Career Dish
Career decision guide

Electrician Career Decision Guide

The job is not just pulling wire for good money without college debt. It is making power safe, traceable, and useful inside real buildings and jobsite constraints: bad labels, tight access, code rules, inspections, other trades, customer explanations, body strain, and the pressure to test instead of guess. Electrician work rewards people who like hands-on diagnosis with consequences.

Career Dish uses O*NET and BLS data as the skeleton, then translates the signals into a decision guide: what the work feels like, what kind of stress it creates, what the path costs, and what should make you pause before committing.

$63KMedian pay
9.5%BLS growth
85/100Physical load
35/100AI exposure
Verdict

Should you become an Electrician?

Electrician work is worth a serious look if you want a paid skill ladder, hands-on problem-solving, visible results, and work that AI cannot simply turn into text. It is a poor fit if you only want high trade pay but dislike apprentice correction, physical discomfort, ladders, tight spaces, weather, code, safety habits, callbacks, and the need to slow down when everyone else wants speed.

Good fit if

  • You like practical diagnosis: tracing what changed, testing assumptions, and leaving a system safer and clearer than you found it.
  • You can combine physical stamina with precision, not treat safety habits as paperwork for people who are scared.
  • You are willing to be corrected during apprenticeship because the trade is learned through watched work, not only videos or classes.
  • You want a licenseable skill that can move across residential, commercial, industrial, service, maintenance, solar, controls, and contracting paths.

Think twice if

  • You mainly want no college debt, but hate ladders, crawl spaces, heat, cold, dirty work, early mornings, and carrying material.
  • You rush when a foreman, homeowner, general contractor, or production line pressures you.
  • You dislike code, labels, testing, cleanup, and the habits that make work inspectable and serviceable later.
  • You cannot tolerate beginner status, especially if the person correcting you is younger.

Before you commit

  • Compare union, nonunion, helper, technical-school, and maintenance routes against your state's licensing rules.
  • Model apprentice wages, raise schedule, benefits, commute, tools, dues, and the time to journey-level status.
  • Shadow both residential service and commercial or industrial work before deciding the whole trade fits.
  • Compare electrician against HVAC, plumbing, linework, industrial maintenance, solar, controls, and electrical technician work.

Electrician decision scorecard

Read the scorecard as a paid-training-versus-physical-risk problem. Electrician can be a strong career because the path can pay you while you learn a useful, licenseable, AI-resistant skill. The hard tradeoff is that the same path includes apprentice wages, safety responsibility, body load, weather, jobsite coordination, callbacks, and licensing rules that vary by state and locality.

Main barrierSafety + body load

The job stays sustainable only if physical work, hazard awareness, access problems, and methodical checks fit your temperament.

Daily realityInstall, test, diagnose

The work is not only pulling wire. It is plans, materials, access, code, testing, customers, inspections, other trades, and cleanup.

Automation readLower exposure

AI can help with code lookup, planning, estimates, notes, and troubleshooting prompts. It does not replace safe hands, field judgment, or physical installation.

Money$63K median, $109K top 10%

Pay potential

The national median is strong for a paid-training path, but union scale, license level, overtime, public work, industrial sites, local demand, and self-employment decide how good it feels.

Path$2K to $20K

Education cost

The direct school cost can be low compared with college, but tools, dues, commute, lost income, and apprentice wages still belong in the ROI math.

Path4-5 years

Time to qualify

Many electrician apprenticeships take about four or five years while you accumulate supervised hours and classroom instruction. Local rules decide what counts.

RiskState/local

Licensing complexity

Requirements vary by state and locality. Journeyman, master, contractor, exam, continuing education, and specialty rules can change the ladder.

Load85/100

Physical load

The work asks for standing, kneeling, climbing, overhead work, lifting, pulling, crawling, weather tolerance, and tool stamina.

Load75/100

Precision load

Labels, testing, code, terminations, panel work, torque, grounding, clearances, and inspections make accuracy part of safety.

Market9.5%

Outlook

BLS projects strong growth, with about 81,000 annual openings nationally.

Future35/100

AI exposure

AI can assist lookup, estimates, diagrams, notes, and training. The durable value is safe field execution, diagnosis, judgment, and licensure.

Is being an Electrician stressful?

