Your First
90 Days.

You're entering a culture built on seniority, unspoken rules, and respect that has to be earned — not assumed. The hierarchy on a job site is real: apprentice → journeyman → foreman → general foreman → superintendent. You are at the bottom. That's not an insult. Everyone started there.

The most important thing you can do in the first 90 days is shut up and pay attention. Not because you should be submissive, but because you don't know enough yet to have opinions worth defending. The journeymen around you have decades of field-specific knowledge. Watch how they move. Watch what they notice. Ask questions when invited — not constantly.

The unspoken rules vary by job and crew, but a few are universal:

• ▸Show up before the foreman. Not on time — early.
• ▸Don't stand around with your hands in your pockets.
• ▸If you don't know what to do, ask once and remember the answer.
• ▸Clean up at the end of every day without being asked.
• ▸Bring your own coffee and lunch. Don't raid the JM's cooler.
• ▸Your phone disappears when you're on the clock. Full stop.

The crews that are hard on first-years are usually not cruel — they're applying the same standard that was applied to them. That doesn't mean everything is right just because it's traditional. But understanding the difference between hard culture and genuinely hostile culture matters.

You don't need everything on day one. You do need certain things. Don't show up with cheap boots and no PPE — that's a signal you didn't do your homework.

Most apprentices don't realize they're entering a political system as much as a trade program. Understanding this is not cynical — it's practical.

The book:When you're out of work, you go on the out-of-work list (the book). Your position on the book is based on when you signed it. When contractors call the hall for workers, they get dispatched from the book in order. That's the system — learn how it works at your specific local.

Name-hires: Contractors can also request specific workers by name. If a foreman or contractor knows you and wants you on their project, you can be called directly — bypassing the book entirely. This is how most of the actual work gets distributed once you have a few years in. Building relationships is not optional. It is your primary career tool.

The hall: Show up to union meetings. Pay your dues on time. Know your business manager by face. Know your apprenticeship coordinator. Being anonymous in the hall means being at the back of the line when good work comes available.

RSI — Related Supplemental Instruction — is the classroom component of your apprenticeship. For IBEW electrical, it's typically one or two evenings a week using NJATC curriculum: theory, code, blueprint reading, motor controls, and hands-on lab work.

Here's what happens: some of your field crew will tell you the classroom is a joke. Ignore them. The guys who paid attention in class are the ones who understand whythey're doing what they're doing in the field — and that's the difference between a mechanic and a tradesperson.

Practical advice for the classroom:

• ▸Do the homework. Not because it's graded, because the material builds on itself.
• ▸The NEC is not light reading — start getting comfortable with how it's organized now.
• ▸Bring questions from the field. The classroom is the best place to figure out why something works.
• ▸Failed RSI can affect your apprenticeship advancement. Take it seriously.

This is not meant to scare you. Most apprentices who get terminated in year one made one of the same five mistakes. You can avoid all of them.

Every trade has its initiation culture. Some of it is harmless and even useful for building crew cohesion. Some of it is genuinely illegal. You should know the difference before day one.

By the end of year one, here's where you should be:

• ✓Competent at the basic physical tasks of your trade — moving material, running conduit, pulling wire, basic terminations. Your hands know what to do.
• ✓You understand the NEC chapter structure and can find what you're looking for.
• ✓You know at least 10 journeymen by name and have working relationships with 4–5.
• ✓You haven't been late more than once, haven't failed a drug test, and haven't been in a serious conflict on the job site.
• ✓You know how the dispatch system works at your local and you've been to at least two union meetings.

If you hit most of that list, year one worked. You have the foundation. The next four years will build on it.

Your JATC has an apprenticeship coordinator. This is the person who handles genuine complaints about working conditions, harassment, and training issues. They are not there to make your problems go away — they are there to resolve them.

The chain of contact for problems:

Don't go to the general contractor's management with union issues. Don't post about it publicly until you've exhausted internal channels. Handle it through the right chain first.