Would you recommend a trade job? And which?

I'd heavily consider a trade if I had to do it again. Hell I still consider it. Finance and accounting is a drag on your soul.

1. I'd highly advise NOT to get a job doing your hobby. See a lot of folks kill all interest in a topic once it becomes work. "Hobby adjacent" though is pretty alright.

2. Good coworkers make all the difference. I've survived a few shit jobs just because of the people around me that know when to crack a joke when it gets heavy, or bring you that cup of coffee after a rough morning.

 

Worked in defense manufacturing for a while. It is AMAZING how many grown ass adults can't be bothered to show up for work, and the scope of their knowledge is where the ON button on a HAAS is.

Lots of opportunity in the machining field if you are willing to give a damn and show up. Also, learn the role of a machinist, not just a CNC operator button masher. If you want, I can reach out to a few mfg hiring people in SoCal and see if they are willing to take someone off the street.

 

One small downside to most trade jobs, rarely do you get to use porcelain. Gotta get used to hot overfilled honey buckets.

One benefit, your lung capacity will increase from holding your breath

 

Yes, rob banks.

 

Has an iron clad retirement plan

 

What about the honey buckets they cut the tops off so they can fit them in the construction elevator.

 

My jobs sucks, that’s why I get paid. That doesn’t define who I am. If I did something I liked it would either not pay enough or would eventually become something I don’t like again.

What do you like to do? Make your job part of what allows you the time to also do something you like but not both being the same thing.

When people ask what I do, they are asking who am I. So I answer that instead of a job title.

Technical trades can give you further pathways than true hands on only trades. The fact you mention “engineering” and “electrician” in same sentence means you both have no idea what you want and already know.

 

Different sentences, and I read that as 2 possible options. 1, spend 4+ years getting an engineering related degree or 2, go into something with a shorter training period, a trade.

 

Those suck. Specially when you’re poopin and someone pees in the urinal on the outside of it. Not good

 

I'm lucky in that my job is roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of time on site, the rest in the shop so I get real toilets most of the time.

I'm just curious how they can still smell when it's so cold the blue juice is freezing solid.

 

The trick is to get away with it. How do you think I paid for all of my Taco mods?

 

The smell is baked into the plastic during the hot summer and off-gases the rest of the year.

 

Or nasty people shit on the seat or the lid or the floor

Or come to the site still drunk and puke all over the place

So I guess to add to my first statement, not all the adults you work with act like adults

 

haha im a second year tech and all the older techs I work with keep telling me to run, good money in it though so I mean eh ill take my chances

 

I don’t know your background and what your training is in. But why not change it up and get a job on a medical flight crew on one of the medflight helicopters. Or a ambulance crew/fireman where you aren’t tied to the ER section.
It would be a shame to throw away all the training. Grass isn’t always greener but if looking at the trades I would look at the operating engineers union and heavy equipment operation. Save the body.

 

If you can work hard and put up with the weather and long hours... go to work doing powerline work.

There is a shortage nationwide. And that means pay is high. Once you done it a bit and made some contacts and gain experience. You will not be outta work unless you want to be.

 

It's a hard job. But pay is great. You can get in by going to the local union hall. It's TRUE that when the economy tanks, you get laid off. I did it. Now I'm back into it after 20yrs. I'm doing home elevators. Lil less stress and lighter materials. But you do a lot of stuff.

 

Happiness is a clean portajon.

They suck in the hear of the summer when nasty, and the dead of winter...

 

Only plus side is all the great doodles on the walls

 

Get a Job with the Local DPW (Department of Public Works) that way you can stand around all day leaning on a shovel watching others work get good Pay and great benefits and a paid in Full retirement plan.