Irv, now is probably not the best time to get into one of the trades. Contrary to what some might tell you, electricians and plumbers are not recession proof occupations. New construction is all but dead right now, not a lot of remodel work is being done, and service work sucks too much to contemplate.

If you do want to start into the electrical trade, you will have to start as an apprentice. Virtually all of your training will be on the job because, outside of the union, there is no formal classroom education beyond manufacturer's product training. It is incumbent upon you to seek the knowledge required to grow in your profession. I will warn you, they will try to kill you with every hard, labor intensive job in the shop for at least your first year. Accept it and embrace it.

I don't know how strong the union is in the Denver area. If they have a strong presence, you are better off working for a union shop as the pay, benefits, and working conditions are generally much better than non-union. Unfortunately, most places in Colorado don't have a strong union presence and so the few union guys I know spend a lot of time "on the books" waiting for work.

If I haven't scared you off, you will probably find that after the initial year or so of hard physical work you will start to learn a lot and really enjoy your work. Before I was a plumber, I had a desk job. I can't tell you how much better it is to be out in the field working with my hands than pecking at a computer or talking on the phone all day. You will have real satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment that one simply cannot get from sitting in an office.

As for licensing, the state of Colorado only licenses two construction trades. Plumbers and electricians. Everybody else is licensed by the county (or building department) where they live and work. The upside to this is that these two trades have not become dominated by cheap immigrant labor in the way that framing, concrete, roofing, and HVAC have. Generally speaking, strating wages for a green apprentice plumber or electrician are in the 8-12 dollar per hour range depending on where you live. In the Denver area, it might be a little higher.

I would say if you survive your first two years scraping by and get your residential wireman's license, you can probably be making 18-20 per hour. Get your Journeyman's license (after four years) and you will probably see 20 - 25 per hour (sometimes more) depending on demand and more importantly, where you live.

There you go, thats my take on the subject.