"Before joining the IBEW, I'd worked for nonunion contractors since I was 19, and I thought I'd never learn how to be a better electrician. For three years, I did what I was told and didn't get much proper training.

I'd learned about the union in a vocational class in high school, and I knew that's where I wanted to be. After five years of applications and interviews, I finally got the call from a business agent the same day I got engaged to my wife and put in an offer on my house. It was a triple victory!

In the year since I've been a Local 58 apprentice, I've been to different jobs I would never have experienced without the IBEW. I've learned skills faster and better, and I've gotten to experience being left completely on my own with blueprints and a task. The IBEW has taught me how to do work in a better and proper way.

Before the last year, I was worried I'd never get in, I'd never get the training I needed to become the best electrician I could be, and I'd never make enough money to buy a house and support my family. Joining the IBEW has made my life so much better."