Trade vs College

bump for interest

>>1059881
>>1059951
i couldn't find a job after getting my mech eng bachelors. the only calls back i could get were for shit tier contract positions (6 to 12 months in length) with no benefits and pay ranging from 40 to 50k. working on my phd now and i doubt that'll pay off either if i graduate.

was going to go into trucking originally and it would have likely been a much better choice. first year you typically make 30 to 40k but you don't need college.

>>1059976
What is wrong with contract work?

It's a quick way to get your experience up.

>>1060047

A lot of employers wont touch contract workers. They are seen as jobs people take because they are desperate (which shows poor planning) and for people who cant stay at a job longer than a year (which is an amazing number of applicants these days)

I had an applicant last year who in 5 years of work history had 13 jobs. To me and most managers, that makes you untouchable. Your are basically the professional version of Ebola to an office

>>1059881


These threads pop up once in a while.

I'm a successful self-sufficient 28yo electrician in Canada. I'll keep this short.

*The Good*. (These can be trade specific. Of course I'm going to shill for electricians)

-basically free. Tradeschools are subsidized by the government (here, at least) in an effort to get young people into the trades.

-guaranteed increase in wages. Most of the more complicated trades are 5+ years with a wage structure of 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80% of the wage of a licensed person as you move through those years.

-pay is pretty good. THIS VARIES WIDELY ON THE TRADE AND LOCATION. But basically, if you're an electrician and not making at least 85k, you're not trying. 6 figure income is totally within reach without sacrificing your life.

-related to above: free time. In the construction sector, most jobs are around 7am-3pm. If you live in an urban centre, you totally miss rush hour traffic both ways. Getting home with 8 hours to spare for your hobbies or whatever is a good feeling. Work shouldn't take over your life.

-working in a unionized environment or not, most employers have a retirement fund set up for you. In my case it's about 500/month. I use this to invest with as my account is self-directed. Free money

-It's a great social environment, free of PC nonsense.

>>1060065
*The Bad*

-you're going to work with idiots. Literal idiots. They will be more prevalent in certain trades than others, but you're going to have to deal with them. The people who somehow got grandfathered into 'x' trade because they were there for years, yet never finished highschool.

-trades die/slow down. Depending on what you want to go into, think long and hard about the future of your working career. 20-30 years-ish. My trade has been modernizing over the years in the way we do things. Distribution remains the same, even if generation changes in terms of electricity. At least for the next couple decades.

-Society might look down on you. This got my down at first. Social circles will possibly change around you. You may not fit in with with office-type crowds. That and non-whites...where they come from, tradesmen are literally Indonesian unskilled slaves or something related, so of course you're going to get looks. Just remember you make more than their entire family, and smile.

>>1060047
primarily what >>1060055 mentioned but also the pay you get is shit, and your future employers will know you accepted a shit offer so they'll lowball you, too. people that got salary positions were getting offers from mid 50k to mid 60k per year. the contract positions offered 10-20k less and had zero benefits. this is in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the US so the cost of living is not low either.

essentially, you start digging yourself into a hole that will be difficult to get out of unless someone decides to cut you some slack.

Bump for interest

>>1060083
Fair enough. In my line in the UK, contract work pays more than double salaried positions.

This is not to be confused with temp work which seems to fit more with your definition of contract work.

>>1059881

I'm in the same boat. I'm about to go back to college or trade school. Can't decide which. The degree Im looking into is computer science, but everyone and their mother is majoring in that and I'm worried about saturation. Is this a valid concern?

File: whatamemetobealive.jpg (44KB, 451x392px) Image search: [Google]

44KB, 451x392px

>he might fall for the trades meme

>>1060055
>>1060083

Contract work is also a pipeline to get into an FTE role at a lot of tech firms I've seen it happen at least a dozen times at T-Mobile and Microsoft. Being unwilling to consider a contract position is going to make it difficult to get your foot in the door if you don't have an insider connection.

>>1059881
Is auto mechanic viable or is it a mexican tier trade?

>>1060654
Very viable! There's lots of shops in my area that need more workers. That said, it's long hours and you'll catch hell if you make mistakes so get good at it... really good.

>>1060657
at the moment I can only really do shit like change tires, fluids, brakes but it's an interesting trade

>>1060654

If you like working on cars, you wont like being a full time auto mechanic. You will see shit and work on shit that will make you want to kill yourself.

If you HAVE to be an auto mechanic, become a diesel tech. The work will probably fuck your back, but if you git gud the pay can be stupid.