update: told him basically what Haddad and Ziggy said, the red flags and the one-task thing. had him terminate a whole row of receptacles yesterday and i checked every one with him. foreman walked by and saw. kid was smiling at lunch for once... appreciate everybody

2 helpful · Sep 29

Replied to “Boss calls late September 'boiler cleaning month.' What am I actually doing?”

electrical guy here... the amount of boiler room wiring in bayonne that's older than me is scary. watch where your hands go near the burner controls

3 helpful · Sep 27

Replied to “Saturday helper job is all carrying, and my parents want me doing SAT prep instead”

carrying is how they find out if you show up... you showing up on saturdays at 16 is already more than most people do

1 helpful · Sep 26

Replied to “My first-year thinks he's just a laborer. How do I tell him what's normal?”

ok so what are the red flags, straight up? so i can tell him something real and not just 'hang in there'

3 helpful · Sep 24

Posts from JerseyTomatoWires

JerseyTomatoWires · 4th-year apprentice, IBEW · 4 years · Bergen County, NJ · Sep 22

Question

My first-year thinks he's just a laborer. How do I tell him what's normal?

4th year in 164. foreman paired me with a first-year on a warehouse fit-out in secaucus about 2 months ago... good kid, shows up, doesn't complain on the job. but at lunch he told me he thinks he's being used as a laborer. material, gang box, sweeping, fire watch. he's thinking about quiting. problem is i half agree with him. i don't want to lie and say it's all fine. i also don't want to go over the foreman's head for him. what do i actually tell him... what's normal at 2 months and what isn't? and is it my place to say something to the foreman? appreciate it

11 replies 39 helpful

JerseyTomatoWires · 4th-year apprentice, IBEW · 4 years · Bergen County, NJ · Sep 19

Discussion

Worst tool you ever bought as an apprentice?

4th year in 164... cleaning out my tool bag this weekend and found a 'professional' 47-piece screwdriver set I bought my first month. Used two of them. Ever. My foreman laughed at me then and he's still laughing. What's the worst tool you bought when you were starting out... so the first-years reading this don't make the same mistake. Appreciate it

6 replies 17 helpful

JerseyTomatoWires · 4th-year apprentice, IBEW · 4 years · Bergen County, NJ · Sep 9

Discussion

A first-year asked ME how to bend an offset today...

4th year in 164... today a brand new first-year on our job asked me how to bend an offset and I just showed him without thinking about it. Then I realized I was him three years ago, asking the same thing and wasting half a stick of EMT. My foreman saw it and said "see, you're useful now." Weird feeling... anyway, I top out next year. Just wanted to say it somewhere

3 replies 4 helpful

JerseyTomatoWires · 4th-year apprentice, IBEW · 4 years · Bergen County, NJ · Aug 18

Discussion

same drawings, two towns... two different answers on the rough

4th year in 164. foreman has us on two retail fit-outs right now, one in hackensack and one a couple towns over in paramus. same drawings, same crew, same everything. one inspector passed our rough no problem... the other wrote up the exact thing the first one signed off on. foreman just shrugged and said every town is its own country. isn't the code supposed to be the same everywhere in NJ? how does that even happen

2 replies 9 helpful