Want my nephew to look into to trade school - what trade should he look into?

[Triumph]

Seems like welders don't make much compared to other trades. I worked in a factory for a bit and the experienced welders made $13/hr.

That is really surprising, either their idea of "experienced" work isn't all that hard, or they're severely underpaying. Welding is like a musical instrument. A lot of people can play chopsticks on the piano, but to be really good at it takes a lot of practice and experience with many different applications.

Welding is a trade that isn't going to be completely replaced by automation any time soon. Automated welding is like injection molding, it only works when you're doing a repetitive task over and over again. They don't work on repair jobs. And automated welding machines are programmed by...welders.

 

[Texashiker]

Seems like welders don't make much compared to other trades. I worked in a factory for a bit and the experienced welders made $13/hr.

Welding shops in the south pay like crap.

 

[ichy]

People keep saying for electrician do industrial not residential.

Why?

A couple of guys I do say they prefer residential because the work is easier and they still pull in 6-digit $ a year if they work independently (and not as a subcontractor for home builds, etc.).

If you run your own business it can all be lucrative but from what I understand it's easier to just get a well paying job if you work in something more complex than residential.

Almost anyone with a bit of common sense can do home wiring repairs themselves. It's often a bad idea, but with a bit of self-education it's doable. If I tried to do high-voltage electrical work on my own I'd die a quick and spectacular death.

 

[ichy]

underwater welder, pay's good, and plenty of time off if what I've heard is correct.

http://www.aws.org/education/plunge.html

Lol, pity it's one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

 

[NL5]

People keep saying for electrician do industrial not residential.

Why?

Are you saying industrial because the work is more interesting, or because of the pay?

Residential is still in a downturn. Residential electricians are not in huge demand as I see.

Several reasons Industrial is better. First off is pay. Industrial electricians make about double what a resi guy makes in my area. Better benefits. Not quite as dramatic fluctuations in work available. And, you can always do resi work if you want. A resi guy can't do industrial. It takes substantially longer to get licensed for industrial, but well worth it.

The work is a thousand times more interesting and varied as well. A semi-trained monkey can rope a house.

 

[Mo0o]

Medicine?

 

[Muse]

Shoemaker

 

[Vic Vega]

...

 

[Vic Vega]

...

 

[NL5]

Their junior electricians which mostly act as helpers make about $20 an hour, the mid to senior electricians make $40 to $50 an hour. These are non-union workers doing non-union jobs mind you. Union guys can make more (pending they can FIND work, a lot of them can't and are living off unemployment - if you call that living). Every part of the country is different though.

The hilarious part is the unions. According to my brother in law, there are union crews who haven't worked in two years because they refuse to bid jobs and work under a certain rate. Meanwhile, my brother in law and sister literally have more work than they can handle and are booked for a year in advance.
.

Wow. If they are really paying their guys that much, they make more than a union resi guys does here, and we are one of the more expensive markets. There are some very expensive markets though. As far as residential electricians go, he's right. There are very few union shops. Most markets, the complete opposite is true for industrial. Most of the work is done by union labor. This obviously varies by stare/locality, but here the union has about a 90% market share for industrial work, and virtually 100% for any of the big jobs.

Like I said above, I can't imagine why anyone would go resi, unless they just didn't want to put the time into a much longer program. A residential license is pretty limiting, and the pay is substantially less.

 

[Eug]

Like I said above, I can't imagine why anyone would go resi, unless they just didn't want to put the time into a much longer program. A residential license is pretty limiting, and the pay is substantially less.

That's just it. The guys I talked to who run their own residential electricians businesses pull in six figures for easy work. Yeah that is in part because the rates they charge are exhorbitant, but nonetheless their customers pay it.

Sure the work may be a lot less interesting, but then again there's something to be said about easy money.

I'm not in a trade, but... I have an interesting job, and I am paid a decent salary to do it. However, several of my friends in the same field have left similar jobs to go to less interesting jobs. Why? Because the work is easier (less complicated) and the pay is the same.

Note however, about the residential downturn thing: I'm in Toronto. No downturn here (yet), so business is still booming. Furthermore, trades often charge more in Toronto than in smaller cities in the same province, probably because they can simply get away with it. However, even in a downturn I suspect a lot of these guys may do well. Many don't do a lot of new builds, because the pay isn't as good.

 

[alkemyst]

CCIE

 

[bwoody2016]

Umm medical trade schools? X ray tech? respiratory tech? He'll make a decent amount of money. You don't have to worry about the housing industry because people are always getting older and dying.

 

[NL5]

That's just it. The guys I talked to who run their own residential electricians businesses pull in six figures for easy work. Yeah that is in part because the rates they charge are exhorbitant, but nonetheless their customers pay it.

What's just it? If you pull in six figures, working for half is ok? I guess I just don't see why someone would do that. I can tell you this as well, an average residential electrician in this area is making nowhere near that. Now, if you own the business, then sure, the sky's the limit. But again, if you own an industrial electrical contracting business, there is an even bigger potential upside. For an average industrial guy, they are pulling down close to six figures, just being a journeyman. If you are higher up the scale, six figures is easy. And realistically, a JW's total compensation is six figures anyway (at bare minimum scale).

I guess I just could never give a young person the advice to take the easy way out and work for half the potential income. Those 3 extra years in their youth will reap HUGE benefits in the course of their lifetime. Besides, here, those extra 3 years are at or above a resi guys scale anyway - so you aren't really missing out on any income.

 

[KeithTalent]

Haberdashery.

KT

 

[alkemyst]

For an self-employed electrician to be making 6 figures after expenses in a year, he has to be hustling. With the economy for every dude that is, there are probably 10+ looking for any gig right now.

 

[boomerang]

Machinist, tool and die maker. Electrician is always good, as mentioned, although it took a bit of a hit when the housing market slumped.

Tool and Die Maker? You can't be serious. That was my trade. It's all been outsourced to Korea and China. For those that remain in the trade it's dirty work with falling wages, declining need and less skill required every day.

Stay away.

 

[Triumph]

Everyone in the Military fights if it comes down to it.

I would take a semi-educated guess and postulate that 95% of the entire military is not in any real harms way, meaning they aren't getting shot at while out on patrol. 80% of the military isn't even in a dangerous area. And of those people in the dangerous areas (Afghanistan) I'd wager 80% of them are still not in direct contact with any enemy forces. I learned this from having spent 6 months there, traveling all over to multiple military bases. The fear of having to fight for your life like it's the Battle of Verdun, as a reason to not join the military, is about as logical as not driving a car because you might get in an accident.

 

[DigDog]

guess you don't work in the restaurant business, watching Gordon Ramsay shows don't count. You don't just become the head chef overnight, and the head chefs are usually the owner or friends of the owner, they don't do much, because they have people trying to work their way up but will never be the head chef to do all the work for them.

naah. i learned everything from kitchen nightmares.

anyway, last job my boss was actually an ex colleague of ramsay. but yes, i do, i'v worked in catering for the past 6 years; before that it was audio and "things similar to it". surely in france you would have a hard time becoming head chef of anything but, in countries that have a younger food culture, such as the US, or the UK, it's realtively easy to land a head job. all you really need is a professional diploma from a school, and - as my latest head chef is living testimony - you don't actually need to be able to make anything that tastes decent, and still land a £35k a year contract. i can give you address and number if you want to call them.