Anyone here in the Skilled Trades?

[PurplDrank]

Anyone here have a career in the Skilled Trades? If so please represent and tell us more.

 

I feel like the trades are undervalued and yet you can make just as much if not more than anyone with a college degree.

[MrFixitBlankFace]

What are........the "Trades"

[PurplDrank]

15 minutes ago, MrFixitBlankFace said:

What are........the "Trades"

Electrician, PLumber, carpenter....etc

[byalexandr]

I used to be an instrument fitter at some of the largest chemical plants in the US. It was laborious and involved climbing tens to hundreds of feet in the air, carrying tools and heavy equipment, wearing a fall arrest harness, hard hat, pants, steel toe boots, long sleeves, gloves and safety glasses at all times. When the heat index is 120+F it gets pretty hard to bear. You wake up at 3AM because you need to catch the hour long shuttle to the plant, and work 10-12 hours a day with a 30 minute lunch break, 7 days a week, and then take an hour long shuttle back to your car, when only then do you finally get home. By the time you get home you are too tired to do anything else but eat and go to sleep.

 

But that paycheck at the end of every week... Almost $2,000.

 

Personally, I love the money that comes from trade work, but it doesn't come easy. If you want them to give you a paycheck like that then you have to work for it. The reason every one wants you to go to school is because instead of working in the harsh heat or cold breaking your back 12 hours a day, you can sit in a nice office with nice clothes in a quiet environment, and make the same if not more money.

[PurplDrank]

Just now, byalexandr said:

I used to be an instrument fitter at some of the largest chemical plants in the US. It was laborious and involved climbing tens to hundreds of feet in the air, carrying tools and heavy equipment, wearing a fall arrest harness, hard hat, pants, steel toe boots, long sleeves, gloves and safety glasses at all times. When the heat index is 120+F it gets pretty hard to bear. You wake up at 3AM because you need to catch the hour long shuttle to the plant, and work 10-12 hours a day with a 30 minute lunch break, 7 days a week, and then take an hour long shuttle back to your car, when only then do you finally get home. By the time you get home you are too tired to do anything else but eat and go to sleep.

 

But that paycheck at the end of every week... Almost $2,000.

 

Personally, I love the money that comes from trade work, but it doesn't come easy. If you want them to give you a paycheck like that then you have to work for it. The reason every one wants you to go to school is because instead of working in the harsh heat or cold breaking your back 12 hours a day, you can sit in a nice office with nice clothes in a quiet environment, and make the same if not more money.

Yet alot of those office people that do make that money have alot of student loans.

 

I do have a friend who started out as an Electrician, finished his apprenticeship and got licensed as a Journeyman and made great money. Bought a house, leased a new truck. All the while using his own money and Electrical expertise to get a degree in electrical engineering. The thing that really astonishes me is he used his electrician skills and pay to pay for his engineering school. 0 student loans.....

[byalexandr]

1 hour ago, PurplDrank said:

Yet alot of those office people that do make that money have alot of student loans.

 

I do have a friend who started out as an Electrician, finished his apprenticeship and got licensed as a Journeyman and made great money. Bought a house, leased a new truck. All the while using his own money and Electrical expertise to get a degree in electrical engineering. The thing that really astonishes me is he used his electrician skills and pay to pay for his engineering school. 0 student loans.....

Smart idea, same thing my father did. He started as an electrician and now does project management and control systems engineering.

 

I started out as a green hand (apprentice) and moved up by my second plant job to a journeyman. I spent almost a $1000 on Swagelok tubing bender sets like it was nothing! Making so much money. I paid my 17K car note off in a year and ate out every day, on top of putting money into another project car.

 

I might go back but I love working in a shop. Cars are my thing, not oil and alcohol refineries lol

[wasab]

2 hours ago, byalexandr said:

Smart idea, same thing my father did. He started as an electrician and now does project management and control systems engineering.

 

I started out as a green hand (apprentice) and moved up by my second plant job to a journeyman. I spent almost a $1000 on Swagelok tubing bender sets like it was nothing! Making so much money. I paid my 17K car note off in a year and ate out every day, on top of putting money into another project car.

 

I might go back but I love working in a shop. Cars are my thing, not oil and alcohol refineries lol

You are living the life. pat yourself on the back. 

