In order to be rated a qualified electrician, certain stages of education, skills and experience must be passed. All licensed electricians in Toronto must have gone through apprenticeship, journeyman or master electrician stages. Apprentices are at the bottom of the ladder while master electricians make the cream of the electrical industry. In between are journeyman electricians. It is important to distinguish between journeyman and master electricians since they have different qualifications, licenses, levels of experience as well as roles and responsibilities.
- Qualifications
Journeyman electricians graduate from apprenticeship. In other words, a journeyman is an apprentice who has completed on-job training and earned educational qualifications. On the other hand, a master electrician must have worked as a journeyman for around two years or more. During that time, they must have gained knowledge and experience in various fields in the electrical industry. These include design, installation, alteration, repair and electrical systems construction. Above all, they must pass an exam to ensure satisfaction of the requirements for the profession and get the relevant licenses.
- Licenses
A journeyman and master electricians have different licenses. In the real sense, the later has two licenses while the former has just one. To get a clear idea, it is important to understand that all master electricians were once journeyman electricians. This means that along the way, they had to obtain journeyman licenses. Therefore, a master electrician is an advanced journeyman. On the other hand, a journeyman first becomes an apprentice before obtaining a journeyman license—courtesy of fulfilling the requirements to earn it which include 2 to 4 years of on-hand training and academic qualifications.
- Level of Experience
Experience is one of the most important aspects in electrical work. Master electricians have years of experience working in the industry. Therefore, they are put in charge of supervising journeyman and apprentice electricians. Since they must have worked as apprentice and journeyman electricians, their experience can be as much as 10 years. Four years of experience (or less) as an apprentice and passing of the relevant examination qualifies a person for the position of journeyman.
- Roles and Responsibilities
Educational qualifications, experience, and skills gained while working in the field are some of the determining factors during the assignment of roles and responsibilities in the electrical industry. Thus, a master electrician has more demanding roles than their journeyman counterparts. These include designing of electrical systems, supervising workers as well as pulling permits. In addition, they must be well versed with laws and regulations governing the electrical industry in Toronto. Remember that journeyman electricians too have their roles. Among them is supervision of apprentices and installations of various electrical systems and equipment. They also maintain the systems and conduct repairs.
Final Remarks
Most of the differences between journeyman and master electricians lie in experience and expertise. Keep in mind the fact that if they want to advance their careers to master electricians, journeyman electricians need to amass experience and take an exam at the end of it. If you are hiring a licensed electrician in Toronto, remember that you will have to pay more for the services of a master electrician than you would with a journeyman. With the former, you would be hiring the best there is in the industry.