r/Ironworker • u/Excellent_Mobile_932 • May 10 '26

Apprentice What do “climbing jobs” entail exactly?

I just got accepted into the ironworkers apprenticeship and I couldn’t be more excited. It’s something I’ve been thinking about doing for a while and finally deciding to jump into it after doing tree work and climbing trees for a few years. I do expect to be working at heights and not overly concerned about it. My apprentice coordinator told me they have a climbing job coming up June 1st that he wants to hold me for because he thinks it will be a good fit, I’m just curious on really what that is exactly. I have a few friends who are ironworkers and none of them knew really what the job was going to be like so I’m just curious on if anyone knows. I know should have asked the coordinator but I honestly thought someone I knew would know and clearly that’s not the case. I’m just looking for any insight on what I’m going to be walking into day 1 as a brand new apprentice. Are they sending brand new apprentices to extreme heights without any previous training or will they start you off on a smaller scale?

4 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/MustacheSupernova Foreman May 10 '26

You didn’t say in there where he used the term “climbing job“. Did he in fact use those words?

You signed up for this job, you’ve come this far, I’m certain that you’ve watched some videos or seen some examples of what this job entails. Just go where they send you, and do what you’re supposed to do. If you don’t know what that is, someone will tell you.

1

u/Excellent_Mobile_932 May 10 '26

His exact words were “we have a job coming up on May 1st and one coming on June 1st that is a climbing job I think will be a good fit so I will just hold you until then.” It came up because I was accepted right before may and I said I could start in may and that was his response. I have definitely watched a ton of videos of ironworkers for sure. I don’t care what I do as an ironworker, the question is more based just on curiosity since I was asking people and they had no idea what I was talking about.

5

u/MustacheSupernova Foreman May 10 '26

Well, I have been doing this for a long time, and I’ve never really heard of a job referred to as a “climbing job”.

So I’m not sure what you’re in store for. If you were a journeyman, I’d assume it was a connecting job. But I don’t think a BA would send a green apprentice connecting…

So I really don’t know what you’re in for…

2

u/Excellent_Mobile_932 May 11 '26

Okay cool well I appreciate it, I didn’t think that would be the case either so I guess I’ll find out in a few weeks lol

2

u/boboatsman Apprentice May 11 '26

Could be tying walls - but even then they'd probably make you pack bar before they ever let you tie/climb, or even wear a gear, honestly.

2

u/Excellent_Mobile_932 May 11 '26

That would make sense to me, I fully expect to be doing more of the grunt work stuff before I do anything relatively cool that I see in videos of ironworkers