[Radium_Angel]

I used to be an OSHA/EPA enforcer. College degree not required. Monitored all the trade guys to ensure they did their job right/safe.

Fun job for a bit, but working in the cold was not ideal. I liked the heat of the summertime. Made 6 figures doing that, but it was the same hours as the tradesguys, so there was that...

[myselfolli]

9 hours ago, PurplDrank said:

Yet alot of those office people that do make that money have alot of student loans.

 

I do have a friend who started out as an Electrician, finished his apprenticeship and got licensed as a Journeyman and made great money. Bought a house, leased a new truck. All the while using his own money and Electrical expertise to get a degree in electrical engineering. The thing that really astonishes me is he used his electrician skills and pay to pay for his engineering school. 0 student loans.....

Well in the US maybe, yeah.

 

I for example live in Germany and just finished my apprenticeship, I make about 1.700$/month with 0 student loan ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Steven123123]

Some trades are doing great, some wages have not improved in the last decade or two. I went into appliance repair when i left school but i moved on after the recession. I dont see any reason to go back. There are "approved" companies that have locked down the industry and lots of whiteware products are not made to be serviced. Planned obsolescence sucks.

[Steven123123]

9 hours ago, byalexandr said:

you can sit in a nice office with nice clothes in a quiet environment

open plan offices are sweat shops. I have seen some really hot and disgusting ones. Also they never put in a big enough fresh air fan. When i worked in air conditioning I visited almost every building in town. The lack of fresh air is something i cant stand. I have walked into offices and been blown away by how hot and stuffy the air is. Also in these places the workers often look like zombies. Not healthy at all.

[Wauthar]

19 minutes ago, Steven123123 said:

open plan offices are sweat shops. I have seen some really hot and disgusting ones. Also they never put in a big enough fresh air fan. When i worked in air conditioning I visited almost every building in town. The lack of fresh air is something i cant stand. I have walked into offices and been blown away by how hot and stuffy the air is. Also in these places the workers often look like zombies. Not healthy at all.

Currently working in an open office. While the Netherlands doesn't have such a warm climate, the temps are slowly rising as summer is approaching. Last month the AC unit broke on our side of the office and a new one can't be fitted because of sizing issues. So either: 1. a custom one has to be made, 2. the ceiling and ducting has to be broken up, or 3. coming months will get toasty. Yay.

 

OT:
At first I thought that OP meant 'ye olde' trades, such as woodworking, masonry, smithing etc.

 

These careers are often looked down upon, but they can't be missed. Who will come to the rescue when your plumbing is stuffed or when the power is down?

[Steven123123]

20 minutes ago, Wauthar said:

Who will come to the rescue when your plumbing is stuffed or when the power is down?

Mario runs on AA batteries.

[byalexandr]

3 hours ago, Steven123123 said:

Some trades are doing great, some wages have not improved in the last decade or two. I went into appliance repair when i left school but i moved on after the recession. I dont see any reason to go back. There are "approved" companies that have locked down the industry and lots of whiteware products are not made to be serviced. Planned obsolescence sucks.

If you want a guaranteed check, large chemical refineries are the easiest route. You can start out with no experience as a bottom level helper making $800 a week and work up to a top level journeyman making $2,000 a week, just breaking into 6 figures. Construction projects last at least a few years, due to size and complexity.

[Steven123123]

Just now, byalexandr said:

If you want a guaranteed check, large chemical refineries are the easiest route. You can start out with no experience as a bottom level helper making $800 a week and work up to a top level journeyman making $2,000 a week, just breaking into 6 figures. Construction projects last at least a few years, due to size and complexity.

yea i know but here in nz there is a lot of competition for the entry level jobs. We only have a few industrial places. I dont know where they advertise the entry level jobs but i have seen them advertise for experienced electricians for the gas industry in Taranaki

[byalexandr]

3 hours ago, Steven123123 said:

open plan offices are sweat shops. I have seen some really hot and disgusting ones. Also they never put in a big enough fresh air fan. When i worked in air conditioning I visited almost every building in town. The lack of fresh air is something i cant stand. I have walked into offices and been blown away by how hot and stuffy the air is. Also in these places the workers often look like zombies. Not healthy at all.