Yes, and the specific stress matters. Electrician stress comes from safety, precision, body load, bad access, troubleshooting uncertainty, jobsite coordination, inspections, callbacks, and the pressure to work methodically when time or customers want speed.

Electrical safety

Stressful if hazard awareness makes you either reckless or frozen. The work needs respect for risk without panic.

90

Physical access

Stressful if ladders, attics, crawl spaces, overhead work, trenches, heat, cold, or carrying material would wear you down quickly.

86

Troubleshooting uncertainty

Stressful if you need the first theory to be right. Faults can hide behind bad labels, old work, intermittent symptoms, or access problems.

84

Code and inspection

Stressful if rules feel like arbitrary friction. Code, clearances, labeling, grounding, and inspection habits protect the work.

78

Jobsite coordination

Stressful if other trades, owners, GCs, material delays, and schedule changes make it hard for you to stay methodical.

76

Apprentice correction

Stressful if being watched and corrected feels like disrespect instead of how a high-consequence skill is learned.

72

What can feel steady

Electrical work has a rhythm: plan, make safe, get access, install or diagnose, test, label, clean up. If method and visible progress calm you, the structure helps.

What makes it worse

The work gets heavier when crews rush, safety culture is weak, labels are unreliable, access is bad, materials are missing, and every delay becomes your problem.

The real fit test

Ask whether a hidden fault makes you curious and careful, or whether it makes you impatient enough to guess.

What being an Electrician actually feels like

Electrician work feels like physical problem-solving where safety is part of the craft. You are getting access, checking what is live, reading drawings or symptoms, installing cleanly, tracing faults, coordinating with other trades, and leaving work that an inspector, customer, or future electrician can trust.

The job starts with making it safe

Before the satisfying work, there is verification: what is energized, what is labeled wrong, what needs lockout, and what cannot be assumed because someone said it was off.

Access can be the real problem

The circuit may be simple. Reaching it through an attic, crawl space, lift, finished wall, trench, or crowded mechanical room may decide the day.

Troubleshooting is disciplined guessing

You form a theory, test it, rule it out, and avoid falling in love with the first explanation. Bad labels and old work can lie.

Code turns work into a system

Clearances, grounding, box fill, conduit, protection, panels, labeling, and inspection details make the work safe and serviceable after you leave.

The crew teaches the trade

Apprentices learn by watching, doing, being corrected, carrying material, cleaning up, and slowly earning trust on higher-consequence tasks.

The result is unusually visible

A room has power, a machine runs, a fault is fixed, a panel is clean, or a customer can safely use something that did not work this morning.

Typical day for an Electrician

A typical electrician day depends heavily on setting. Residential service is customer-facing and diagnostic. Commercial construction is plans, crews, material, conduit, wire, and inspections. Industrial work can be downtime and controls. The shared rhythm is make safe, get access, install or troubleshoot, coordinate, test, and leave the work traceable.

SetupPlan the jobTask, drawings, materials, permit, access, hazards, and what has to be verified before work starts.
VerifyMake it safeLockout, testing, PPE, ladder or lift setup, labels, and what cannot be trusted just because someone said it was off.
Hands-onInstall or diagnoseBend, drill, pull, terminate, mount, trace, meter, isolate, repair, and keep the work clean enough to inspect.
CoordinateWork around the siteForeman, GC, other trades, homeowner, inspector, material delays, access problems, and schedule changes.
ProofTest and closeVerify function, label, document, clean up, and make the work understandable for the next person.

Trickiest moments

These are the moments where electrician stops sounding like a clean high-pay skilled trade and becomes the actual field job. The ratings are directional: they show where the career tends to punish weak fit.

The panel label lies

The schedule says a simple service call, but the labeling is wrong, an old junction is hidden, and the fast fix would leave a trap for the next person. The job is testing until the story is true.

Troubleshooting86/100

The safe move slows everyone down

A contractor, homeowner, or supervisor may want the power back quickly. The electrician still has to verify, lock out, test, protect the circuit, and refuse shortcuts that make the day look faster and the work less safe.

Safety judgment90/100

The work is above your head, behind a wall, or in a crawlspace

Electrical problems live where buildings put them: ceilings, attics, panels, trenches, lifts, mechanical rooms, and cramped service spaces. Your body is part of the career.

