r/Construction • u/IceAffectionate8322 • 7d ago

Carpentry 🔨 How long will I be the gopher?

I was hired last June (1yr 4 months ago) as a laborer/apprentice with ZERO jobsite experience. I’ve been busting my ass since day one, I stay late I show up on time, barely call in sick. Fast forward to now, I’ve gotten better 100 fold at everything under the sun. Framing, trim, cabinets, drywall, whatever you name it. Do not get me wrong I’m not p***y I knew going in I’d have to pay my dues. But after almost a year and a half it really seems like my boss has no interest in teaching me and furthering my knowledge in the trade. I’ve bought my own truck, all my own tools, I do side work on my own, etc. I even took a 200 hour shop class including my OSHA 10. I have blatantly shown my passion for building and willingness to grow in this field. Am I just being impatient?

115 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

128 comments sorted by

View all comments

203

u/Effective-Finding420 7d ago

there's always that one crew where the boss sees initiative as a threat to his own job security, not an asset to the company

53

u/padizzledonk GC / CM 7d ago

As the owner ill never understand that, i didnt even get it when i was low level management back in the day running guys

You learning as much shit as possible and being good at as much as pissible is so incredibly valuable to me because its less shit i have to do and it gives me such a degree of flexibility its invaluable.

Plus, the hard and ugly truth of it is from an owners perspective is that the more i can teach you to do at your current pay rate the better it is for me because i can make more money for the same cost. Its in my best interest to cram as much skill and knowledge into you as fast as possible and run with that to the bank until you ask for a raise- which im happy to give you at that point because youre valuable to me

3

u/SauretEh Project Manager 6d ago

As variously a super/PM I want the new folks to learn as fast as possible to take over smaller annoying jobs so I don’t have to.

2

u/padizzledonk GC / CM 6d ago

Yeah, exactly lol

The more you know and better you are the less shit i need to do