Linemen?

I was thinking O line or D line, but it turned out to be this:

Good luck!

It's hard work in all kinds of weather. I worked for PG&E for 26 years and every year linemen were involved in the most fatal accidents. You're guaranteed to have bad knees if you do it for very long. How you feel about heights? 60 foot poles are no joke.

BMSOBx2 wrote:

It's hard work in all kinds of weather. I worked for PG&E for 26 years and every year linemen were involved in the most fatal accidents. You're guaranteed to have bad knees if you do it for very long. How you feel about heights? 60 foot poles are no joke.

Thanks for the reply. I do tree work now and although i don’t climb regularly (mostly do ground stuff) I have been pretty far up in a tree and have used the bucket a good amount of times. I should be good with heights and I know I’m fine with all weather. I think the main thing holding me back from trying is the time aspect. I don’t mind long hours but I also enjoy my weekend or Sunday off for moto and other things.

I have a huge amount of admiration for what these guys do. When a storm hits and people are snuggling with their hot cocoa these people are headed out to climb poles and fix power lines. It looks like a really gnarly job.

KDXGarage wrote:

I was thinking O line or D line, but it turned out to be this:

Good luck!

First thing I thought of.

Yea linemen, and cell phone tower climbers. Badass dudes.

They make good money but earn every penny of it. Most jobs that require a hard hat are demanding and carry some risk.

As long as you are OK with this, you will be fine.

borg wrote:

As long as you are OK with this, you will be fine.

One of my friends would change the light bulbs on radio towers here locally. Not me...

borg wrote:

As long as you are OK with this, you will be fine.

Yeah I don’t know about that. That’s definitely a job that takes some serious balls.

I did this for a good while, went through an apprenticeship but doing something else currently. It is about the only way to make decent money without a degree in a rural area. If you ride/race moto you'll be fine with the dangers, I actually enjoyed the climbing. As an apprentice you will do all the hard labor and you need some thick skin. There is so much to learn and memorize, takes dedication. Once you are journeyed, you can literally find a job anywhere. Your friend was right it's more of a lifestyle than just a job. When you work for a small utility they could call you to work 24/7, 365 in the worst possible weather. The older lineman I worked with had nice houses, toys, financially taken care of families but gave off the vibe they wish they would have studied something and gone a different route, there is not many positions to advance to besides Lead or Superintendent. It really is a decent job, I may have to go back to some day. It has some great benefits.

BT747 wrote:

I did this for a good while, went through an apprenticeship but doing something else currently. It is about the only way to make decent money without a degree in a rural area. If you ride/race moto you'll be fine with the dangers, I actually enjoyed the climbing. As an apprentice you will do all the hard labor and you need some thick skin. There is so much to learn and memorize, takes dedication. Once you are journeyed, you can literally find a job anywhere. Your friend was right it's more of a lifestyle than just a job. When you work for a small utility they could call you to work 24/7, 365 in the worst possible weather. The older lineman I worked with had nice houses, toys, financially taken care of families but gave off the vibe they wish they would have studied something and gone a different route, there is not many positions to advance to besides Lead or Superintendent. It really is a decent job, I may have to go back to some day. It has some great benefits.

Thanks for the response. Everything you said goes along with what I’ve heard. The job definitely interests me but the whole lifestyle part doesn’t. I really need to think it over but honestly I don’t think I would be happy in the long run going by what you and others have said. Thanks again.

Good work but really demanding. I did it in the telecom sector which is less dangerous then power. I saw my coworkers at 45 and 50+ and decided to take advantages of opportunities elsewhere in the company. Great platform to get started in an industry. Most companies have programs that can help you get an education to move in to a new position within.

el moto diablo wrote:

Good work but really demanding. I did it in the telecom sector which is less dangerous then power. I saw my coworkers at 45 and 50+ and decided to take advantages of opportunities elsewhere in the company. Great platform to get started in an industry. Most companies have programs that can help you get an education to move in to a new position within.

That’s good to hear and I didn’t think about moving up. They said the apprenticeship goes towards or helps with college credits.

I am a 12P in the Army; Prime Power Production Specialist. We can go to an Army/Air Force Lineman school, but for the most part we don't climb much. We do get to do medium-voltage work and testing. Not a bad gig in the Army, but you have to have a few years in before you can reclass.

20 years and out in the army as well......not a bad gig.

I do a similar job for the railroad. I'm a journeyman signalman and my job entails talking care of power and control systems for train traffic. If you do decide to take the leap, be prepared to be on call 24/7 and schedule your life around storms. If it storms you WILL most likely be out in it. It's hard earned mullah when your out in the freezing cold storms at all hours of the night trying to put things back together and nothing is working right!!! For me I'm going to put in a little more time to meet some financial goals and then move to a job that I'm not married to.