Physical load84/100

Inspection turns craft into accountability

A neat install still has to match code, drawing changes, local practice, labeling, box fill, clearances, grounding, permits, and what the inspector is actually checking.

Code pressure82/100

How hard is the path to become an Electrician?

The electrician path is usually a paid apprenticeship and licensing path. The exact route depends on state and local rules, union versus nonunion programs, employer sponsorship, trade school, helper work, and whether hours count toward journey-level status. Choose the route that leads to a licenseable skill, not just a certificate.

1
Check state and local licensing rules

Before paying for school, verify journeyman, master, contractor, exam, hour, classroom, specialty, and continuing education requirements where you plan to work.

2
Compare union, nonunion, helper, and school routes

The broad education signal is post-secondary certificate, but the stronger path is often paid training. Compare apprentice wages, benefits, placement, competition, and whether hours count.

3
Build supervised hours and classroom instruction

Many apprenticeships combine on-the-job training with classroom or technical instruction over several years. The early work may be repetitive, physical, and closely corrected.

4
Pass exams and move toward journey status

Journey-level status can change pay, autonomy, employability, and future options. Master electrician or contractor paths can add business, supervision, and local-rule requirements.

5
Choose a lane deliberately

Residential service, commercial construction, industrial maintenance, controls, solar, low-voltage, public work, and self-employment can create very different pay, body load, schedule, and stress.

If money is tight

Prioritize paid apprenticeships and routes where hours count toward licensing. A cheap program that does not move you toward journey status can be more expensive than it looks.

If you already earn well

Lost income may matter more than tuition. Price apprentice wages, raises, tools, commute, benefits, dues, and how many years until journey-level pay.

If physical load worries you

Shadow a real day with ladders, overhead work, material handling, awkward access, and weather before assuming the trade is only technical problem-solving.

If you mostly want skilled trade work

Compare HVAC, plumbing, linework, industrial maintenance, solar, low-voltage, and electrical technician roles before choosing the electrical path.

Education signal: O*NET required education survey data, cross-checked with BLS Employment Projections entry education where available. Licensing rules can vary by state.

Electrician pay, path cost, and ROI

The national wage picture is $43K near the lower end, $63K at the median, and $109K at the top 10%. The spread is not only experience. Apprentice wages, journey status, local license rules, union scale, overtime, industrial or public-sector work, and self-employment can change the career from decent trade pay to a much stronger economic ladder.

$43K10th percentile
$63KMedian
$109KTop 10%
What moves the number

Apprentice wage ramp, journey-level license, master or contractor license where applicable, union scale, overtime, industrial work, public-sector work, service specialization, controls, solar, foreman responsibility, business ownership, and local construction demand.

How many jobs

BLS estimates 757K jobs nationally in the matched SOC group.

Pay source: BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates for electricians, cross-checked against the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook electrician profile. Local pay can move sharply by state, license level, union scale, overtime, industrial work, public-sector work, and self-employment.

Electrician job outlook

BLS projects electrician employment to increase from 818,700 jobs in 2024 to 896,100 jobs in 2034. That is 9.5% growth, with about 81,000 annual openings.

2024 employment818,700
2034 projection896,100
Growth9.5%
Annual openings81,000

Outlook source: BLS Employment Projections 2024-2034. BLS employment and openings figures are national projections, not a guarantee of local hiring.

Will AI replace electricians?

35Lower exposureReplacement exposure, not destiny

Electrician has lower exposure: AI can help with code lookup, estimates, material lists, documentation, diagrams, troubleshooting prompts, and training, but safe field judgment, physical installation, local conditions, inspection accountability, and licensed responsibility stay human-heavy.

Automation exposure56
AI assist potential68
Human moat72

Most exposed

  • Repeatable paperwork, checklists, scheduling, and status tracking.
  • Research, summarizing information, comparing options, and drafting explanations.
  • Compliance checks, form review, record cleanup, and error spotting.

More protected

  • Handling distress, trust, conflict, care, or tone-sensitive conversations.
  • Reading people in real time and adjusting the conversation before it goes sideways.
  • Hands-on work, movement, tools, equipment, or physical presence.

This is an exposure estimate from O*NET work signals, not a prediction that a job will disappear.

Who should avoid this career?

A useful career guide has to be willing to say no. These are not moral flaws. They are fit warnings.

