Plumbers, HVAC, Welders, Machinists, Electronic Techs, lots of choices............................
RE: Plumbers, HVAC, Welders, Machinists, Electronic Techs, lots of choices............................
OK, just as Female Gymnasts are great till they reach their early twenties, Tennis Players are great till they reach their mid to late 30’s, same as Boxers, Basketball and Football Players and other athletes, how long can the tradesmen listed above last before they reach their over-the-hill age?
If I had to redo, I would learn to weld exotic metals.
I have had people in the trades tell me that if you are good in them, you can easily make six figures with no shortage of work opportunities since there is such a high demand for them.
He then went on to the Hobart Institute of Welding Technology in Ohio which was a 9 month, full time program. Tuition was approx. $30,000 but it's almost paid off already and the job offers were incredible.
True, but it’s not all rainbows and unicorns. You may have to deal with union meatheads, drunks, druggies, cyclical work, etc.
My son had wanted to be a teacher.
Ended up at an exclusive pre-school. They charged $500 a week. They still didn’t pay their teachers well. After a few broken promises, he decided to go into the elevator trade.
It was difficult to get into - they have a rigorous screening process - but even with zero trade experience, he scored well enough to make it in. In his first year they were installing elevators in an Amazon warehouse. As an apprentice he made over $100K in his first full year.
Funny thing, since he is technically orientated and has a college degree, management keeps trying to steal him away. He was recently offered - he is still not yet a journeyman and has only been at this for two years - a management position paying over $200K plus benefits. He wants to become a journeyman before even considering moving into management.
All to be filled by cheap illegal aliens.
I flunked out of college after the first semester, and within a year I got married to a heart stoppingly beautiful woman, was laid-off from my forklift driver job, then enlisted in the USAF with a guaranteed job in telecommunications electronics.
I'll never forget one day a few months after my enlistment was up, while I was working my ITT job in the First National Bank Tower at Number Two Peachtree Street, two young bank junior executives in their three piece suits, got on the elevator bragging to each other about their salaries at First Atlanta Bank. I was shocked and heartened to realize my salaried - nonexempt position was three times what they were making and being nonexempt meant I got additional overtime pay.
Years later I realized that the real benefit in banking is the insider knowledge aspect of it over time. I also found out that most of the time my Dad worked at GE, in computer operations, then as a programmer and finally as a senior systems analyst, he was salaried - nonexempt, also with no college degree. After WWII, Dad used the GI Bill to become a key punch operator and never had to look back.
I know a fellow who works for a major elevator maintenance/repair company. They are dying for some young folk to take up the trade. The next 5-10 years is going to kill the company he works for because they have no bodies to take up the work after the fogies reture.