what careers can utility locating lead into?

**brokendreams** · February 20th, 2012, 11:10 PM

One day I would like to be a lineman or a cable splicer for att.. part of me taking this job was so i could get experience to get into other fields..my super told me that he had guys quit to go for work for att..so far i am liking locating & doing well in training, but opening those ped's and seeing that cluster **** of telephone wires is exciting.

**TheCableVine** · February 20th, 2012, 11:47 PM

Dishwashing, janitorial... Just kidding.

I think if you do a good job and get a good rapport going with the utility crews you might be able to get a job with one of the utilities. They notice who is doing a good job and who is only out there to collect a paycheck.

Talk to the fiber people and ask them how to get into fiber. That is good money from what I understand. Well, better than locating.

You will work with all sorts of different contractors that do everything from cement work to swimming pools to fiber installations. If you want to work outside there is no limit to the different type of jobs you will be exposed to.

If your question is what job can you do with your locator training, not a whole lot. You can go from contract locating to SUE locating which is different but it is still locating.

Hope that answers your question.

**daman1** · February 20th, 2012, 11:58 PM

Don't forget migrant farm worker, vagrant, and clock tower sniper.

**fiberlocator99** · February 21st, 2012, 12:19 AM

a dead end, lay off, termination. at&t is super hard to get in to. i got my foot in the door at at&t before seasonal layoff at cls in 06. their testing is super hard made for engineers. my foot in the door was pushed right out ha but true story and i was only applying for a u verse tech job.

**daman1** · February 21st, 2012, 12:27 AM

Test dummy at for a proctologist maybe?

**Turk182** · February 21st, 2012, 12:46 AM

Originally Posted by fiberlocator99

a dead end, lay off, termination. at&t is super hard to get in to. i got my foot in the door at at&t before seasonal layoff at cls in 06. their testing is super hard made for engineers. my foot in the door was pushed right out ha but true story and i was only applying for a u verse tech job.

The fact that they are losing market share left and right doesn't help any, there has been talk to them taking locating back in house to get the union to allow layoffs.

**sagedog** · February 21st, 2012, 03:21 AM

There are some companies like On Target on the east coast that set poles and have linemen,as well as locate. You can check their web site. you would have to move to Maine though, and bring your sister whom you can marry cuz thats what I hear they do up there. alot of them are their own uncles.

**Wingfoot** · February 21st, 2012, 06:03 AM

Hey brokendreams - locator99 and Turk are on the right track - Set your sights in a different direction other than AT&T. AT&T techs I've known throughout the years piss and moan constantly about their employer. As for hiring on to become a U-verse technician, that most likely won't happen. AT&T is taking internal office staff, telling them to either hit the bricks or become a U-verse tech. The U-verse techs are making about 60% of a comparable AT&T repair tech.

Just to give you an idea how much value "Ma Bell" attaches to her "bread and butter" union workers, AT&T paid extra, until just recently, to have no A/C in her brand new service trucks! I've got a buddy with 15 years with AT&T in cable repair and installation and he is 6th from the bottom in seniority! 6th from the bottom! He has seniority over 5 people! What this means, AT&T hasn't hired a person to become a bona-fide cable repair technician in maybe 8 years or more! And on the backside, I've seen AT&T repair techs retire with buyouts in groups of five countless times ever since I started locating in 1997! Maybe Sprint or other telephone providers treat their employees differently than Ma Bell, but in my opinion, pots (plain old telephone service) line industry is a dying field anyway. I look for AT&T to sell off the distribution side someday soon and be a long-distance carrier only. In doing so, AT&T will contract out all needed repairs.

An acquaintance of mine son-in-law is a fiber splicer. The pay is okay, but a fiber splicer has to follow the work. And the work is never close to home. If you don't mind living in small travel trailer, roaming the country as a gypsy, then fiber splicing may be of your liking.

Now, if you want to be lineman and heights don't bother you (not me brother!), go for the power & light industry. You are always close to home and there are no lay-offs! Apprenticeship lasts +/- three years and wages are top of the industry. I've known many journeymen lineman knocking close to 6-figure incomes every year. They work many long hours to get there. Plus, lineman can work declared disaster zones without paying income taxes. I can't recall ever talking to a lineman who hated his/her job.

If you prefer to keep both feet on the ground, entertain working for the natural gas company. The apprenticeship phase kinda/sorts sucks (everyone starts by collecting from past-due customers - ewww), but there are so many different directions to go as a journeyman gas man. And like lineman, there are never any lay-offs being a gas man.

Being a utility locator really isn't that bad. I realize I will never be at the wage level of a union lineman or union gas man, but I still like what I'm doing.

--------------------------------------------------------------

**Mke** · February 21st, 2012, 09:52 AM

Hey Broken, As Steve said, do a good job and it will be noticed by contractors. I have been given opportunities that wouldn't of been extended to me otherwise. If you can get you foot in the door for a city agency they can move you up and out of the locating field. It really depends on the type of person you are and what companies are around you to the opportunities that are available.

