College vs skilled trades.

[EastHumboldt]

Depends on the degree, the skilled trade, your work ethic and ambition, and where you live..

I knows guys that got Aerospace degrees that make close to $200k after ten years or so and others that are still around the $60k range. I work construction and know guys that have gone from working on a framing crew, to running their own framing crew, to becoming a full on GC and real estate developer making a half million a year.

I have a friend that got a masters in history, ended up working an admin job at a local college and was laid off with the covid lockdowns and is still jobless today.

No one working as an employee in a skilled trade is going to get rich, well unless you are an off shore oil rig diver, the idea is that you work that job and eventually go out on your own and become a business owner and then rake in the money if you know what you are doing.

Everything is what you make of it.

This. A degree doesn’t guarantee you jack shit, but it will open some doors and it’s what you do on he other side of that door that counts. Including being smart enough to recognize when door #3 is a dead end and pick another door. For those who diss a college education and insist that all we need are blue collar workers… sounds a lot like ole Karl Marx.

BTW I don’t have a degree I’ve worked my whole life first in manufacturing and then in the trades and I’ve done OK, but I’m sure if I had a degree I would probably be doing better. I worked for some very savvy people who had a degree and they got paid more than me. And I worked for at least one guy with an engineering degree who was such a dipshit I’m surprised he knew how to breathe. And I’ve seen people who barely made it out of high school but had a will to work and native cunning who did very well.

 

[Zappaman]

Buy low, and keep it. Prices for everything are insane right now, when the NEXT economic turn-down happens (and it's due... if you read history), be ready to buy. Until then: get up, get dressed, and get to work and ANYONE saving today (no bottled water, no fast food, and therefore no cancer) will be healthy and ready for the next great day of life. Live modestly and hunt, freeze the kill and eat healthy and... you will be successful in life despite all else.

College should be a "discovery" time of life- just as a good trade school can be. Education should HAVE an impact on you... take it as long as it interest you. In any case, learn to do without AND-- DO WHAT YOU LOVE... secret to life!!!

 

[Marble]

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.

Get and use the right tool for the right application and sky's the limit.

2 of mine will go to college, unsure on the other two. When they ask my advice I yell them they have to have a skill someone wants to pay for and whatever they choose to be, be the best.

As far as school loans, it's foolish to do what a lot of people do. Pay cash. Plan ahead.

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[WV Mountaineer]

Take what they say they are making with a grain of salt. It’s the internet.

There’s not too many rich skilled tradesmen out there. Sure there are some but not many. And to even get ahead you gotta work overtime. My time away from work is way to valuable.

Figure out a way to make money for while you sleep.

There aren’t many rich people period. $300,000 a year isn’t rich. Nor is $400,000. It’s what you do with it that determines your wealth.

I don’t see one inflated claim here. Not one. Only a couple guys who say that isn’t possible. The rest are working hard enjoying their money. While you tell everyone your time off is more important.

degree jobs are salaries based for a reason. You work. You don’t get to decide whether to take time or money.

 

[fngTony]

There aren’t many rich people period. $300,000 a year isn’t rich. Nor is $400,000. It’s what you do with it that determines your wealth.

I don’t see one inflated claim here. Not one. Only a couple guys who say that isn’t possible. The rest are working hard enjoying their money. While you tell everyone your time off is more important.

degree jobs are salaries based for a reason. You work. You don’t get to decide whether to take time or money.

Well regardless of work ethic or having a degree or not for the average joe that’s about 240-360k more opportunities to become rich.

 

[Thunder]

There aren’t many rich people period. $300,000 a year isn’t rich. Nor is $400,000. It’s what you do with it that determines your wealth.

I don’t see one inflated claim here. Not one. Only a couple guys who say that isn’t possible. The rest are working hard enjoying their money. While you tell everyone your time off is more important.

degree jobs are salaries based for a reason. You work. You don’t get to decide whether to take time or money.

Ok 300,000-400000 isn’t a lot of money in a year? Hahahahahahahhaha what fantasy land you live in?

Thanks for the investing tip, it’s what you do with it that matters? That could be the title of your book

 

[Clarkdale17]

I was torn between going to college or going into the trades a few years ago. Ultimately I decided to go to college so I could play a sport and graduated with an engineering degree. Even then I ended up right back in the construction industry working for a GC. I know for a fact that many of the trades make more than I do without a college degree.

