Advice on what trade to enter?

I'm not saying there is ANYTHING wrong with learning a trade and making a career of it, but the OP is already in school, he should stay

Doing FA behind a computer like the rest of us?

I've looked at a good amount of data on this.

HVAC is usually the best in the private sector--quick to train and pays off very well. Plumbing and electrician are also great.

And if you can find a locality that is hiring, get a city/state job! Depends on the place, but policemen, firemen, even bus drivers, etc. can do absurdly well. Firemen usually have the best life. Also check out regulated utilities, such as electricity provider, water board, telephone companies, etc. (no incentive to maximize profit + powerful unions = above market pay.

I have posed this question to many people and without a doubt PLUMBER is the most often response I get on the best trade to enter. PLUMBER has the following advantages:

(1) Cannot be offshored

(2) Pay will always be high because (1) its kinda gross, (2) unions are strong and (3) computers cannot turn it into a low skill industry

(3) Not that hard to get into. Unlike many trades that have many barriers, plumbers are a chill bunch and not that much competition because after all you are dealing with feces often.

One important thing to consider for the O.P. or anybody else going into trades, you can make okay middle class money as a laborer but the real money is in setting up shop for yourself. This will require a different skill set and different management. This is true of a lot of trades such as plumbing and HVAC. You can learn the trade part from working for somebody else. Managing and running your own business is a skill set that you also must acquire if you are going to advance. Taking classes part time at community college is one way to go about this.

This may not be true for all trades. I bet a welder can make really good money working for somebody else as long as he keeps improving his skill set as the field is quite diverse and involves some highly technical (and therefore highly compensated) areas.

Utility lineman have always made great money. Easily clear 200k a year but, you have to work your ass off. Get calls at all hours of the night and weekends. But you work all year, something most other trades don't, especially now. Welding is good if your a pipefitter or ironworker, otherwise you will be paid less. While plumbing and electricians are well trained they can be out of work, even the good hands. A lineman trained out of the hall is usually has less skills because they can't afford the longer training that a utility can. They also don't DOR or drop on request as much because usually it's the stewards nephew, cousin brother inlaw etc. And they travel more and also get laid off. Fireman is by far the best, glorified nurses now. That on occasion take some risks, some thing the trades do everyday. But more importantly, they can draw 50% of there salary after 20 years, some thing no trade or other city job can do. Their pension is based on their last day, unlike other pensions based on last 4 years(6-8 % bump).and then they are usually given a paper promotion to the next rank as another kicker. But wait there's more, a typical city employee may kick in4-5% of their pay. Fireman kick in more 8-10% but they don't pay into socialsecurity like us saps. The have unparrelled political action committees down state to get what they want. Did I forget to tell you theirs no reduction in their pension if they die, the wife keeps drawing the full amount unlike all other pensions that would be reduced. 3% increase everyyear for inflation. I've only touched the tip of the iceberg.

The fishing industry is probably not a good bet to try and enter on the ground floor these days. If you don't have good connections it'll be a real gamble.

If you're interested in the maritime trades however, look in to the tugboat end of things. The workforce of tug captains is skewed very old, and there are not nearly enough young folks looking to fill those places.

It would take you a number of years to get to captain level, but it's not too hard to find an employer who will pay for training along the way, and give you a good wage.

Not too compatible with running though.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

One important thing to consider for the O.P. or anybody else going into trades, you can make okay middle class money as a laborer but the real money is in setting up shop for yourself. This will require a different skill set and different management. This is true of a lot of trades such as plumbing and HVAC. You can learn the trade part from working for somebody else. Managing and running your own business is a skill set that you also must acquire if you are going to advance. Taking classes part time at community college is one way to go about this.

Very true. Check with your local business incubator if you have one. These places often offer very good classes and individualized council with experienced business people. Once you've learned the trade, they can help you learn the business side.

IT.

It's stable, reliable, and interesting. It's one of the few fields you can earn high level salaries without 4 year and/or terminal degrees.

Pony baseball wrote:

Utility lineman have always made great money.

Yeah, but how many does the NFL hire each year?

Not true. My husband has a degree in business. Worked for family biz for years. Honest, intelligent, very nice and skilled to the max. But just too damn nice to everyone ("but they really can't afford more.") Left family biz and we struggle to live in a small house w/ few luxuries. Granted we have debt but still HVAC not the way to go. And he does mainly commercial, loads of thrilled clients that he is so good and so cheap. He is afraid to raise rates bc afraid he will lose customers esp. in this economy.

agip wrote:

and if you want to make a LOT of money without a college degree, go into sales. A good salesman for a big company makes more than executives.

