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Message
re: WSJ: The High-School Juniors With $70,000-a-Year Job Offers
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:42 pm to PoppaD
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:42 pm to PoppaD
quote:
But a percentage of our labor force just wants to get paid good, raise a family, and be able to afford to live.
The trades are generally not a good way to accomplish this
1
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:43 pm to tiggerthetooth
quote:
The people here encouraging the trades are borderline malicious.
They really are. I used to think that it came from a place of them being kind of disgruntled in their own careers but to just keep on and on about it when people who are in a position to know what it is like is just fricking mean LOL.
quote:
The trades pay shite, youre around shite people with shite lives and shite attitudes, you have shite health, shite benefits, travel a shite ton and it doesnt provide any stepping stone to higher pay or better working conditions.
For the most part this is spot on. Until you have taken a dump on a daily basis in a port a potty in January or August you really do not know just how shitty most trades jobs truly are. I know that sounds funny but it is fricking reality.....
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:44 pm to PoppaD
quote:
I'm surprised how much hate the trades are getting as a career path in this thread.
I don't see it so much as hate as people are disputing the romantic notion that if you are a hard worker and self starter you can just go off into any trade field and become a gazillionaire, easily outpacing their lemming peers that foolishly decided to go the college/white collar route
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:44 pm to Samso
My son did 2 years of electrical in vo-tech in HS and is make about 80k straight out of HS.
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:45 pm to PoppaD
quote:
There are not enough trade people to make our economy work.
When there are not enough computer programmers the wages of computer programmers go up. When there ain't enough doctors wages for doctors go up. I have been in the building trades since 1984 and have been around them my whole life. Wages are about half what they were in the mid 1980s. Thats why no one is going into the trades. If wages were where they should be it would be no problem.
When I applied to the IBEW apprenticeship program they took in 30 applicants and had 6500+. Last year the plan was to take in 250 and we had 178 applicants. I have recruited for the building trades FOR years. I have never lied or sugar coated the reality of the building trades like the people on Mike Rowe do. Nary a single recruit that I have sold on the idea can possibly say I did not warn them of what they were getting into. It is merely a way to earn a living, not a great way, and not a particularly great living.
This post was edited on 5/7/25 at 1:49 pm
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:47 pm to Oilfieldbiology
quote:
My mom had a sign in her shop that said
“The only thing more overrated than natural childbirth is owning your own business.”
Nothing against you Mom and Bless her heart but that's a pretty dumb statement. Every study ever on wealth in this country proves the majority of the wealthy people in our country are small business owners who also save a lot of money.
Obviously one doesn't get to the top without stress and struggle but the path is well laid out. Own a needed business and save some along the way and you will have much more success in the economy then your peers.
We should encourage more small businesse ownership.
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:47 pm to AwgustaDawg
quote:
Mike Rowes is EXACTLY the wrong person to be touting the trades as an option to college.
I see I'm not the only one to not know WTF angle Rowe is working. I can't say he's a bad person but his whole shtick doesn't make sense. Not to mention most of the dirty jobs he worked aren't the "well paid" trades job but rather the day laborer druggy jobs.
Wouldn't surprise me if he isn't getting compensated by industry to try and keep wages low by keeping labor availability high.
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:48 pm to Mingo Was His NameO
quote:
Junior Elijah Rios, 17, offered $68,000/year for welding before graduating.
quote:
And he will make relatively that for the rest of his life with no benefits. Not bad, but certainly not what you should strive for either
You’ve said a lot of stupid shite on here, this might top them all.
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:50 pm to Obtuse1
quote:
Let's be honest, you are comparing a "best" case to a "worst" case.
I'm comparing the case cited by the OP to the increasingly average case for college grads
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:50 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
You’ve said a lot of stupid shite on here, this might top them all.
Not everybody can be the track hoe magnate of central Alabama Darth
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:51 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
You’ve said a lot of stupid shite on here, this might top them all.
Don’t I recall you started out blue collar job and worked your way up? Maybe you can weigh in.
