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Have you ever worked a blue collar job? Especially for current wages and current cost of living? Your job may or may not be pointless but it probably provided

Have you ever worked a blue collar job? Especially for current wages and current cost of living? Your job may or may not be pointless but it probably provided a very nice quality of life for you and your family. Things are pretty dire for a lot of professions right now...

uncircle 1y ago
My blue collar job will soon be carpentry and fixing up a cheap house. That way I can stop paying exorbitant amounts for rent slavery, and I don’t have to burn out 40 hours a week in tech to make rent. It’s not gonna be fun for my joints, but breaking my back on my own house will probably the most useful skill I will learn in my life than clicking my life away sat at a keyboard. After two decades, doing hard work that’s hidden behind a screen, and the only impact is a virtual number incremented once a month, I wish to do something — anything — that leaves a mark on the physical world.
- dismalaf 1y ago
  So the answer is no. You probably saved up enough for said cheap house and future living expenses from your tech job. Right now, in Canada, the average rent is like 70% of the average income. If you enter the workforce today, in a myriad of professions, it's looking like there is zero chance of ever owning a home if you're not at least 2 standard deviations above average.
  - uncircle 1y ago
    Thankfully, I do not live in Canada nor in USA, and I do not wish to live anywhere expensive. I just have very modest requirements and acceptance that I will not be able to afford anything better than a fixer-upper. I have been saving from less than a year of work; I previously ran through 10 years of savings taking a long break after burnout. The type of burnout that turns you off completely from a career path, to the point that carrying bricks sounds more fun.
ProllyInfamous 1y ago
I left IBEW almost one decade ago; my former local's contract is only +10% since then... in one of the nation's secondary tech capitals! After a decade I shuttered my own electrical contracting shop because I realized I didn't want to become large enough for full-time employees, but also didn't want to be 100% responsible for problem solving 24/7 (in addition to sales, billing/collection). If I had to start over Apprenticeship Year One, I couldn't afford to anywhere in America... unless perhaps I were still young and/or lived with parents at under-market rates. In my three decades working, now feels like the worst time to be Bottom 80th%ile™.

uncircle 1y ago

My blue collar job will soon be carpentry and fixing up a cheap house. That way I can stop paying exorbitant amounts for rent slavery, and I don’t have to burn out 40 hours a week in tech to make rent. It’s not gonna be fun for my joints, but breaking my back on my own house will probably the most useful skill I will learn in my life than clicking my life away sat at a keyboard. After two decades, doing hard work that’s hidden behind a screen, and the only impact is a virtual number incremented once a month, I wish to do something — anything — that leaves a mark on the physical world.

dismalaf 1y ago
So the answer is no. You probably saved up enough for said cheap house and future living expenses from your tech job. Right now, in Canada, the average rent is like 70% of the average income. If you enter the workforce today, in a myriad of professions, it's looking like there is zero chance of ever owning a home if you're not at least 2 standard deviations above average.
- uncircle 1y ago
  Thankfully, I do not live in Canada nor in USA, and I do not wish to live anywhere expensive. I just have very modest requirements and acceptance that I will not be able to afford anything better than a fixer-upper. I have been saving from less than a year of work; I previously ran through 10 years of savings taking a long break after burnout. The type of burnout that turns you off completely from a career path, to the point that carrying bricks sounds more fun.

ProllyInfamous 1y ago

I left IBEW almost one decade ago; my former local's contract is only +10% since then... in one of the nation's secondary tech capitals! After a decade I shuttered my own electrical contracting shop because I realized I didn't want to become large enough for full-time employees, but also didn't want to be 100% responsible for problem solving 24/7 (in addition to sales, billing/collection). If I had to start over Apprenticeship Year One, I couldn't afford to anywhere in America... unless perhaps I were still young and/or lived with parents at under-market rates. In my three decades working, now feels like the worst time to be Bottom 80th%ile™.