Posted on 11/06/2025 9:34:26 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Gump,
lol, any moron with a rubber mallet, an air compressor, nail gun and a mitre saw can install a wood floor. Just be prepared for the mental numbness that sets in early.
While I didn’t learn programming, I did set up and operate a CNC OD grinder for about 7 years. They are marvelous machines. I could make changes on program lines concerning speeds and feeds. At first it was scary- push a button and watch it go through the motions, but as my confidence and knowledge grew, I really began to enjoy it.
Maybe, I guess we will never know. I do know that welders didnt make very much 70s-90s unless maybe if you had your own shop and found some good custom contracts. The guys working fabrication in the big factories didnt make much at all.
(GEN Zer whining) “But then I’ll have to get my hands dirty, and sweat, and be too tired to go out at night...”
Indeed. But $250 / hour for trades work?! In North Idaho!! I didn’t pay my lawyer that until not long ago.
I’ve repaired our washer, dryer, and stove. Gosh, I’ve fixed toilets and even replaced them. All the faucets and drains in the house are new, I did that. I have installed new wiring myself (but get it inspected). All it takes is hand tools and eyeballs. Sometimes you have to make or purchase special tools. I’m an embedded software engineer with a gorgeous machine shop and wood shop. Its all easy and grime washes off pretty quickly.
I wont bore you with details but for those that think your statement is hyperbole, I offer this bit.
Recently I was walking through the woods with a couple of other men. The young supposedly staight end Millennial/elder Z starts complaining about every little thing. The bugs and branches were colluding to just make his time in the woods unbearable.
He stopped and asked where he was supposed to urinate. I told him trees love that sort of thing. He began yelling about he couldnt believe that I was expecting him to “pee in the open like an animal” then he turned around and went back to sit in the truck.
...and the sore knees. Me heap big. Me push hard on knees. ;-D
I’m a mechanical engineer and have done all that, too. I building, install, and repair most of our stuff.
We got exasperated not finding a model number / serial number tag on the unit! We didn’t call the manufacturer (which, in retrospect, we should have) and went through all that aggravation just to find the hidden model number. WHOEVER would have dreamed the paper stick-on tag (not a metal name plate!) would be on the BOTTOM of the decorative chrome frame around the microwave oven?! My wife and I had looked high and low for the model number tag and could not find it anywhere. It was the most bizarre thing. You cannot start any repair without a model number.
I discovered that I can actually see a mirror image of the model number paper tag in the shiny reflective bottom of the stainless steel warming drawer! How’s that for making it hard for the consumer to find the most basic information?
Yeah, finding the model number is often a Quest for the Grail. Why?
This is the first time e in my 47 years of home ownership a tag has been hidden away like that. “Why?” indeed. What idiot at Thermadore would think “I know! Let’s put the model on a paper sticker on the BOTTOM of the decorative frame where they will never find it.!”
It reminds me of the Amazon delivery drivers who block the door with the package. Zombies are everywhere.
Mom and Dad didn’t want a union to come in. It would’ve hurt their business immensely.
I think that today, welders probably make more money than back then (they sold their business in 1974). I only know what I see, I have no actual knowledge of what the industry pays now, but I do know that welders are in high demand. Oil pipelines- have you seen any of the work going on at Musk’s Starbase? The amount of welding going on there is amazing. The Starships themselves have an enormous amount of welding in their construction. The launch towers- I watched tower 2 being put together last summer and was surprised to see welders all over that structure.
I think Dad would be proud to see it.
I don’t know if unions are involved, but I’m sure those people are making good money.
I've only seen metal name plates.
RE: “ But then I’ll have to get my hands dirty, and sweat, and be too tired to go out at night”
Total stereotype. I see a lot of blue collar workers enjoying themselves at the beer joints all the time.
Im not surprised, the unions were/are a big problem everywhere they show up regardless of which industry.
Yes, they are definitely making good money now. Certainly comfortable. 2000-ish when the Silent Generation were retiring, all of a sudden there werent enough welders. There is a place in a town near me that has been paying good wages and has had all kinds of advertising to bring in employees but they can never find enough. They could have probably hired a bunch of local kids (they never leave home town) back 15 years ago sent them to school and had them work until they paid back school and would have 4 full shifts pumping out profit now if they wanted.
Right now my youngest is a welding nursing assistant taxidermist. Maybe she is planning on mounting geriatric robots when its their time to be put away, Im not sure.
Those are two more things that all of a sudden can make some decent money, certainly livable. Nursing Assistant pay has more than doubles in the last couple of years and the taxidermist she is training with has a real nice house and brags that he makes enough for two families.
All three of those jobs are ones that I was always told to stay away from and would have told others to stay away from in the past. Not particularly good advice any more.
“This article is wrong on a dozen fronts.”
I don’t necessarily disagree, but name a few.
1. Africa is not a fruit.
2. You cannot fit body armor on a poltergeist.
3. “Several” is not a fraction.
Hi ...in 1970, “data processing” was part of my “material facilities spec, USAF”, getting schooled on the Univac 1050+ii information processing unit 10 inch reels.
We had to learn to read the key punched card.
Later, cross trained to aircraft radar. “Those F4’s were my “x-wings”.
I wish you well.
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