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The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

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Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#661

Post by brightball »

mfer wrote: post #91
UncleMeat wrote: post #33

"We need more tradespeople" seems to be an evergreen news article. My brother in law is an electrician. He is paid alright, enough to live on. But there are HUGE downsides. He does not receive health insurance. He does not get paid vacation. In order to match decent white-collar pay, he needs to work overtime. His company pushes hard to get jobs finished fast, causing people to cut safety corners. Many of his coworke…

This isn't the case for all trades people. It might be a bad area or a bad employer. I've know trades folks who are electricians, plumbers, carpenters, work in road construction, etc. They typically work reasonable hours, have medical, and are paid at or above the median income for where they live. They didn't rack up debt getting into this either. This is not a bad deal for many people.

Especially if you are remotely trustworthy and have good people skills. The good tradespeople I know are recommended by everybody else I know and constantly backlogged.

Plumbers, HVAC, Electricians, General Contractors, etc

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#662

Post by AngryData »

prottog wrote: post #332
rco8786 wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ass-busting outcomes without the busting of the ass. Perhaps. But one only needs to look up to the original post to see that is not what we're talking about here. Busting of the ass for $25-30/hr plus overtime...not exactly getting wealthy here.

I don't know where GP's old employer was located, but it sounds like it's in a low cost-of-living area, the kind where homes can be had for under $100k. Earn $50-60k a year, pay off your house in maybe ten years instead of thirty, save a little each month and invest and let it compound over time; at the end you could have enough for a comfortable retirement and maybe even have some left over to hand down to your chil…

I don't know where you live but in my poor as hell area (12 an hour is considered decent pay), $100K doesn't really get you that much anymore. That is like the bare minimum for a lot in the trees and a small and poorly insulated 2 bedroom house.

15 years ago it might not have been so bad. But now you would get a run down shack on a tiny plot of land and you are living in a poor as hell area deep in the sticks where the nearest store besides walmart or dollar tree is minimum 60 miles away and your only choice for internet is 4G wireless that is shoddy going through all the trees.

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#663

Post by agumonkey »

rybosworld wrote: post #503

"Youtube university" has most definitely had an effect. Particularly in regards to the lack of pay increase in the trades. My toilet is leaking? 10 years ago I'd call a plumber. Now I diagnose the problem and determine if it's within my skill level to learn the repair (it usually is). For me, this wouldn't be feasible without online how-to videos. A plumber/carpenter/electrician will charge me $50-$100/hr for work th…

This era is surprisingly troubled. With the advance of tech, the change in workload (more bs jobs), the distribution of knowledge, the potential coming of robots .. it will alter society's tissue.

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#664

Post by andirk »

Justsignedup wrote: post #619

The article PERFECTLY explains the problem. "But Mwandjalulu, who makes nearly $24 an hour as a carpenter, said he's still had trouble convincing his friends, whom he keeps in touch with on Facebook and Snapchat, to follow his path." There you go. This is minimum living wage right now. We're fighting to make this amount the minimum wage now. Meanwhile this is the prospect of this job. It doesn't pay. People rather go…

Email jobs often pay a bit more than that and half the time they can do Ticktok. If the person isn't passionate about a trade, tadesmanship is not an easy sell.

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#665

Post by andirk »

rootusrootus wrote: post #605
anonreeeeplor wrote: post #348

I would love some of the journalists who write these article to volunteer to take these jobs by quitting and becoming plumbers. Why don’t they do it? Because sitting in a nice cozy chair and having opinions backed by nothing is much higher social status. It’s like this constant gas lighting from elite sources: “Hey can’t buy a house? How about being knee deep in toilets all day and having zero respect in society.”

> zero respect in society Is that really how you see it? I've never felt that way about the contractors coming to do work at my house. On the contrary, after I fork over a thousand bucks a day (minimum) for their expert work, I'm wondering if they're in fact a bit higher in the social hierarchy than I am. I feel a little self-conscious sometimes admitting that I move bits around on a screen for a living and have to h…

I try to never pay anyone more than I make with the exception of the 1 construction contractor, physician, and possibly a drug dealer.

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#666

Post by gibspaulding »

porknubbins wrote: post #602
pwarner wrote: post #526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I ended up paying "professionals" to install some vinyl flooring in my house. They were making like 5 of the top 10 mistakes from the YouTube video I had watched the night before. I had to correct them, which was awkward since they had been installing floors for 15 years, supposedly... YouTube changes things for sure, although I am unsure if that's the cause of fewer folks going into the trades. Demand over all seems…

Youtube basically helps me do jobs I could already do, to a higher level of quality. Like painting a room, I now know the mistakes to avoid. But when it came to major drywall repair/replacement it was no help, there is must too much individual variation that experience trumps information.

This is spot on. We're at a point where the basics of virtually any field can be learned quickly online, but I think becoming an actual expert takes just as long as it always has.

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#667

Post by dionidium »

SilasX wrote: post #524
dionidium wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> First we were told that we needed the college degree for a job. Any degree would do. Something strange is happening here that I can't quite understand. Jokes about English majors asking if you want fries with that are way older than me and I first started college in 1999. Yes, I heard a persistent low rumbling of "go to college," but the idea that "any degree would do" is alien to me. Of course I knew that some maj…

You’re asking why high school students trusted a guidance counselor over the wisdom found in jokes?

Speaking of jokes. [0]

[regarding weird man examining dozens of eggs]

Customer: They call it "shell shock". It seems to only happen with guidance counselors. They use to make a big deal of it but they let just let it go now 'cuz they always pay for whatever they break and they never bother anybody.

Dante: Well, why guidance counselors?

Customer: Well, if your job was as meaningless as theirs, wouldn't you go crazy too?

Randal: Come to think of it, my guidance counselor was kinda worthless.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a3zXJ7biqI

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#668

Post by b112 »

tlb wrote: post #657
dieselgate wrote: post #642

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not trying to be a smarta$5 but suppose welding is working with a live circuit too

Arc, TIG, and MIG welding is fairly low voltage, like 15 - 30 volts. To start the arc there's a brief high-voltage high-frequency burst, but it's current limited. So it's pretty safe as far as electrocution goes.

http://www.hydroquebec.com/learning/transport/grandes-distan...

Not to mention, 735kV, yes kilovolts, is a lot of juice.

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#669

Post by specialp »

UncleMeat wrote: post #33

"We need more tradespeople" seems to be an evergreen news article. My brother in law is an electrician. He is paid alright, enough to live on. But there are HUGE downsides. He does not receive health insurance. He does not get paid vacation. In order to match decent white-collar pay, he needs to work overtime. His company pushes hard to get jobs finished fast, causing people to cut safety corners. Many of his coworke…

There is another aspect too. It completely breaks your body. Electricians get carpal tunnel worse than information workers by constantly squeezing lineman pliers, knees get shot. Your career path is work like that and hopefully before you get older, start your own company and hire younger people to do the body breaking work. But not everyone in the field will end up doing that so many end up in bad shape

Re: The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

#670

Post by andirk »

The cheat code these days is either be a skilled technical worker or have generational wealth. The latter also offers positions that are given via nepotism.

I know it sounds extreme, but consider that in the next couple of decades there may very well be factions fighting for finite water and air conditioning and there won't be enough to go around to offer a comfortable life for as many as it does now.

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