“I never expected to get into something like this,” says Amanda Ferrero, second-year apprentice in IEC El Paso. “My grandmother would say, why don’t you become a nurse? And I’d say, I wish I could, but you know, something about working with my hands being able to run something, get it going, get it connected, and see it all come together is just an awesome thing.”
Supporting her electrical apprenticeship and providing her daily job is PC Automated Controls, headquartered in El Paso, TX, which serves west Texas and New Mexico. The company delivers solutions tailored to the needs of its clients in building automation, preventative maintenance, or lighting retrofits.
The Road to Electrical
It’s clear from Amanda’s background and experience that she loves to dig into and make things work. It begins with curiosity and the need to know how things work — and furthermore how they work together. She has associates degrees in both HVAC and diesel mechanics and is adept at control systems installation and testing. As she progressed in her initial work at PC Automated, they offered her the opportunity to expand into electrical and enter the IEC Apprenticeship Program.
“Electrical definitely sparked my interest, so when my employer provided this opportunity for additional training, I jumped on it,” Amanda says. “Having to run everything and get it connected and seeing toward the end that you’re providing this power, it’s pretty interesting. It can be for hospitals or for schools. You understand how it works, and it’s a great feeling to say ‘I can do that.’”
She truly enjoys her apprenticeship and talks highly of her fellow apprentices, instructors, and chapter team. An especially rewarding experience her first year was being selected to participate in the chapter wire-off.
“I placed third, which isn’t too bad for my first year,” Amanda says. “I thought that was pretty neat that in that competition I could bring out what I had learned. I like being able to show whatever I learn and to pass it on as well.”
Amanda feels good about the relationships being built among fellow students.
“We rely on each other on a lot of things,” she explains. “If there’s something we don’t get, we’ll ask each other ‘hey, can you teach me this? I know you know this a little bit better than I do.’ We like to help each other to be better.”
This camaraderie has become even more important as Amanda has been on out-of-town jobsites so has been attending most of second year classes online. She has coworkers in the same apprentice class, though, and they hold each other up. The first semester second year work involved loads of prints and code work.
“Learning about reading prints and knowing what to look for and where to look for it regarding electrical code might be less of a challenge online than other topics,” she says. “As with first year, I like to be more hands on and be with people and ask questions. So, second year has been a bit more difficult taking class through a camera.”
On the Job
Perhaps more challenging — but definitely worth it — has been her long-term assignment in Eunice, NM. That’s about 250 miles away and Amanda and her three coworkers have been traveling there weekly.
“We usually drive there on Sunday afternoons and head home Thursdays or even Fridays,” she says. “While there, we work 10-hour days and I have my apprenticeship class one night a week. Sometimes we’ll go to the gym for a little workout but most non-class evenings, I’ll just go to the hotel and read a book or read prints for work so it’s fresh in my mind.”
Amanda loves her on the job learning experiences as well and shares that bending conduit gave her some challenges at first.
“One of my journeymen was teaching me, and mastering working with those decimals was a bit difficult,” she admits. “In the end, it was honestly pretty cool to learn it.”
It also was important for pulling the job fully together. Being a part of getting the wiring and conduit done, knowing how many feet they needed, and running it all has helped with the other part of Amanda’s work — the computer technician work to test connections and verify that everything is working properly.
“Being in school with IEC has helped me with reading prints, bending conduit, running wires, and getting the power going — knowing how much load the breakers can handle safely,” she says. “When I do the tech work, I rely on my previous training in verifying that we have power to all the controllers and that communication is good.”
Amanda looks forward to continuing her apprenticeship and learning all she can.
“I definitely would like to explore this career a bit more, perhaps look into getting my masters as well,” she says. “I think it’s going to open many more doors for me, and I’m liking the work more and more.”
Considering an Electrician’s Career?
Amanda says go ahead and do it! She also recommends working in a merit shop and pursuing training through the IEC Apprenticeship Program.
“Expand your horizons and don’t be afraid of it,” she offers. “It’s something that can brighten up your life – literally!”
