Cooperative Living April 2023 - 6

POWERFUL CAREERS
A Worthwhile Journey
From behind the wheel to the top of a pole
by Jim Robertson, Staff Writer
T
Wes Shrieves
Journeyman line technician
A&N Electric Cooperative
en short years ago,Wes Shrieves
was sitting behind the wheel ofa
truck every day. That quickly lost
its appeal when his cousin repeatedly
declared his love for his job with a
contractor working on the A&NElectric
Cooperative system. As someone who
loves being outside and working with
his hands, Shrieves was easily convinced
to make a move in that direction. After
a couple attempts, he accepted a role
as a groundman with the co-op in 2013.
Born and raised on the Virginia
Eastern Shore, like many ofhis
coworkers, Shrieves finds satisfaction
in serving his neighbors and his
community. " It's a very rewarding
field, " says Shrieves, now a journeyman
line technician. " When you're able to
help somebody out and get the power
restored ... it's just a really good feeling. "
With no prior experience on a line
crew, Shrieves remains grateful for the
training and development opportunities
afforded to him by A&N Electric
Cooperative. He completed a four-year
Cooperative. He completed a four-year
apprenticeship training programwith
the Virginia, Marylandaryland &Delaware
Association of Electric Cooperatives,
p
th Vi
p
he Virginia, Maryland &Delawarear
ela
which is now hosted at its state-of-theart
training facility in Palmyra, Va.,
as well as at a newer facility on the
Eastern Shore in Salisbury, Md.
" They were phenomenal, " says
Shrieves. " They taught us everything we
needed to do and how to do it safely. "
The eight-step program includes two
weeks of class at the facility and 8,000
hours of on-the-job training. Shrieves
is now enrolled in the Association's
substation technician apprenticeship
program.
Responsibility increases significantly
as a journeyman. " You're out on your
own. You're making decisions on your
4 ● Cooperative Living ●
April 2023
own, " Shrieves explains. " You're filling
in leading crews, and you've got a lot of
younger guys looking to you for advice
and guidance. "
Shrieves' 10-year career has been
anything but dull. In addition to
exploring some other roles at the co-op,
he was able to complete training thanks
to Sentinel Robotic Systems and become
a licensed drone pilot. " We've been using
them a lot, " he says about drones at the
co-op. " We're doing a lot ofinspections.
We keep them on the truck at all times.
In the event ofa larger outage, we're
able to patrol a lot ofline really quickly
instead ofhaving to wait for boats or
utility vehicles to get on scene. "
Cooperation AmongCooperatives
is a founding principle ofelectric co-ops
and led to the implementation ofa
mutual-aid network to provide assistance
during large power outages.When a call
for help comes in from a sister co-op,
every hand goes up. " We all enjoy going
out oftown and helping out our sister
co-ops, " says Shrieves. " One that sticks
out to me is Hurricane Florence.
We
W nt to Four County
Wewent to Four County [Electric
Membership Corporation] in North
Carolina. Those guys had it rough down
there; they were pretty devastated. It
was pretty nice to be able to go down
there and give them a hand. "
We went to Four County [Electric
lectric
Shrieves encourages anyone who is
a hard worker, likes to be outside and
work with their hands to give strong
consideration to a career with their local
electric cooperative. " There's a great
opportunity to earn a good living, "
he says. " The co-op really stands behind
you as far as providing you an education.
Stick to your training and you'll
be fine. " 
For more, visit vmdaec.com/powerfulcareers.
co-opliving.com
http://www.vmdaec.com/powerfulcareers http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living April 2023

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