Your career paths

[Catt]

My grandfather was a carpenter, my dad & his 4 brothers were carpenters. They built entire houses with a folding ruler, a framing square, a hand saw, & a wooden handled hammer.

 

At 12 years old I was framing houses, doing trim, & building cabinets. At 14 years  old I was running crews. At 21 years old I was the youngest general foreman working for Brown & Root.

 

I'm also an ASE certified automotive mechanic, licensed A&P (Airframe & Power Plant) mechanic, Certified Manufacturing Engineer (CMfgE).

 

Now I'm Chief Cook & Bottle Washer!

[flyfisher]

Took about 12 years to graduate college because i kept taking time off to go climbing.  Off and on during that time i was working at a boys & girls club eventually working my way up to the education director.  Moved cross country once and then back and ended up at a major bank where i worked my way up the food chain over about a decade to being a six sigma green belt trained process engineer.  Good work but not fulfilling at all, money isn't everything.  Went back to school got my masters in education and began teaching and about 5 years into that went for my post masters for administration.  Still trying to land that first administration gig but i have a feeling this will be the year it all comes together.  Wouldn't change anything I did as it made me who I am today.  

[Susky River Rat]

For the record. I actually hate welding. 

[Woody B]

26 minutes ago, Susky River Rat said:

For the record. I actually hate welding. 

 

After 40 + years as an auto tech I hate autos and trucks.   

[Susky River Rat]

@Woody B we have great skills. It all just becomes the same. The science behind welding is interesting. Getting into different transfer modes how they work etc. actual welding for me is like waiting in line at the DMV.

[steve carpenter]

Worked as a kid, paperboy, lawns, picked fruit. Worked in canneries as a late teenagers and decided I needed college. Worked my way through eventually as a welder, furniture factory, etc. Took a while. Into the army and used the GI bill to finally finish school. Was a Parks and recreation Director and finally got a Masters degree and became a City Manager. Worked for 40 years here in Texas. Loved te job. Retired in 2013. On the City Council for 3 years and now I fish, workout and use a travel trailer. Life has been kind to me and I am married to a wonderful , kind smart woman.

[Jar11591]

Started washing dishes as a teenager, along with a little bit of line cooking. At 19 I began working at a glass manufacturing plant, and did that for a decade. I was in a supervisor role the last 6 years that I was there. We supplied all the local mom and pop glass repair shops with their mirrors, windows, doors, and anything else glass related. That's where I cut my teeth, and I'm thankful for the decade of experience but 10 years there was several too many.

 

Quit that silly place to start a landscaping business in 2019 and that quickly became lucrative and enjoyable. Thought that was gonna be my career, but the long laborious hours caught up to me fast, so my girlfriend and I made the difficult but better in the long run decision of hanging that up after 3 years. Made some great money, had some great clients, and being my own boss was amazing, but my back, knees, wrists, and shoulders all started to get a little iffy. I am too young for that, so resigning as a landscaper was the right thing to do. I still do my own landscape projects around my house to get my fix, and I'll take side jobs if the opportunity is right. 

 

So next, with my girlfriend's support, I decided to go to college at 32. I'm studying electrical construction and currently halfway through the second semester of a 2 year program. I felt that was a good middle ground of labor type work that wont totally destroy your joints. I will never be one to sit behind a desk for dollars, I have to be doing some type of physical labor so this seems like a perfect fit. A couple months ago I acquired an apprenticeship position with a local outfit as well, and upon graduating I should be with them full time. 

[gim]

Good for you @Jar11591. That takes a lot of will power and motivation to go back to college at 32.

[TnRiver46]

5 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

For the record. I actually hate welding. 

I still like skunks I just needed more cash. Bout 1 out of 50 of them is problematic tho 

[N Florida Mike]

First real job was working on a farm for around 6 years. I  also worked  at a gas station , on a shrimpboat, was an assistant pastor and maintenance man at church for awhile, also worked for the county parks for awhile. Got invited by a friend to work at a lawn care company. I switched companies 5 times through the years as opportunities came, and learned the other areas of pest control.Took a year off and did landscaping but went back to pest control the next year, although I did side work in landscaping for years after that.

 In pest control I was a tech, manager, and sales inspector which I still do now. I also have a part time security job at church. No real high paying jobs, but it’s been enough !

