What's a good trade to learn considering political, social and economic trends?

[Wiggs]

I'd like to learn a trade. I have two years left on my GI Bill so money is no problem. I'd like to be skilled at something other than policy  and "Management".

So please, let me hear some ideas. I'd like to make a decent living from this trade. Not to fond on going to school a really long time, I will if I feel it's worth it.

[Icelord]

The trades are a rigged game, dude. Go ask any journeyman plumber, electrician, industrial mechanic, or HVAC technician how hard it was for them to be hired on as a first year apprentice. Most will tell you to go back to school or find anything besides the trades.

Too many guys are licensed (meaning they did their five years) and can't find work because illegals are doing the same job for half the price. The cops only bust like 5% of them. It's an underground business.

Management generally sucks if it's in-store. Corporate means good $$ but they fire you pretty quickly if you don't deliver on all the KPIs, which you generally can't control. Plus it's stressful having everyone come to you with their problems but only have limited authority to fix them, since your bosses shoot down most of your suggestions and tell you to stick with the template that's in place.

[Icelord]

Plumbing.

As long as people are taking shits, plumbers will have work.

Yeah, in construction. Which is shitty work (pun intended).

Plumbers who work for off-construction businesses that service residential/commercial have to be on-call because there isn't always work. You're competing against 30 other companies in your area. The only way to make money year-round is to own the business and do your own work yourself. But that takes an initial investment and the patience to set up your name and clientele list. Then consider you have to be in your van with the ladder on the roof all day. These guys live in traffic and work like 14 hour days. They give their asses out for that $60-120K.

[Wiggs]

I was thinking more along the lines of electrician, or hospital work like radiology.

[Icelord]

I was thinking more along the lines of electrician, or hospital work like radiology.

Radiology's like a 6-year college commitment.

Electrician is you go to a vocational school and take a year of basic electrical classes. Then you shop your certificate around until someone hires you to sweep the floors and fix broken wires to try to make them serviceable again (because they're cheap and like to reuse the same gear) until they're ready to give you real work.

I've gotten all this from people who've gone down this road in the last 5 years as well as my own interest in learning a trade before I realized it was a fucking scam that only a few make money in.

[Icelord]

Here's what I suggest. Apply for warehouse supervisor jobs and find someone who'll say you've managed a team of 5-10 guys in a distribution environment. It might take 400 resumes but eventually someone will buy it and you'll get a 40-50K job that has benefits and doesn't involve lifting heavy objects or driving a forklift all day, just data entry and basic logistics work. There's always a need for people like that, it'll never get outsourced. It's why staffing agencies are a booming business. They always find guys willing to pull & pack orders or drive a Raymond. The idea is to be the boss of those guys and not do their shitty work anymore. That's how I did it and I make 65K now managing a team of 25 unionized sorters and preloaders for a courier company. It's night shift work but other than that, you learn the game quickly and they keep you on after 6 months. Insurance too.

[Icelord]

Frankly I don't blame people for stealing copper wire, siphoning gas out of parked cars, or scamming via Internet ponzi scheme fraud. There's not enough work for 320 million people. Simple as that.

The irony is there's top-paying jobs on sites like theladders.com that are empty for months/years and they have to hire people in India or Europe to fill them because no one qualified lives in their area.

[Tapeworm]

A/C guys here have electrical & gasfitting tickets.  They do very well.  In the US I'd only do something that is heavily regulated and requires tons of licencing.  Otherwise you'd have to work for nothing in order to compete.  

Best money I ever heard of someone making was in underwater welding for drilling rigs.  Shit life and very dangerous but you could basically retire after 5 years work.  If you survive.  Apparently lots don't.

[Icelord]

A/C guys here have electrical & gasfitting tickets.  They do very well.  In the US I'd only do something that is heavily regulated and requires tons of licencing.  Otherwise you'd have to work for nothing in order to compete.  

Best money I ever heard of someone making was in underwater welding for drilling rigs.  Shit life and very dangerous but you could basically retire after 5 years work.  If you survive.  Apparently lots don't.

Since you say tickets I assume you're from Western Canada. In the central and eastern regions, they still call them licenses and Red Seal certifications.

Obviously everyone knows that the top rates go to tradespersons with a ticket or at least a first year apprenticeship in mining and oil operations. Which would mean a 3 week on, 1 week off rotation in northern Alberta or Saskatchewan. In northern Ontario there's mining work as well, and it pays very well. But all those jobs are grueling and require long hours. There's no such thing as a lucrative trade that isn't fucking hard. Most people who think they can do that year-round have no clue and wouldn't last long, even for 130k a year. Not to mention the legal mafia comes and seizes half your fucking money when you cross the six-figure threshold.

