Meet Mike Moyer, WECA's Apprenticeship Curriculum Development Lead.

Native to Vallejo, CA, WECA Apprentice Instructor Mike Moyer was practically born into the electrical field. Starting out as early as eight years old, Mike remembers helping out at his father's light fixture sales showroom, Northern Lights. As he got older, he started helping out around his father's electrical contracting business,North State Electric. Growing up in the industry, Mike knew he wanted to work with electricity. As soon as he was old enough, he enrolled himself in Heald Institute of Technology's Electronics program. After graduating with his Associate's Degree in Electronics in 1982, Mike entered a standard electrical apprenticeship program, from which he graduated in 1984.

Between 1981 and 2002, Mike's working life was very busy. He started out officially at his father's business, North State Electric-- a company that also happened to be one of the first converted merit shop contractors in CA. "I feel very fortunate to have worked for my father in that I became a very well-rounded electrician. The jobs I worked on varied between residential, commercial and industrial and I was able to work each job completely from start to finish. It's nice to drive past a building or a housing tract and recall that I wired it."

In 1985, Mike left North State Electric for work at Latrobe Electric; his first job as a journeyman outside of his father's company. In 1989, Mike was picked up again by North State Electric, this time as a foreman, where his skills continued to grow until he was hired on at Helix Electric in 1992. While there, he worked on large projects such as Susanville's High Sierra Desert State Prison and the Sacramento International Airport. A few years later, Mike became a Maintenance Electrician in Contra Costa County for about eight years. In 2002, Mike moved to Lincoln and decided to take his career to the next level by starting his own electrical consulting business - MAK Electrical Consulting, a company he continued to run even after accepting a teaching position in WECA's daytime apprenticeship program in 2003.  

Today, Mike is a lead apprenticeship curriculum developer for WECA, and also teaches apprenticeship, specializing in solar, instrumentation, and controls. He has made incredible contributions to the apprenticeship education program with his highly detailed, yet enjoyable labs on topics such as lighting control, motor controls, reduced voltage motor starting methods, motor speed control logic, variable frequency drives, motor braking applications and PLC controls. He also specializes in teaching electronic theory using his own lab exercises such as a light dimmer circuit control, a photocell circuit, electronic motor speed control and an electronic security system. In 2004 he received a Special Recognition Award for his diligence in improving its labs and curriculum. He has since been the recipient of 2009's Instructor of the Year Award for his continuing efforts and excellence regarding contributions made to the curriculum.

Unmistakably, Mike is a very hands-on instructor and he incorporates this perspective into WECA's curriculum. He understands that students don't just want to listen to a lecture for eight hours a day - they want practice! Mike believes that the path to educational success lies not only in hearing, reading, and seeing the work, but in doing it. He remembers the difficulty he, himself, had learning more advanced concepts, and has simplified the teaching methods to a point where students are able to easily take what they learned in class and confidently apply it on the job site.

Mike believes "Making a positive difference in the lives of my students is what keeps me going. I enjoy students who return and tell me how what they learned in my class has helped them go further in their career. Knowing that I helped them to succeed motivates me to continue making our curriculum the best it can be."

You may reach Mike at mmoyer@goweca.com