Good luck

Mke

**daman1** · February 21st, 2012, 03:07 PM

I don't know how much training or pay the surveyors get but the job seems to use the same skill set a locator does. The hard part is finding a survey crew to talk to who doesn't absolutely hate locators and vice-versa. They drive me nuts with their tickets scopes and whenever I talk to them, it's an argument. It's hard being handed tickets covering two miles of congested road by someone who has no plans to actually dig.
Skill set wise, you could also try sperm bank attendant or prison bitch

Just playin around a little

**daman1** · February 21st, 2012, 04:11 PM

Hey Wing, I heard something similar to AT&T about Verizon. Their end game is supposedly to rid themselves eventually of all local hard lines and focus exclusively on wireless. The only thing left to locate will be the cables between cell towers and CO's. In the end, I think there's gonna be an enormous mass of obsolete unused copper buried out there with the last of the land line companies. I don't think it'll happen tomorrow or anything but it's on the horizon and the rural areas would be the last to go.
Natural gas is where the boom is gonna happen I think. Stay close as you can to that industry if you're just starting out. It's the only thing they can't run aerial or wireless.

**brokendreams** · February 21st, 2012, 04:18 PM

Originally Posted by Wingfoot

Hey brokendreams - locator99 and Turk are on the right track - Set your sights in a different direction other than AT&T. AT&T techs I've known throughout the years piss and moan constantly about their employer. As for hiring on to become a U-verse technician, that most likely won't happen. AT&T is taking internal office staff, telling them to either hit the bricks or become a U-verse tech. The U-verse techs are making about 60% of a comparable AT&T repair tech.

Just to give you an idea how much value "Ma Bell" attaches to her "bread and butter" union workers, AT&T paid extra, until just recently, to have no A/C in her brand new service trucks! I've got a buddy with 15 years with AT&T in cable repair and installation and he is 6th from the bottom in seniority! 6th from the bottom! He has seniority over 5 people! What this means, AT&T hasn't hired a person to become a bona-fide cable repair technician in maybe 8 years or more! And on the backside, I've seen AT&T repair techs retire with buyouts in groups of five countless times ever since I started locating in 1997! Maybe Sprint or other telephone providers treat their employees differently than Ma Bell, but in my opinion, pots (plain old telephone service) line industry is a dying field anyway. I look for AT&T to sell off the distribution side someday soon and be a long-distance carrier only. In doing so, AT&T will contract out all needed repairs.

An acquaintance of mine son-in-law is a fiber splicer. The pay is okay, but a fiber splicer has to follow the work. And the work is never close to home. If you don't mind living in small travel trailer, roaming the country as a gypsy, then fiber splicing may be of your liking.

Now, if you want to be lineman and heights don't bother you (not me brother!), go for the power & light industry. You are always close to home and there are no lay-offs! Apprenticeship lasts +/- three years and wages are top of the industry. I've known many journeymen lineman knocking close to 6-figure incomes every year. They work many long hours to get there. Plus, lineman can work declared disaster zones without paying income taxes. I can't recall ever talking to a lineman who hated his/her job.

If you prefer to keep both feet on the ground, entertain working for the natural gas company. The apprenticeship phase kinda/sorts sucks (everyone starts by collecting from past-due customers - ewww), but there are so many different directions to go as a journeyman gas man. And like lineman, there are never any lay-offs being a gas man.

Being a utility locator really isn't that bad. I realize I will never be at the wage level of a union lineman or union gas man, but I still like what I'm doing.

--------------------------------------------------------------

lineman apprenticeship may be something i'll look into a couple years down the road... I always wanted to be a tower technician but most employers require some sort of ATT experience.

**Mke** · February 21st, 2012, 04:36 PM

Originally Posted by daman1

I don't know how much training or pay the surveyors get but the job seems to use the same skill set a locator does. The hard part is finding a survey crew to talk to who doesn't absolutely hate locators and vice-versa. They drive me nuts with their tickets scopes and whenever I talk to them, it's an argument. It's hard being handed tickets covering two miles of congested road by someone who has no plans to actually dig.
Skill set wise, you could also try sperm bank attendant or prison bitch

Just playin around a little

Hey Daman, I'm actually based out of the survey department and work closely with the surveyors. The pay for those guys range quite a bit. A guy who works on a survey crew but isn't licensed will probably be a bit more then the typical locator but if you are an LSIT or a PLS you can make a bit more bank. I just seen a PLS position up here post and they advertised starting salary was 68k a year and stopped at 82k a year.

mke

**UTILQ1** · February 21st, 2012, 05:19 PM

Another occupy movement participant !

**TheCableVine** · February 21st, 2012, 06:36 PM

If you want to get into a school for linemen, there is one right here in Meridain, Idaho. It's a nice one, too. My Mother tells me it is owned by a cousin of mine or something but I don't know the guy. 2nd or 3rd cousin probably.

Everyone is claiming to be related to me.