Updated December 2022

Planning to become an electrician apprentice in Ontario? You'll need to follow a specific set of steps from total beginner to licensed journeyperson.

Those steps usually start with some kind of pre-apprenticeship electrician training. This is followed by a mandatory apprenticeship with a licensed electrician.

Once your electrician apprenticeship is complete, you can challenge the certification exam. Pass the exam, and you can get registered as a licensed journeyperson in the trade.

How long do all these steps take? And what kinds of tasks will you perform as an electrician apprentice?

In this post, we break down the training and certification process, including typical tasks for beginner electricians.

Here's how you become an electrician apprentice (and ultimately a licensed electrician) in Ontario.

Updated December 2022

Should you become an electrician? If you look at it from an employment and salary angle, the answer is easy.

Electricians have been in steady demand across Ontario for the past several years—and the trend is expected to continue.

Construction projects in Ontario cities are creating plenty of jobs for electricians. Government is investing in education, healthcare, and transit building projects, and there are many condos going up in urban centres throughout the province.

Salaries for electricians are also going strong. The median wage for electricians in Ontario right now is $30.77 per hour, or about $64,000 a year.

At the high end of the pay scale, electricians are making $47.50 per hour—that's over $98,000 a year. (Salary information is based on the latest report from the Government of Canada Job Bank.)

But it's not all about money.

To do well in electrician training, and feel happy in your career, you'll need a certain set of professional and personal skills.

So let's take a look at eight of the most important skills for successful electricians.

By the time you reach number eight, you'll have a much better idea of whether this trade is right for you (plus some helpful links and steps to take next). Let's get started.