Why aren't more young guys learning trades?

[jamHaltingdude]

Read a lot of threads with brahs unable to get jobs, even with a college degree.
Curious why more of you don't learn trades?
I took a 1 year welding course at a local CC and my first job was $21 an hour.

[eac1005]

Because people won't tell these young kids that a degree in philosophy is as useless as tits on a bull.

[Rufflez]

hmm

[Staberella]

Because people won't tell these young kids that a degree in philosophy is as useless as tits on a bull.

This. There's also the sentiment that trade schools are for "losers" who failed in school or some other BS.

[jamHaltingdude]

This. There's also the sentiment that trade schools are for "losers" who failed in school or some other BS.

I can admit i used to have this outlook. It's rather silly.

[StrongWant]

We're all pressured to make 6 figures. The cost of living is relatively expensive, and unless you're single, 40-50 k a year isnt comfortable in todays society.

[Trapstar4.4]

yeah i try to tell the youngsters when i am around them to evaluate who they are, and make their decision accordingly.

the guy who goes to college, graduates finance, and goes on to work as an analyst is just as good as the guy who knows that uni isnt for him, so he finds a skill that will always be in demand, and works that sht to his advantage

both paths require you to be fairly ambitious though. not sure how one creates ambition, when they dont have it

[Ravishing_Rick]

always wanted to get into welding

[JoshSP1985]

The best thing about trades is it can save you a lot of money due to what you can do for yourselves to your home/etc instead of hiring it out.

On top of that some person in another country will never be able to do your job remotely.

[recreateme]

I think a large part of why people aren't learning trades is because companies don't have the same apprenticeship programs that they used too. A lot of places don't have the overhead to hire on young folk and train them as they work, because their is that period where someone has to supervise and teach these guys while working so your paying 2 people and getting a productivity dip for months.

Also, the way the economy is going there isn't job security doing that stuff like there used to be. I see a lot of places in my area hire 2-3 new positions, and a short while later lay off half the workers. There are a lot of ups and downs that can be avoided just going into a different profession.

This is on top of unions, and wage issues, it can be a huge web of issues sadly.

[Mephisto91]

We're all pressured to make 6 figures. The cost of living is relatively expensive, and unless you're single, 40-50 k a year isnt comfortable in todays society.

As long as your not lazy as f*ck or a dumbass you'll be making more than 40-50k in most trades. I was making just over 40k in a general labour factory job without so much as a high school diploma FFS.

[eSora]

Unions

[jamHaltingdude]

We're all pressured to make 6 figures. The cost of living is relatively expensive, and unless you're single, 40-50 k a year isnt comfortable in todays society.

True I guess it would all depend on which trade you learned. I chose welding as it's one of the best paying trades, in demand, and pretty darn cool. Welders willing to travel and work hard can earn over 100k a year.

[Lazlo1]

The college lifestyle is glamorized in America


Might take up welding as something to fall back on later though

[onelifenoregret]

Technology is giving people more and more opportunities to be lazy. People would rather sit around all day in their teen years playing Xbox and watching tv or posting on reddit than going outside and getting their hands dirty. By the time high school is over most kids don't even know what crescent wrench is let alone how to use it.

[Engineer_Guy]

Read a lot of threads with brahs unable to get jobs, even with a college degree.
Curious why more of you don't learn trades?
I took a 1 year welding course at a local CC and my first job was $21 an hour.

That's great if you live in an area that is hiring welders. Many area of the country have very little jobs like that though. There used to be a time where we had a need for all sorts of trades all over the country. These days, locking yourself into a single skill isn't wise unless you live in an area where they are in high demand. But yea if you can find a trade that's in demand, you can make good money with little education.

[jamHaltingdude]

always wanted to get into welding

Do it brah. Best decision i ever made in my life.

[JoshSP1985]

I think a large part of why people aren't learning trades is because companies don't have the same apprenticeship programs that they used too. A lot of places don't have the overhead to hire on young folk and train them as they work, because their is that period where someone has to supervise and teach these guys while working so your paying 2 people and getting a productivity dip for months.

Also, the way the economy is going there isn't job security doing that stuff like there used to be. I see a lot of places in my area hire 2-3 new positions, and a short while later lay off half the workers. There are a lot of ups and downs that can be avoided just going into a different profession.

This is on top of unions, and wage issues, it can be a huge web of issues sadly.

To offset that though it's one of the easiest professions to go into business for yourself. I work for a HVAC/Plumbing wholesaler and we have plenty of customers that are 1-2 man companies and they do very well as long as they do good work and know some very basic marketing/selling principles.

[notbadnotbrad]

It's a pretty sick lifestyle actually, waking up at 6am going to the job site with the boys, chirping eachother all day, grab some burgers at lunch. I used to frame houses with my step dad and I miss it. With framing there is incentive to work hard and get those houses up quickly because you're paid a set price per house. Would love to get a crew and fire it up for 13 hour days and erect those houses like a weapon. Brb 15 gs for a chit subdivision house that takes 2-3 weeks to finish...not bad....

[1cav]

Thanks OP. Will look into trades Srs.

[Staberella]

I can admit i used to have this outlook. It's rather silly.

