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One year with an engineering degree
Ten years with no schooling at all
$62,900 a year, about $30.24 an hour
Virginia has the largest concentration of data centers in the world in its northern counties, shipbuilding and naval work in Hampton Roads, hospitals and universities statewide, and federal facilities throughout. Day to day:
Virginia calls electricians tradesmen, and its regulations set out several routes to the journeyman exam. They trade directly against each other:
There is also a route on experience alone, which takes ten years and must be verified by affidavit from people who watched you work.
The useful thing here is that you do not have to pick one at the start. Whatever combination of school and years you end up with, the ladder probably has a rung that fits, and you choose it when you apply rather than when you begin.
Get hired, and pick up schooling as you go. In Virginia, every hour of classroom time you bank knocks a year off what the state requires later.
SkillUp houses short, low-cost programs in one place so you’re not calling around. Our Virginia training catalog only lists programs we have checked for cost, length, and whether they lead to work.
Virginia employs about 23,630 electricians, and the median is $62,900 a year, or $30.24 an hour.
Virginia licenses the person and the business separately, and you need both if you want to run your own shop.
So the ladder goes journeyman, master, then a contractor class sized to the work you want to bid.
Virginia holds reciprocal agreements with five states, and they are specific about which credential maps to which:
If you're coming from anywhere else, you apply with a Certification or Letter of Good Standing from your state board showing your license number, initial date of licensure, and standing.
SkillUp is so much more than a job board. Our free tools support you through each step:
It depends on how much schooling you have. One year of practical experience with a related engineering degree, two years with an associate degree, four years with 240 hours of vocational training, and up to ten years with none at all.
Virginia’s term for the individual electrician license. Journeyman and master electricians are both licensed as tradesmen through the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation.
You need at least a journeyman license to work independently. Apprentices can work while they train under a licensed contractor.
Yes. A bachelor’s degree in a related engineering curriculum brings the practical experience down to one year, and an associate degree or two-year certificate brings it to two.
One year of practical experience as a licensed Virginia journeyman, then the master exam. A master electrician is also what qualifies an electrical contracting business.
The tradesman license certifies you as an electrician. The contractor license authorizes your business, in Class A, B, or C depending on the size of jobs you want to take. Running your own shop needs both.
Yes, with Alabama, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, and West Virginia. Each agreement specifies which credential maps to which, so check the pairing that applies to you.
The median is $62,900 a year, about $30.24 an hour. The top quarter earns above $78,190, and the top ten percent above $105,720. Helpers have a median of $44,530.
