Skilled Labor

MagnusTheBuilder · Post by **MagnusTheBuilder** » Thu May 12, 2011 10:47 am

Jaeger · Post by **Jaeger** » Thu May 12, 2011 1:03 pm

Mike Rowe is a smart and eloquent dude. He gave the following lecture for TED some time ago, and frankly I think it's fucking brilliant.

<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IRVdiHu1VCc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

--Jaeger

Ames · Post by **Ames** » Thu May 12, 2011 9:35 pm

Has anyone mentioned that he also has a lovely singing voice?

Just saying...

problemaddict · Post by **problemaddict** » Fri May 13, 2011 4:01 am

http://www.indeed.com/salary/Welder.html
Avg welder pay = $37,000

http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=machinist&l1=
Avg machinist pay = $40,000

http://www.indeed.com/salary/Diesel-Mechanic.html
Avg diesel mechanic = $42,000

http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=locksmith&l1=
Avg locksmith pay = $43,000

http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=truck+driver&l1=
Avg truck driver pay = $53,000

http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/sea ... e+graduate
Avg college graduate pay = $46,000

Just for some perspective. I was initially going to post these links to show that skilled labor positions aren't exactly lucrative for someone w/ the wherewithal to graduate college. But seeing the avg college graduate number isn't too far off the mark makes me think a bit more.

Click on all the links to see a broader spectrum of salaries for those very generic job titles. I can only say that as a truck driver, I could easily make $65,000/yr at my job if I was willing to work 12hr+ shifts consistently. Maybe the same is true for welders or human resource mngrs. But for a 40hr week, I'd be close, but a little above, the average listed above. I usually work somewhere between 50-55hrs/wk.

I'm not sure the "best and the brightest" would/could be lured into these positions. And the "competent" are screwed because VoTech and Shop classes are always being cut from curriculum to make way for teaching to tests (no child left behind, race to the top) bullshit....

Bigshankhank · Post by **Bigshankhank** » Fri May 13, 2011 4:16 am

Ames wrote:Has anyone mentioned that he also has a lovely singing voice?

Just saying...

I read somwhere that he is actually a trained opera singer.

When I have more time I want to delve further into this topic. Suffice it to say I have put in the time both in teh field and in the office, and if from no other perspective I think people find greater job satisfaction in "doing things" rather than shuffling paper. Of course there is a lid for every pot but for the most part any fresh college grads that I worked with once I became a manager jumped at the chance to spend time in the field rather than at their desk, and would talk about it for weeks afterwards. I think it is human nature to want to have a hand in producing something, and play a more tangible role than just watching the dollars float across a page. I miss construction work terribly but there was no way to support my family's immediate needs unless I took teh job I have now. One day, though...

ejworthen · Post by **ejworthen** » Fri May 13, 2011 5:52 am

Want to learn a trade for free? Join the military. Seriously.

I work in a powerplant and with a few exceptions, almost every single guy working in the place learned their trade in the military. Industry loves to hire ex-military because they come out with excellent training, lots of experience, and a level of responsibilty at an early age that you can get nowhere else.

On the plus side there is not a single person that cannot easily make a six figure salary by putting in a little overtime at our plant. Even if you don't work overtime the typical starting pay is $70k.

Not bad for a bunch of knuckle draggers. There are tons of good paying jobs in the trades whether you go through an apprenticeship, attend trade school, learn a trade in the military, or just plain old OJT.

Mean Chuck · Post by **Mean Chuck** » Fri May 20, 2011 12:54 am

I guess I was lucky with my high school shop classes in my first year of metal shop learned the basics of-
arc welding
mig welding
tig welding
gas welding
spot welding
brazing
soldering
casting
forging
heat treating
using brakes and shears
machining with a mill and lathe
-and that wasn't just what we read in a book, we actually did it. It wasn't enough to learn the skill to get a job doing it but enough to wet your appetite to learn more which I did. We had to draw up something and build it for our end of the year project, I built a frame mounted eight point rollcage for my Jeepster Commando, I was 15. I just realised that I would have been finishing that up right about now twenty years ago. The real funny thing was my shop teacher's name was Bruce Lee!

Sisyphus · Post by **Sisyphus** » Fri May 20, 2011 4:17 am

How much money do you need? How much time do you want to spend making it? What is your time worth?

I read somewhere that jobs that bring home over $50k/year are no more personally rewarding than jobs that don't, usually because of what economists refer to as "opportunity cost." The time you spend making all that money could be spent elsewhere doing other things that would make your life more personally rewarding.