Trade schools cut out all the BS classes and have a complete hands on approach to whatever field you are interested in.

If my son wants to go to college for something like anything in arts, BS I am not paying one damn cent for that. I'll pay for trade school and he can take some classes on his own time and dime when he has a job/career in whatever trade he chooses.

[phaginator]

Because there is a negative social stigma hanging around trades.

If you're a young american, your best bet is going into a trade.

[4everalone]

You can get good money off any job if you're smart and hardworking.

I make decent money as a security guard... I get threatened daily but the job is fun so i work like 6 days a week.

Getting a good job to impress bishes? lol try working on your social skills. every brah can get hot bishes. even broke stoners can do that

[nickh04]

i'm in the process of the learning the electrical trade. brb $35-65 an hour, u mad?

[recreateme]

To offset that though it's one of the easiest professions to go into business for yourself. I work for a HVAC/Plumbing wholesaler and we have plenty of customers that are 1-2 man companies and they do very well as long as they do good work and know some very basic marketing/selling principles.

Oh totally. But you have to be good enough to start a company.

We have a lot of small companies (3-5 guys) who do a lot of agricultural fabrication in our area that we work with. Trouble is that a lot of the CSA/ANSI/ASTM/etc have very specific requirements that need to be met when welding and fabricating things that have been engineered. The guys who open their own shop usually don't have that kind of training/certficates and we can't use them on some jobs.

To meet a lot of requirements of the engineering design codes the welds need to meet certain standards and to have a welder certified can cost a lot of money to train them and have them take/pass the required courses. It becomes a pain, but the little shops that don't invest in that short of stuff misses out on a lot of big business and the fact they can charge more/hour with those credentials.

[Fallhunter72]

Read a lot of threads with brahs unable to get jobs, even with a college degree.
Curious why more of you don't learn trades?
I took a 1 year welding course at a local CC and my first job was $21 an hour.

I first started wanting to get into the contracting field to get my feet wet then start a business,but all of the safety,insurance,laws etc that keep coming out are making the construction trade (around here) so hard to even work with.I have now bought my own trailer and mower starting my own landscaping business,but finding out the best trade to get into right now is Welding and Diesel Mechanics.

[sknot1454]

Because somewhere along the line, people started telling kids that college was for everyone and that jobs like welding, plumbing, electricians, etc were for idiots.

"College isn't all about learning, it's about the experience!"

Bullcrap. I can get drunk, go to football games, and feel up sorority girls without spending $15,000 a year. You go to college to put their name on your resume. Period. If you're there to do anything else, life is going to punch you in the throat.

One of my good friends clears $500,000 a year owning an air conditioning service/installation business. How did he do it? He went to a vocational school during his senior year and leaned how to repair basic household goods. "Votech" people called it. That's where the "stupid kids" went. He then got hired to service A/C units and eventually bought out the business from the owner. Of all the people I know, most of the ones who got out of high school and learned a trade are the ones making money. The ones who went to college for a non-STEM major are all working low wage jobs out of their field of study. Aw, you thought that bachelors degree in Psychology was going to get you a good job. That's cute.

Now, we are severely lacking skilled tradesmen while kids are borrowing $50,000 to get a degree in art history. For the past 20 years we've been told, "All you need is a degree, everything will fall into place. Well, that's half true. You also need to work hard an apply yourself. People graduate and expect jobs to be thrown at them. It doesn't work like that. They forget that a **** load of other people also graduated with the same degree and are competing against them. What did you do throughout college? Party? Skip class? Blow off internships? Well, too bad. You have no one to blame but yourself.

[disgorge89]

4 year degree still confers social status. Everyone wants a desk job. Tradesmen are seen as blue collar even though they definitely make more than young college grads with all majors being considered when unemployment is factored in.


still, I don't ****ing understand the rush to go to college at 18. If I could go back I would do trade/paralegal/personal training for 4-5 years, get to the freshmen dorms at age 22-23 and just slay the **** out of 18 year olds all day.

[jamHaltingdude]

It's a pretty sick lifestyle actually, waking up at 6am going to the job site with the boys, chirping eachother all day, grab some burgers at lunch. I used to frame houses with my step dad and I miss it. With framing there is incentive to work hard and get those houses up quickly because you're paid a set price per house. Would love to get a crew and fire it up for 13 hour days and erect those houses like a weapon. Brb 15 gs for a chit subdivision house that takes 2-3 weeks to finish...not bad....

Met some of my best friends on the job. Guys being able to act like guys. Good times.

[RussWheeler]

two reasons:

1) kids don't like hard physical work, they've been raised to hate it, everything handed to them, all entertainment from glowing rectangles etc

2) an education system that down trods the trades in effort to sustain itself. Ever notice how hard teachers pressure kids to go to university, go to college, spend spend spend or you'll be nothing. It's all to sustain an education system.

I think what you'll see in the next few decades it those with trade skills will be able to capitalize as they become fewer and fewer, and are therefore able to charge the lazy/rich as much as they can.


The nice thing about the trades is you get your life started a whole lot earlier. No college debt, making good wage in early 20's, buying house and building equity long before 30. It takes a long time for the college crowd to catch up, as they finish their degrees, live at home and owe piles of money for many years.