The biggest problem facing the trades today is the Old Guard not passing their knowledge onto the next generation. The fact that "Trade Schools" exist is problematic in and of itself. Masters and Journeyman that aren't telling their company heads they need more apprentices is the issue.

The gatekeeping and the verbal abuse lobbed at young bucks makes it to where no one wants to join the trades. Sure, there's always going to be a bit of shit talking, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the kind of verbal lashings that belittle and destroy anyone. Don't give me that "it made me tougher" bullshit either, that shit is for the birds. If you need to be verbally abusive to someone to teach them, you shouldn't be teaching.

The work is hard enough and dangerous without the bullshit, why make it harder. Yes, you have to be tough to do this shit, I've been welding for 25 years now, I've certainly done irreparable damage to my body that no amount of money could fix. I've also had to eat the shit sandwich in being verbally a side by old heads in order to advance to being a journeyman and eventually a master. Outwardly attempting to mentally break another person just because you had to go through it is just fucking stupid.

I refuse to treat my apprentices that way. If they fuck something up, that's a failure on my part. They're mistakes are ultimately my mistakes. They're held to account, but I don't abuse them, I teach them where they went wrong and what they could have done differently. Maybe I'm different though, maybe the Marine Corps taught me something about leadership that most folks just don't have. As I see it though, when my men and women fail, I have failed. I have failed because I failed them.

I did blue collar work in my youth. It is for the young.

The problem with the trades is that private equity is infiltrating and ruining them too. They own all the small and medium businesses where they don't pay the workers decently like in the past and when said workers decide to work for themselves its harder to compete with big money.

Left my job in marketing at 35 to work doing remodels. It’s the best decision I’ve ever made- my body, mind and spirit are healthier than they’ve been in a decade.

Problem growing up in the 80’s and finishing high school in the 90’s is the teachers would always use the HVAC guy out on the roof in the cold as a threat. You need to do better or you will end up like that loser working in the cold. They predicted my future. Who is the loser the HVAC guy making twice the teachers salary or the teacher trying to scare kids to go to college when trades pay the same if not better than many college degrees

I was a Civil Engineer that got stuck at a desk running simulations (wind/load/flood/seismic) and drawing lines all day. I enjoyed Land Surveying but I was better behind the computer.

However, it was the office politics (and being a black masculine man) that made me despise the corporate culture.

I switched over to the trades and became an Electrician. The outside weather and heavy lifting/pulling can be a beast but it’s worth it.

I’m outside/inside with the guys having a good (music/drank/food) time not having to deal with emotional women and corporate jerks.

Left classroom teaching at 53 to work in a valve shop and then became a mariner. I love what im doing.

I went to vocational high school, left a plumbing apprentice. I still went to college. I value what I got from Vic school and use those skills regularly as a home owner. But I do not regret college. I’m still close to many of my friends from high school and the toll of 30 years of trade work cannot be underestimated.

My son just turned 18 and is in first year of college, I told him if college doesn’t work out for him i’ll be more than glad to get him in the trades and get the money on this side.

I left the trades for a technical desk job  53.47 per hour i probably can make it 3  more years to 70 sitting at a desk,no way climbing on the airplane.  everyday. But  the trade broke me  down in 2007

It was a lie. I was told you follow the rules and you get rewarded. That’s not true. We got all this debt to get these degrees because they kept moving the goal post on what qualifies you for those white collar jobs. That’s why I say. The dope game is not the trap game. The student loan game is the trap game.

Brother a I know all to well. Went to college got my degree and went to get my masters. Didn’t like the office. So  went to trade school at 36. Did my 4 years and became an electrician. I love what I do and the pay.

The grass not always greener on the other side

I was an apprentice in my late 20s.
I kinda wish I had gone in earlier, but if I had, I would probably have multiple DUIs and divorces.
The culture of the trades is often  very toxic.

I'm a wastewater operator and a boiler engineer, and I'm in school now to get a bachelor's because I see older guys in their 60's and 70's trying to do these jobs and they are physically broken down.

The trades in my opinion are good when you're young and they do have a lower financial barrier of entry but as you get older you need an exit plan. Either get into management or start a business, ( you may still have to do heavy work though).

requirements 1. traveling up to like 100 milles from home 2. surviving off scrap entery level 3. pressure to work 14 16 hour days 6 to 7 days a week 4. politics especialy if union  5. tollerance for many environment cold,heat,heights,even ear peircing sounds 24/7 in industrial. if you cant handle even one of these i suggest you find a different path or an employer who can accommodate you if thats even possible. it was not for me with my mental and physical set backs so i chose contract work for apartments like maintenance

Always choose your own path and do what is best for you! It's your life and only you can live it!

The parents narrowed my options and the school system narrowed my options even more on what I thought of as "acceptable" work. I just wish I'd been more open-minded in my youth

The guys I know who made bank in the trades didn't do it by staying in the trades. They started their own companies in the electrical space or the construction space. They employed dozens of trades people, but they made their money as a business owner. In my case I became a chemical engineer. It requires a four year degree, but it's a vocational degree just the same. You graduate knowing how to design stuff and optimize chemical plants. And the pay is very good.

Be careful. Stay aware of everything happening around you, and what you're doing