Want to make up to $200,000 per year?

[Texashiker]

To a point, I'll agree with most of this...I'd MUCH rather be working physical labor than sitting at any desk, but unfortunately, 30+ years of abusing my body working heavy construction has taken its toll on me...and I can barely mow my own lawn nowadays...and can't sit for any length of time without a break either.
<snip>
It's definitely a "young man's game," not for us old farts.

The main reason why I left the welding field was due to the dust from grinding, fumes from welding and damage to my hearing.

But I also wonder how the 20 - 30 pounds I put on after changing careers is affecting my health.

On the flip side of coin, doctors and nurses are faced with needle pricks, HIV, hepatitis C,,, and other diseases,

The mindset of our culture is to go to college and then get a job. There are ways out there to make good money besides going to college. I know people who make a good living working on pipelines, land rigs drilling for oil or gas, and working offshore drilling rigs.

To make the money, you have to be willing to put in the time and effort to learn a trade or skill. Its not easy work, but the money can be good.

 

[Krazy4Real]

No thanks. I like my job.

 

[BoomerD]

The main reason why I left the welding field was due to the dust from grinding, fumes from welding and damage to my hearing.

But I also wonder how the 20 - 30 pounds I put on after changing careers is affecting my health.

On the flip side of coin, doctors and nurses are faced with needle pricks, HIV, hepatitis C,,, and other diseases,

The mindset of our culture is to go to college and then get a job. There are ways out there to make good money besides going to college. I know people who make a good living working on pipelines, land rigs drilling for oil or gas, and working offshore drilling rigs.

To make the money, you have to be willing to put in the time and effort to learn a trade or skill. Its not easy work, but the money can be good.

Indeed. Not everyone is cut out for college or for office jobs.
I hate working indoors. I'd rather be out sweating in the hot sun or freezing my ass off in the winter...and be outdoors.

I made decent money as a crane and heavy equipment operator. Hourly pay when I stopped was in the $35/hr range...and usually got up to $5 over scale...and tons of overtime. I never did break $100K...but made in the mid-to-upper $90k's several times.
Not bad for a high school drop-out with a GED.

 

[FoBoT]

wouldn't it be a lot easier to camp out in Zuccotti Park?

 

[zinfamous]

Your body adapts and becomes stronger.




I used to work with people in their 50, 60s and 70s that had more strength and endurance then high school kids.

If lift with your back instead of your legs, yea, your going to be limping around.

Physical labor is what built our roads, our bridges, our rail roads and helped make the US a world power. Without people breaking a sweat, you would not even have a car to put gas in, much less oil and gas.

physical labor > sitting at a desk

It adapts so well that your lifespan is shortened by roughly 30% over the dude not doing manual labor all his life.

Your strength and endurance drastically improve while doing that work, only to crumble and whither away by the time you are in your early 50s and living off pain meds for the rest of your life.

 

[zinfamous]

The main reason why I left the welding field was due to the dust from grinding, fumes from welding and damage to my hearing.

But I also wonder how the 20 - 30 pounds I put on after changing careers is affecting my health.

On the flip side of coin, doctors and nurses are faced with needle pricks, HIV, hepatitis C,,, and other diseases,

The mindset of our culture is to go to college and then get a job. There are ways out there to make good money besides going to college. I know people who make a good living working on pipelines, land rigs drilling for oil or gas, and working offshore drilling rigs.

To make the money, you have to be willing to put in the time and effort to learn a trade or skill. Its not easy work, but the money can be good.

See, now you actually make good points.

Though I'm not sure why you neglected the reasons you left in earlier posts--chronic damage to your health that you would otherwise not be exposed to.

 

[Texashiker]

It adapts so well that your lifespan is shortened by roughly 30&#37; over the dude not doing manual labor all his life.

Your strength and endurance drastically improve while doing that work, only to crumble and whither away by the time you are in your early 50s and living off pain meds for the rest of your life.

This fits my reaction to your post

Though I'm not sure why you neglected the reasons you left in earlier posts--chronic damage to your health that you would otherwise not be exposed to.

So I traded some hearing lose for increased blood pressure?

For everything in life there is a trade off.

 

[SP33Demon]

The main reason why I left the welding field was due to the dust from grinding, fumes from welding and damage to my hearing.

But I also wonder how the 20 - 30 pounds I put on after changing careers is affecting my health.

