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At this point in time trades seem like a pretty good bet. They pay well (in my country at least), you will always have work, and the skills you develop are very

by bardan 3y ago

At this point in time trades seem like a pretty good bet. They pay well (in my country at least), you will always have work, and the skills you develop are very practical. Nice to be able to look at an issue with your own living space and comprehend what it will take to get it fixed. But that isn't a very hacker news response. I guess you would also develop these sorts of skills in eg. industrial engineering. There are plenty of other options if what you're spooked about is automation and language models erradicating all of our jobs. If you enjoy baking you might consider getting into it. On the other hand, it might be best to ignore all the hype about LLMs and automation and go into whatever you feel most passionate about. Learning and working in whatever field will always lead to growth. It may eventually be GPT'd away, but then I know a lot of people who have completely changed career later in life and achieved success and satisfaction.

mattmanser 3y ago
Trades is a bit of a brutal profession on your body. Plus, there's a shortage at the moment but there's no guarantee that will continue.
- Nextgrid 3y ago
  Trades are recession-proof though. Rich or poor, recession or not, people still need to shit and don't like doing so in the dark, so at least plumbing and electrical will still have work. People need housing, so anything construction and building work will also be fine. Same for heating and HVAC. The fields mostly impacted by recessions are those that never had a business in the first place - lots of tech has been built on "growth & engagement" freeloading off VC money with no actual businesses paying for that "engagement", and now the free money ran out.
  - juve1996 3y ago
    They're certainly not recession proof - recessions are terrible times for trades. Trades do well when the economy does well - people spend more on non-necessity projects and that demand goes away in recessions. Sure, people still need a clog removed - but now there's more plumbers because they aren't installing new bathrooms. It really gets old hearing software developers talk about trades yet none of them do them. I've seen what the trades have done to my dad, uncle, grandparents. They earned good livings - but it was real, hard work, and they paid for that hard work.
dimmke 3y ago
If you pick a trade pick one of the less physical ones. Like plumbing or electrician. Every homeowner wants a reliable plumber in their contacts, and they’re expensive as fuck in the United States. It’s not just dealing with poop either like some people think. There’s a pretty big variety of things plumbers do. I live in Mexico now and from what I’ve heard from every person I know who owns a house or manages a rental it’s just as hard to find a reliable one here, so it’s not like immigration or AI will have a huge effect. Don’t get into tree cutting. It’s extremely dangerous. General contracting can be very lucrative but is much broader. With these trades you can eventually “hang your own shingle” and become a business owner. As I was writing this I was thinking “fuck maybe I should become a plumber”
- dimmke 3y ago
  I would also say - if you do go into trades, consider still doing 2 years of community college and going to a trade school. It really depends on your situation - would your parents support you during that time? If the pressure is on, then just do trade school and start working straight off. But just be aware it's going to put you in a different social class (blue collar) than others your age who go to college. There's a lot of 18 and 19 year olds who go this route and brag about how they're making 50k a year, but fail to see the bigger picture. You only get to be those ages once, don't piss them away working 60 hours a week unless you have to. And guard yourself - a lot of people who do this type of labor are into heavy drugs (especially meth) or have criminal pasts. Alcoholism is also rampant. Just be aware of those things as pitfalls and try to stay away from it. Stick with the "winners" - form relationships with the people you find who don't have these issues. If you have another social "group" to draw from in the form of college friends, it'll be easier.
- fsociety 3y ago
  Plumbing and electricians can be a great career but “one of the less physical one” denies the fact that it still wears out your body all the same. Speaking from a family of manual labor + friends in trades.
  - dimmke 3y ago

by bardan 3y ago

mattmanser 3y ago

Trades is a bit of a brutal profession on your body. Plus, there's a shortage at the moment but there's no guarantee that will continue.

Nextgrid 3y ago
Trades are recession-proof though. Rich or poor, recession or not, people still need to shit and don't like doing so in the dark, so at least plumbing and electrical will still have work. People need housing, so anything construction and building work will also be fine. Same for heating and HVAC. The fields mostly impacted by recessions are those that never had a business in the first place - lots of tech has been built on "growth & engagement" freeloading off VC money with no actual businesses paying for that "engagement", and now the free money ran out.
- juve1996 3y ago
  They're certainly not recession proof - recessions are terrible times for trades. Trades do well when the economy does well - people spend more on non-necessity projects and that demand goes away in recessions. Sure, people still need a clog removed - but now there's more plumbers because they aren't installing new bathrooms. It really gets old hearing software developers talk about trades yet none of them do them. I've seen what the trades have done to my dad, uncle, grandparents. They earned good livings - but it was real, hard work, and they paid for that hard work.

dimmke 3y ago

If you pick a trade pick one of the less physical ones. Like plumbing or electrician. Every homeowner wants a reliable plumber in their contacts, and they’re expensive as fuck in the United States. It’s not just dealing with poop either like some people think. There’s a pretty big variety of things plumbers do. I live in Mexico now and from what I’ve heard from every person I know who owns a house or manages a rental it’s just as hard to find a reliable one here, so it’s not like immigration or AI will have a huge effect. Don’t get into tree cutting. It’s extremely dangerous. General contracting can be very lucrative but is much broader. With these trades you can eventually “hang your own shingle” and become a business owner. As I was writing this I was thinking “fuck maybe I should become a plumber”

dimmke 3y ago
I would also say - if you do go into trades, consider still doing 2 years of community college and going to a trade school. It really depends on your situation - would your parents support you during that time? If the pressure is on, then just do trade school and start working straight off. But just be aware it's going to put you in a different social class (blue collar) than others your age who go to college. There's a lot of 18 and 19 year olds who go this route and brag about how they're making 50k a year, but fail to see the bigger picture. You only get to be those ages once, don't piss them away working 60 hours a week unless you have to. And guard yourself - a lot of people who do this type of labor are into heavy drugs (especially meth) or have criminal pasts. Alcoholism is also rampant. Just be aware of those things as pitfalls and try to stay away from it. Stick with the "winners" - form relationships with the people you find who don't have these issues. If you have another social "group" to draw from in the form of college friends, it'll be easier.
fsociety 3y ago
Plumbing and electricians can be a great career but “one of the less physical one” denies the fact that it still wears out your body all the same. Speaking from a family of manual labor + friends in trades.
- dimmke 3y ago