Electrician Training in San Francisco

Most electrician training is done by applying to become an apprentice. A company will sponsor you in your training and you will engage in a mix of paid on-the-job training and classroom work. Unfortunately, opportunities for apprenticeships are somewhat few and far between these days.

The San Francisco Electrical Apprenticeship Program is a good stop for those interested in apprenticeship as an inside wireman or a sound and communications specialist. The inside wireman apprenticeship requires that applicants have a minimum of a high school diploma or GED, have completed a high school or college Algebra course with a passing grade, be 18 years old with a valid California driver's license, and be capable of passing an aptitude examination consisting of reading comprehension, mathematics and an oral interview. The sound and communications apprenticeship requires that applicants have a high school diploma or GED, valid California driver's license, and also pass an aptitude test and oral interview as well as a drug screen. Applications for both programs must be made in person, but will not be available until July 2010, when they will be accepted every Tuesday from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Calapprenticeship.org offers a list of companies throughout California that periodically offer apprenticeships on their web site. The companies listed there are not guaranteed to be presently taking applications for apprenticeship, but their contact information is listed and you can contact them directly to inquire. Another useful resource along the same lines as this is the California Department of Industrial Relations, who have a section devoted to electrician apprenticeship on their website.

Wyotech has campuses nearby in Oakland and Fremont and offers an electrician training program. The Wyotech training program lasts nine months and includes courses in electrical theory, algebra, hand tools, NEC requirements, transformer principles, power distribution, emergency systems, jobsite management, industrial automation, solid state controls and more. It is possible to get financial aid in the form of federal Pell Grants and student loans for the program by filling out a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), and Workforce Investment Act funds may also be available (contact the nearest One Stop Career Center for details.) Wyotech's tuition runs about $30,000 per year before living expenses, which seems pretty high for a trade school.

The City College of San Francisco is usually pretty reliable for trades classes, but they are pretty thin right now on electrician offerings. The only courses they have listed for the fall semester of 2009 are non-credit courses in electrical code, and electrical applications in construction.