Find Electrician Schools Near Me in Asheville NC 28801

How to Become an Electrician in Asheville North Carolina

Asheville NC electrician inspecting circuit panel The first step to learning to be an electrical contractor or tradesman is enrolling in an electrician trade school near Asheville NC. But with numerous vocational schools to pick from, just how do you tackle making certain that you enroll in the best one? Especially since there are so many factors to evaluate. For example, many students will begin by looking for schools that are close to their home. After they have identified some that are within commuting distance, they will select the one with the least expensive tuition. Even though location and cost are important, they are not the sole things that must be examined. Also important are the reputations of the schools, their accreditation, along with their graduation and job placement rates. These and additional qualifications should influence your ultimate judgment when picking an electrician training school. We will discuss that checklist in more detail later in this post. But to begin with, let’s talk a little bit about becoming an electrician and the instructional options that are offered.

Electrician Degree, Diploma and Certificate Programs near Asheville NC

Asheville NC electrician re-wiring power outlet There are multiple approaches to receive electrician instruction in a technical or vocational school near Asheville NC. You can choose a diploma or certificate program, or receive an Associate Degree. Bachelor’s Degrees are offered at some schools, but are not as common as the other three options. Frequently these programs are offered combined with an apprenticeship, which are required by most states in order to be licensed or if you would like to earn certification. Following are short summaries of the 3 most common programs offered.

Certificate and Diploma Programs are typically offered by North Carolina vocational and trade schools and take approximately a year to complete. They furnish a solid foundation and are aimed towards individuals who would like to join an apprenticeship faster as a journeyman electrician.
Associate Degree Programs take 2 years to complete and are offered by North Carolina junior or community colleges, typically as an Associate Degree in Electrical Technology. They furnish a more comprehensive education while supplying the foundation that readies students to join their apprenticeship program.

As previously mentioned, Bachelor’s Degree programs are offered at some North Carolina colleges, but are less popular at 4 years than the other shorter programs. Many states require that an apprenticeship of no less than 2 years and more typically 4 years be performed before licensing. For that reason, many students are eager to commence their paid apprenticeship, especially if it’s not part of their academic program.

Electrician Licensing and Certification Prerequisites

Asheville NC electricians working on power lines Electricians in Asheville NC can perform a multitude of duties, such as installing, replacing and testing electrical systems, and ensuring that the wiring in buildings and homes comply with code standards. After finishing an apprenticeship, journeyman electricians are required to become licensed in the majority of municipalities and states. The duration of apprenticeship varies by state, but generally about four to five years of experience is required before taking the licensing examination. The exams commonly assess general knowledge and electrical theory, in addition to understanding of the National Electrical Code (NEC). Obtaining certification is also an optional method for an electrician to distinguish her or himself as a experienced and skilled professional. The certifications offered vary by state and may be obtained in various specialties, including cable splicing as an example. The certification process in most cases involves three levels of proficiency:

An experience requirement
Passing a written exam
Passing a practical exam

Examples of certifying agencies include the National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee (NJATC) along with the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies (NICET). It’s important that the electrician trade school that you enroll in not only furnishes a strong academic foundation, but also helps ready you for passing any certification and licensing exams that you might need to pass in the future.

Attending Electrician Schools Online in Asheville NC

attending electrician school online in Asheville NC An alternative that you might have contemplated is selecting an online electrician school to earn a degree or a certificate. Although online schools are becoming more popular as a way of attending class without needing to travel, in this situation they are not entirely internet based. Virtually all electrician schools require partial attendance on-campus to receive hands-on practical training. But since the remainder of the classes can be accessed online, internet learning might be a more practical alternative for students that have limited time for education. And as a bonus many online schools have a lower tuition cost compared to their on-campus counterparts. Travelling costs from Asheville NC are also lessened and a portion of the study materials may be available on line as well. Each of these advantages can make electrician online trade schools more economical and accessible. And many are fully accredited, which we will deal with in our questions to ask checklist.

Points to Ask Electrician Technical Schools

Asheville NC electrician re-wiring circuit panel When you have decided to obtain a certificate, diploma or degree, you can begin to narrow down your training options. Because there are so many electrician tech and trade schools in the Asheville NC area, it’s imperative to have a checklist of qualifications that each program must meet. The first two that we talked about were location and tuition expense. If you have an interest in earning an online degree, then that must be an option that your chosen school offers. And although all three qualifiers may be important when making your determination, there are additional factors that need to be taken into account also. Below is a checklist of those added qualifiers that you will need to research prior to selecting an electrical vocational school.

