Credit: Getty Images/serts
This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Rachel Hoobing, a 50-year-old electrician in San Francisco. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I was always encouraged to take a white-collar career. My father was a pastor, and my mom worked in schools. I'd felt a lot of classism toward blue-collar jobs.
I went to college to study biology, determined to be a doctor. While I was there, I decided I wanted to be a physical therapist instead.
I finished my degree in 1995 and applied to physical therapy schools. I didn't get into any, so I tried again the following year and failed again. It was competitive, and I don't think I had the right skills for the exam.
Over the two years that followed, I was trying to figure out what to do with my life. I lived at home with my parents and pieced together some work doing elder care locally. There weren't a lot of opportunities in the small town I was from.
In 1997, I decided to become a pastor like my father and went to seminary for four years to train in theology. A year and a half into the four-year course, I decided being a pastor wasn't for me. I switched my course and graduated with a master's in theology instead.
I was a nanny for a while. I was grateful for the work, but I didn't know what wanted to do with my life. I felt like I was floundering.
I decided to try teaching in 2006. After my teacher training, I worked in an elementary school. The long hours and classroom management stressed me out. I had nightmares, and I felt like I was failing. I was only a teacher for two months. I hated working at a desk sometimes.
In 2009, I got a temporary job at the Jobs Corps, a national program run by the Department of Labor. I helped people transition into a wide range of trades, from arborists to nurse assistants.
I realized there was a whole different job market out there.
I started working with a career counselor. They helped me realize that, ever since I was a kid, I'd enjoyed fixing, designing, and building things. At this point, I was in my 40s. I didn't want to start a career where I might risk busting my shoulder.
I had a lot of casework at the Job Corps. I found it very stressful and decided to leave in May 2012 and apply for an electrician apprenticeship. I didn't get in, and it was terrifying. I had to wait two years before I could apply again.
Over the next three years, I took some electrical work classes at the local community college while working part-time at Home Depot and doing odd jobs. I was just trying to survive financially.
In 2015, I got my electrical trainee card, which meant I could do some non-union work as an electrician. I started working with an electrician who installed EV chargers. I had a portfolio of my work from the classes and practiced for the apprenticeship interview.
I applied for an electrical apprenticeship with a union in 2016, when I was 43, and started the following year. The apprentice works on jobs through union contractors. I joined union electricians on the job and learned from them.
It was sometimes challenging as an adult learner. I was hard on myself.
I became a union electrician at the end of my five-year apprenticeship in 2021. I worked on commercial and industrial electrical, which often involves bringing electricity into a building and distributing it to the receptacles, lights, and fire alarms. My most recent job was powering up a data center.
Now I train apprentices. Having people skills from my seminary and teacher training really helps with that. One of my apprentices was struggling with measurements. It turned out he didn't know how to calculate fractions, so I taught him to make his job easier.
I love it when I wire up the lights and turn them on, and they look amazing. When you work hard on a project, and you can see it works at the end, it's a good feeling.
My only regret about becoming an electrician is that I didn't do it sooner.
If you have moved from a white-collar to blue-collar job and would like to share your story, email ehopkins@businessinsider.com.
