College vs skilled trades.

[ja2mak]

Society has told us for years that you need to go to college to get a good job. Now we are in a situation where a lot of the good tradesmen have retired or will be retiring soon. We have essentially skipped a generation of trade knowledge that could have been passed down to this generation. The trades should have been promoted more 20 plus years ago. A college degree doesn’t mean you are any smarter, it just demonstrates the ability to complete the required coursework.

 

[menhaden_man]

There seems to be a lot of hype around skilled trades lately. I think it's just that, hype. People will recommend learning a trade over getting a good college degree. I don't get it. Everyone and their mother claim these tradesmen are making 100k a year. A simple look at BLS average salaries says otherwise.

I'm not saying they're not needed. I'm just saying I think they have become overrated as career options lately.

What do you guys think?


EDIT: Now, obviously, if you get a worthless degree then a skilled trade would be way better.

Trades generally means people who want to work and don’t have a silver spoon in their mouth near as I can tell. I’m sure that a hustler with a college degree would do better, but on average college is an extension of babysitting.

 

[Grumman]

I don’t see skilled trades as a hype. Nothing wrong with a college degree, but the smartest and most successful people I personally know don’t have them. They do know a trade and how to work hard though.


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[Wrench]

Expect to piss clean, be on time, have a journeyman card and not sweat your finances.

Zero college here. My house and 5 cars, jet boat, travel trailer....and a bunch of bikes and atvs, all bought with cash....all paid off before 45, and that includes one setback divorce.

 

[EastMT]

Not everyone likes the jobs a college offers. I for one did not have 4-5 years of sitting in a classroom getting my mind filled with crap I don’t need. If you cut the BS out of a college degree could get it done in 2 years for half price.

I took the trade route as did most of my buddies, heavy equipment, diesel, electricians, plumbers, line men. 80-130k salary range with low debt, short time frame. Good pensions, 401ks, work 6 months a year. My cousin opened a plumbing business, making a killing. Debt free, bought a farm he cash rents out for crops so he has a hunting spot.

If you enjoy hands on blue collar work, there’s nothing wrong with it. I have buddies with 2 year trade school degrees that visit a new country every 4 weeks, traveled to over 50 countries and they are around 30 years old.

A true skill will pay better than most degrees. I have a scientist friend I grew up with, making $60k on a degree, I’d puke if I had those payments with that salary. She’s been paying college for almost 20 years, almost paid off and has a nice rental apartment because couldn’t save for a house.

My wife is currently a teachers with a masters degree, I make 3x her salary, with better benefits. At 45 years old, I don’t think I’d change a think except starting my IRA at 18 with the money I blew on booze, dirt bikes, wild women

 

[gbflyer]

If I were a young man I would jump in the operators union in Alaska. I wasn’t a great student.

 

[id_jon]

What trade?

Roofing and metal siding

 

[Fatcamp]

You won't think that when you need a plumber at 2200 on a Saturday night.

 

[Jbrow327]

You won't think that when you need a plumber at 2200 on a Saturday night.

Same with you needing an accountant or doctor.

 

[2531usmc]

Outside of STEM, much of college has evolved into a scam. colleges no longer care about education, it’s all about the money now. They are selling dreams; $150k for degrees that have almost zero economic benefit (phys ed, sports management, journalism, sociology, to name a few. The colleges know full well that these students will be financially crippled for much of their adult life but they don’t care. They got their money.

 

[Marbles]

Most college degrees are over rated as well. A BS in engineering will start out at about 60K per year on average. Chemestry will not do much better. Lots of people with biology degrees cannot find jobs. I would not call any of those worthless degrees.

With both trades and degrees, one must be willing to follow the work to make top dollar and neither are a golden ticket. It really depends on what someone wants to do and if someone does not know I would contend that working to learn a trade beats out the cost of college.

This is coming from someone who is 6 months away from getting a masters degree in a field that pays well in the US and lets me work almost anywhere (healthcare).

 

[fngTony]

Always fascinating to learn about someone’s income vs education cost. Seems like it can go both ways. Being educated and being intelligent are two different things.

 

[woods89]

No one size fits all answer here but I can tell you there is going to be huge demand in the next 10 years for people with practical skills. Our trade publications have been talking about the coming tradesman shortage for 10 years or so and it has arrived. How much will wages go up to balance this out? Only time will tell.

