“Don't discount a life in the trades… Don't be afraid to get in here. Learn a new skill, whether it's power line technician, whether it's plumbing, whether it's, you know, electrician or even brick laying, anything,” urges Richard Giannini. He  is from Saint Mary's First Nation in Fredericton, New Brunswick and he’s now working as a power line technician with NB Power and living in Miramichi.

He particularly wants to encourage young women to consider the trades. He loves the training, working outside and with his hands. “You can see your progress. There's a visual representation of what you actually accomplish and you get paid to learn. You just try them all out, like I did a lot of them, and figure out which one’s for you,” he adds.

At one point, Giannini went to university for engineering and found it wasn’t for him. As a young person, he was always out in the woods working with his dad and so going to school just wasn’t a fit for him. He’s also found that the pay in his line of work agrees with him as it’s very highly paid. For those who are concerned about safety, he assures that the training is very well instructed with high safety standards. The gear is fully tested with a lot of safety protocol in place. He feels it’s a job that can be done if you know your job and you’re not afraid of heights, but acknowledges that like any job, mistakes can happen and it is a very dangerous trade.

A typical day might be different from one day to the next, whether he’s showing up because a customer is worried about the power lines, or he’s rebuilding a line or fixing a broken pole. There’s a lot of variety in his work so life is never boring and he finds the work both rewarding and challenging. It’s physical work and some days are better than others. Giannini likes being able to help people and see what he’s built, but when there are a lot of people without power it can be stressful.

Growing up, he went to school and worked summer jobs. He worked at the bingo hall as the caller and was on commercials. Working twenty-five hours a week with good tips, he was getting by but when someone asked where he saw himself in five years he couldn’t answer. While he made a decent living, he wanted more for himself. Giannini traveled across Canada trying to decide what to do until he came to this career. When he moved West, he worked on rigs, doing carpentry and masonry. He worked in Alberta and British Columbia.

Eventually, looking at the trade school website, he saw the power line technician course, which was very competitive. 300 people apply annually for a dozen seats, with mental, physical and work experience criteria deciding who gets in. People who don’t end up working with the utility company end up traveling a lot. Giannini first worked for an electrical company and travelled all over the states for the first six months. It’s a career he hopes to stick with until retirement, though it’s physically demanding, always climbing, leaning, cranking on things. He plans to retire at 58, though he has to do the financial planning as he’s just bought a house.

As far as obstacles, as a journeyman, Giannini faced a range of reactions to his presence in the industry. “Sometimes it can be challenging as an Aboriginal in the trades,” he explains. “You're just a little bit different and you meet those challenges head on. I've made some mistakes where I let things go too far until it really started to bother me. Now I start to speak up as soon as I encounter things,” he continues.

His advice for students going away to college, leaving home and going out into the world is, “You gotta be ready to sacrifice.” What he means is you have to be ready to forgo flashy sneakers for rent and plan for the future. Giannini reinforces the need to set goals, reflecting, “I see where I want to be in five years, and then I start to break it down on where and where and how do I get there. I just keep on knocking off steps. As long as you see yourself progressing, then I feel like you're going to get to where you want to be eventually."

If he could give his younger self a message it would be, “It's gonna get easier. It's hard. Things are tough, but you're doing good. Be proud of yourself. Be proud of where you're headed. Don't focus on too much of what's happening right now, try to look forward, because at the end of the day, you're going to be successful. You're going to have the life you want to have, and you're going to be right where you're supposed to be.” His inspiration growing up was Dragon Ball Z and the message that you put in the work to get where you want to be.

To keep his mental health in check, Giannini spends time with his two labradoodles who he considers his babies. He also spends time with his son who loves boxing. He loves gardening and tending to the plants to help them grow, a hobby he started last year that he finds very relaxing.

Glad he didn’t discount a life in the trades, Richard Giannini is now empowered living a life as a power line technician. He didn’t have a five-year plan working as a bingo caller, and now he’s bought a house and has a rewarding career he loves. Always a challenge from one day to the next, he keeps the lights on in his community and himself lit up for the work he does.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.