Quote:
Originally Posted by Kees
Absolutely.
I fall in the $20-$30 range... but I also get steady overtime. My $1700 - $1800 weeks average out to over $40 an hour for a 40 hour work week... I just have to work 20-25 hours of OT to get there.
It's actually pretty easy to do because I am definitely not breaking my back digging a ditch. I'm programming a CNC machine... loading/unloading steel with a crane... measuring dimensions with calipers... and hitting a few buttons here and there.
I'm the type that can't say no... I look at it like this... if I say no to OT and just work 40 hours I will be throwing away $2500-$3000 a month extra income. What would I be doing if I wasn't at work? M-F I would be at home anyway watching TV or something.
Would you pay $2500-$3000 a month to watch TV?
Neither would I.
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Just because someone shows up everyday doesn't mean they work hard or smart.
Minimum wage jobs have always been minimum wage because anybody can do them, no skill set required other than knowing when the bell rings the fries are done.
There are good paying jobs out there that don't require a college degree but do require a lot of time, much of it time spent doing near minimum wage jobs, in training.
I can't do it anymore, because I'm 66 and no longer physically up to it, but if I was physically able I would be able to get a job inspecting fire sprinkler systems in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, government and private buildings. Job opportunities are very plentiful and here in Florida and Georgia if you had the certifications chances are near 100% you would get a job offer by cold calling half a dozen companies out of the phone book.
The minimum pay I have heard of is $20/hr but low wages like that are always coupled to productivity bonuses. For example get paid $20/hour plus 10% of the value of inspections performed. If someone busts their butt it's not all that hard to do $1,200 per day in inspections so $160+$120*5=
$1,400/week is pretty typical of the lower paid $20 to $25/hour for 40 hour/week inspection jobs.
I know some inspectors who earn near six figures and in south Georgia one can live very, very well on a six figure job but don't kid yourself, they work for it. To earn $75k to $100k range an inspector will putting in 60 hour work weeks and typical around here be spending an average of two nights a week in a motel. If working from the house most mornings you will be gone by 6:30 AM and it will be rare you get home before 6:30 PM making a 12 hour day pretty much standard but $85k is $85k so there you go.
Lot's and lots of driving in this job. Company provides vehicle, usually a small truck, pays for all vehicle expenses, along with overnight expenses when they happen, but in rural areas you can count on driving 500 to 1,000 miles a week. It's a job that is highly regulated requiring individual licenses issued by the state so you better do your job right but on the plus side an inspector is by himself 90% of the time so nobody ever looks over your shoulder.
it's a good job and contrary to what some might think it has nothing to do with construction activity. Laws vary state to state but as an example in North Carolina, South Caroline and Georgia, these are states I hold license in so I am well aware of the requirements, the state fire marshal's require a minimum annual inspection on all systems whether they be one year old or a hundred years old. The owner of the property has no say in this, if an annual inspection isn't performed the state fire marshal pulls the occupancy permit for the building which means it can not be occupied. Construction work can fall to zero but all our inspectors always stay busy and fully employed.
Problem is training. In both Carolina's and Florida the minimum training period as a helper is two years while in Georgia it is five years. Not kidding, five years and all heavily documented. During that two to five year period the work will suck and so will the pay. When a trainee first starts he's not going to get much more ($9.00) than a fast food worker because, to put a fine point of it, that is all a trainee is worth. Fact is he isn't worth that to me but I suppose he has to have some money to live.
There's
lots of job openings with jobs like this one where "
Siemens encourages qualified long-term unemployed individuals to apply for open positions." which I think is pretty cute because there aren't any qualified long term unemployed in this field. If you don't have a job it's only because someone who is qualified chooses not to work.
In two minutes I found two job openings for trainees. Here is
one in the Washington, DC area and there is
another in Memphis. On each of these the key wording is "
Agree to work towards obtaining NICET certification" and "
NICET Level II certification must be obtained within 2 years of employment". I've been in the industry for 40 years, for half that time I owned my own company, and knowing what I know I would tell any 20 year old if he wants a good future, in a field where he is near bullet proof to unemployment, that is exactly the type of job he should go after knowing it is going to suck for two years but just buck up and take it.
Excellent job for women too. Wow, would make your eyeballs spin; I know one in Atlanta that earned three times what a well paid office receptionist earned last year. A little physical but I've seen a number of ladies working out in the local gym I go to that could do it.
These certifications are not easy to obtain and it is nothing like some where you can sit through a week of classes then walk out with a certification. A minimum of two years experience is required before the written test that takes a couple days, and there aren't any exceptions either. During that two years you nothing more than a helper.
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