You want high pay without safety pressure

Electrical work pays for judgment. If lockout, testing, grounding, code, PPE, live-work rules, and saying no to unsafe shortcuts sound annoying, this is the wrong trade.

You hate tight physical access

The work can mean ladders, attics, crawlspaces, lift work, trenches, ceilings, panels, awkward reaches, hot rooms, cold sites, and carrying tools where the problem actually lives.

You need every day to be clean and predictable

Some days are planned installs. Others are mislabeled panels, old wiring, failed inspections, missing material, customer emergencies, or a circuit that refuses to tell the truth quickly.

You dislike code and documentation

Good electricians do not only make power work. They leave work that can pass inspection, be serviced later, and make sense to the next person who opens the box.

Apprentice pay would break your finances

The path can be economically strong because training is often paid, but the early years may still mean lower wages, tool costs, travel, night school, and a ramp before journey-level pay.

You only want the solo troubleshooting fantasy

Electricians often coordinate with general contractors, inspectors, homeowners, foremen, other trades, suppliers, and apprentices. The hands-on work still sits inside a jobsite system.

Best alternatives to becoming an Electrician

If one part of the job appeals to you but another part is a red flag, compare the nearby paths before you commit.

HVAC technician

Choose this if troubleshooting, service calls, mechanical systems, controls, and a paid trade path appeal, but you want less pure electrical-code focus.

Similar service rhythm, more mechanical systems

Plumber

Choose this if you like skilled-trade pay, licensing, tools, and physical work, but water, gas, fixtures, drains, and pipe systems fit better than circuits.

Similar apprenticeship economics

Lineworker

Choose this if power systems, outdoor work, storms, crews, and high physical intensity appeal more than buildings, panels, and customer spaces.

More utility work, higher hazard profile

Industrial maintenance technician

Choose this if motors, sensors, PLCs, production equipment, and plant troubleshooting appeal more than residential or commercial wiring.

More machines and controls

Electrical engineering technician

Choose this if testing, documentation, instrumentation, prototypes, and lab or manufacturing support appeal more than jobsite installation.

More technical support, less field install

Construction manager

Choose this if sequencing trades, schedules, crews, budgets, inspections, and owner communication appeal more than doing the electrical work yourself.

More coordination, less tool time

Deep dives for this career

Use these when you want the narrower answer: what electrician work is actually like, how stressful it is, whether the apprenticeship pay ladder works, what the day looks like by setting, whether the switch works at 40, or which nearby skilled trade fits better.

RealityWhat Being an Electrician Is Actually Like

The real texture of electrician work: troubleshooting, code, safety, access, jobsite coordination, customers, and apprenticeship correction.

StressIs Being an Electrician Stressful?

A stress map for electrician work: electrical hazards, troubleshooting uncertainty, physical access, callbacks, schedules, and jobsite pressure.

PayElectrician Salary Reality

Salary reality for electricians: apprentice wages, journeyman pay, licensing, union and nonunion paths, overtime, specialization, and ROI.

DayDay in the Life of an Electrician

A setting-by-setting day in the life: residential service, commercial construction, industrial maintenance, apprenticeships, testing, and cleanup.

Career ChangeCareer Change to Electrician at 40

A sober career-change guide for becoming an electrician at 40: apprentice wage reset, physical load, licensing, route choice, and household math.

AlternativesCareers Like Electrician

Compare nearby skilled-trade paths: HVAC, plumbing, linework, industrial maintenance, solar, low-voltage, and electrical technician roles.

Darius interview: what the job feels like

Darius is the page's interview-style guide: a realistic, fictional electrician voice built to translate the data into day-to-day tradeoffs. The interview walks through safe work habits, troubleshooting, residential service, commercial jobsites, industrial maintenance, apprenticeship, pay progression, body load, AI exposure, and the parts of electrical work that do not fit inside a clean job description.

Guide profile Darius, journey electrician who has worked residential service, commercial construction, and industrial maintenance

Darius is an invented guide, not a quoted source. Read this as a practical walkthrough of the situations the role tends to create: the service call, jobsite access problem, apprentice correction, safety check, code decision, callback risk, paid-training math, and setting differences people underestimate.

Question

What was the job that explained electrician work to you?

