I'mt too Smart to learn a trade

[Fritzo]

Is he smart enough to help you fix your title? :whiste:

Reminds me of this (clicky!):

 

[polarmystery]

Can you learn to be an electrician part time on the weekends? I already have a 9-5 job but I want to do something more hands on.

 

[ichy]

i know someone that works in construction on the management side in the midwest. he said the illegals will build twice as fast and as good if not better than the american workers.

I wouldn't trust someone who doesn't speak English to do proper electrical work in a house, much less the stuff that really skilled electricians do (industrial, high-voltage, etc.)

My house was rehabbed by a guy who clearly used cheap immigrant labor as much as possible and in many places it shows. I've had some issues with plumbing, a bathroom cabinet that was just screwed into drywall rather than anchored, a lot of little things like that. There's a difference between hard working (which a lot of illegals are) and skilled. There are of course plenty of shitty American plumbers, electricians and drywall installers, simply being from the US doesn't prove anything.

One thing I've noticed is that if you want to make a good living in the trades you have to be a competent small businessman. If you're working for someone else you're no better off than a white collar wage slave.

 

[alent1234]

i've had the same issues with fully licensed and insured people i've hired. last apartment i sold i noticed some popping noise every few days. didn't pay any attention. one night i notice my kitchen cabinets are crooked. they were falling off the wall. and this was after i signed the contract to sell the apartment.

almost 10 years ago when doing a kitchen renovation i talked to some electricians from a snobby local place. i needed $600 or so of work. they tried to upsell me up to almost $3000 worth of work. it wouldn't take them much longer but they wanted to charge me a few hundred per outlet and install 5 or 6 more than i already had

another time my wife found some other snobby hipster contractor. he gave me a line by line estimate and it was hundreds of $$$ for a 5 minute job to disconnect the gas line on an oven

trades is like almost everything else in life. few people make a lot of money and most not that much. i would rather my kids go to law school which is like the trades for college grads

 

[manimal]

your never too young to trade pokemon cards.

 

[LookBehindYou]

your never too young to trade pokemon cards.

Gotta catch'em all!

 

[imagoon]

Having worked as IT in a construction company [I am the IT guy that had a hardhat and full job site safety gear, road up the skips to floors with no exterior wall in the skyscrapers in downtown Chicago etc], my respect of the commercial and industrial electricians is very high. Residential depends.

Residential tends to be "pretty easy" where as the commercial/industrial tends to kill the uninformed. There as a couple of deaths during the time I worked there.

I respect what they did, I would prefer not to do it. /shrug

 

[Vic Vega]

...

 

[corwin]

Have you heard this shit? Apparently, if you can do math, or appreciate art, you're too smart for a trade. Did you know: the trades are reserved for uneducated, unenlightened pieces of social detritus.

Of course they are, everyone knows this.

I worked as a sheet metal mechanic at Boeing for damn good money with a lot of great people doing the same thing, it was hot sweaty hard work but there was satisfaction when the plane was done and you got to see the damn thing fly off that you worked on. It took more brains and know how to read the blueprints and make adjustments on the fly than most office jobs ever will...sadly I was laid off and now I'm an IT professional and work in a damn office, not sure I would go back as I enjoy the people I work with just as much and it's much easier for slightly better money but the "satisfaction" isn't quite the same...

 

[IronWing]

<== 24 years of schooling (slow learner)

The single most useful class I've ever taken was 8th grade industrial arts followd by 7th grade industrial arts (well, I took the 7th grade class first but the 8th grade class was more useful). I've used pretty much every skill I learned in that class and I remember learning those skills there.

The most useful experience of my grad school days was working with a master machinist to design and build experimental apparatus. "You can design it that way if you want but it can't be built that way" was an important lesson that applies to a lot of the contract specing I do do now.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

IT is a skilled trade. Have a nice day.

 

[BoberFett]

People who went to college like to say that sort of thing. It's self gratification, they need to think they're better than others to justify their education.

 

[BoberFett]

...

Secondary education is a big business and the Democrats and Republicans in government like big business. There is a reason the cost of a degree doubles every decade or so. The schools are raking in the cash.

...

Everything you said is spot on. It's another form of control.

 

[schneiderguy]

I'm too smart to be a plumber or electrician or mechanic, that's why I'm majoring in Black Transgender Womyn's Studies.

 

[shortylickens]

Have you heard this shit? Apparently, if you can do math, or appreciate art, you're too smart for a trade. Did you know: the trades are reserved for uneducated, unenlightened pieces of social detritus.

Thats the main problem with college these days, its full of liberals.

 

[IronWing]

Thats the main problem with college these days, its full of liberals.

<totally off topic> No, college students today are much more conservative than they were twenty, thirty, forty years ago.</off topic>

The main problem is that people talk too much.

 

[PingSpike]

This is code for "to lazy to do a trade". Literally no one has a problem with being "to smart" to do something.

 

[KingGheedora]

That is actually a very common viewpoint. The thing is, almost none of the people who believe that are likely to post in this thread.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

People who went to college like to say that sort of thing. It's self gratification, they need to think they're better than others to justify their education.

As a young, know-it-all smartass who just graduated with an engineering degree, I probably felt like this. Fortunately, life and experience taught me differently and I kind of wish I would've explored some of those options.

 

[RelaxTheMind]

be a field tech and get the best of both worlds.

 

[Doppel]

There is an undeniable correlation--and causation--between intelligence and educational level. However, there is a lot of overlap between different groups as well.

 

[zanejohnson]

Thats me exactly. I went to college for a year and a half and couldnt stand it. I have trouble just sitting and trying to study and crap. I'd much rather go out and play and enjoy life. So i went into "the trades" and couldnt be happier. Making more than most of the guys i went to HS with who went to college right now. Debt free (minus mortgage) and i could pull 6 figures if i really wanted (overtime). But i figure the base salary is plenty for me and i still get to go skiing every weekend in the winter/hiking and camping in the summer. Plus plenty of trips for work too. be in San Diego for a month in another week and a half.

i like this.. the one thing i see a huge problem with in young college grads/young people looking for work.. they somehow missed the whole lesson on... no matter what you go to college for/know.. if it aint in demand in your area, your not gonna be successful, your better off finding a niche doing something that needs done around your community, that's the only way your gonna be successful.. my business keeps me tied to my area.. probably for life.. but that's fine, it's simple work (been doing it for a long time) and i like it

 

[Eug]

The guy who fixed my stove has a masters in engineering. However he gave up the engineering schtick because he makes more money fixing stoves, and it's less stress.

Part of the money he makes though is under the table, which is much harder to do as an engineer, and is one reason he takes home more money fixing stoves.

 

[Away]

Great site if you are interested in the trades.

http://www.mikeroweworks.com/