I'll try and push my kids to go into the trades for a few years right out of school unless they are going to play a sport in college. A few years of hard work and learning to make money and take care of it would be beneficial, then they can make the decision if they want to go to college or not. How many 18 year olds know what they want to do the rest of their life? Most of them just want to go to school to party and have fun and end up with a ton of debt. If they chose college after a few years STEM majors are really the only way to go to have a good return on investment.

Make sure you're picking the right trade to go into though. I've seen plenty of 40 year olds that can barely get out of bed after a lifetime of beating the hell out of their bodies day in and day out.

 

[Poser]

Another component to this is it’s not necessarily a world where it’s college vs. trades. You can bypass college for entrepreneurship. Also, a lot of research is indicating that a significant percentage of jobs 20 years from now, do not yet exist (they haven’t been created yet). Over that plane of time, technology will unfold in away that many current jobs will no longer exists and many new jobs will be created.

Example: I understand that Tesla did not/has not hired one single person with an automotive manufacturing management background. Think about that for a second. Also consider for a moment that Tesla’s market cap is $629 billion, the highest in the auto industry, 8-15x higher than the other big dogs who have been around for decades. New technology is disruptive and changes quickly.

In terms of 300-400k a year not being rich, any income can be “rich.” Any income can be poor. Making money is great but if you consistently have to work overtime to make the money you want/need, then I would reconsider whether or not your job actually pays enough. If you have to consistently work 80 hours a week to make 100k vs 75k, then it’s worth acknowledging that your job doesn’t pay enough for your time, effort, skill etc and you are potentially undervalued. It would seem that if your employer will pay you time in a half consistently then you could find a job that pays 1.5x what your present job pays for conventional hours.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Another component to this is it’s not necessarily a world where it’s college vs. trades. You can bypass college for entrepreneurship. Also, a lot of research is indicating that a significant percentage of jobs 20 years from now, do not yet exist (they haven’t been created yet). Over that plane of time, technology will unfold in away that many current jobs will no longer exists and many new jobs will be created.

Example: I understand that Tesla did not/has not hired one single person with an automotive manufacturing management background. Think about that for a second. Also consider for a moment that Tesla’s market cap is $629 billion, the highest in the auto industry, 8-15x higher than the other big dogs who have been around for decades. New technology is disruptive and changes quickly.

In terms of 300-400k a year not being rich, any income can be “rich.” Any income can be poor. Making money is great but if you consistently have to work overtime to make the money you want/need, then I would reconsider whether or not your job actually pays enough. If you have to consistently work 80 hours a week to make 100k vs 75k, then it’s worth acknowledging that your job doesn’t pay enough for your time, effort, skill etc and you are potentially undervalued. It would seem that if your employer will pay you time in a half consistently then you could find a job that pays 1.5x what your present job pays for conventional hours.

Exactly. I always said if I had to work overtime, then I needed to re-evaluate my situation.
And I probably wasnt being paid enough.

 

[DirtJones]

Sometimes having an opportunity to work OT is a blessing though. Helps save up for those extra costly optics or other gear.
I personally enjoy the 8-5 life knowing my schedule doesn't change, I can work from home, and that my joints won't be ruined when I do get into the mountains.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Give me a person with good work ethics over a highly educated person with give a shit attitude any day of the week.

 

[mlgc20]

There is plenty of room for both degrees and the trades. Just depends on the person. Quality people with degrees and quality people in the trades are both in high demand. Most of my good friends are in the trades. Primarily plumbing, electrical, and HVAC. I went the college and MBA route. We’ve been pretty open about money over the years. I make about 4x what they made as journeymen and job supervisors. However, a couple of years ago, one of them went and started his own business. He now makes more than 2x what I make. And after another couple of years, he will probably make 5x what I make. Maybe 10x. He went from being a journeyman to having 20 journeymen and apprentices working for him. He doesn’t have a college degree or anything like that. He’s just a really smart guy, who learned a trade well and worked very hard.

For most of the folks I know, in general the college educated people earn significantly more than the non-college educated. However, the wealthiest person I know is a farmer with no formal education past HS. There is no one size fits all.

Having grown up extremely poor, I will add that money will not make you happy. I have been all over the income spectrum. My happiness does not correlate to how much money I make.

 

[WV Mountaineer]

I never said it wasn’t a lot of money. I said you weren’t rich. Apply yourself and make it to see for yourself. By the time this crooked government and your state gets finished with you, if you haven’t invested it into growing or into retirement, come tax time you wont have enough money to pay them.

