From Apprentice to Future First Responder: A Third-Year Lineworker's Journey of Grit, Growth, and Guts

Vincent Napolitano: Ameren Illinois

• Third-year apprentice.

• His father is a cable splicer in New York City, and his uncle was a lineworker.

• Enjoys cabinet making, bowling, golfing and softball. 

• Can’t live without hydraulics and power tools in general. Using the right tool for the job and learning to use positioning is important. The number one tool is your brain, he says. He’s thankful to have good training and mentors to help him work out of a bind or avoid it completely just by using brains over brute force.

• In the future, he sees job security and more advances in tools. He also hopes lineworkers will one day be nationally recognizable as first responders.

Training in the Trade

Our training center has a nice climbing facility outdoors and several simulated workstations as well as a good transformer program in the classrooms. We learn on live models and play different troubleshooting scenarios. It’s a good blend of information on distribution systems. 

Learning How to Climb

I didn’t go to a line school, which for climbing, meant I had to work harder to learn this skill. As far as work, I think it was better to be trained from scratch and molded into the apprentice they wanted me to be rather than have to unlearn certain things. 

Day in the Life

I mainly focus on customer jobs and work both overhead and underground. Outages pull us off more times than not, so we are constantly having to fight fires. There’s always a learning opportunity in every job, and no two jobs are the same. At first, the journeymen are holding your hand and walking you through the safe practice of how to do a job. Then you get to do it yourself, and at the end, you reflect back on how you can improve for the next time and make all your moves count.

Challenges of Working as an Apprentice

The competitive nature can be challenging, but can also be equally as fun. We push each other to do better each day. Sometimes you may not see the same job for a long time, so it’s good to have a journal and log what you do and jot down the do’s and dont’s. There’s a lot of information to retain, but if you love what you do, you will make that a priority.

Training Then and Now

I think today’s apprentices have access to better equipment and tools. At the same time, I feel the art of old school line work shouldn’t die either because it teaches grit, which I think you need to have in the trade.

Memorable Storm

I haven’t had a chance to do much crew work on storm or go out of my area. Storms for me is a lot of troubleshooting, which can be fun and challenging. The more you do it, the more familiar you get with the process, and it’s fun to be able to fast track the problem to get it isolated and restore as many customers as possible in the process. 

Life in the Line Trade

I love what I do, and I love this trade. My favorite part of working in the trade is the camaraderie and how it could be pouring rain, and you can be slopping through the mud and you and the crew still manage to share laughs and have fun.

Secrets to Success

It takes heart, grit, and a good attitude. If you do it just for a paycheck, it probably won’t work. Be humble and take criticism well and if you have one bad day, don’t let it compound but use it as a learning lesson. My advice to other apprentices is to win every day. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Take advantage of all down time. You get what you put in so take charge and develop confidence in yourself what you know. Never saying the words “I know” or “I can’t” might help too.

Focus on Safety

Safety is everything. Everyone has a reason to come home every day. Don’t take any shortcuts and your body and your family will thank you.

Future Plans

I hope to get to travel the country for a while and spend time with loved ones. I hope to learn more and pay it forward to the next generation coming up.

Editor’s Note: If you would like to nominate an apprentice for Faces of the Future, please email Field Editor Amy Fischbach at [email protected]. All profiled apprentice lineworkers will receive a tool package from Milwaukee Tool. 

To learn more about Vincent (Vinny) Napolitano and his career in the line trade as an apprentice, visit linelife.podbean.com to tune in to our “Faces of the Future” series for the Line Life Podcast.