Humans have always had an odd relationship with heights. On one hand, who hasn’t dreamed of sharing the sky with the birds. But on the other hand most people find their sense of balance and confidence dwindling as they get higher and higher. This makes anyone looking at electrical repair work wonder about the people doing it. And there’s often a sense of envy as well. One will often find himself wondering how these people overcame their fears to stand so tall in the sky. And in general, how one could go about becoming a lineman.
Standing among the electrical linemen isn’t a simple process. And to be fair, it’s not for everyone. It’s a challenging and difficult path. To understand why one might think back to high school. People tended to divide themselves by athletic and academic skills. There weren’t many people who felt equally confident in both. But that’s exactly what a lineman needs to do. It requires exacting planning which means a detail oriented nature. It requires the athletic ability to work with machinery while also supporting weight. And one also needs some math proficiency on top of it all. Not to mention the obvious issue of learning to handle heights.
With all that in mind, it’s equally important to keep in mind that desire and confidence are the key to any career path. If one doesn’t have an innate proficiency in any of these skill sets then it should hardly be taken as a firm rule that it’ll never happen. It’s often simply a matter of deciding on a path in life and pushing oneself to achieve it.
The absolute basic starting point for a lineman is typically going to be a high school diploma. Some technical schools and colleges offer lineman programs. This will offer one a big boost in getting a job. Likewise, one will have an instant boost from any kind of electronics related degree. But what’s far more common is an apprenticeship. This is typically done through some form of workers union. There’s no full certification needed for this job. But one will usually need to have CDL licencing. This is so that the linesmen can operate heavy machinery and trucks.
From here one will also need to start getting familiarity with equipment such as linemen compression tools. It’s important to keep in mind that linemen compression tools and similar items aren’t just to make the job easier. They’re there to quite literally save lives. On a personal level one needs to learn to depend on the tools. They’re there to keep one from falling, being electrocuted or letting anything happen to coworkers.
But there’s another point which comes from working with electricity. One mistake could take out power to an area. This could mean that hospitals might fall back on emergency power and operate at lower efficiency. It could risk accidents when traffic lights go down. And in general there’s a multitude of potentially life risking events that come with mistakes.
This is ultimately the hardest part of becoming an electrical lineman. It’s all about developing confidence. And it can’t be the type of fake it till you make it confident many people adopt. It has to be a confidence built on careful training of one’s mind and body. A confidence gained by learning how to use specialized tools to their optimal effect. Because it’s also a job where one really can’t make big mistakes.
The rewards can be fantastic though. Because dangers in failure also mean amazing benefits to success. It’s one of the few jobs where one can look out into the city with an understanding that people will do better as a result of the day’s work. And that’s something which is often worth any level of effort.