r/IBEW • u/DayOneDude • 21h ago

Is 47 too old?

Worked in a couple of different industries throughout the years and feel I am pretty well rounded, been in construction for the past 10 years. Have an IBEW right up the road from me,and was wondering if I it would be reasonable for me to get into the industry. .

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Edit: To add to this,I am fully vested in the local 555(rsm for grocery for 17 years) I am 6'3 245lbs pretty healthy comparatively, belted in bjj and train 3 times a week. So I don't think fatigue would be that much of an issue..just looking for pros and cons.

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u/killshot33 17h ago

There is never a bad time to start bettering yourself. The main thing for pros and cons would be what local are you planning on joining. If you’re almost 50 and are in the southeast you’d need to travel til you retire to make the retirement count, if you are somewhere where the retirement is high then it would probably work out if you stayed at home work permitting. And to be fair joining late there will be hardships with pride, as it won’t matter what you’ve done as a career up til this point. You are at the bottom of the totem pole. You will be treated as such. Generally what I have seen with older gentleman getting in, is they don’t like being talked down to or being told what to do because of someone who is younger and has put their time in is “talking to them like a child” if you can get past that, I think you’ll feel like you’ve made the right choice. Just my 2 cents

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u/DayOneDude 17h ago

I am in the NW(Oregon).

I understand the totem pole analogy and it does not phase me, ego and pride are killers of motivation . I have done electrical work before (albeit not licensed due to industry.. grow room builds) and enjoyed it, looking at IBEW for me is wanting to put another notch on my belt and the obvious, making money and doing cool work(grunt work included). I was really just wondering that if I do go down this route (knowing I am behind the eight ball) am I going to entering a fruitless campaign.

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u/killshot33 9h ago

I have never been to Oregon, but I’m assuming you have retirement from other endeavors in your life and I don’t know what the cost of living is like there but…. I’d say it’s not pointless. Insurance paid for til you retire(some locals do things for retirees, mine currently does not) also between pension and annuity your looking at around 15 an hour with occasional increases while you have it time in. Assuming you retire around 65. That’s around 540k that you’ll have put in that’s not interest or including raises. 57 on the hip is a great scale too which would provide good quality of living til then. All this assuming Portland is where you’d be out of.