The underwater thing is a tough course with a fairly stringent matriculation process but you can find work with a few specialized oil companies, yeah. Wouldn't do it myself.

[the trainer]

I'd like to learn a trade. I have two years left on my GI Bill so money is no problem. I'd like to be skilled at something other than policy  and "Management".

So please, let me hear some ideas. I'd like to make a decent living from this trade. Not to fond on going to school a really long time, I will if I feel it's worth it.

[Viking11]

I'd like to learn a trade. I have two years left on my GI Bill so money is no problem. I'd like to be skilled at something other than policy  and "Management".

So please, let me hear some ideas. I'd like to make a decent living from this trade. Not to fond on going to school a really long time, I will if I feel it's worth it.

HVAC.  climate change is making this a goldmine.

[Tapeworm]

Since you say tickets I assume you're from Western Canada. In the central and eastern regions, they still call them licenses and Red Seal certifications.

Obviously everyone knows that the top rates go to tradespersons with a ticket or at least a first year apprenticeship in mining and oil operations. Which would mean a 3 week on, 1 week off rotation in northern Alberta or Saskatchewan. In northern Ontario there's mining work as well, and it pays very well. But all those jobs are grueling and require long hours. There's no such thing as a lucrative trade that isn't fucking hard. Most people who think they can do that year-round have no clue and wouldn't last long, even for 130k a year. Not to mention the legal mafia comes and seizes half your fucking money when you cross the six-figure threshold.

The underwater thing is a tough course with a fairly stringent matriculation process but you can find work with a few specialized oil companies, yeah. Wouldn't do it myself.

Electricians and plumbers are some of the laziest people I've ever met.  They rarely break a sweat and take home plenty.  It'd be some lean years getting there tho.

Most heavy equipment operators couldn't climb a flight of stairs.  I could see Wiggs driving a backhoe and eating cheeseburgers.

[HavoX]

Radiology's like a 6-year college commitment.

Electrician is you go to a vocational school and take a year of basic electrical classes. Then you shop your certificate around until someone hires you to sweep the floors and fix broken wires to try to make them serviceable again (because they're cheap and like to reuse the same gear) until they're ready to give you real work.

I've gotten all this from people who've gone down this road in the last 5 years as well as my own interest in learning a trade before I realized it was a fucking scam that only a few make money in.

Lol at 6 years... More like 12 weeks for a tech.  Rn is only 1-2 year.  Radiologist, as in an md with a radiology specialty is 4 years plus medschool, plus specialization 2-3 years

[Hulkotron]

Eater of high-grade whorepussy

[rooseveltdunn]

The real answer is going to be mostly STEM majors, specifically things related to the medical field if you are willing to work at it, Physician Assistant and Nurse practitioner are two very lucrative careers and come with good satisfaction, radiology is also a good field as well as MRI tech but the first two I mentioned pay more. Ultimately though it depends on your interests and aptitude.

[ProudVirgin69]

The real answer is going to be mostly STEM majors, specifically things related to the medical field if you are willing to work at it, Physician Assistant and Nurse practitioner are two very lucrative careers and come with good satisfaction, radiology is also a good field as well as MRI tech but the first two I mentioned pay more. Ultimately though it depends on your interests and aptitude.

PA & NP are like 6-7 years of school, counting undergrad....probably not what Wiggs is willing to go for

Licensure for radiology tech can be obtained in months, which might be more in line with Wiggs timeframe

[OTHstrong]

roofing is a trade    today alone I quoted 7 residential houses (re-roofs)

Try it Wiggs, good money.

[Parker]

I was thinking more along the lines of electrician, or hospital work like radiology.

You should be able to go to the local community college and get a Assoc in radiology.

[SOMEPARTS]

Had a friend that did tech school for welding...ended up working for a truck chassis company welding aluminum ambulance bodies for good money.

[hrspwr1]

Diesel mechanic, dirty work but pays good. Most of the shit on big engines is all electronic controlled anyway, combine that with a refrigeration school for reefer trailers and you could be making 50k easy.

[sync pulse]

 Corporate means good $$ but they fire you pretty quickly if you don't deliver on all the KPIs, which you generally can't control. Plus it's stressful having everyone come to you with their problems but only have limited authority to fix them, since your bosses shoot down most of your suggestions and tell you to stick with the template that's in place.

This perfectly describes the situation with AT&T Uverse Prem Techs.  For those in the United Kingdom, I have been told this is true for BT Infinity.

[tu_holmes]

Become a welder.

Metal working is always in demand.

[syntaxmachine]

Dicklord evincing his Wikipedia Warrior prowess in this thread.

 

[Archer77]

Statistics.  A degree in statistics is transferable to most fields.  In the information age we currently live in, everything is about analyzing and interpreting data

[Henda]

ill assume wiggs is now unemployed again judging by this thread