With my college degree basically doing nothing for me at this point, I have been thinking about going back to school and pursuing a trade. I was wondering what are some trades that you recommend?
One I’ve always had in the back of my head, because low barrier of entry, is painter.
House painting.
i like being an electrician (low volt, basically stuff that carries some sort of data), unionized work gives a nice sense of comraderie and a great pool of knowledge on structure of jobs and contractors. a lot of the work is indoors too and the pay and benefits are great
HVAC
If you’re decent at math and physics and are even remotely handy, you can probably get into a data center or power plant. Both industries are growing like crazy while boomers and older Gen x are retiring.
It took a long while as a contractor, but I eventually got a job as an operator in a power plant. The rotating shift work can be rough, and some days are really demanding, but it’s overall not too bad usually and it pays well. Outside operators here start at like $40/hour. My water treatment specialty has gotten me a promotion and raises so now I’m at like $53.50/hour. If I can continue training and pass the test and board for it, I could make over $60/hour as a control room operator. With built-in OT and scheduled maintenance outages demanding even more OT, it’s impossible to not break $100k/year here. With bonus, I might break $150k this year.
Brush up on chiller loops, chemistry 101, physics 101, NATO phonetic alphabet, get 15k steps in a day, and change the oil in your car. If that’s pretty easy for you, there’s a career waiting for you lol.
Electricians make good money and the work is mostly clean.
Plumbers make great money and the work is mostly disgusting.
Really it depends on your threshold for gross and how much physical labor you are willing to do yourself.
Electrician here. One thing I will say, in times of inclement economic weather (like now), service plumber stay busy. People are likely not going to not fix a leak, blocked drain, or a heater/AC problem. People will run an extension cord if an outlet stops working or get creative if a light goes out. From what I’ve seen, many views plumbing as a more pertinent issue to resolve than electrical issues. But, as OP said, I’ll take electrical all day over dealing with poo.
Linemen for the power company will always stay busy regardless of the economy, and it pays stupid well. The guys in my town clear $200k with storm shifts.
Electricians often have to crawl in crawlspaces under homes and in attics.
The trend seems to be hiding heating units so they’re out of sight.
I said mostly clean. Yeah you gotta deal with dust, cobwebs and the occasional mouse or whatever, but it’s better than getting literally shit sprayed all over you.
Indeed. Although electrician is a broad category. My first thought was a lineman.
So, Geodad… Geodad, right? So Geodad, today’s your first day with us and what you’re going to be doing is changing a lightbulb. Nope, that’s it, just the lightbulb, then you get to go home. Cushy? I guess.
Ok, I’m going to drive you over to the tower- what? Yeah, the KRDK-TV tower. Light’s at the top. Just climb to top there and swap out the bulb.
Just a couple of things: There’s no caging once you get up a ways so you’re just climbing on the outside. This being your first time, you should clip in. It gets gusty up there. Second if you hear a helicopter locate its direction. If it’s above you, climb down. If it’s below, hang on tight and say your hail Marys - you signed the waiver, right? Good, good.
Just a lightbulb, today. I’ll be back to pick you up later this afternoon when you get back down. Have fun!
I know! I would love that job. I have zero fear of heights and an intense urge to get as far away from people as possible. 🤣
New construction work is also much easier than repairs. Commercial is better than residential.
HVAC is a bit of both.
Water system operator. Just get your certs
Any insights about locksmithing? Aside, of course, from odd hours
I’d also like to hear about the journey toward being a master carpenter.
For locksmithing, you should start with Lockpicking Lawyer videos on youtube
I’ve seen a bunch of those. Enough to know of his April 1st gags and to be able to shill for his website.
Which I won’t do here.
I’m more wondering about doing it as a career. What’s the annoyance/danger factor? How much work do you need to stay afloat? What do start-up costs look like? What would cause a locksmith to walk away and get into something else?
And so on.
Electrician (lineman). Somewhat dangerous work, both due to inclement weather and the nature of high voltage lines, but it pays buckets
I’d go for car mechanic. No idea if specializing in trucks or farming stuff would be more lucrative, though the latter is not viable if you don’t live near farms anyway.
My son is a mechanic and he likes it. Doesn’t make a million dollars, but he gets by ok. There’s a lot of turnover in the industry - shops get sold to corporate chains and then they screw everyone over. There are plenty of jobs available, so when that happens he’s usually able to find something else within a few days. He started by getting a state inspector license from a 2 day class. Everything that has been from books, videos, and on the job learning.
Be sure to watch costs. Lots of mechanics own everything to the “SnapOn man”.
Carpentry. Civil drafting. Commercial drone flying.
Does commercial drone flying pay well? I’ve been thinking about getting my part 107, mostly for wikipedia and OSM contributions though.
My local has a list of state subsidised courses that are “in demand”, so presumably they have a high chance of a job and passable pay.
Commercial drone flying has been on that before. The most common ones seem to be carpentry, residential construction, and aged care for my area.
(obviously, check your local to see if a particular course has some sort of “workers needed now!” sign)
Petro-chem turbine balancing
Instrumentation Tech. Those people run our systems, we’d be fucked without them. Factor in the two for one electrician training and you’re set.