Most of my customers are millionaires, yet I rarely make more than 20-30k /year. Usually because the jobs come and go quickly and I charge a lot of money for my services, hence I get to work little for a lot. Not everyone has opportunity like that.
But the other side of the coin is we live a pretty pared-down existence; we don't have a lot of "stuff." It takes a lot of getting used to, but it's actually quite nice.
Money is tight like it usually is and even more so over the last year but we can deal with it.
This year will be good for me, though, expecting a couple big projects that will most likely double or even triple my average yearly. So my attitude might change.

piccini9 · Post by **piccini9** » Fri May 20, 2011 7:08 am

Most of my customers are millionaires, yet I rarely make more than 20-30k /year.

Are you a marine mechanic?

Bigshankhank · Post by **Bigshankhank** » Fri May 20, 2011 8:28 am

Sisyphus wrote: the jobs come and go quickly and I charge a lot of money for my services, hence I get to work little for a lot.

Male prostitute? I think he's a male prostitute.

Sisyphus · Post by **Sisyphus** » Fri May 20, 2011 8:37 am

Lol, no. Thank God.
I'm a rigger. I specialize in sailing yachts from the "golden age" of yachting, circa 1890's through the 30's or thereabouts, also vessels of a historic nature.
Very niche market.
I also make blocks, but not that often.

Bigshankhank · Post by **Bigshankhank** » Fri May 20, 2011 8:42 am

Mean Chuck wrote:I guess I was lucky with my high school shop classes in my first year of metal shop learned the basics of-
arc welding
mig welding
tig welding
gas welding
spot welding
brazing
soldering
casting
forging
heat treating
using brakes and shears
machining with a mill and lathe
-and that wasn't just what we read in a book, we actually did it. !

Shit, count yourself VERY lucky. I dont know how much older than me you are, but in my high school days in the late 80's we had a wood shop my freshman year and that was it. It had exactly two table saws, one band saw, one standing drill press and possibly two bench grinders. The bench grinders were used as sanders. No lathe, no mitre saw, nothing complex. This for a class of 22 kids. We got to make a candy dish and either a gumball machine or a birdhouse, kids projects. After that the closest class we had to a blue-collar profession was photography (apologies to Midlife). Even in college, when I was studying construction of all things, we never touched a single tool, never laid a brick, shoveled dirt, hammered a nail, we learned all about it in books but didn't actually Do It ourselves. Very frustrating to go out into an industry with no real understanding of what is involved in making the wheels turn. Modern education is failing to teach students how to Do Things, my kids are amazed I can form up and pour a sidewalk. You can make concrete? I thought the city just came out and did that for you? It has taken a considerable amount of effort to teach my daughters and their loser boyfriends how to save money by changing their own oil and general maintenance on their cars, but they are not afria dof it anymore.
So seriously, to have actually learned anything hands-on about a trade in high-school, dude I am so jealous. It has taken me into my late 30's to learn the hard way (i.e by breaking a lot of stuff) how to do what little I know how to do, and I still cannot weld, use a cutting torch, break metal, and I can't solder for shit. Its more frustrating than you might imagine.
I hate the way schools work nowadays. As the wise Judge Albert Shmails once said, "The world needs ditchdiggers, too!" Then he sent an 18 year old boy to the gas chamber because he felt he owed it to him.

Mean Chuck · Post by **Mean Chuck** » Fri May 20, 2011 9:34 am

I graduated in '93. That was actually just my first year of metal shop, I also had two years of wood shop, one year of photography and one year of power tech which was half of the year on electronics like making circuit boards and such and the other half was engines, mainly Briggs and Stratton rebuilds but it was a start. Our high school was pretty redneck but it had it's benefits.

In my senior year I was taking Metal Shop 2 which was mainly everything we did in the first year but more advanced and I was in a program that let me leave at lunch and go to work and halfway through the year I was lucky enough to get a job in a metal fab shop at 17. I worked there for a year after I graduated then went into the Army.

ejworthen · Post by **ejworthen** » Fri May 20, 2011 10:30 am

I grew up in Wisconsin and graduated in 1988. Our high school had a metal shop, wood shop, auto shop, drafting room, and I'm sure I'm missing something. I learned how to weld, use a lathe, every kind of concievable woodworking tool, repair small engines and work on cars, although my primary focus was drafting. You could touch on just about everything if you wanted and then focus on one specific area if you found something you really liked.

Most of the schools here in Eastern PA offer vocational training in high school where kids actually walk out of school with a trade. It's a great opportunity in my opinion.

Metalredneck · Post by **Metalredneck** » Fri May 20, 2011 11:09 am

More food for thought:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/busin ... .html?_r=1

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Skilled Labor

Skilled Labor