One thing I have seen work well is for a few of my friends to go to college in their late 20s or early 30s paying their own way. They seem to be very focused and make better choices as to fields of study than teens/early 20s.

I'm 32, been self employed for 8 years, and have very few contemporaries in my area. I can tell you that I don't see how the contractors in my age group are going to meet demand in 5-10 years.

And I will absolutely agree that motivated people will advance, whether college educated or not.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

I'm a retired local 250 A/C mech. living in So. Cal. When I retired in 08 I was making 75k/year without overtime, which I hated but at times had to work it, so I would make an additional 10-15k in overtime per year.. Right now a journeyman A/C Mech. is making $51,70/hour or $103,400 per year with no overtime. A friend of mine and his wife are both in the trade and bringing down over $250,000 a year. Now if you work market refrigeration you can expect to work 60-70 hours a week and make over $200.000 a year. If you get Forman, general Forman or supervisor pay you will make far more. Where you live and your training has a lot to do with your pay. An apprentice will serve 5 years on the job training while going to apprentice school for 36 weeks each year. I think starting apprentice pay is around $20.00/hour. I got my Training in the USN and did four months of ACR school in Norfork VA. Our classes were the same Mech. Eng. course they were then teaching at Old Dominion University at the time.. For me who ever planned on going to college , it was the best thing I could have ever done.

 

[colersu22]

I went to college for a year and it was not for me, now I’m a commercial electrician and have made over 120k the past 3 years with last year being 150k. I’m at 130k this year and still have a few months to go. I really enjoy my work and can provide a good life for me, my wife and kid. I do work a decent amount of overtime so make more than some in the same area. Journey men scale is 62 and change an hour but Forman and general foreman make more so being a foreman I’m at $70.52 an hour.

 

[Eltigreblanco]

I went to college for a year and it was not for me, now I’m a commercial electrician and have made over 120k the past 3 years with last year being 150k. I’m at 130k this year and still have a few months to go. I really enjoy my work and can provide a good life for me, my wife and kid. I do work a decent amount of overtime so make more than some in the same area. Journey men scale is 62 and change an hour but Forman and general foreman make more so being a foreman I’m at $70.52 an hour.

There seems to be a lot of hype around skilled trades lately. I think it's just that, hype. People will recommend learning a trade over getting a good college degree. I don't get it. Everyone and their mother claim these tradesmen are making 100k a year. A simple look at BLS average salaries says otherwise.

I'm not saying they're not needed. I'm just saying I think they have become overrated as career options lately.

What do you guys think?


EDIT: Now, obviously, if you get a worthless degree then a skilled trade would be way better.

Are you interested in a trade?

 

[bowtech3dhunter]

I went to college for a year and it was not for me, now I’m a commercial electrician and have made over 120k the past 3 years with last year being 150k. I’m at 130k this year and still have a few months to go. I really enjoy my work and can provide a good life for me, my wife and kid. I do work a decent amount of overtime so make more than some in the same area. Journey men scale is 62 and change an hour but Forman and general foreman make more so being a foreman I’m at $70.52 an hour.

Where do you live? I’m a commercial electrician on the front range of Colorado and I make half that……


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[Eltigreblanco]

Where do you live? I’m a commercial electrician on the front range of Colorado and I make half that……


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I'm going to guess bay area or pnw

 

[qwerksc]

The world needs plumbers and sanitation workers, without em, we’d live like the third world.

 

[hodgeman]

It's very much location dependent and to a large degree, individual dependent.

Are college degrees overhyped? Which one, from where, and at what cost? I can assure you, an engineering degree, a CPA or a medical degree is largely a money printing machine for motivated folks who can hack it.

Trade skills are overhyped? Again, which trade, what area, at what price? An electrician, HVAC tech, or plumber who is serious about his business can very easily earn a comfortable upper middle class living after a few years in most locations in the U.S.

Got some worthless degree after living for years on student loan dollars? Yeah, life is gonna be tough for you.

Got some half assed notion you're a "construction worker" who alternates between entry level laborer and unemployment every season because you're a minimum effort/maximum attitude kind of guy? Yeah, you ain't making squat.

In real life, you get paid to do hard things. If you want to be paid well, learn to do really hard things well- doesn't matter if you get a degree or not, same statement applies.