Could you plse give an exhaustive list of every sales job that you can think of? Like, what would you sell and what company exactly would hire you to sell it?

Pony baseball wrote:

Utility lineman have always made great money. Easily clear 200k a year

Sure about that numbnuts?

any idiot can post wrote:

Sure about that numbnuts?

http://www.indeed.com/salary/q-Utility-Lineman-l-Hartford,-CT.html

Actually my pops was a lineman. His base salary was probably around 70-80k, but with overtime he was well into the 100s. Pays really well at least where he was, but it screwed up his neck and arms as he got older.

apostrophe crimes wrote:

You have little choice, just like the rest of us. If you drop out of college, then most likely you'll end up in a dead-end job making $25K your whole life, live in a shitty area and not be able to afford health insurance for the kids you can't afford either.

If you go to college, you'll get utterly ripped off for tuition and spend years paying it back, but the chances are your long-term outcome will be better.

Welcome to the real world. Now, stop whining and get back to class.

+1 sounds good.

do community college for 2 years, get a 4.0GPA and transfer to a top notch undergrad school to get your Bachelors

hvac instead of plumbing. Almost as much desparation factor but less ick factor. If your furnace goes out, you want it fixed today.

Another thing you could look into is distribution/warehousing. It is another one of those things that can't really be outsourced. Right now I think it's in a state of flux with companies trying to figure out whether robotics, rfid, etc. is cost effective. But that might mean that it's a good time to get into the field.

Buy a top hat, cane and velvet sweatsuit, and become a pimp. Best choice I ever made.

Yes I'm very sure about this. While I never worked more than 2100 hours OT in a year, we always have a few overtime whores that work in excess of 3000 OT hours a year. Add that to the 2080 regular hours and you easily clear 200k. It's not easy, lots of missed family time. When I say all hours of the night, I mean it, not occasionally but routine. Their is a major lineman shortage in this country. Some thing that is gonna get progressively worse because most lineman areat least mid forties with most over 50. You don't see many over 57. This can be good for future apprentices as the jobs will be available if your able to handle the high risks. The mental part to me is much harder(long hours gets very old). The bad is that fatalities will be higher because all of the experience will be scarce and the young will be teaching the younger. Not a good scenario if you want to survive. My advice would be to finish school. If you want to enter the trades fine but, you will have more options later on with the diploma, especially at a IOU invested owned utility.

Soon to be dropout wrote:

I'm in my freshman year of college and am ready to drop out. Given the jobs situation in this country, I do not feel that college is worth the expense, and I don't feel comfortable taking out the loans. I'm thinking a trade might be a better option. Does anyone have any advice as to what trades are the most viable? I could see myself fixing cars, fixing computers, or jumping on a commercial fishing boat somewhere. Thoughts?

Dude, I'm all for people learning a trade and doing that instead of college, but NOT for the reason you are giving. College doesn't HAVE to be that expensive. Here in Ohio, let's say you went 2 years to a community college and 2 years at THE Ohio State University.

Columbus State Community College - $3,074.00 x 2 = $6,148

THE Ohio State University - $8,676 x 2 = $17,352

Grand Total for a degree in this way (and you can still do WAY better than this even) = $23,500.

I get that there's also books to buy and time away from a full-time job where you might make some halfway decent money, but you'd start out as a VERY lowly paid apprentice in a trade job, and it would be very easy to make up the money lost with a job you'll get with a college degree (unless you're a social worker or something like that).

College graduates make more, have better insurance, live longer...just on average have better lives.

Read this -

The article states lots of figures including:

"In 1999, average annual earnings ranged from $18,900 for high school dropouts to $25,900 for high school graduates, $45,400 for college graduates and $99,300 for the holders of professional degrees (medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians and lawyers)."

So, in 1999, a college graduate made almost $20,000 more than a high school graduate. Safe to bet it's even more now.

You can find a 4-year university for $2,000 a year if you want to (and even lots less than that). You can work part-time while you go to school. You can take 6 years to graduate if you want so that you can make more money along the way.

If it's the WORK you want, do the trade route. If it's MONEY, stay in school. College graduates make more money and the work is easier.