Rooted in the cooperative principle of education and training, electric cooperatives offer seasonal apprentice lineworkers opportunities to help them build skills and advance their careers.
This year, Carson Massey and Joe Gieser joined the Slope Electric Cooperative crews in May as seasonal apprentice lineworkers. This opportunity allows apprentice lineworkers to gain 1,000 hours of field experience, helping them along the path to achieving journeyman status.
By working alongside experienced crews, apprentices gain hands-on experience, learn essential safety practices and develop skills critical to the trade. This real-world exposure helps recent graduates gain valuable skills in maintenance, troubleshooting and safety. It also allows apprentices to build confidence and proficiency, reinforcing technical knowledge while exposing them to on-the-job expectations and responsibilities.
While working at the cooperative, apprentices take part in a variety of tasks, including constructing new services, retiring aging infrastructure, working alongside contractors and responding to members' requests. By joining crews as they work throughout the service area, apprentices learn not only the technical side of the cooperative, but also the principles that define the co-op model.
Through mentorship and field experience, apprentices gain the hours required for advancement as well as insight into the membership and cooperative model and the values that make a successful lineworker. Through these efforts, Slope Electric continues to invest in education while maintaining the reliable service members depend on every day.