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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

#801

Post by luch »

analog31 wrote: post #729
specialp wrote: post #669

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Whenever tradesmen come to my house for a job, the ones who are my age, 59, are hobbling and broken. A couple other things come to mind: Places where trade work pays more, are probably also more expensive to live in. And the trades are at the mercy of the construction cycle. I could imagine the trades being more attractive in countries with better labor laws and social safety net.

Nope, most western European countries have extensive labor laws & social safety net and still struggles to find tradesmen. More often than not, they have to rely on immigration (portugal, poland, turkey, african nations, etc.)

They even joke about having to learn portuguese if you want to work in construction due to the massive number of portuguese tradesmen across Europe

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

#802

Post by playingalong »

vanderZwan wrote: post #264
WalterBright wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time I employ a tradesman to fix something around here, I get an astonishingly high bill.

The company sending you a high bill doesn't automatically mean the guy who fixed your house gets paid well though, does it?

They need to cover the contingency. You don't expect them to be scheduled back to back from 9 to 5 each day.

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

#804

Post by hunglee2 »

antihero wrote: post #789
clnq wrote: post #693

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps it's a case of "the grass is always greener", but before I became a software engineer, I felt much healthier doing a physical job.

Ideal career would be a split between office and physical work. 3 days coding, 2 days carpentry etc.

the 'chess boxing' of careers.

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

#805

Post by Sparkyte »

specialp wrote: post #669
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

Proven fact is that carpal tunnel is a product repeat motion injuries. Changing equipment and regularly exercising against repeat motions prevents carpal tunnel.

Other fact fewer kids are getting born with muscle area which forma carpal tunnel. Evolution in progress.

Skilled trades are not limited to back breaking labor. Some and most of it is labors of love like farming. You have the right equipment it isn't back breaking.

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

#806

Post by vintermann »

Sparkyte wrote: post #805
specialp wrote: post #669

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Proven fact is that carpal tunnel is a product repeat motion injuries. Changing equipment and regularly exercising against repeat motions prevents carpal tunnel. Other fact fewer kids are getting born with muscle area which forma carpal tunnel. Evolution in progress. Skilled trades are not limited to back breaking labor. Some and most of it is labors of love like farming. You have the right equipment it isn't back br…

> Other fact fewer kids are getting born with muscle area which forma carpal tunnel. Evolution in progress.

I'm pretty sure not enough people have died/failed to reproduce due to carpal tunnel syndrome for that to be true.

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

#807

Post by [deleted] »

Sparkyte wrote: post #805
specialp wrote: post #669

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Proven fact is that carpal tunnel is a product repeat motion injuries. Changing equipment and regularly exercising against repeat motions prevents carpal tunnel. Other fact fewer kids are getting born with muscle area which forma carpal tunnel. Evolution in progress. Skilled trades are not limited to back breaking labor. Some and most of it is labors of love like farming. You have the right equipment it isn't back br…

[deleted]

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

#808

Post by orthoxerox »

antihero wrote: post #789
clnq wrote: post #693

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps it's a case of "the grass is always greener", but before I became a software engineer, I felt much healthier doing a physical job.

Ideal career would be a split between office and physical work. 3 days coding, 2 days carpentry etc.

Literal Utopia.

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

#809

Post by Cthulhu_ »

paxys wrote: post #720
clnq wrote: post #693

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps it's a case of "the grass is always greener", but before I became a software engineer, I felt much healthier doing a physical job.

It may feel better at the time but repetitive motions in most physical jobs will eventually catch up with your body. In an office job you can exercise on your own terms and without long term chronic pain.

IIRC it's not so much repetitive motions (RSI is a misnomer) but constant tension and constraining of blood vessels and nerves. Carpal tunnel syndrome for example is nerves being constrained from permanently swollen tendons.

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

#810

Post by Cthulhu_ »

Avshalom wrote: post #123
falcolas wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It isn't a bad career But there is a finite end to the career - when your body gives out. That's the biggest problem with the trades, you're selling your health and body. And eventually the body parts will wear out, on a schedule decided as much by genetics as how you live.

>there is a finite end to the career this actually brings to mind something else: I think the idea of a career is dead for a lot of the 40 and under set. The idea that you'll have the same job for decades is just nonsense so any job that feels too specific also feels like a it'll bite you in the ass in 5 years.

It's because sticking with the same job is either not rewarding - you're a number, not a valued employee in a lot of jobs - or not feasible.

Back in the day you could live a comfortable life off of your 40-odd year job, nowadays the advice given is to change jobs every few years because the increase in wage will outweigh any raises at your current job. Cost of living is going up faster than annual wage increases. Minimum wage in the US hasn't been updated since the 2000's, and if you do get paid minimum wage, it's your employer saying "I'd pay you less if I was allowed to". But a lot of wages will be based on minimum wage, so if that stagnates, so will other wages.

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