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How to Become a Skilled Tradesperson

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Skilled Trades | How To Get a Skilled Trades Job

U.S. Department of Labor forecasts healthy growth in the neighborhood of 8 to 9 percent over the next decade. Jobs associated with building and rebuilding roads, bridges, water, and the power grid are expected to grow by double-digit percentages—faster than the overall economy. Jobs for plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters are projected to grow 16 percent during this same time period. And projected employment growth across all occupations is 7.4 percent. Construction, the mechanical trades, and industrial occupations like welding are in-demand trades that could mean either a stable career or a launching pad. You might start out swinging a hammer but it could lead to project management, environmental analysis, sales, education, or engineering. I met a bunch of these people in the course of writing this article. And, by the way, that’s how I found my way here. This story is going to tell you how you can do it, too. (Check out our companion article, The State of American Trade Schools, for more info.)
“The trades are not merely an alternative to college. A trade is equal to college."
The postwar era in America was one of unparalleled white-collar growth. Thus both public and private high schools were deemed most successful if they graduated students to college. But college costs have risen sharply and continue to rise. Forbes concluded a year ago that college tuition is rising nearly eight times faster than wages. A four-year degree is still deemed valuable, but you’ve got to be able to afford it with a minimum of debt and it has to be the basis of a well-paying job when you exit. If not, you’re stuck.
There are tons of trade jobs that can't be filled due to lack of skilled people.
 
A lot of them can't be filled because today's younger people have no work ethic.They are lazy and unmotivated.
 
A lot of them can't be filled because today's younger people have no work ethic.They are lazy and unmotivated.
And cannot pass a drug test!
 
A lot of them can't be filled because today's younger people have no work ethic.They are lazy and unmotivated.

“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”

― Socrates
about 400 BC
 
Skilled Trades | How To Get a Skilled Trades Job


There are tons of trade jobs that can't be filled due to lack of skilled people.
When I was working at a University, I went looking for local high schools, with low levels of
students moving on to college. (At that point we had a combination BS degree, that would cost less than about $6K, ~1992)
One local high school stood out with only 40% of the students going on to college, but it turned out they were not going to college
because with a trade school certification from the local community college, they could go to work in the refineries,
with better pay, better career path and better benefits, than a university degree.
I have know several people who retired from the refineries in their 50's as millionaires.
 
A lot of them can't be filled because today's younger people have no work ethic.They are lazy and unmotivated.

I agree, there's a lot of truth to that.
 
When I was working at a University, I went looking for local high schools, with low levels of
students moving on to college. (At that point we had a combination BS degree, that would cost less than about $6K, ~1992)
One local high school stood out with only 40% of the students going on to college, but it turned out they were not going to college
because with a trade school certification from the local community college, they could go to work in the refineries,
with better pay, better career path and better benefits, than a university degree.
I have know several people who retired from the refineries in their 50's as millionaires.

That's possible, but we need to give them realistic expectations. If you get certified and licensed in a real trade, and pursue excellence; you can make a very good living.
 
That's possible, but we need to give them realistic expectations. If you get certified and licensed in a real trade, and pursue excellence; you can make a very good living.

brother in law is a master plumber....has been for for 25+ years

he makes 150k + annually

he puts in systems for large complexes....used to do malls, but not many of those being constructed anymore
 
Years ago companies would hire people and train them as apprentices so they can work their way up to a journeyman. If there is a lack of trained people, the companies can go back to the old methods of training new employees,

That's not apprenticeships, that's just OTJ training. Not the same thing at all.
 
That's not apprenticeships, that's just OTJ training. Not the same thing at all.

Learning a skill at the side of a master at that skill used to be called apprenticeship. There is the plus that the “apprentice” can find out early if the chosen skill is really what he/she wants. Other than class-room and study, what do you make the differences to be?
 
That's not apprenticeships, that's just OTJ training. Not the same thing at all.

Apprenticeships involve working on a job site with a fully journeyman. The apprentice at least in Canada also is required to go to classes and pass tests over the 4 year time frame to move up to being a ticketed Journeyman.

So yes, on the job training is a vital part of becoming a ticketed journeyman at least in Canada
 
Learning a skill at the side of a master at that skill used to be called apprenticeship. There is the plus that the “apprentice” can find out early if the chosen skill is really what he/she wants. Other than class-room and study, what do you make the differences to be?

In Alberta there is a requirement for both

To become a ticketed journeyman millwright at least

4 years of working with a ticketed journeyman, along with if I recall correctly about 3 months of class room instruction per year. Each year involves passing tests to move on to the next level, finally becoming a ticketed journeyman after 4 years
 
Apprenticeships involve working on a job site with a fully journeyman. The apprentice at least in Canada also is required to go to classes and pass tests over the 4 year time frame to move up to being a ticketed Journeyman.

