Can you work as a lineman with family (2024)

It is a general understanding that working as a lineman has long and odd hours. Lineman jobs also have quite a bit of travel especially early on in a career. But is it possible to spend time with family while working as a lineman? Absolutely yes. The linemen must as finding a work life balance understand they will need to turn down over time pay opportunities. You will not be physically worked to death but you will live at work at times. This will make relationships difficult but as you climb the chain you will be earning enough that you can basically raise a family on one wage packet.

Are lineman jobs difficult on my family

If you work for a utility you are going to be expected to work in times of high demand or immediately following an "event". An event can be anything from a motor vehicle accident taking out a utility pole or a transformer to a natural disaster such as an ice storm or the fires in California. You may be required to travel out of state if the utility has a mutual aid program with other utilities. All "maintenance" jobs have very unpredictable schedules. At times depending on how well they staff for emergencies the normal times can be busy and the overtime insane or the normal times can be outright boring and overtime frustrating but at least you're doing something. Government operations and certain industries where uptime is critical (paper mills, power plants, glass plants) or political (municipals) tend towards full staffing while most private companies run understaffed and try to contract out for minor events.

Lineman jobs with good work life balance

Many linemen wouldnt be able to tell you the number of birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, kids ballgames, ect that they have to do miss. Those hours were at all times of day and night and in all kinds of weather. Most companies and OHSA have limits on the number of hours that you can work in a day. Ours was 16 and then you were required to have 8 hours off. And if any of those 8 hours off were during regular work hours they got paid for them! Look for local jobs that dont have a ton of travel on Lineman Central.

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