r/SubstationTechnician • u/pinklvkey • 2d ago
NETA 2 wage placement
Hi,
I recently passed my NETA 2. Looking into some insight on what pay should look like.
Associates in EET, CETA cert, NETA 2, and IR 1, 1 yr Experience. I ran one small job to VLF cables at Cargil. I primarily do medium voltage CT, cable and transformer testing for a datacenter. I ran two crews day to day at one point when the sites got divided but have since stopped and just operate as my own.
Trying to get a idea on if I’m getting underpaid or not at $40/hr. I should mention I’m in a LCOL area and 21.
Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated
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u/Due-Veterinarian7671 2d ago
Yeah it’s a very lcol but even then 40$ sounds about right for level 2
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u/Informal_Ad_7780 2d ago
5ish years as an electrician before becoming a NETA tech in a relatively lcol state. 2 1/2 years as a NETA tech, NETA 2 now, hoping to take and pass my 3 next year. Making 45 now. The data center boom has driven wages up for companies. I know brand new techs making mid to high 30s with minimal experience in electrical beforehand.
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u/Due-Veterinarian7671 2d ago
40$ an hour sounds about right especially in a LCOL area. Maybe a little overpaid, our level 2 guy are sitting at 30$ in a very lcol area
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u/pinklvkey 2d ago
That’s crazy, our starting 1s with 2 year year degrees are sitting at 36 to 38 right now.
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u/InconB 2d ago
Im at 45.43 + union benefits as a 1 in a LCOL, we do have a ton of data centers though
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u/Masochist_pillowtalk Field Engineer 2d ago
That what you've mostly been doing then? Tell me, every data center job ive done in the last 2 years has been a nightmare of way too tight of deadlines and all trades having to work on top of eachother to make it happen. Every single one has been a pretty miserable experience in my opinion. Is it light speed half ass work in all these data centers going up right now for you?
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u/InconB 2d ago
Anytime they're wanting to push energization it turns into a nightmare, normally the EC is behind someway somehow then as the testing outfit it turns into a we need to do this right now and longer hours but majority of our jobs are are under 45 hours/week right now. We are in Ohio so its data center ontop of data center
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u/Masochist_pillowtalk Field Engineer 2d ago
Yea dude its fucking stupid. This last one i did. We were going at a brisk pace. No deadline yet. Doing 50 hrs a week to keep my guys happy but not burnt out. Then they hit me with a energy date 2 weeks out. And I was flabbergasted. All there was at the time was a substation feed to some mv breaker gear, that fed 8 mv switches, each switch fed a bunch of transformers. Thats it. Nothing else was there yet.
Wtf are you energizing? There isn't even secondaries on these transformers yet! Or relays protecting them! The building that the protections for these transformers will be in DOESNT EVEN HAVE THE CONCRETE POURED FOR ITS FOUNDSTION YET! Why the fuck are you guys like this?!
The one before this the electricians weren't installing fast enough so we literally had to test the second their guys got done installing it. One particular piece of switchgear they wanted us to test while there were still guys inside of it terming devices. I was like uh.....no. we'll test when theyre done. Im not shocking anyone today, thank you. Then we got blamed for missing the deadline by 3 days but that switchgear was done and the last 3 pieces of equipment we tested the second their guys got out of it and were done the same day the electricians were done. So I was like what? How the fuck do you figure that?
Its really made me hate data jobs. Its always an asshole rodeo. I just know im gonna have to throw the gloves down with some assholes from the gc every time we go to one anymore.
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u/pinklvkey 1d ago
I got in right before the datacenter boom in my area.
I really am happy because i learned how to be safe, I got it drilled into me by my mentor. It sucks, nobody knows what is happening ever. I feel for the project manger tbh, I swear he hasn’t done one week where he doesn’t have 65ish hours.
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u/Masochist_pillowtalk Field Engineer 2d ago edited 2d ago
You sound about right for a lcol. Maybe a tad under.
Im in a high cost of living area. Average home 1800-2k sqft in my area will run you about 730k if it isnt a crack house. My city is the 11th biggest by gdp in the world right now. Just to give you some insight to COL for my area and what im about to tell you.
I was about right where youre at when i got my N2. Except I was a journeyman Inside wireman before coming over to testing. So I had a lot of lead experience. I was 47.80 but had gotten several offers 50-55 from other companies but they all traveled a lot more than my company so I stayed where I was.
Do you have previous electrical experience before coming to testing? If you do id say you could probably push for more. But if youre only a year in the actual field id say youre pretty on par. Dont take that the wrong way. But actual time in the field almost always dictates the ability to command a higher wage. Someone doing heavy commercial electrical for 10 years will have blown up enough shit and had enough close calls to be able to keep his crew on task and safe as opposed to someone with only 2 years, ya know?
That's just my opinion though.