re: Is there anything that I should know before trade school?

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$75k.Not bad for a kid under 24 years old

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maybe that's true,

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but the ceiling might be low.

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this, maybe the kid is working a ton of over time, but

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Sounds like hard work for modest pay as one grows older.

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your body is beat to shite and you have no 401k.

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and probably cancer from dealing with all of the toxic chemicals and from chain smoking all of those years, don't recall too meeting many mechanics that aren't chain smokers

I would recommend going to a jr college or online to at least learn some basics on accounting, finance, marketing, business law, etc. Youre goal will be to one day run your own operation and you’ll need to know these things. That’s the only way to get into any real money.

You’ll also need to know how many brand new F250s you can buy with down payments on upcoming projects without going bankrupt.

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Posted by lsu777 on 10/2/23 at 11:38 am to 777Tiger

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Have I been thinking you are the same poster all this time? Which is/was the airline pilot?

Im not sure what you going for but say you going for welding. Don't fall for the lie that you will be making $40 an hr straight out of school, it doesn't work that way. You will have to prove that you can show up for work, piss clean and you're not a frick up before you get top money.

My son went for Electrical, ended up getting hired on with a marine electrician company installing camera systems, KVH Units (TV and Internet) Steering systems, fuel flow, GPSs.... stuff like that. He doesn't make a lot hourly but they pay him to travel and pay his mileage so he does pretty well all things considered.

My advice would be don't expect to get top dollar straight out of school. You will have to earn your keep. Show up on time, an employer can teach you a lot of things but they won't teach you if you aren't dependable. Ask a lot of questions and make sure you understand your job task fully.

Good point. My sons have been in the work force for about 15 years. They did not start out making big bucks. They had to prove themselves worthy of promotions.

What I’m saying is there’s potential if one works hard. A 4 year degree is not always the best track.

im the engineer and weirdo fitness guy and travel ball guy

he is the cool AF pilot

unfortunately.

I read this whole thread and I see a lot of 100k a year a thrown around. If you truly want to make that without going to any school go find a company hiring a deckhands on a tugboat... Dupre Marine, Marquette, Triple S, Enterprise, Broussard Brothers, Blessed, Florida Marine, Lorris G, Turn Services, Kirby, Lebouef Brothers, D&S Marine, Genesis, Crosby Tugs. Be a deckhand for a year, tankerman in a year, steersman in 2, running a boat/relief captain in under 5 years.

Boat companies don't crew boats with foreign labor so the labor market is pretty good. The bad thing is your gone at least half the year, the good thing is you home at least 1/3 of the year.

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That's terrible pay. Go to college op.

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IBEW Local 995 Baton Rouge Louisiana scale was $27.49 an hour last August (most recent scale a quick google search revealed). On top of that there is $6.00 an hour Health And Welfare (Health/Life/Disability Insurance) and 19.5% Pension (Local and International Pension. There is also a Contractors Association Pension that is probably around 25 cents an hour, not much but doesn't pay much either. No used here). Working assessments ate 4% and dues are probably around $80 a month with death benefits (death benefits are a cash life insurance policy paid to a deceased members family within a few hours of their being announced dead, tradition from a time when electricians could not but life insurance). All in that equals $38.42 and hour. At 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year that's $79,913.60. I suspect most 995 hands struggle to make 40 hours a week 52 weeks a year in Local 995's jurisdiction but there are no doubt shop hands in the jurisdiction who are making that and more. That is pretty typical for mid sized towns in the South. It looks like the only local making anything more than that in Louisiana is Local 130 in New Orleans. Difference would be about $12K a year.

Making $100K a year at 40 hours a week requires $48.08 and hour. Very few people making 48.08 an hour.

According to the US Census from 2020 the median income for someone with a bachelors degree in Louisiana was $50,723. The average income of all wage earners was $52,143. The electrician in local 995 is besting the average by a little better than a 1/3 and is doing so with no student loan debt and was being paid a wage commiserate with their experience level from day one. They will have better than average health and welfare benefits and far better retirement benefits than most employees in Lousiana. They will not have ANY paid time off however as Tradesmen do not traditionally get paid if they are not at work...they make enough money to not pretend their employer is giving them something they haven't earned.

Become a Marine Engineer

Learn about grades & varieties of Wheel Wash BEFORE you do your field work.