I see your point, but from my own personal experience, I'd rather be sitting at a computer 3/4 of the 8 hour day over busting ass in 110F heat in full safety gear from 6AM to 6PM.

 

I kind of have a balance of both now, since I'm the parts and inventory manager at my shop. Mostly computer work but also moving inventory and driving to get parts, etc. I do not make nearly as much money as I used to but being in my home town and working 40 hours instead of 70-80 hours a week is really awesome.

 

Take it like this: Base pay at my level was $27/hr plus $500/wk per Diem. Works out to $2800 for a 70 hour week before taxes (1.5x overtime). Take out heavy overtime tax and Louisiana state tax plus company health insurance and my checks were roughly $2K.

 

Like I said the money is great, but the hours and the heat/cold and the labor and being hours away from home are really not worth it when I can work my way up in the car industry and eventually make even more money doing what I really like. That and you really have to change your lifestyle to do this kind of thing. You absolutely need a truck (I had a Miata) and your own tool box, tools, clothing, place to stay, etc. The only reason I would go back, if any, is solely for the money to save up to take a year off or invest into my own business or whatever.

[byalexandr]

16 minutes ago, Steven123123 said:

yea i know but here in nz there is a lot of competition for the entry level jobs. We only have a few industrial places. I dont know where they advertise the entry level jobs but i have seen them advertise for experienced electricians for the gas industry in Taranaki

Here in the US we have $8.1B 400 acre ethylene refineries! Tons and tons of work over here.

[TopDollar]

Trades are certainly a fine career choice. There's good demand for skilled tradesman and you can certainly make as much if not more than your average college degree holder. The downside is making that much in a trade requires putting in many extra hours per week of work. An opportunity cost that some don't find worth it.

 

For example, a typical journeyman with 5 years experience in trade might make $25/hr ($52,000 annual salary based on a typical 40 hour work week) with a 1.5x overtime rate of $37.50/hr. If the journeyman wants to make $100k per year (not unrealistic in certain industries), then they would need to put in an additional 1,280 hours of overtime per year (($100,000 - $52,000) / $37.50/hr = 1,280hr) or a total of 3,360 hours per year.

 

An engineer with the same 5 years of experience in industry might make $80,000 base salary per year and work 40 hour work weeks; resulting in a total of 2,080 hours per year worked (true for my job, some companies have engineers salaried and expect more than 40 hours per week). The engineer might make 20% less than the journeyman, but they also spent 38% less time working than the journeyman did. For some, this benefit is well worth it. Sometimes you even get the best of both worlds where there is overtime available for the engineer as well.

 

Increased risk of occupational health related issues is also an opportunity cost of working in trades, but that one is probably pretty self explanatory. In short, don't disregard trades as being a bad career choice, but understand the downsides of that type of work as well.

[PurplDrank]

On 4/18/2019 at 12:10 PM, TopDollar said:

Trades are certainly a fine career choice. There's good demand for skilled tradesman and you can certainly make as much if not more than your average college degree holder. The downside is making that much in a trade requires putting in many extra hours per week of work. An opportunity cost that some don't find worth it.

 

For example, a typical journeyman with 5 years experience in trade might make $25/hr ($52,000 annual salary based on a typical 40 hour work week) with a 1.5x overtime rate of $37.50/hr. If the journeyman wants to make $100k per year (not unrealistic in certain industries), then they would need to put in an additional 1,280 hours of overtime per year (($100,000 - $52,000) / $37.50/hr = 1,280hr) or a total of 3,360 hours per year.

 

An engineer with the same 5 years of experience in industry might make $80,000 base salary per year and work 40 hour work weeks; resulting in a total of 2,080 hours per year worked (true for my job, some companies have engineers salaried and expect more than 40 hours per week). The engineer might make 20% less than the journeyman, but they also spent 38% less time working than the journeyman did. For some, this benefit is well worth it. Sometimes you even get the best of both worlds where there is overtime available for the engineer as well.

 

Increased risk of occupational health related issues is also an opportunity cost of working in trades, but that one is probably pretty self explanatory. In short, don't disregard trades as being a bad career choice, but understand the downsides of that type of work as well.