Darius

It was a service call where the homeowner was sure the breaker was bad. The breaker was fine. The panel labeling was wrong, an old junction had been buried behind a finished wall, and the easy fix would have left the next person with a trap. Electrical work is a lot of refusing the first story until the meter, code, and building all agree.

Question

What did you check first?

Darius

Whether the thing I was about to touch was actually safe. The habit is not be brave around electricity. The habit is verify, lock out where needed, test, understand what is feeding what, and then test again when the situation does not match the label. Speed matters, but not more than coming home with all your fingers and leaving a safe system behind.

Question

Where did troubleshooting get hard?

Darius

Buildings remember every shortcut. Someone tied into a circuit years ago, someone mislabeled a panel, someone covered a box, someone replaced a fixture without understanding the switch leg. You are not only diagnosing electricity. You are diagnosing the history of everyone who touched the system before you.

Question

What tools matter most?

Darius

The meter and your habits. Fancy tools help, but the real tool is the sequence: what do I know, what did I actually measure, what changed when I isolated that leg, and what would make this answer wrong? New apprentices want a trick. Good electricians want proof.

Question

What does code actually mean day to day?

Darius

Code is not a book you quote to sound smart. It is the minimum shared language that keeps people from inventing their own version of safe. You feel it in box fill, grounding, clearances, conductor sizing, GFCI and AFCI rules, labeling, permits, and the inspector asking why you did it that way.

Question

What happens with inspections?

Darius

Inspection turns invisible work into accountable work. A homeowner may only see that the lights turn on. An inspector, foreman, or future electrician needs the work to be safe, serviceable, labeled, and legal. Passing inspection is not about pleasing one person. It is about leaving fewer surprises in the wall.

Question

What should an apprentice learn first?

Darius

Your first year is not proving you are tough. It is proving you are teachable, reliable, and safe with boring work. Show up, ask before guessing, keep material organized, listen when corrected, learn how crews talk, and do the small work cleanly. The trade notices sloppiness before it notices talent.

Question

What does residential service feel like?

Darius

You are in someone's house, so the electrical problem is also a trust problem. You may be explaining why the cheap fix is not safe, why old wiring changes the price, why power has to be off, or why the breaker is not the real issue. The technical work matters, but so does not sounding like you are selling fear.

Question

What do customers misunderstand?

Darius

That working is not the same as safe. A light can turn on with bad splices, overloaded circuits, wrong breakers, missing ground, or a buried junction. The hard conversation is explaining risk plainly enough that the customer can make a decision without you dramatizing it.

Question

What does commercial work feel like?

Darius

More plans, crews, conduit, lifts, schedules, inspections, and coordination with other trades. Your work may be one part of a larger sequence, so a miss can block drywall, mechanical, ceiling grid, inspection, or turnover. The job can feel less intimate than service work and more like disciplined production under pressure.

Question

What about industrial or maintenance work?

Darius

Industrial work can be motors, controls, sensors, production downtime, troubleshooting under pressure, lockout-tagout, and equipment nobody wants to stop. It can pay well and feel mentally satisfying if you like machines, but the stakes are different. A plant does not care that the problem is interesting. It wants uptime.

Question

Where does stress show up?

Darius

In the combination. Safety plus time pressure. Troubleshooting plus a customer waiting. Physical access plus precision. A crew schedule plus an inspector. A callback that makes you wonder what you missed. Some people find that focus satisfying. Some people feel their nervous system stay on all day.

Question

What drains people?

Darius

Bad planning, rushed safety, weather, long commutes, cheap material, physical strain, being corrected badly, customers who want unsafe shortcuts, and crews that treat apprentices like disposable labor. The trade can be excellent. A bad shop or bad foreman can make the same trade feel brutal.

Question

How hard is it on the body?

Darius

It depends on lane, age, tools, habits, and employer, but your body is definitely in the job. Ladders, overhead work, kneeling, pulling cable, carrying material, digging, hot attics, cold sites, lifts, and awkward reaches all show up. The smart electricians protect their body early instead of treating pain like proof they belong.

Question

What does pay look like?

Darius

The national median is $63K, but electrician pay is local. Apprentice wage progression, union scale, nonunion shop, overtime, licensing level, public-sector work, industrial sites, service specialization, foreman responsibility, and owning a business can all change the number. The good part is that training can be paid. The hard part is surviving the ramp.

Question

How hard is the path?

