They should put this up in every high school
Wednesday, 12 Mar 2025
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When I grow up I wanna be a wind turbine!
They should and be transparent about the likelihood of getting paid a decent wage. Hell, so many of us in HS were tracked to go into trade and we found out the shitty wages we were going to start out with. This was 18 years ago and I still keep in contact with a few who went the trade route. They suffered a lot, but now they are doing fantastic.
At the bottom of this list it should mention that Costco starts at $20/hr at the least. It’s far less hard on your body than some of these other jobs on the list.
Are these hourly rates from the 90’s? They are way off.
They should put other careers next to these for comparison.
They literally do, I probably get trade school pushed at me on a daily basis than college
I went to a wind turbine technical school spent 15k took 6 months / 40 hours a week to complete. I started at 18$ an hour, others started at 16$
Sorry but not everyone has the physicality to do trades.
Funny… the wealthy aren’t telling their kids not to go to college. I wonder if there’s an agenda behind making sure certain types of people don’t see education as valuable.
$16-$52 an hour doesn’t mean anything.
What they don’t tell you is the damage it does to your body. I did electrical work for 6 months with plans on being an electrician and within those 6 months I felt my body aged 10 years. Was always sore, exhausted, and to this day my knees are permanently damaged. Left and went straight to college. I have the utmost respect for people in trades. They’re not only physically demanding and take a toll on the body, but trades are the backbone of any societal infrastructure.
I would love to become a wind turbine, although I may be too short
These all pay well, but they often end up costing you 60+ hours of your life a week. That, to me, is the biggest drawback.
All male dominated jobs. Jobs women typically get without a college degree I guess don’t pay enough for the list.
Do these jobs but expect to have disabilities developing in your 30s. How to make it to your 50s in these careers? Start at 40.
My dad was a a general contractor and then an electrical contractor and owned his own business. I worked under the table for him off and on from the age of 14 ish into my early 20s. I always thought through high school that would be my career path, but my parents encouraged me to go to college (something neither of them did) and try to find an “office job that’s easy on your body”.
I’m glad I listened to them.
My dad passed a year and a half ago and my heart breaks for him working to the age of 65 just, breaking his back working 40-60 hour weeks my whole life, barely ever taking a real vacation and being required to work under houses, in attics, freezing temperatures and scorching summer days. He barely even enjoyed his final years of life he was in constant pain from working a manual labor job since the age of 15 (family of contractors).
While I can never bring my daughter to my job and spend countless hours with her in that way like I was able to with my dad, a lot of things about trades and “don’t go to college, it’s a scam!” Type BS opinions are becoming overplayed. Kids in high school who don’t wanna study or sit in class are looking for short term plays to make decent money with very little long term mindset. We need to be fully transparent about getting yourself “stuck” in the laboring class looks like if you don’t have a plan or if all you’re trying to do is avoid more school. 4, 6 or even 8 years of your life is nothing for a little extra school for a lifetime of wealth and comfort.
Damn, no one told me I could be a wind turbine.
There’s nothing more depressing or stressful than operating a crane. Don’t do it for that miserly wage.
Burnout careers. That’s the starting pay range and it never gets much higher. You’ll be hurt by 40. The best thing to do is learn the trade, get a business degree, and let other people do the work while you supervise.
Most IT guys I know don’t have a degree.
Dang, being a wind turbine pays really well.
Union Pipefitter. Our base journeyman wage will be $51.15/hour this year in Arizona.
Don’t enroll in a trade school. Join a union apprenticeship.
Plumbers make WAY more than $40 an hour lol.
But trades are hard on the body.
They should also warn these kids that these careers come with a lifelong problem. Grown men so upset with their lives they have no alternative but to make yours worse.
Hissy fits, fights, theft, general bullying. The trades suck. And if you don’t partake you’re “just soft”.
One of the dumbest arguments I hear against making college cheaper is “not everyone is suited for college.” That’s just an asshole way of saying, “poor people shouldn’t go to college.”
$45,000 a year is crazy for full time employment.
I get the sentiment but it’s also still a bad message since the students will not have the context. Sure… you could make $52 an hour if you’re a really skilled carpenter (even more I would imagine) but is that consistent work? Likewise how long does it take to go from that entry level base of the pay-band to the top?
Throw in questions like how plentiful the jobs are, what kind of life do you have when working said career, how stable is it going to be? Take the wind turbine one for example, I would imagine they may have a decently high saturation for workers paired with a government hostile to future development means that work may start drying up.
I went to vocational school and college and still don’t make a good living lol
It is up in every school.
This bullshit narrative that trades aren’t pushed in public high schools needs to stop. I attended an “urban” school in the mid 2000s and trades were being pushed as an option then and long before then.
Knock it off…
Being honest about options is all and good, but also throw up a poster over the time and financial costs that muscular skeletal injuries can bring, especially since every one of these is going to incur such injuries.
Also, might not be the worst to include 5, 10 and 15 year disability rates for each profession as well as severe injury/mortality rates across those same time spans.
In other words, there are pros and cons to everything.
Also incredible unlikely AI will replace your role.
A good diesel mechanic charges $150/hr here.
I hate that these are not in any order. Not Alphabetical or from highest to lowest hourly wage.
I would take auto mechanic off that list. Eventually they’re going to need an electrician to fix a car when they start becoming less mechanically assembled and more computer based.
Likely end up doing one these jobs anyway, even with a college degree. Source: I have a bachelors, some masters and some law school. I work in the trades making far more than I did in the corporate world.
Those would have been great options if I had been at all good with my hands… unfortunately I’m not mechanically-minded nor tool-oriented. I barely made it through shop class. So I’ve worked in either customer-oriented jobs or office jobs most of my life. Always thought it would be satisfying to know how to do carpentry or electrical work.
Its no longer aim high for students. Its aim mid
I’m always amazed when I see US salaries. I have been an NHS doctor in the UK for 8 years now and I make £26/hr.
I know the cost of living is a bit higher in the US but it’s still doesn’t get anywhere near to the gap in wages.
$20 per hour at 40 hours per week for a full year with only taking allotted PTO and sick days… $41,000 per year
$25 per hour = $52,000
$30 per hour = $62,400
$40 per hour = $83,200
$50 per hour = $104,000
Great, now my son wants to be awind turbine when he grows up.
Yea, go be a truck driver. That’s something you should tell a kid…
Damn you can make pretty good money being a wind turbine
These are great jobs in your 20’s.
Hopefully you have a different plan when your 40. Because 20 years of most of these jobs is hell on your body with usually not the best Healthcare.
*laughs* in electrician.