Now that going to college is the new norm...

Now that going to college is the new norm, are skilled trades a viable option to make money given you start your own business or do contract work? We essentially have over educated and underskilled workforce.

hbr.org/2014/08/employers-arent-just-whining-the-skills-gap-is-real/

It depends entirely on the trade. Is 30 dollars an hour worth being in an attic all day or dying from welder's lung at 35? Then you have the problem that many trades aren't growing. Obviously all of them aren't bad and everyone has their own tolerances, but quite a few trades are works of passion unlike whatever the fuck it is drones do in an office/factory/field.

Listen I want to dispel this fucking myth... I have a college degree and I have worked in a trade. Working in a trade FUCKING SUCKS. It is dirty dangerous and underpaid.

It is far better to work in an air conditioned office pushing paper than be surround by idiots (trades attract literally lowlife idiotic scum). You will be tired and worn out after a long fucking day. It is not so great. Go to college just don't study some liberal art. Get a useful skill based career like in medicine or accounting or engineering. Avoid the trades they are fucking terrible....

The only alternative is to work for the union but that is completely corrupt and not as good as it once was.

> going to college is the new norm
> We essentially have over educated and underskilled workforce.

I went back to school for a CS degree.

I talked to CS seniors, who tended to be in the top half of the class. NONE of them knew what software version control was.

If you're interested in computers, and you go to school for CS, and you work as hard or harder than the top 5% hardest working people in your class, and you do projects and study stuff outside of class - you will be successful.

One kid I talked to didn't study for CS quizzes. He said "I can pass the class without studying for quizzes, they're only 10% of the grade". This was his fucking major. The point is to learn it. And if you're not going to learn it as a kid, spending 100% of your time going to school with no responsibilities, you will never learn it. I was studying like crazy while also running a small business while also doing outside studying and projects.

Then there's the kids who don't even take real courses with job opportunities like CS, they take art and music and shit.

The smart kids with initiative I knew all got jobs. But they worked hard and had initiative. No one is going to hand you a great job just because you got a diploma in 2016.

Having a BSCS like this is way, way better than having an HVAC certificate or some shit like that.

Almost all upper middle class men have a college degree.

Lol scrub. Machine operator here, couldnt imagine working anyone else but in the balmy australian summers. Beautiful weather, new location everyday, great people i work with, practical jokes. You're delusional if you think working in an office getting heart disease because you're on a chair 8+ hours a day, with faggots in HR telling you to play nice with your muslim and feminist coworkers. Not to mention the highlevel of autism you have to put up with.

in what fucking situation would you be welding in an attic, and no less with no ventilation and no mask? i think you've never worked a trade in your life.

if you're an operator aren't you sitting around most of the day too? albeit less than an office drone

Yes.

Not to keep pumping the trade meme, but it is absolutely the truth right now.

I'm 30, and of all my HS friends, the one who became an electrician after graduating HS now has the most $ of any of us.

Within 10 years this may go back to the old norms of white collars making more, but it is absoultely not the case right now.

I'm a unionized steamfitter taking home 3600 bucks every two weeks. Get a trade

is that journeyman wage? seems kinda low if so

3rd year apprentice right now. Wage only goes up from here.

alberta?

you caught me

how's mcmurray this time of year

What do electricians make out there? Im a 3rd year apprentice, cant find work here in ontario and the pay is shit.

about medium rare

Similar to everyone else. I'd say in the $32-38 range.

probably great if you get with a company on the rebuilding job in fort mac if you don't mind residential work

read your question wrong, yeah you could make mid 30s to 40 bucks an hour if you score an industrial job

Let's be honest, it's pretty much well done at this point.

>working fires
>ever

yeah that seems low to me, feels like electricians get fucked out of all the trades

if you're in the IBEW you should look into Newfoundland. Lots of work down that way recently.

Ive got to hop out every few mins, very frequently. I build rock walls

the fuck? elechickens have it the best out of all the trades except for boilermakers. scaffolders get shit on, so do ironworkers.

kinda funny how all the newfies came here for work when they had none and now the situation has reversed

Im not, i cant even get in to IBEW because Im not licensed.

um do the math on that steam fitters wage
3600 bucks every two weeks is 93 grand a year and hes an apprentice. Electricians make 65k max if they're lucky in the Niagara Region.

re-read the conversation, bud. we've been talking about Alberta this entire time.

yeah and I look on Indeed and they get paid the same wages, its retarded

well we've also been talking about unionized trades, but I see what you mean. hardest thing an electrician has to do is pull cable though, so

What's the best trade with gud $ for a skeleton body. I can pick things up and put them down but not that heavy. Im a sculptor/ actionfigure maker currently but am looking into trades. Very good with my hands and have hands on experience with most trade groups. Ideas? Can move anywhere in the us

yeah if you don't mind living out of a suitcase and following the work wherever it goes, you can make a damn good living for yourself. Just don't get carried away with the drugs/whores/expensive toys

Skeleton body? I'd say scaffolder. Scaffolders are almost never stuck for work, but man do those fuckers work hard.

physically yeah, the hardest thing is pulling big ass cable. But the trouble shooting is mentally the most difficult.

thanks for the recognition, boss. I've been scaffolding for 7 years, and you're damn right, we work hard as fuck.

I guess the best wage Im going to see is some government electrician position or equivalent at OPG or hydro one etc.

My last boss was paying me 17 dollars an hour as a 3rd year electrical apprentice and I never even got over time.

17 an hour and no overtime? Fuck that noise man. Pack yer shit and head west ffs

yeah I was laid off for standing up for my rights and got a payout but fuck what a dick that guy was. Just got fed up and had enough of his shit.

not even worth getting up for.

and there you have it, OP. you're simply a piece of dog shit until you figure what you really want to do. there is 0 outside influence on what you will ever end up doing beyond what is available.

anything you will ever hear about the "workforce" is nonsense. people will always adjust to the opportunities available and if they have greater potential they will realize it in the context of those opportunities. i won't say 100% but it's pretty damn fucking close of the people who say they "wasted" their opportunities or chose the wrong field/career are just stupid mother fuckers who don't respect themselves.

whenever there was a problem of not enough people in trades, the industry changed so that it would attract more people. there's nothing relatively complex about the economy when it comes to supply and demand of jobs, and the "skills" that everyone seems to be talking about are not some lifelong mastery of anything; the vast majority of positions that are open at any level take 6 months to a year of work to figure out proficiently, and whether you're in a trade or in an office you're probably learning a lot of the same shit when it comes to getting things done and communicating with people.