Accreditation. Many electrician vocational programs have attained either a regional or a national accreditation. They may receive Institutional Accreditation, which focuses on the school’s programs as a whole, or Programmatic Accreditation, which relates to an individual program, such as electrical technology. Make certain that the Asheville NC program is accredited by a U.S. Department of Education recognized accrediting organization, such as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. In addition to helping ensure that you acquire a quality education, it may help in obtaining financial aid or student loans, which are often unavailable for non-accredited schools. Also, a number of states mandate that the electrician training program be accredited for it to qualify for licensing.

High Completion and Placement Rates. Ask the electrician schools you are considering what their completion rates are. The completion rate is the percentage or portion of students who enroll in and complete the course. A lower completion rate might indicate that students were disappointed with the program and quit. It could also mean that the instructors were not qualified to instruct the students. It’s similarly imperative that the schools have high job placement rates. Older and/or more reputable schools may have a more extensive directory of graduates, which may result in more contacts for the school to use for their apprenticeship and job placement programs. A high job placement rate can not only validate that the school has a good reputation within the trade, but also that it has the network of contacts to help Asheville NC graduates secure apprenticeships or jobs.

Apprenticeship Programs. A large number of electrician vocational programs are taught along with an internship or an apprenticeship program. Those participating technical and vocational programs will help place you in an apprenticeship program inside their network of electrician contractors or labor unions. Check if the schools you are considering have working partnerships with Asheville NC area electricians or electrical companies. An apprenticeship not only offers a rewarding experience by furnishing practical training, but it also furnishes employment opportunities and helps to establish relationships in the regional electrician professional community.

Modern Facilities. Make sure that the school facilities and the equipment that you will be trained on are state-of-the-art and what you will be using in the field. If you are currently in an internship or an apprenticeship, consult with the electrical specialist you are working under regarding what you should be expecting. Otherwise, ask a local Asheville NC electrical contracting company if they can provide some suggestions. Additionally bear in mind that unless you are willing to move, the school must be within commuting distance of your Asheville home. Remember that if you decide to enroll in an out-of-state school, in addition to relocation costs there might be increased tuition fees compared to in-state residents.

Smaller Classes. It’s desirable that you get as much one-on-one instruction as possible, which can be challenging in larger classes. Ask if you can sit in on a couple of the classes so that you can observe how big they are and experience the interaction between students and instructors. Speak to several of the students and get their comments relating to class sizes and instruction. Finally, talk with a few of the instructors and find out what their level of expertise is and what certifications or degrees they hold.

Flexible Scheduling. Make sure that the class schedules for the schools you are assessing are flexible enough to meet your needs. If you can only go to classes at night or on weekends near Asheville NC, confirm that the programs you are considering provide those options. If you can only attend on a part-time basis, make certain that the school you select permits part-time enrollment. Finally, check out what the protocol is to make-up classes should you miss any due to work, illness or family emergencies.

Considering Attending an Electrician School near Asheville NC?

Following is a little bit of background information about the Asheville NC area.

Asheville, North Carolina

Asheville is a city and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States.[6] It is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the 12th-most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The city's population was 89,121 according to 2016 estimates.[7] It is the principal city in the four-county Asheville metropolitan area, with a population of 424,858 in 2010.[8]

Before the arrival of the Europeans, the land where Asheville now exists lay within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation.[9] In 1540,[10] Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto came to the area known as Guaxule,[11] bringing the first European visitors[10] along with European diseases, which seriously depleted the native population.[12] The area was used as an open hunting ground until the middle of the 19th century.[13]

The history of Asheville, as a town, began in 1784. In that year, Colonel Samuel Davidson and his family settled in the Swannanoa Valley, redeeming a soldier's land grant from the state of North Carolina. Soon after building a log cabin at the bank of Christian Creek, Davidson was lured into the woods by a band of Cherokee hunters and killed. Davidson's wife, child and female slave fled on foot overnight to Davidson's Fort (named after Davidson's father General John Davidson) 16 miles away.

The location could not be found.

Find the Ideal Electrical Tech School near Asheville NC

Picking the ideal electrical trade school will probably be the most important decision you will make to launch your new profession. As we have discussed in this article, there are a number of things that you will need to examine and compare among the training programs you are considering. It’s a necessity that any electrical training program that you are considering includes a lot of hands-on training. Classes need to be small in size and each student must have their personal equipment to train with. Classroom teaching should offer a real-world perspective, and the course of study should be up-to-date and in-line with industry standards. Training programs differ in duration and the type of credential offered, so you will need to determine what length of program and certificate or degree will best satisfy your needs. Every program provides unique possibilities for certification also. Probably the best approach to research your short list of schools is to go to each campus and talk with the faculty and students. Take the time to monitor a few classes. Inspect the campus and facilities. Make sure that you are confident that the school you select is the ideal one for you. With the right training, hard work and dedication, the final outcome will be a new career as a professional electrician in Asheville NC.