Read previewThis as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Rachel Hoobing, a 50-year-old electrician in San Francisco. I found it very stressful and decided to leave in May 2012 and apply for an electrician apprenticeship. In 2015, I got my electrical trainee card, which meant I could do some non-union work as an electrician. I applied for an electrical apprenticeship with a union in 2016, when I was 43, and started the following year. AdvertisementI work for a union as an electricianI became a union electrician at the end of my five-year apprenticeship in 2021.

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Persons: —, Rachel Hoobing, I'd, wasn't Organizations: Service, Business, Jobs Corps, Department of Labor, Job Corps, Home Depot Locations: San Francisco, arborists