My based daughter loves her shop classes in HS and has decided she's gonna jump into a trade instead of going in debt for a faux degree from college. Couldn't be more proud of her!
As a young teen, my buddy's daughter used to watch him clean and tune up home heating systems during the busy season. Now she's got her own certifications, a company van and works for a different outfit since my buddy retired.
TLDR: Officialdom are starting to wake up to the fact we actually need welders, carpenters, plumbers etc. And the general population at large is starting to wake up to the fact that college degrees. Outside of very specific niches not widely offered or hyper specialized sectors. Increasingly aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.
I’d imagine there’s no shortage of pressure on school administrators as well. Considering they are in part responsible for these critical shortages. On top of the wider cultural shifts.
Kinda sucks for everyone who missed out on highschools resurgent interest in the trades. And are now stuck 5 and 6 figures in debt. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
The entry level classes and boot camps at community colleges and tech schools can get expensive. Highschool is the perfect place to dip your toe into things at relatively low cost
In Oregon, instead of laying off the army of administrators making 200,000 a year, they did a mass layoff of the teachers to account for the loss of federal funding. Basically, the people causing the problem elected not to fire themselves and instead fired the people who actually made the school run.
Yeah. People with the power to make decisions like that generally don’t tend to act against their own self-interest. In this case their own self-interest being keeping their 6 figure jobs. Especially when they know as well as anyone their college degrees in Administration or whatever are increasingly declining in value.
Same reason why Corporate Leaders regularly get golden parachutes even if they run the company into the ground. While the guys on the line get shafted and laid off right before their retirement benefits are supposed to kick in.
I’ve seen a lot of people get upset having years of service thrown in their face and being shown the door so the company can avoid paying out retirement benefits. Or find out they’re now on the hook for a couple grand in extra costs because the company cut insurance benefits.
After all the board and shareholders gotta make the down payment on yet another McMansion and squeeze a couple more percentage points onto an earnings report. That ultimately doesn’t actually mean anything in the grand scheme of things.
Don't forget aircraft mechanic. Some of our schools here in Oklahoma offer the full FAA certified course,to high schools. The can take the FAA exam right after high school.
I ALWAYS had two things to tell the young 'uns!!!!! IF AND ONLY IF YOU HAVE A DEGREE either in Computer Science or Engineering...DO NOT GO TO COLLEGE because you are wasting you're time...either join the military and make it a career or join the reserves/guard and have NOT ONLY a pension when you retire but will have a better understanding of WHAT YOU NEED AFTER YOU RETIRE!!!!!!!!
People are beginning to be needed in all three service branches (Active Duty, Reserves, Guard)....Some took my advice and thanked my later for helping them out!!!!!!
NOTE: I retired as an E-8 with 18.5 years of active duty time and reserve & guard time...that is 18.5 years of ACTIVE DUTY TIME TOTAL!!!!!
The average master carpenter in the United states is now over 60 years old. I'm in purchasing for a home builder and it's impossible to find finish carpenters. It's so bad that we're paying our only decent crew 8 to 10k a house for base trim. That includes like a dollar a foot to cut and nail floor molding to the wall
One of my friends does finish carpentry. He always has his pick of jobs, and he basically sets up shop in an ultra fancy house and does 1-2 months of insane trim work per job. Right now he's building a new house for himself, so he takes a job and then takes about a month off to work on his own place.
It's the way to do it. Out of all the trades I'd do that second only to flatwork just because that money is insane too. We have a guy that's not even 30 yet with his own flatwork company. Has a team of LEGAL Mexicans do the work, he pays them well because they're awesome and work dawn until dusk. He makes wellll into the 6 figures just from our account. He has enough money to have a trx work truck and a right hand drive skyline. I'm so jealous of this kid in case you couldn't tell 😂
Finish carpenters are almost impossible to find in my area, and when you find one, they want the big jobs and are always overextended with too much work and too few people.
The ones we can find here are Russian but they are such a pain to deal with for pricing. They all read Art of the Deal I think 😂. But in this area anyway, Russians have started taking over framing, carpentry, and a few other trades almost exclusively
Still better than canada. Over here our money is so worthless that $70k in canadian dollars will buy you half a shoelace in the states, or 1 taylor swift autograph.