So yes, on the job training is a vital part of becoming a ticketed journeyman at least in Canada

Really apprenticeships include classroom training, not just OTJ.
 
Really apprenticeships include classroom training, not just OTJ.

Which is exactly what I said in the post you quoted. Apprenticeships require OTJ and classroom instruction. I expect the OTJ part is lacking now
 
That's possible, but we need to give them realistic expectations. If you get certified and licensed in a real trade, and pursue excellence; you can make a very good living.

Most move on to own their own business. Skilled trades allow for people to eventually hang their shingle and work for themselves.
 
It's unfortunate to see young people being attacked in yet another thread. The millennial generation was given a very strong impression that if they got degrees they would have jobs waiting for them, and that changed very quickly. Our government plays a big role in generational education marketing. Because the marketing is designed by the gentry who themselves never do trades, trades become under emphasized. In general, public schools groom people for degrees rather than trades. Look at the subjects people learn in high school.

In other countries, like Germany, high school is a branching out process. They start grooming you for your desired path early on, which includes trades. There's not much in our high schools that really teaches students in a way that connects them with the idea of doing trades. Students mostly find out about trades through family and friends.

There are many other reasons why people don't go into trades:
- no aptitude for it or not good with their hands
- sometimes a long road to self-employment or higher qualifications
- hard on the body, tradespeople have the highest rate of on the job injury
- more health hazards / dangers to working
- the culture of trades is incompatible with their personality
- apprenticeship obstacles
- the bureaucracy of guilds

The son of one of our more distant neighbors went into elevator mechanics. The man he apprenticed under was a drunk and a psycho, very cruel. He wasn't able to switch supervisors because all the local elevator tradespeople knew one another and it would have worked against him. He ended up finishing his apprenticeship but within 10 years he developed arthritis in his hands from working in cold elevator shafts. I'm not saying this is the norm, but trades aren't exactly easy.

Add to that, society still looks down on trades. They are stereotyped as dirty professions staffed by dumb people, which of course is not true.

I'm not saying people shouldn't choose trades, but we shouldn't belittle people for wanting to go other routes. Our society has all kinds of personalities and talents. For people who are very practically minded and good with their hands, it makes sense to go for money through trades. A lot of other people have higher aspirations and are strong abstract thinkers or intellectuals. These people may be better suited to degree programs.
 
A doctor can practice medicine
A lawyer can practice law
The doctor and lawyer can lose and still get paid.
I can't have a heating and a/c practice.If I put it in and it doesn't work I don't get paid and maybe sued.
 
A doctor can practice medicine
A lawyer can practice law
The doctor and lawyer can lose and still get paid.
I can't have a heating and a/c practice.If I put it in and it doesn't work I don't get paid and maybe sued.

Lawyers and doctors are paid for effort, you're paid for results because you have no excuse to fail.
 
Lawyers and doctors are paid for effort, you're paid for results because you have no excuse to fail.

Try tearing out a gravity furnace and put in all new ductwork.Talk about an effort.
 
Try tearing out a gravity furnace and put in all new ductwork.Talk about an effort.

Are you comparing that to surgery?
 
And cannot pass a drug test!
Yes, that’s a big one. Which equates to, grow the Phoc up! They say young kids can’t buy a house, or afford to move out from the parents home, I call bull****! I had three jobs and moved out at 19...pick ya up a trade and earn great money! Blue collar keeps America going.

...and don’t forget to Vote!
 
There are many trades jobs out there. I taught building trades at a local vo-tech program for several years. What you need to understand is that these aren't "grease monkey" jobs anymore. They pay very well because they are almost all high tech to some degree. Auto mechanics is much more computer and electronics oriented than ever in history. So is machine shop. So is welding. So is heating and air HVAC. You name the trade; it's no place for dummies anymore. Many college grads, and I had some, can't master the trade.

I went by the 1/3 rule. 1/3 of my students would do very well, and get great jobs. 1/3 might do well, but wouldn't really get hired by first class companies. And the bottom 1/3, well......back to pushing carts at Walmart.

The number one behavioral problem these young people exhibited (some of them) wasn't being lazy or not willing to work. It was they couldn't get along with their fellow workers. Or they said in-appropriate things at all the wrong times. Or they didn't like getting bossed around. I heard that one a lot. Some foremen can be pretty gruff. Most people can deal with it when they're pulling down $70K - $100K a year. Some can't.

But the old days of butt crack plumbers are over. The trades is about as difficult as any college program.

BTW: My last 7 years before retirement was as a college professor. Some of my trades students were smarter than my college students.
 
A lot of them can't be filled because today's younger people have no work ethic.They are lazy and unmotivated.

I don't know how old you are gulfman.... but I think you'd have to be pretty damn old to come from the generation when the older folks weren't using the exact same language about the up-and-coming generation coming of age.
 
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