[Susky River Rat]

@TnRiver46 covid ruined the trades. Closed the gap between skilled and unskilled workers. Drive a forklift for 22- $27 hour or weld for 22-27. Not really A hard choice if you’re making mid to low 30s here you are doing code welding. This caused a lot of very skilled welders to give it up leaving people who can just weld. 

[Woody B]

1 hour ago, Susky River Rat said:

@TnRiver46 covid ruined the trades. Closed the gap between skilled and unskilled workers. Drive a forklift for 22- $27 hour or weld for 22-27. Not really A hard choice if you’re making mid to low 30s here you are doing code welding. This caused a lot of very skilled welders to give it up leaving people who can just weld. 

I think there's a bunch of factors at play, most which aren't suitable for this forum, but you're correct.  I make around twice the hourly numbers listed, but it's only a couple dollars more than I was making 20 years ago.  There is or there's going to be a shortage of skilled labor.  It just depends on what field for when it's going to happen.  Right now the automotive repair industry is overpaying entry level techs trying to develop future skilled workers.   What I'm seeing though it these kids are content changing oil, and doing other easier jobs while making $75 to $85K a year instead of developing real diagnostic and repair skills to make $25 to $35K more.  Obviously the actual dollar amounts will vary by region. 

 

My Son in Law is a building contractor.  One of my Grandsons is following in his footsteps.  My other Grandson wants to be an Auto Tech like me.    I've made a decent living for over 40 years.  The industry has it problems but I'm not going to discourage him.   

[TnRiver46]

Dang @Woody B, I can change oil! Call me!! 😂 If I had grandkids I would probably discourage them from trapping skunks . Everyone told me there was no money in wildlife when I was in college but I didn’t care about money then. Still don’t but Im at the age where I kind of need some benefits going forward. 
 

funny story how I got into wildlife. I always made straight As in school but I didn’t want to go to college. I just wanted a paycheck so I could go fishing. When I graduated high school, mom said welp time to go to college. I said no thanks, she said well that’s too bad now go to college 😂.

She said here is a list of majors, if you pick one instead of being undecided, you are more likely to get a scholarship. Well naturally I picked the one with the word “fish” in it (wildlife/fisheries science) and got a full ride to UT. Student loans are quite the burden on my wife and many friends so I’m grateful I avoided any of that mess. I made it quite a while on extra low salary and learned a skill, just time for something else I reckon. If it wasn’t for health insurance costs I could probably ride it out til the end 

[Eric 26]

@TnRiver46 That stinks when your passion for life doesn’t pay enough to cover the bills . 

[Susky River Rat]

@Woody B I know I was trying to be as non political as possible with my post. It’s a deep rooted issue far beyond any one industry. I will leave it at that. 

[Functional]

Whats crazy is with the dwindling trades those businesses have never been in higher demand. Because of it timelines and costs have SKYROCKETED for those hiring for the contractors. You would think with the substantially higher costs I get charged to hire them the actual laborers would have higher salaries than you see above. Although you rates may not have gone up I've at least seen the benefits package laborers get has been substantially beefed up. The company I work for has city/state benefits and that used to be part of our selling point for hiring at a lower rate (all my budget allows) but I dont get to hold that card anymore. Either way, pay in this country doesnt reflect what it should compared to what the cost of every day items are.

 

Had to explain to the head of my company why I could build an 80 acre 3 building operations complex for $52 million back in 2019 but a quote we got 6 months ago for 1 new similar building was 32 million. Or why HVAC replacement for a building went from 700k in 2019 to over 1.5million in 2024. It's absolutely insane.

[TnRiver46]

5 hours ago, Eric 26 said:

@TnRiver46 That stinks when your passion for life doesn’t pay enough to cover the bills . 

Well, kind of. I worked for a small business and my boss got older and refused to make any changes whatsoever. He’s now too old to run the business (memory) but won’t sell it or stop it or promote anyone or hire anyone. I always thought since I was his only employee left maybe I could take over one day but it didn’t work out like that

 

my issue was more business related than passion related. I could work for the govt in my field and pay my bills (barely) but I’d rather starve than do that 😂 

[detroit1]

I've been a Chippendale for the last 43 years.  

