happy tuition payer wrote:
Pay and availability of work are two important factors, but enjoyment of work is also an important consideration. I spent my summers doing the physical labor involved in rehabbing houses and apartments when I was in undergrad. Now that I've worked on the finance and project management side of real estate development for a while, I can say that I'd rather be a developer than an electrician even if the two jobs paid the same. It was worth the cost of tuition just to get into a career that excites me.
Sure, work will always be available for the trades guys, but when I visit a project site and see guys who do nothing but put tiles into place 8+ hours per day or whose job is to make the exact same wiring fix in 140 apartments, it makes me damn glad I spent that tuition money.
There is a lot of truth to this post. I like working around the house doing plumbing and painting on the weekends. It is kind of meditative. I have thought about whether I should have gone into the trades. This past weekend I had to paint three different rooms in my house and it basically took me all day Saturday and Sunday to get it done. By Sunday night, I was ready to be done with it.
That being said, I deal with a lot of stress at work that would be nice to unload. I think both sides have their pros and cons. The worst would be to work in the trades for some terrible boss who owns you. Working for yourself wouldn't be that bad as you could control your schedule.