Our local Plumbing company owner (who has kids in the schools) went to the superintendent and offered to set up a plumbing course with all the trimmings.
The superintendent said no. He doesn’t want our students to focus on the manual labor jobs.
I’m not sure he realized he was talking to a multi- millionaire that got wealthy doing “manual labor”
I think AI is going to replace a lot of the desk type work from home “non manual labor” jobs.
This is not surprising. Around here, a local HVAC company pays for a retired employee to go into the Vo Tech schools to volunteer. He identifies the good students and helps steer them into the HVAC contractor. It's a long play until these students can work independently, but they need helpers, too.
This acknowledgment of the need for the trades is exposing the fact that the some "Vo-tech" programs, tech schools for HS Jr and Sr, can only handle a fraction of the interested kids.
Locally, 100 kids interested in cosmetology, but only 10 slots. Deliberate and pathetic mismanagement of tax dollars by these "board" members.
Make trades great again, throw out the scum.
In hindsight shop as well as autonomy in high-school were the comfiest classes in school. No bullshit just 'here try this out. Holy shit you made/fixes something.'
People that regularly make things and do physical creation and labor are generally and on average a little better in the head and better put together than those that don't, less loose screws.....
Very positive development, we need more people that make and create, in the history of the world, those are the people that have moved the world forward....
As someone with over 30 years of programming experience in multiple languages, I truly believe that programming is not a good trade going into the future. A.I. already helps me program 4X faster than before. It won't be long before that is 10X, and so forth. It won't be long before A.I. can hold thousands and thousands of lines of code in its context window and write entire software programs. The tools we use to make things easier will eventually replace us in large part.
Sure, there will need to be someone who can use the A.I. to get the desired output, and ensure that it does. But there will be many less of those project manager positions... and eventually much of those too will be replaced by A.I.
For a very small few who can code things an A.I. cannot conceive... likely A.I. developers themselves, there will exist great opportunity for a good time to come. Eventually A.I. (probably already does to a degree) will be able to innovate upon itself, creating breakthroughs beyond what any human has done.
Game over for MOST programmers, that's the future.
So true. Ten years ago I tried to convince my son that he should not go to university to study for a Computer Science degree. I have had my whole life in IT and I could see the writing on the wall even back then. He's a geek and did it anyway and fortunately against the odds it has worked out OK for him.
Offshoring of domestic software development to 3rd-world countries was my concern but I did not see AI coming at all, and that puts even more downward pressure on traditional coding jobs.
If I were a smart kid starting out today I am really not sure what I would do. Developing trade skills, carpentry, plumbing, sounds attractive at first but the downside is that it's definitely a young person's game and not so cool as you get older and physically less able.
IT has always been my job but also my passion. Now there is very little enjoyment at all. Looking forward to retirement!
Is this good? I was hired out of school at 42k a year with no experience...
Nevermind, this isn't good.
When Rios graduates next year, he plans to work as a fabricator at a local equipment maker for nuclear, recycling and other sectors, a job that pays $24 an hour
24 an hour IS NOT 70k a year.
Aiden Holland, a senior at the high school, was recruited earlier this spring to become a nuclear submarine welder at a defense contractor in New Jersey, a position paying $75,000 a year.
This is not a realistic job for most. Not quite a one off but it's damned close.
These jobs have great potential but these kids are still starting off making less than those who started 20 years ago, and they were making less than those 20 years before. Unions didn't prevent this, even the trades wages are on par to their decades previous counterparts.
Wages are down all around, even worse when you factor in purchasing power.
My based daughter loves her shop classes in HS and has decided she's gonna jump into a trade instead of going in debt for a faux degree from college. Couldn't be more proud of her!
That's awesome, I highly recommend it.
As a young teen, my buddy's daughter used to watch him clean and tune up home heating systems during the busy season. Now she's got her own certifications, a company van and works for a different outfit since my buddy retired.
Nothing more sexy than a female plumber !
Well, the crack must be much better.
Based you said. Someone based had to teach (train her up) when she was young. Congratulations, well done.
Thanks Fren!
TLDR: Officialdom are starting to wake up to the fact we actually need welders, carpenters, plumbers etc. And the general population at large is starting to wake up to the fact that college degrees. Outside of very specific niches not widely offered or hyper specialized sectors. Increasingly aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.