[Scott F]

I dropped out of college, worked in retail selling electronics, and was on my way to becoming an electrician but that didn’t work out. Through a chance meeting with the friend of a friend I got hired to be a service technician repairing restaurant equipment. It was a steady job with good benefits and I was good at it. The physical part of the job took a toll on my back and I had to retire due to an injury after 36 years. The long hours and stress are just an unpleasant memory and I’m now living happily ever after. 

[Eric 26]

My career path started with me graduating high school not knowing what I really wanted to do in life but knowing college wasn’t for me. After high school I worked at a local furniture store delivering furniture and worked for a great boss who along with another older semi co worker encouraged me to try to find a better career path. My mother suggested truck driver or maybe one of the trades, I took a carpentry course at the local college but nothing much came out of that. Flash forward 3 years and I met my now wife and my then 2 year old stepson (who I consider my flesh and blood and always will) and her father who was the vice president of a successful general contracting company who needless to say knew I needed a better career path and when I informed him I filled out applications for the carpenter apprenticeship program along with the operator engineer program but wasn’t chosen he said tell me which trade other than the 150 operators and I’m in. I spent 19 years as a union carpenter with my favorite 7 years at a small framing outfit run by 2 brothers who treated us like family until the housing market crashed which then led me switching to commercial carpentry working for one of the largest contractors in Chicago and the Nation as my father in law was working for them as a project manager until he retired a year and a half upon my joining the company. I was there until the great crash in 2008-2009. My wife and I then bought into a startup carpet cleaning franchise that ultimately was a  bust for us and while on unemployment and begging for help a kind unemployment worker helped me get a Pell Grant which led me to my current job as a union truck driver for a local concrete company which I haul powdered products for both them and outside customers. I also ran a 48’ dump truck which I loved but the company has gotten out owning dump trucks ☹️ I’ve been with the concrete company for 9 years and have moved from the number 5 driver when there was only 5 of us to number 2 out of 7 and have trained 4 of our current drivers along with a few others who are no longer here. I love my current job and the company even more but unfortunately our busy season keeps me working 60 plus hours during the fishing season, which I’m hoping to cut back my hours in the next few years. In the end I should have just listened to my mother (who I dearly miss) in the first place. Thanks mom as you always knew what was best for me and also to my father in law who is unfortunately no longer with us 🙏

[12poundbass]

4 hours ago, detroit1 said:

I've been a Chippendale for the last 43 years.  

Work it girl!

[DitchPanda]

Never went to college. Got my first "real" job at 16 and was working full time by 17 while going thru my senior year of high school. After graduation I moved to Iowa and started working at a small town grocery store. Started out as a stock boy and ended up as meat department\ assistant store manager. At 30 I was tired of not making any money so I went looking and found a job at a local bio-processing (ethanol) company as an operator 1 on nights. 10 years later I am lead plant technician 3 and water chemistry manager on days.

[12poundbass]

13 hours ago, Functional said:

Whats crazy is with the dwindling trades those businesses have never been in higher demand

The trades are not dwindling one bit! There are a lot of people who are waking up and smelling the coffee. You don’t need $100k in college debt to make a good living. It took me until I was 25 and a kid on the way to get my head on my shoulders and it still took another 6-7 years to work my way up. Knowing what I know now I could’ve been there by 25. Also knowing what I know now I’m pushing my son towards the trades especially a lineman. $15k in schooling and making $100k plus a year with dam good benefits is a no brainer. 
 

There have been a couple examples of some who went to college for a certain degree to go on to something else and left with a mountain of debt. We can all learn from others mistakes and I hope my son does and cuts his hardships in half.

[Eric 26]

@TnRiver46 I apologize if you’ve been asked this question already but if you don’t mind sharing what are you currently doing? And could you find a way to start your own trapping business?

[TnRiver46]

@Eric 26, my wife is an entrepreneur so it would be nice to have some benefits but I suppose I could, but don’t really think it would work too well. A guy that used to work for us started one and he is now looking to get into real estate even tho demand is very good. You really can’t do it too long without breaking your spine, it’s constantly climbing ladders and staying on roofs or slithering under floors. The key is do like my old boss and pay some moron (me) to do all the work while he collects all the money. I can barely understand insurance let alone run a business, I just need money to live. 
 

im currently working nights in a warehouse, delivering food, and working at a kayak/paddleboard/canoe/bike rental shop. Got a pending full time gig as a bldg maintenance tech with no experience but they seem to enjoy my sparkling personality (and I knew somebody, which is always the x factor)