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:51 pm to Roberteaux
quote:
I'm comparing the case cited by the OP to the increasingly average case for college grads
You said the same exact thing as what you responded to and implied as wrong. What a dumbass!
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:53 pm to AwgustaDawg
quote:
It is ideal, however, if you are interested in introducing your wife to Jodie who will be at the house before your tail lights are out of site and spending your paycheck. Seriously, this really happens. It is not simply something we kid about in the building trades....it actually happens.
That sucks. But it happens to guys in all professions. It happened to a lawyer I know and he wasn't some 100 hour a week guy. Also happened to an associate who was an accountant.
I see some of the arguments against trade work. But Jodie-phobia is overrated.
Growing, I wanted to be a truck driver like my dad. But he told me to go to school instead of the family business. But if my son wanted to go the trade route, I would encourage him to do that.
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:57 pm to CR4090
quote:
I wanted to be a truck driver like my dad.
my dad had lots of big trucks, heavy construction equipment, and specialty tools, and I wanted to drive/operate everything, and I did, but fortunately for me I learned real quick that it was better to know how to run all of that stuff/be able to show other people how to run it, so that you knew what to expect out of them than to spend every day on a bulldozer, backhoe, dragline, eighteen wheeler, etc.
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:58 pm to CHEDBALLZ
quote:
My son did 2 years of electrical in vo-tech in HS and is make about 80k straight out of HS.
He will be earning 125% of the national average for electricians, regardless of experience, in the United States. There is not a single jurisdiction I am aware of in the United States where someone with less than 8000 hours of certifiable OJT is qualified to set the licensing exam required in about 95% of jurisdictions in the United States so your son will most likely be beating the average salary of a green, inexperienced helper (he is not an apprentice nor an electrician) by about 600% nation wide.
I had 900 journeyman building tradesman working for me 7 years ago who averaged about 25 years experience PLUS 5 years of formal education and 40 hours of training annually, all licensed, and they were averaging about what you son is making straight out of high school. This was all closed shop in a state without a right to work law which is widely considered the best blue collar state to work in in the United States. You son will be SHOCKED to find out what his actual market value is at his skill level outside or whatever company has offered him a job.....
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:59 pm to Samso
Who doesn’t have endless budget for $500/hr welding?
You see my janitor’s janitor’s janitor highly recommends it is you have the means.
You see my janitor’s janitor’s janitor highly recommends it is you have the means.
Posted on 5/7/25 at 1:59 pm to AwgustaDawg
quote:
He will be earning 125% of the national average for electricians,
he forgot to mention that his dad owns the company
Posted on 5/7/25 at 2:00 pm to 777Tiger
quote:
he forgot to mention that his dad owns the company
Most likely...or an Uncle....or the company simply doesn't really exist.
Posted on 5/7/25 at 2:06 pm to AwgustaDawg
quote:
Most likely...or an Uncle....or the company simply doesn't really exist.
If we give him the benefit of the doubt, which I’m not inclined to do, that also probably assumes 500+ hours of OT+ per firm, etc.
Again, is that a better gig than McDonald’s? Of course, but all these posters act like it’s the pinnacle of the workforce, which is just total bullshite
Posted on 5/7/25 at 2:07 pm to CR4090
quote:
But if my son wanted to go the trade route, I would encourage him to do that.
Have you earned a living in a trade? If so which one? I do not know a single tradesman, and I know BUNCHES and have known thousands....and I have never known one who would encourage their child to do what they do for a living. I know BUNCHES of tradesmen who own their own business...some VERY successful. Not a one of them dreams of their child taking over that business....most of them dream of retiring without having to file for bankruptcy but some dream of selling out when they reach retirement age.
I have spent a good part of the last 41 years recruiting in the building trades. I ALWAYS tell young people exactly what to expect. If the decide to go into the trade they can't say they weren't warned. Many of them are getting close to retirement age and I know some of them to this day....not a single one of them would encourage their kid to follow them into the trade. 2 of them own very succesful businesses and another one is a general manager for one of the largest electrical contractors on earth....none of them would encourage their kids to follow their path...in fact they have all encouraged their kids to get an education.
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