Industrial Electricians make great money. When most things if not all go completely automated in Americas factories Industrial Electricians will still be needed to maintain them and inspect them and install them. 

 

I am applying to my Electrician's union school here in Michigan and plan to use my Electricians experience to go into a Construction Management degree or Engineering degree. 

[BuckGup]

On 4/17/2019 at 7:36 PM, PurplDrank said:

Yet alot of those office people that do make that money have alot of student loans.

 

I do have a friend who started out as an Electrician, finished his apprenticeship and got licensed as a Journeyman and made great money. Bought a house, leased a new truck. All the while using his own money and Electrical expertise to get a degree in electrical engineering. The thing that really astonishes me is he used his electrician skills and pay to pay for his engineering school. 0 student loans.....

The problem is your body can only take so much. By the time you are 40 you will be living in constant pain. If you get a degree that's actually valuable and there's demand then student loans are nothing to worry about. It's when people get an Arfican Womens study degree with $200,000 in debt they complain working at a liquor store

[Ithanul]

On 4/17/2019 at 7:34 PM, byalexandr said:

Personally, I love the money that comes from trade work, but it doesn't come easy. If you want them to give you a paycheck like that then you have to work for it. The reason every one wants you to go to school is because instead of working in the harsh heat or cold breaking your back 12 hours a day, you can sit in a nice office with nice clothes in a quiet environment, and make the same if not more money.

Agree.

Former aircraft mech, myself.  Yeah, nice pay, but I'm rather stick to my IT job now (no oil, hydro, fuel getting on me, or dealing with very long hour shifts almost every day with very few days off during a month).  Along with the fact, current job is less stressful and my back is not being beated up to hell (I was already getting back issues in my mid-20s). 

[wasab]

1 hour ago, BuckGup said:

The problem is your body can only take so much. By the time you are 40 you will be living in constant pain. If you get a degree that's actually valuable and there's demand then student loans are nothing to worry about. It's when people get an Arfican Womens study degree with $200,000 in debt they complain working at a liquor store

You can only take out that much loan if you went to medical school and if you did go to a medical school, your income is 60k-70k while in Residency and 150k-350k when a full doctor so who cares?

 

PhD here where I live is free and PhD students get a monthly stipend of 2.5-3k a month to live on, not to mention any research fundings/grants they can get from government and institution.

 

School takes a toll on your body too. My proffesor often tells the class her stories back when she was a PhD student. To get that Dr. prefix, she had to drive to work at 7am in the morning and return home by 11pm in the evening everyday for 8 years. It took a toll. She gets tenured but if she was to time travel back, she said she would not choose to do a PhD.

[BuckGup]

53 minutes ago, wasab said:

You can only take out that much loan if you went to medical school and if you did go to a medical school, your income is 60k-70k while in Residency and 150k-350k when a full doctor so who cares?

 

PhD here where I live is free and PhD students get a monthly stipend of 2.5-3k a month to live on, not to mention any research fundings/grants they can get from government and institution.

 

School takes a toll on your body too. My proffesor often tells the class her stories back when she was a PhD student. To get that Dr. prefix, she had to drive to work at 7am in the morning and return home by 11pm in the evening everyday for 8 years. It took a toll. She gets tenured but if she was to time travel back, she said she would not choose to do a PhD.

Have you been to school I’m America lol $72,000/year at Miami, $57,000 at Madison, most large schools are around that but many times they are private so they get scholarships and funding. But many are too middle class so they aren’t poor or rich enough and pay $30,000+. This is assuming no financial aid o scholarships

[wasab]

15 minutes ago, BuckGup said:

Have you been to school I’m America lol $72,000/year at Miami, $57,000 at Madison, most large schools are around that but many times they are private so they get scholarships and funding. But many are too middle class so they aren’t poor or rich enough and pay $30,000+. This is assuming no financial aid o scholarships

You are shopping for the the wrong schools then. Go to public universities where tutions are subsidize by the tax payers. Tuitions where I live is just 10k for in state resident and 20k for out of state regardless of your family wealth. All public universities are heavily subsidize like that whether you are going to a common everyday community college or a prestigious institution like UC Berkeley. 

 

For some insights, I paid full in state tuitions for the first 4 semesters before a scholarship gave me a full ride. No loans prior or after the scholarship.