Beginning Your Career as an Electrician with Baldwin Park Adult Community Education

Society will always need electricians to design and build new electrical systems and to repair existing ones. Unlike many other workers whose roles can be moved to a remote location, electricians will always be needed in our communities.

Electrical work requires significant experience and skill, and your training needs to comply with local regulations. A wise way to begin your path to becoming an electrician is to enroll in a training program approved by the state of California, such as the Baldwin Park Adult Community Education electrician program.

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Requirements for Becoming an Electrician in California

California keeps track of all electricians, from trainees and apprentices to masters. If you want to work on electrical projects, you’ll need to become a trainee, which means enrolling in an approved training program. You need to complete about 144 hours of classes annually, and work at least 2,000 hours under the supervision of experienced electricians.

To qualify as a journeyworker, you’ll need to take a rigorous state exam, and you’ll need to demonstrate further work experience and pass another exam to become a master electrician. More about this process is explained on this official state website and on our site here.

The Electrician Program at Baldwin Park

Baldwin Park Adult Career Training Center offers daytime and evening sections of its electrician program—day classes are held 8AM to 1:30PM, Monday through Thursday, and evening classes are held 5:30–9:30PM on those days. If you’re enrolled in the daytime section, you’ll be on target to complete the program in five semesters, while the nighttime section completes in seven. In both cases, some of your classes will take place at Baldwin Park’s Adult Career Training Center, and some will be at the Automotive, Electrician and HVAC campus. The program involves 900 hours of teaching time and will prepare you to take the exam that will enable you to get entry-level work as an electrician or progress to an apprenticeship.

Whichever section you enroll in, you’ll develop competency in:

  • Study of Basic Electricity
  • Residential Home Wiring
  • Industrial Wiring
  • Schematic Layout
  • Blueprint Reading
  • Introduction to Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC)

In both sections, the program is a 900-hour class that involves plenty of hands-on experience with the real tools and techniques that you’ll use every day on site as an electrician, as well as a strong grounding in the theoretical concepts that you’ll need to apply on the job.

Baldwin Park Electrician Program Costs

The total cost for the day program is currently $3,253 including books, materials and tuition. The night section cost is $3,073. Both programs are eligible for a variety of forms of state and national financial aid as well as federal loans. Additionally, you’ll need to take out student accident insurance at a cost of $15 per quarter. The school financial aid office is ready to help applicants find all the grants they’re eligible for and to assist with applications.

Admissions Requirements and How to Apply for the Baldwin Park Electrician Program

To enroll in the program, you’ll need to have a high school diploma or general equivalency, and to be proficient in English. You’ll also need to take the TABE test, which is administered most weekdays at the school, to determine your readiness for the program. You’ll need to score at least a seventh-grade level in English and math. If you have skills and learning gaps, that’s not a problem as Baldwin Park offers adult basic education courses to get you to the level of a high school graduate.

Additionally, the Pell Grant—the main federal financial aid for students—has the following requirements:

  • You must show your financial need
  • Applicants must be eighteen or older
  • You must have a high school or general equivalency diploma—if you don’t have this you can qualify by taking the Wonderlic ATB test
  • You must meet citizenship requirements
  • Males aged ages 18 to 25 must be registered with Selective Services
  • You’ll need to meet monthly satisfactory progress and attendance targets
  • Financial aid is not available for students who have a bachelor’s degree

To apply for the program, start by downloading and completing this registration form. After completion. mail it in to the address at the top of the form, and someone from the team will be in touch to guide you through the next steps.

More about Baldwin Park

The adult career education program at Baldwin Park is organizedby the same people who are educating kids in the school district, which means that the program has vast experience with supporting students from marginalized backgrounds and those with barriers to education. Its ethos is free or low-cost education for everyone in the community. Courses qualifying learners for careers in cosmetology, pharmacy, and HVAC, as well as many other fields, are available.

One important benefit of this school is that it offers free childcare for the kids of learners, for vaccinated and toilet-trained children up to nine years of age. It also offers comprehensive career services, ensuring that you’ll have a good chance of a job in your chosen career upon graduation. Counseling, tutoring and academic support are also on offer.

You may also be interested in training to become an electrician at Irvine Valley College.