Good luck with that, the new iPod generation is way too into themselves to get their hands dirty with that kind of work.
I hate how all this talk of the “slumping economy” goes unchecked. First quarter ‘08 saw 0.9% growth, and Q2’08 saw 1.9%. Not great, but certainly no recession, and hardly slumping. Geez.
And yeah, there’s some damn good money to be made in skilled trades.
As a design Engineer, it doesn’t matter what I designand schedule, somebody still has to actually MAKE the damn thing.
Die men, Tool makers, and Millwrights are hard to fnd.
They all say, "You can work all the overtime you want". Big deal. I don't want to work sixty hours a week. They want you to work forced overtime, too.
They all bitch and moan that they don't have any skilled workers but they won't institute apprenticeship programs. They want fully trained workers right off the bat. That's not possible. It takes years to understand all the ways to troubleshoot, wire and analyze electrical systems.
We had some guys that just came out of the military. They are not so great. They are good workers but they can't think. They are so used to doing one small job that they can't think around a problem that involves many integrated systems.
The art of troubleshooting, using logic, can't be taught overnight. It takes a while and the person has to be able to think rationally. We all know that isn't taught in today's society.
And, all the while, we are busy importing plenty of unskilled workers from overseas.
Frankly, my take on employment is this: you are compensated roughly commensurate with the value that you create for your customer (or employer). If you can be highly productive and create high value by going to college, by all means, do it. If not, join a trade that allows you to do the same. Just keep learning and updating yourself so you stay ahead of the curve.
i WAS WORKING FOR A SERVICE COMPANY FOR THE POWER GENERATION FIELD
DISABLED NOW
HOPE TO RETURN TO SOMETHING, THERE IS MONEY TO BE MADE
caplock :)
Society will always need good plumbers!
Not everyone should go to college, as many Freepers have said.”
I have said that for years.
The teachers union and the school boards are directly responsible for this problem. They have systematically dismantled the vocational classes in our schools. Now, the people who might be filling these jobs are convinced they should never get their hands dirty and are entitled to a 6 figure salary because they “went to college”.
It has been a terrible lie.
This is a great idea except for the fact that welding and pipefitting has long been difficult to get into. My inlaws are all pipefitters/welders and I know very well that you could not get into an apprentice program unless some relative in the trade and union brought you in. The building trades have been made unavailable or undesireable in recent years because of the high number of illegals contractors are hiring. I know young people who signed onto a number of jobs in order to get a start in a trade, only to be laid off a few weeks or months later. While they were filing out with their severance illegals speaking only spanish were filing in. In a number of cases they were told that their last assignments were to train the illegals who were taking their place. Clean up the crap, get the word out that these fields are open again and you might see more people applying.