NRR: Anyone moved from White Collar > Blue Collar?

I went from blue to white. I make way more and don’t wreck my body.

Consider moving elsewhere in the white collar world. Your back will thank you.

I did this. Got burned out after many years in a generic tech field. Had the bright idea to take a 50% pay cut to go work in welding/fabrication. Wife was not super stoked.

The work was interesting and we built some pretty awesome stuff, but being broke all the time royally sucked and almost everyone in our shop + another shop I worked at were drug addicts and/or alcoholics.

Lasted about 1 1/2 years before I went straight back to the corporate world. A valuable life lesson was learned.

If you wanna be blue collar, chose a job that is sought after and will not be phased out by AI. There is no future in driving.

Yes there is. Truck drivers will still be a thing for a long long time.

I’m working a blue collar job immediately after graduating college. Never tried a white collar job, but I knew I hated wearing ties and sitting in front of a pc.

I still sit in front of a pc, but I’m also doing hands-on work that takes me away from it. I like it, but I have to deal with dirt, grime, bad smells, burns, and other types of hazards. Probably not the best job for a runner, but I knew from running in college that my talent was limited, so I’m okay with that.

I’d personally look for an outdoors job with chances for fresh air. Like park ranger or something cool like that. Or be a cop and carry a gun pew pew pew

I know of a couple guys who did. One hated sitting all day in office. The other couldn't stand the corporate dress code where he needed a suit/tie everyday. They both said they didn't regret leaving although their new jobs are sometimes difficult and tiring and they do definitely enjoy aspects of them.

Isn't this like asking if anyone successfully lowered their IQ from 110 to 90?

I have an uncle who worked in the natural gas industry in an office building, he got layed off during the recession and started delivering for UPS, he stuck with it and makes surprisingly very good money doing it, owns a big home and seems to enjoy the job enough to stick around.

I think basing your assumption of someone’s IQ off of their career, especially when comparing something like a farmer or a welder to a low level office worker is silly.

I think from a point of view, one of the most intelligent things you can do is to find a job that will pay you well and let you focus your brain power on an endeavor you are actually passionate about and gives you a sense of fulfillment.

One of the smartest humans I know, took a real proctored IQ test that landed him in the mid 150s, which is higher than a lot of the famous people society accepts as the worlds “intellectuals” installs subwoofers and leather seats into cars, makes $85,000ish a year off of 5-6 hours of work a day as a 22 year old with 0 college education, ended up with like a 2.6 GPA but a 32 on his first and only ACT attempt in highschool, and focuses his mental energy on his passion for art which is good enough that people pay him for it. He’s very against the whole “go get a college degree in something you don’t give a crap about so you can spend 65% of your waking life doing something you don’t give a crap about so you can afford to buy things that you can’t even enjoy because you are exhausted all of the time and don’t feel like doing anything other than eating, watching TV and going to bed when you get home” thing that seems to be the day to day life for most 9-5 middle class white collar workers.

He’s not what society’s image of a genius looks like, but he’s legitimately statistically more intelligent than 99.99% of people.