Anywho. I digress.

Trades are still seen as a “manly” career. Brick laying, construction, electricians, welders, mechanics, hvac,  you can make a lot of money in the trades. Not to brag but I made 70k last year as an aircraft mech, been doing this line of work not counting trade school for 6 years now. It’s been a fruitful endeavor and I get to travel a lot. Sure like every job they can suck at times. It’s difficult most of the time but you know what? People can respect a hard worker and a hard days work.

Isnt it odd these are male dominated fields?

No so clever in the winter at 5am in the dark … waking the ship up …. but still loved it.

We had a girl come along and try. She lasted two weeks and put in for hostess.

The girls can screem equality …. but both sexs know that won’t happen. On paper it sound great.

This is why a mechanic at a dealership makes the same money as an office manager who supervises a hundred employees, has a graduate degree, and took ten to fifteen years to get promoted to the top one-percent bracket of the corporation. BTW, this puts Mr/Ms Office Manager in what is called middle management, which really means bottom of the pile.

How about operating/testing a 10kv ATS switch like I did today? EDG runs at 105 decibels in an underground parking lot?

Thinking about our careers as men as skilled trade workers remind me of the scene in fight club where he was attacked in the bathroom:

“We guard you while you sleep. Do not f~~~ with us.”

So after flunking out my senior year i decided to try the other dual enrollment program for a Computer program at a trade school. Perfect grades and the best time i ever spent in school. Everyone there was a blast to hang out with, almost every other day we were doing some kind of activity related to the trade. Some days we would splice wires, other days assemble computers. Was the best schooling experience i ever had.

But my parents still pushed me to go to college, so i did. Went for a year and failed out again. The last semester i had, i went for 1/4th the semester and just stopped showing up, because i knew the result. I moved out of the parents home on a minimum wage job with a room mate. Not the best life, but it is still comfy for living on 9k a year. This August though, i’m starting trade school for welding. Havnt been this excited in a looooong time.

To be Welder here. and I completely agree. Being 20 i can validate the whole, “You need to go to college to get a good career to make lots of money” mindset, and how it is still pushed. My junior year i did dual enrollment at a college and had mediocre-bad grades. My family was befuddled why i did so good in highschool but basically bombed college. Part of it was at the time i didn’t care about education and was lazy, but the other part was the way it taught. The idea of staring at a board for 4-6 years, literally bored me to sleep. So after flunking out my senior year i decided to try the other dual enrollment program for a Computer program at a trade school. Perfect grades and the best time i ever spent in school. Everyone there was a blast to hang out with, almost every other day we were doing some kind of activity related to the trade. Some days we would splice wires, other days assemble computers. Was the best schooling experience i ever had. But my parents still pushed me to go to college, so i did. Went for a year and failed out again. The last semester i had, i went for 1/4th the semester and just stopped showing up, because i knew the result. I moved out of the parents home on a minimum wage job with a room mate. Not the best life, but it is still comfy for living on 9k a year. This August though, i’m starting trade school for welding. Havnt been this excited in a looooong time.

Welding is a good trade to get in to man, have fun.

Well done, and nice choice Jyphyx.

I work in fabrication and inspection in the currently beat to hell oilfield and EPC sector, with a focus on welding.

Welding can be a very trying endeavour at times, but it can provide many freedoms to you once you’ve achieved a journeyman, ticketed status.

Your apprenticeship will be very hard work, and will test your character greatly.  But once you’ve completed it, the options open to you can be very numerous.

I know hundreds of men who work for a company, work for a union, work independently with their private contractor rig, and who work for themselves in the form of art.  With a properly directed career, you will have the opportunity to squirrel away large amounts of cash over relatively short periods of time, while planning for your own extended time off and retirement.

Be sure to listen to many of the health and safety issues which will be presented to you in your training; these are principles which often and almost inevitably take a back seat to the concept of high production, and not nearly enough can be said about them.  You will be able to prolong your career, life and success and avoid some very serious health problems which are common to this trade by demanding that you take very good care of yourself while engaging in this occupation.

I wish you the best of luck in your endeavour.

Especially as a mgtow, i remember when the last recession hit, alot of my married comrades had to put up with whatever the contractors threw at them but not me. The pluses to having a trade are plentiful, i am not an academic guy but i was the first of my more intelligent friends to buy a house and now have a small mortgage. If i hadn’t have tried my hand a stock market investing (idiot! lol) i would now be mortgage free at 36! with money to spare i bet.

But hey, you live and learn.

You do need a strong work ethic but if you get good at your job and are reliable, you’ll be very hard to replace. Especially in the building industry as you get so many wasters that don’t want to work, it’s pretty easy to out do the competition.

A close friend is a tool maker (engineering). Nice gig too from what i can make out.

Have never come across any women in my trade ever, as it’s too physical. Hence they turn up as site mangers trying to tell guys with 30 years building experience how to do their jobs! LOL. But even that is still pretty rare for now.

I could never work in an office especially with females. That would be hell on earth for me!

Good luck Boys!