Who built PipePrep AI
A pre-apprenticeship instructor's honest take on getting into the union pipe trades — the window, the aptitude battery, and the interview that actually ranks you.
Michael Briglio
Federally Recognized Pre-Apprenticeship Instructor · Licensed Illinois Teacher
What I actually do
I teach a federally recognized pre-apprenticeship program in Chicago, and I’ve helped hundreds of students get accepted into union apprenticeships. My whole job is the part of the trades nobody teaches: the application windows, the aptitude tests, and the interviews that decide who gets a slot and who waits another year or two.
I came up through a union apprenticeship myself and worked as an IBEW journeyman electrician before becoming a licensed Illinois teacher and moving into pre-apprenticeship instruction full time. Living the union selection process from the inside, then coaching hundreds of students through it across trades, is the experience this site is built on.
Straight up: I am not a pipefitter, a plumber, or a UA member, and I’ve never worked in the pipe trades. PipePrep AI is independent — not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the United Association, GAN Human Resources, any local, JATC, or testing organization. What I know is the selection process, and every test-format fact and wage figure on this site is cited to a source rather than remembered — see exactly where each one comes from.
On site during my years as a journeyman electrician. Different trade, same selection process — window, aptitude test, ranked interview.
Why I built PipePrep AI
Two things knock good applicants out of the pipe trades, and neither one is ability. The first is missing the window — plenty of locals accept applications for a couple of weeks a year, some cap the count and close early, and if you find out in November that it closed in September, you wait. The second is walking into the aptitude battery cold, because the score doesn’t just pass or fail you: it ranks you against everyone else on the list.
So PipePrep AI does both jobs. The window tracker follows apprenticeship application windows at 220 UA locals and emails you when yours opens. The app drills the six sections that battery actually tests, and — because most people prepare for the test and lose their spot on the interview — it runs scored mock panel interviews too.
How I handle facts
The same way I do with my own students: no invented statistics, no fake urgency, and a clear map of the process — window, aptitude battery, interview, ranked list. When a local doesn’t publish its window, the tracker says we’re still verifying it instead of guessing. When a test detail isn’t published anywhere credible, I say it’s unpublished. Test formats vary by local, so always confirm with yours.
Questions, corrections, or an application window I should know about? Email pipeprepai@gmail.com. A real person reads it.
Train with me in the app
Ten full-length timed batteries, AI mock interviews scored the way real JATC panels score, and Piper — an AI tutor that walks you through every question you miss.
Download on the App Store