I’d imagine there’s no shortage of pressure on school administrators as well. Considering they are in part responsible for these critical shortages. On top of the wider cultural shifts.
Kinda sucks for everyone who missed out on highschools resurgent interest in the trades. And are now stuck 5 and 6 figures in debt. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
The entry level classes and boot camps at community colleges and tech schools can get expensive. Highschool is the perfect place to dip your toe into things at relatively low cost
In Oregon, instead of laying off the army of administrators making 200,000 a year, they did a mass layoff of the teachers to account for the loss of federal funding. Basically, the people causing the problem elected not to fire themselves and instead fired the people who actually made the school run.
Yeah. People with the power to make decisions like that generally don’t tend to act against their own self-interest. In this case their own self-interest being keeping their 6 figure jobs. Especially when they know as well as anyone their college degrees in Administration or whatever are increasingly declining in value.
Same reason why Corporate Leaders regularly get golden parachutes even if they run the company into the ground. While the guys on the line get shafted and laid off right before their retirement benefits are supposed to kick in.
I’ve seen a lot of people get upset having years of service thrown in their face and being shown the door so the company can avoid paying out retirement benefits. Or find out they’re now on the hook for a couple grand in extra costs because the company cut insurance benefits.
After all the board and shareholders gotta make the down payment on yet another McMansion and squeeze a couple more percentage points onto an earnings report. That ultimately doesn’t actually mean anything in the grand scheme of things.
Don’t forget small engine & appliance repair!
Don't forget aircraft mechanic. Some of our schools here in Oklahoma offer the full FAA certified course,to high schools. The can take the FAA exam right after high school.
WOW! We offered some auto mechanic training, but not planes.
We have major Air Force bases near all of them,so we need a lot of mechanics.
Very cool.
I ALWAYS had two things to tell the young 'uns!!!!! IF AND ONLY IF YOU HAVE A DEGREE either in Computer Science or Engineering...DO NOT GO TO COLLEGE because you are wasting you're time...either join the military and make it a career or join the reserves/guard and have NOT ONLY a pension when you retire but will have a better understanding of WHAT YOU NEED AFTER YOU RETIRE!!!!!!!!
People are beginning to be needed in all three service branches (Active Duty, Reserves, Guard)....Some took my advice and thanked my later for helping them out!!!!!!
NOTE: I retired as an E-8 with 18.5 years of active duty time and reserve & guard time...that is 18.5 years of ACTIVE DUTY TIME TOTAL!!!!!
Why did you capitalize ACTIVE DUTY TIME TOTAL? I don’t say that I retired with TWENTY YEARS ACTIVE DUTY TIME TOTAL. Just curious.
Why join the military now?
public schools are great again
Let's not get carried away. It's a spark of light in the dark, it's not daylight yet.
Good point.
Get those skills, you can go to college after you retire. 😉😎😁
The average master carpenter in the United states is now over 60 years old. I'm in purchasing for a home builder and it's impossible to find finish carpenters. It's so bad that we're paying our only decent crew 8 to 10k a house for base trim. That includes like a dollar a foot to cut and nail floor molding to the wall
One of my friends does finish carpentry. He always has his pick of jobs, and he basically sets up shop in an ultra fancy house and does 1-2 months of insane trim work per job. Right now he's building a new house for himself, so he takes a job and then takes about a month off to work on his own place.
It's the way to do it. Out of all the trades I'd do that second only to flatwork just because that money is insane too. We have a guy that's not even 30 yet with his own flatwork company. Has a team of LEGAL Mexicans do the work, he pays them well because they're awesome and work dawn until dusk. He makes wellll into the 6 figures just from our account. He has enough money to have a trx work truck and a right hand drive skyline. I'm so jealous of this kid in case you couldn't tell 😂
Should be hiring Americans instead of border jumpers that don't care if the building falls down the next day.
Legal Mexicans. Mexicans make up a ton of flat workers in this area.
Those jobs should be going to Americans.
They're Americans of the Mexican persuasion dude Jesus. We don't hire illegals or people that employ them.
Finish carpenters are almost impossible to find in my area, and when you find one, they want the big jobs and are always overextended with too much work and too few people.
