I am a nationally certified (NOCTI) Electromechanical Engineer that got chewed up and spit out after working non-union jobs in industry as a maintenance technician for a couple years as a young 'n dumb kid right out of school. I have kept my skills sharp enough to wire up my own offgrid solar DC systems, remember enough theory to do calculations and read schematics. I enjoy the feelings of satisfaction and capability that comes from sucessfully putting together a good wired system.

But im kind of scared to get back into the career field knowing how dangerous it can be and how little money I was paid before. On one hand I feel like I could use my highly technical skills to make good money but on another every company i’ve ever worked fucked me over with promised training that never happened and severely understaffed stressed out teams who didn’t have the time or energy to spend training a newbie.

I assume its like this everywhere, but I guess im trying to ask if theres still any places left in this country (US) or hell even the world that will treat me right and not understaffed to hell. What is contracting work like and should I try to get into an electricians union? I really don’t know if I want to get back into this career field and I don’t know if I want to commit to a 2 year apprenticeship contract.

Also Im kind of an environment guy who cares about clean energy and would love to be helping out the planet a little through my work so ideally I would like a solar or wind gig. But I hate high places. I know beggars can’t be choosers but as a fantasy I could see it would be sweet to work on a ground level solar array out in the desert.

Im pretty good with computers and IT, I use linux daily, can ssh into a public server, have set up some local services on my own network. A lot of the older guys have appreciated my help navigating companies old poorly organized intranets for schematic scans and work orders.

I am single and willing to relocate.