Like many successful WECA graduates, 2023 WECA Northern California Commercial Electrical Apprenticeship graduate D’Angelo Brady comes from an electrical industry family. His father, Michael, is a WECA Member Contractor and owns Elk Grove, California-based Brady Electric.

“I started working with him right out of high school and I enjoyed it,” says D’Angelo. “So, my father said, ‘Why not get an apprenticeship, so you can become certified?’”

At WECA, D’Angelo has enjoyed learning about PLCs (programmable logic controllers) and start-stop stations in the motor controls lab and says that learning about them has helped him in the field because the gas stations his company works on constantly use contactors and relays.

“We’re using FE petrol systems, which are basically just big relay boards that control the gas pumps and the turbines inside the ground and pump the fuel into the dispenser. The motor controls lab helped me get a better understanding of contactors; being able to look at them on the board from a bird’s eye perspective really helped me make sense of how the circuit really works in the field,” says D’Angelo.

Another WECA favorite of D’Angelo’s was instructor LaKeal Morris. “He was the most relatable because we come from similar neighborhoods in South Sacramento,” says D’Angelo. “There tend to be lower-income neighborhoods there but hearing that LaKeal came from the same area and became an electrician and an instructor inspired me. His sense of humor also made getting through the tougher lessons in class a bit easier.”

Reflecting further upon his WECA experience, D’Angelo attributes his success to taking notes, asking questions, and practicing concepts in the classroom, labs, and the field. 

“Apprentices should take good notes in class because it’s easy to forget stuff once you get into the lab and have to actually apply what you’ve learned. Having good notes really helped me because I was able to go back and follow along in the lab. Apprentices should also ask a lot of questions in class, and practice as much as they can in the classroom, labs, and the field. Really take the time and look at the different components they’re working with and try to understand why it is that you’re landing this wire here and taking this wire here. So that way when you’re in the field doing it by yourself, you’ll be able to have that understanding and that confidence in yourself,” says D’Angelo.

Congratulations, D’Angelo! We love seeing you continue your family’s electrical legacy and wish you many years of success in the field!