The ones we can find here are Russian but they are such a pain to deal with for pricing. They all read Art of the Deal I think 😂. But in this area anyway, Russians have started taking over framing, carpentry, and a few other trades almost exclusively
Sad that $70k isn't what it used to be a decade ago.
But still great news for most.
its even more sad that 70k isnt worth what it was 40 years ago!
Still better than canada. Over here our money is so worthless that $70k in canadian dollars will buy you half a shoelace in the states, or 1 taylor swift autograph.
Our local Plumbing company owner (who has kids in the schools) went to the superintendent and offered to set up a plumbing course with all the trimmings.
The superintendent said no. He doesn’t want our students to focus on the manual labor jobs.
I’m not sure he realized he was talking to a multi- millionaire that got wealthy doing “manual labor”
I think AI is going to replace a lot of the desk type work from home “non manual labor” jobs.
This is not surprising. Around here, a local HVAC company pays for a retired employee to go into the Vo Tech schools to volunteer. He identifies the good students and helps steer them into the HVAC contractor. It's a long play until these students can work independently, but they need helpers, too.
This acknowledgment of the need for the trades is exposing the fact that the some "Vo-tech" programs, tech schools for HS Jr and Sr, can only handle a fraction of the interested kids. Locally, 100 kids interested in cosmetology, but only 10 slots. Deliberate and pathetic mismanagement of tax dollars by these "board" members. Make trades great again, throw out the scum.
In hindsight shop as well as autonomy in high-school were the comfiest classes in school. No bullshit just 'here try this out. Holy shit you made/fixes something.'
People that regularly make things and do physical creation and labor are generally and on average a little better in the head and better put together than those that don't, less loose screws.....
Very positive development, we need more people that make and create, in the history of the world, those are the people that have moved the world forward....
Elijah Rios:
Thanks for posting this.
Let’s teach our youth a real trade! Let’s give the Frankenfurter Poison Ivy colleges the heavy ho!
Let’s make a high school education great again!
More than I make with my Masters Kek! Happy people are finally waking up about college (thank you Charlie Kirk for making this a focus of yours).
As someone with over 30 years of programming experience in multiple languages, I truly believe that programming is not a good trade going into the future. A.I. already helps me program 4X faster than before. It won't be long before that is 10X, and so forth. It won't be long before A.I. can hold thousands and thousands of lines of code in its context window and write entire software programs. The tools we use to make things easier will eventually replace us in large part. Sure, there will need to be someone who can use the A.I. to get the desired output, and ensure that it does. But there will be many less of those project manager positions... and eventually much of those too will be replaced by A.I. For a very small few who can code things an A.I. cannot conceive... likely A.I. developers themselves, there will exist great opportunity for a good time to come. Eventually A.I. (probably already does to a degree) will be able to innovate upon itself, creating breakthroughs beyond what any human has done.
Game over for MOST programmers, that's the future.
So true. Ten years ago I tried to convince my son that he should not go to university to study for a Computer Science degree. I have had my whole life in IT and I could see the writing on the wall even back then. He's a geek and did it anyway and fortunately against the odds it has worked out OK for him.
Offshoring of domestic software development to 3rd-world countries was my concern but I did not see AI coming at all, and that puts even more downward pressure on traditional coding jobs.
If I were a smart kid starting out today I am really not sure what I would do. Developing trade skills, carpentry, plumbing, sounds attractive at first but the downside is that it's definitely a young person's game and not so cool as you get older and physically less able.
IT has always been my job but also my passion. Now there is very little enjoyment at all. Looking forward to retirement!
I hope you don't have to put up with dot indians.
My high school scrapped shop class in my junior year. And auto shop before I even was a freshman
Is this good? I was hired out of school at 42k a year with no experience...
Nevermind, this isn't good.
24 an hour IS NOT 70k a year.
This is not a realistic job for most. Not quite a one off but it's damned close.
These jobs have great potential but these kids are still starting off making less than those who started 20 years ago, and they were making less than those 20 years before. Unions didn't prevent this, even the trades wages are on par to their decades previous counterparts.
Wages are down all around, even worse when you factor in purchasing power.
70k is the new 45k. Bit when it all turns around...boom