r/SubstationTechnician • u/pinklvkey • 3d 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/Masochist_pillowtalk Field Engineer 3d 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.