1 answer
Baron
Student
Decatur, Illinois
1
Question
Updated
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What kind of daily schedules do most electricians live by?
I'm pursuing becoming an Electrical Maintenance Technician and I'm curious what I can do now as a soon to be High School Graduate, to prepare best for that type of career path?
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1 answer
Liam Rielly
Data Center Technician
195
Answers
Manassas, Virginia
Updated
Liam’s Answer
Wake up early, get some breakfast on the way to work. Once you get to work: check emails, check bulletins, check safety communications, check equipment logs, and communicate with the techs from the previous shift. You will likely see the same people day in and day out and likely have the same people to cover shifts. Then you will do a site walk through or equipment check. You might meet with different teams during this time as well, join in a management meeting, meet with contractors to assist you with work, or set up a project or PM (preventative maintenance) for your equipment.
You will be in charge of either a specific set of equipment like a manufacturing line, or all of the electrical equipment in one or more buildings. You will have specific SOPs (standard operating procedures) for your equipment. You will reference, create, check, and maintain SOPs either on paper or an electronic device (like an iPad or a laptop) and utilize them for any equipment operations you do. Operations will be turning equipment off, turning it on again, putting it in a test or maintenance mode, partially turning it off so it can be tested or repaired, checking safety devices by triggering them while running, basically anything that changes the state of the equipment. Don't picture this like turning a light on and off but more like a series of switches, motors, indicator lights, PLCs, sensors/ detectors, all running and if the wrong thing is turned off at the wrong time it can cause equipment damage or safety issues.
On safety, you will need to be certified not only by an organization like OSHA, NFPA, ISO, NICET, and ANSI (there are too many to list!) but also company certifications as well. Your company will sign off to you being capable of operating equipment and energy sources (electrical, chemical, and mechanical) before allowing you to work on or near the equipment. You will often do checks to see if your certifications are up to date and step aside some days to attend a class in house or out of house to renew your certifications. Your company will tell you what you need and may require one or more certification before getting the job.
At the end of shift, you will make a daily report to send to the next shift so they can understand what needs to be completed on their shift. This may include new equipment failures and alarms, the existing state of some equipment that has changed over shift, logs from equipment with anomalies highlighted, communications from the meeting, or other company communications.
Aside from that, you will likely have to babysit equipment to make sure it is running correctly, babysit contractors while they work, talk with people from other teams so you don't get isolated in your role, make connections with managers and administrators, and settle into your company culture. Its the kind of job where you will be the SME (subject matter expert) for your equipment and represent that role for the company. It is usually shift work, it will have some level of on-call responsibilities associated with it, and there is usually a bunch of overtime for these roles because there is likely 24/7 coverage required. Shifts are sometimes split to make 10 or 12 hour days which is nice if you commute. This is a generalization of what to expect but its more likely than a salary role, M - F, 9a - 5p. Depending on exact needs for the job you may be able to work remote most of the week and show up on a few days to do some checks, this would be for a smaller company and would be a higher skilled role.
Overall, its the kind of job that is fun when its fun, and chaos when they need you the most! You can really carve out a decent life for yourself, earn what you work, or figure out a next step because you became very aware of the equipment and business needs.
You will be in charge of either a specific set of equipment like a manufacturing line, or all of the electrical equipment in one or more buildings. You will have specific SOPs (standard operating procedures) for your equipment. You will reference, create, check, and maintain SOPs either on paper or an electronic device (like an iPad or a laptop) and utilize them for any equipment operations you do. Operations will be turning equipment off, turning it on again, putting it in a test or maintenance mode, partially turning it off so it can be tested or repaired, checking safety devices by triggering them while running, basically anything that changes the state of the equipment. Don't picture this like turning a light on and off but more like a series of switches, motors, indicator lights, PLCs, sensors/ detectors, all running and if the wrong thing is turned off at the wrong time it can cause equipment damage or safety issues.
On safety, you will need to be certified not only by an organization like OSHA, NFPA, ISO, NICET, and ANSI (there are too many to list!) but also company certifications as well. Your company will sign off to you being capable of operating equipment and energy sources (electrical, chemical, and mechanical) before allowing you to work on or near the equipment. You will often do checks to see if your certifications are up to date and step aside some days to attend a class in house or out of house to renew your certifications. Your company will tell you what you need and may require one or more certification before getting the job.
At the end of shift, you will make a daily report to send to the next shift so they can understand what needs to be completed on their shift. This may include new equipment failures and alarms, the existing state of some equipment that has changed over shift, logs from equipment with anomalies highlighted, communications from the meeting, or other company communications.
Aside from that, you will likely have to babysit equipment to make sure it is running correctly, babysit contractors while they work, talk with people from other teams so you don't get isolated in your role, make connections with managers and administrators, and settle into your company culture. Its the kind of job where you will be the SME (subject matter expert) for your equipment and represent that role for the company. It is usually shift work, it will have some level of on-call responsibilities associated with it, and there is usually a bunch of overtime for these roles because there is likely 24/7 coverage required. Shifts are sometimes split to make 10 or 12 hour days which is nice if you commute. This is a generalization of what to expect but its more likely than a salary role, M - F, 9a - 5p. Depending on exact needs for the job you may be able to work remote most of the week and show up on a few days to do some checks, this would be for a smaller company and would be a higher skilled role.
Overall, its the kind of job that is fun when its fun, and chaos when they need you the most! You can really carve out a decent life for yourself, earn what you work, or figure out a next step because you became very aware of the equipment and business needs.