Darius

The path is not only school. It is hours, supervision, classroom work, exams, licenses, tools, commutes, and learning from correction without letting your pride run the day. A four- or five-year apprenticeship can be a very strong bargain if the wages work for your household and the program actually gets you to a license.

Question

What would AI actually change?

Darius

The reference and paperwork layer first: code lookup, material takeoffs, estimates, training explanations, troubleshooting prompts, documentation, diagrams, and maybe faster quoting. I would use that help. The exposure score here is 35/100 because AI can make the supporting work faster, not because it can put hands in a panel and own the consequence.

Question

What is protected from AI?

Darius

The field condition. The smell, heat, access problem, wrong label, customer anxiety, bad splice, inspector preference, local rule, and hand skill. AI can suggest what to check. It cannot verify that this exact conductor is dead, pull the wire cleanly, make the box serviceable, or decide when the situation is unsafe enough to stop.

Question

What makes someone good at this?

Darius

Careful curiosity. You like tools, but you also like proof. You can be corrected without getting reckless. You can move your body all day and still think clearly. You can tell a customer the truth without drama. You can slow down when the jobsite wants speed. That is the trade.

Question

What should I shadow?

Darius

Shadow more than one lane: a residential service day, a commercial jobsite, and if possible an industrial or maintenance setting. Watch the commute, material handling, morning planning, safety habits, correction, inspection prep, cleanup, and how people talk when something does not match the drawing.

Question

What careers should I compare?

Darius

HVAC if mechanical systems and service calls appeal. Plumbing if pipe systems fit better. Linework if outdoor utility power and crew intensity pull you. Industrial maintenance if motors and controls are the interesting part. Electrical engineering technician if testing and lab support appeal more than field installation. Construction management if coordination is the part you actually like.

Question

Would you recommend electrician work?

Darius

Yes, to someone who wants the real version: paid training, tools, code, troubleshooting, body load, correction, jobsite pressure, licensing, and safety habits that matter. I would not recommend it to someone who only wants a debt-free high-pay story. The pay story works because the craft and the constraints are real.

Sources and methodology

O*NET Database 30.3Occupation descriptions, alternate titles, work context, work activities, and education signals. BLS OEWS May 2025National wage estimates, percentile pay, mean pay, and employment estimates by SOC group. BLS Employment Projections2024 to 2034 projected employment, growth, annual openings, entry education, experience, and training. BLS OOH profileOfficial Occupational Outlook Handbook context for the matched career family. BLS electrician profileOfficial wage, outlook, work environment, training, and apprenticeship context for electricians.CareerOneStop license finderStarting point for state and local electrician licensing checks.Apprenticeship.govFederal apprenticeship search and route context for paid electrician training paths.

Career Dish adds fit scores, workload metrics, AI exposure estimates, and interview-style guide scenes on top of public datasets. Those interpretive layers are meant to make the data scannable, not to replace official licensing or school-specific research.

Career decision FAQ

Is being an electrician a good career?

Electrician can be a good career if you like hands-on troubleshooting, wiring, code, safety, physical work, and a paid apprenticeship path. The national median wage in this profile is $63K, with 9.5% projected BLS growth, but the real fit depends on local apprentice wages, licensing, union or nonunion route, body load, and setting.

Is being an electrician stressful?

Yes, electrician work can be stressful because it combines electrical hazards, troubleshooting uncertainty, tight access, jobsite coordination, inspections, callbacks, customers, and schedule pressure.

How long does it take to become an electrician?

Many electrician apprenticeships take about four to five years, combining paid on-the-job training with classroom instruction. Local licensing rules decide required hours, exams, and what counts toward journey-level status.

Do electricians need a license?

Licensing varies by state and locality. Many places regulate journeyman, master, contractor, or specialty electrician work. Check your state and local licensing board before paying for a program.

Will AI replace electricians?

AI is more likely to assist electricians than replace them. The exposure score here is 35/100 because code lookup, estimates, documentation, diagrams, troubleshooting prompts, and training can be assisted, while safe field work, physical installation, local judgment, customer trust, and licensed accountability remain human-heavy.

What careers are similar to electrician?

If only part of electrician work appeals to you, compare HVAC technician, plumber, lineworker, industrial maintenance technician, electrical engineering technician, solar installer, fire alarm technician, low-voltage technician, building inspector, and construction manager.