It’s like this. It’s regional. It’s also dependent solely on the opportunities that are presented. And, how you handle them as to comparison to a degree pay versus a trade pay.

if you live surrounded by rural areas or illegal labor, your pay will de a direct reflection of that. There are so many variables. Pay isn’t everything. It’s what you keep that matters.

 

[CJinGA]

I don't think the chances of success are increased or decreased by a person going to college or not. Chances are, if someone is going to be successful in life, they're going to do it whatever path they take because they have a strong work ethic, pay attention to details, and are willing to go the extra mile to get things done when necessary. One thing to remember - success is not measured by size of the number on the paycheck each week. The world is full of people making more money than they can spend in a lifetime and they are miserable every single day. OTOH, my grandfather probably never made more that $30k/year his entire life and I never ONCE heard him complain about not having 'stuff'. For me, I fall somewhere in the middle...

Figure out how you will measure success in your life and then find a way to get a job that supports that goal. I think too many times, people try to use college as a shortcut to what people have told them success looks like but along the way they lose motivation for what they're working toward and that's when you end up with people burdened by student loans that they can't afford to pay back and no degree to show for it.

 

[Poser]

Sometimes having an opportunity to work OT is a blessing though. Helps save up for those extra costly optics or other gear.
I personally enjoy the 8-5 life knowing my schedule doesn't change, I can work from home, and that my joints won't be ruined when I do get into the mountains.

Occasional OT to earn some extra cash is different from being dependent on OT to make a living.

 

[CApighunter]

The common theme I see here for making good money in the trades is either being union or working for yourself. I fall into neither category and although I make decent money, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. I’m 25 and burnt out from long hours, physically demanding work, and mentally taxing repetitive work. It’s simply not worth the money anymore to me. I think it’s important to feel fulfilled in your job and that’s what the trades are lacking for me. I’m in the process of moving changing careers to public service and couldn’t be more excited to start a career in law enforcement hopefully in the next few months. I’ll start out making a little more hourly than I do now, with OT it’ll be an easy 6 figures my first year.

 

[Poser]

I never said it wasn’t a lot of money. I said you weren’t rich. Apply yourself and make it to see for yourself. By the time this crooked government and your state gets finished with you, if you haven’t invested it into growing or into retirement, come tax time you wont have enough money to pay them.

It’s like this. It’s regional. It’s also dependent solely on the opportunities that are presented. And, how you handle them as to comparison to a degree pay versus a trade pay.

if you live surrounded by rural areas or illegal labor, your pay will de a direct reflection of that. There are so many variables. Pay isn’t everything. It’s what you keep that matters.

There are examples of people making 50k a year and retiring with multi millions. Are they not “rich”?

A survey a few years ago showed that around 72k of income was the ideal balance of income to happiness. I’d imagine that has since bumped up to around 90k, but I can tell you that in my present job and lifestyle, remaining single, I don’t need to make more than $120-150k to be “rich”. Most 7 figure earners have very little to no time to do things outside of work. At some point, Income has diminishing returns. I could make 200k+ if I went 100% hustle with no hobbies and no life, but what’s that going to get me? I’m single with no kids, way I figure, if I die with millions in the bank then I didn’t live life very well.

 

[Whisky]

If I had a do-over I'd go with a trade (electrician), and own my own business. To go one step further, I'd have also attempted to specialize in ag/energy/commercial markets, instead of residential. I feel trades offer the better chance at working for yourself, instead of working for others.

 

[Thunder]

I never said it wasn’t a lot of money. I said you weren’t rich. Apply yourself and make it to see for yourself. By the time this crooked government and your state gets finished with you, if you haven’t invested it into growing or into retirement, come tax time you wont have enough money to pay them.

It’s like this. It’s regional. It’s also dependent solely on the opportunities that are presented. And, how you handle them as to comparison to a degree pay versus a trade pay.

if you live surrounded by rural areas or illegal labor, your pay will de a direct reflection of that. There are so many variables. Pay isn’t everything. It’s what you keep that matters.

Ok so who said 300,000-400,000 was rich? No one. But you pulled that number out of thin air and we are suppose to know what you meant? Curious to know your definition of rich?

 

[GHOSTofWENDELL]

Exactly. I always said if I had to work overtime, then I needed to re-evaluate my situation.
And I probably wasnt being paid enough.

That's about the silliest take in this thread.