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So, we should NOT do it because "a segment" might not like it?
Have we EVERY Not had "a segment (fill in the blank)?
Such a defeatist attitude.
You would NEVER had made it as a pioneer who helped build thus great country.
I'm glad you were not involved in wining WWI or WWII or the going to the moon.
We would have NEVER won either of those wars NOR gone to the moon.
Defeatist???How in the heck did you get that from my post? Pragmatic maybe...DO you really think that holding hands and singing kumbyya will make anyone respect one another better? Never going to happen. As long as there are terms like "flyover states" "rust belt" "rednecks and hillbillys" there will be a divide between the classes...You see it time and time again here on CD. Discussions descend into 2 sides calling each other names....
I’ve always had respect for tradesman. I have zero talent for working with my hands. Tried plumbing in my early 20s and within a year knew it was not for me. I’ve never thought of tradesmen as unintelligent or lacking. We all have different talents and abilities. If I had to depend on myself to fix the furnace I would freeze. Just the way it is.
tradespeople do NOT "work with their hands". they work with their brains, problem solving based on experience and creativity, and execute their plan with their hands.
Kind of sad to see everyone whining about incomes that can easily support a family, in exchange for honest work. If all you are after is easy money, please, stay away from the trades! They are not a path to easy money. You have to work for it, but the wages/salaries can be exceptional for exceptional talent, so long as you are not afraid to go above and beyond.
This country was built by hard working tradespeople, laborers, etc. I am proud to follow in their footsteps, regardless of what others might think about an honest living.
I have alot of respect for trades people but I feel many posters are being dishonest in this thread about the risks and salary you can make not to mention putting down college graduates who are equally important.
I can only speak to what I know....
Indeed has information on lots of jobs. With OT, call out time, lots of us make eventually 6 figures. Dangerous? sometimes. Rewarding? yes. Does require some smarts and some education. Yes. Is it for an old man like me? Not anymore LOL that's why I moved into the Generation Management and construction side of Electricity... https://www1.salary.com/Power-Plant-...er-salary.html
Yeah us poor MBA graduates going on to work at Fortune 500 companies with fresh hires making six figure salaries with massive bonuses. I make more $ than any employed trade worker.
And lets not even go into the army of MD, CPAs, PEs, JDs, etc that all earn more than tradesmen. However, if you are sub 120 IQ I wouldn't recommend going for a professional track, it's not going to work. If you have 90 IQ and low aptitude being a tradesman and unclogging toilets all day is definitely the way to go.
Good for you. Not every college bound person could hack working towards those degrees or afford it, and those are the ones the poster was talking about, I'm sure you knew that though...you're smart enough...you've got an MBA
tradespeople do NOT "work with their hands". they work with their brains, problem solving based on experience and creativity, and execute their plan with their hands.
You believe physically active jobs are less healthy?
Yeah, that poster doesn't get it. 10hrs or more a day sitting in a cubicle healthy.....SMH
Go take a look at the guys in a roofing crew, they are all ripped !
Ehhhh...not likely. You guys toss that six figs stuff around here like it’s going out of style. Only a very tiny percentage of Americans make that yearly. Very, very tiny.
College grads make more money over a lifetime than non grads do. That’s a simple fact of life. There’s no getting around it.
And the gap difference isn’t small either.
Welders don’t make that much money overall. Depends on the job.
If you’re in the oilfield, it can pay quite handsomely. Shipyard welders do well when they have work. But the average welder here in Arizona won’t see more than $15-$20 bucks an hour.
Rarely.
Plumbers make great money if they’re unionized. Non union plumbers aren’t breaking the bank unless they own the business. The average plumber makes about 50k a year or thereabouts. Many make far less if they don’t own the business or work under another contractor’s license.
The 100k a year plumber exists, but is very rare.
Depends. I left college with no debt. My father put me through college. I put my son through college.
There are ways to go through college without a ton of debt, but no one gets something for nothing. Critical skills cost money. NOT getting an education is MORE expensive. Being poor is unbelievably expensive. Struggling is expensive. Not having access to good credit is expensive.
A college degree is cheap in comparison to the costs of not having one if you have no other marketable skill.
I think that 6 figure thing is including OT.
I know some friends that are in the elevator repair trade. They were looking for apprentices, starting at $25 an hour, working 55 hrs a week. By the time you become a journeyman you are well into the $30's an hour.
I think the trick to making really good money as a welder is to also be a great fabricator. One of the guys that works at a local race car chassis fabrication company (skinny kid racecars) drives a Bentley, and lives in a house on Lake St. Clair. Granted, the Bentley is either a lease or he did some chassis work for someone in return for it. And the house is a rental. It still costs for those things though.
Regardless of being in the trades or in a white collar profession, you have to be at the top of your game to be really successful. There are schlep-rocks in both of those categories that barely make a living.
Not exactly news-anyone involved in any type of manufacturing or construction knows this. What is new is that even our media is recognizing the 5 decade long failure of our educational industry to recognize and promote skilled trades. Demand is such that a machinist, electrician or carpenter will make more than many with bachelor's degrees.
Our educational industry is of the opinion that children should be taught how to think (preferably for themselves), and that skills should be taught by employers.
In practice what this leads to is 'white collar' office and management skills being subsidized heavily, and physical labor skills being a lower priority for professional educators.
Individual states have often stepped in to provide this, but I get the impression that it is a low priority at the federal level.
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