FYI, nothing is stopping you from losing 20-30lbs if you changed your shtty habits. Don't act like it was something forced on you by switching to mental labor. Get off your ass and do something about it.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

It adapts so well that your lifespan is shortened by roughly 30% over the dude not doing manual labor all his life.

Your strength and endurance drastically improve while doing that work, only to crumble and whither away by the time you are in your early 50s and living off pain meds for the rest of your life.

I work blue collar jobs. It's all I've ever done. I've worked some jobs that you'd literally be a cripple at 40 years of age if you did it for 10 years. Needless to say I wasn't at those jobs for long. If someone works themselves into the ground that's their own stupidity. I don't mind a honest days work but I'm not killing myself for any job.

 

[Texashiker]

FYI, nothing is stopping you from losing 20-30lbs if you changed your shtty habits. Don't act like it was something forced on you by switching to mental labor. Get off your ass and do something about it.

Its more then just crappy habits, its a lifestyle adjustment.

I went from being on my feet for at least 10 hours a day, swinging an 8 pound hammer, heavy lifting, walking several miles daily,,,, to sitting at a desk for 8 hours.

Working in the welding field I could eat just about anything I wanted, because I was active. Now, I have to count my calories, and watch what I eat and drink.

There is no way I can burn the same calories in a 1 hour workout, as I did doing manual labor for 10 hours. Its just physically impossible.

 

[SP33Demon]

Its more then just crappy habits, its a lifestyle adjustment.

I went from being on my feet for at least 10 hours a day, swinging an 8 pound hammer, heavy lifting, walking several miles daily,,,, to sitting at a desk for 8 hours.

Working in the welding field I could eat just about anything I wanted, because I was active. Now, I have to count my calories, and watch what I eat and drink.

There is no way I can burn the same calories in a 1 hour workout, as I did doing manual labor for 10 hours. Its just physically impossible.

It may not be possible, but you'd be amazed at how much energy you'll have by cutting out bad starchy carbs from your diet and going high protein/natural carbs (apples/almonds etc). Exercise optional if you watch those calories (although I exercise).

 

[IAteYourMother]

Your body adapts and becomes stronger.




I used to work with people in their 50, 60s and 70s that had more strength and endurance then high school kids.

If lift with your back instead of your legs, yea, your going to be limping around.

Physical labor is what built our roads, our bridges, our rail roads and helped make the US a world power. Without people breaking a sweat, you would not even have a car to put gas in, much less oil and gas.

physical labor > sitting at a desk

I dunno about guys in their 70s, but guys in their 50s and maybe 60s SHOULD be stronger than most high school kids..

 

[sonambulo]

Have you ever done a hard days work in your life?

Oh lawd, my eyes rolled so hard they rolled out of my head. Have you ever even read any of my posts on this board? I'm not sure why I am asking. Clearly that is not the case.

Not really looking to getting into a pissing contest with a guy that has had one manual job in his life but I have worked green chains, commercial demolition, farm work, carpentry (framing and finish), etc. I'm currently doing warehouse work and there's plenty of walking, heavy lifting, long shifts and overtime. For the record I have worked 3 twelve+ hour shifts in the past 7 days. That's a nice bookend to 4 weeks without a day off. Is that good enough for you?

Also I just want to give a big THANK YOU for cherry picking ONE sentence out of the entire paragraph and using it as justification to whine and cry about how hard you USED to work. Good job, brah. Good job.

 

[Texashiker]

Also I just want to give a big THANK YOU for cherry picking ONE sentence out of the entire paragraph

You are welcome, glad I could be of service.

 

[lxskllr]

Its more then just crappy habits, its a lifestyle adjustment.

I went from being on my feet for at least 10 hours a day, swinging an 8 pound hammer, heavy lifting, walking several miles daily,,,, to sitting at a desk for 8 hours.

Working in the welding field I could eat just about anything I wanted, because I was active. Now, I have to count my calories, and watch what I eat and drink.

There is no way I can burn the same calories in a 1 hour workout, as I did doing manual labor for 10 hours. Its just physically impossible.

I went from 220# to 185# after I stopped heavy work. I'm sure some of that was muscle, but a lot of it was diet changes. Not eating out for 2-3 meals a day, and virtually eliminating sugary drinks is probably most of it.