the Story of Adam and Chris
- Thread starter gary_in_neenah
- Start date
hermie
Active member
This is so true. I did a 5 year apprenticeship for being a sparky and sure was nice having no college debt. Is it hard work yeah but I make a good fair living, and going to have a nice pension when I retire. The biggest problem is the next generation doesn't want to work in the trades.
pclark
Well-known member
It is a shame that the colleges are allowed to profit off parents and put young people into so much debt. This should be looked into by someone because it really borders on corruption, these colleges have so much money stashed away it's disgusting. The lending companies should also be walked back to give fair and low interest rates for these loans. Talk about people on the take, these are prime examples, a 4 year degree gets you nothing, you really need an additional 3 years of grad school to find a decent job. The trades are in real need of young people to fill positions.
ICT Sledder
Active member
There are extremes on both ends of the illustration show in the first post, the goal from a career perspective is to just be on the right side of either of those extremes.
There are folks in trades making solid money, and I respect them a lot. Our economy needs more of them, and in the age of AI their futures are bright. If they are making solid money though they are likely either self-employed or union (not wanting to start a union debate - I'm not solidly on one side myself). There are also plenty of folks in the trades who can't be relied upon to show up for work the same time each day, who show up drunk or high, have criminal records, or who are generally just train wrecks personally or professionally. Skilled labor can be a last stop on the employment ladder for those who are unemployable in all other segments of the economy. It can also be a starting point for someone who hates the classroom, the cubicle, and who is motivated to work with their hands, get stuff done and make a nice living.
On the other hand in the context of college education, while there are far too many useless nincompoops getting laughable degrees and/or spending inane sums of money at private colleges just to make society or mom and dad happy, at the other end of that is attending an affordable state school and graduating with a degree in something the employment market finds utility in. Thing is, those aren't easy degree programs you just sleep and party your way through. But the earning potential of an engineer, CPA, financial analyst, nurse, etc. is very good, and you're not doing any of those sort of things without those respective degrees. Plenty of them start at or above the $80K figure shown above for "Chris" right out of college. Most of them will work into six figure salaries easily by mid-career.
There are folks in trades making solid money, and I respect them a lot. Our economy needs more of them, and in the age of AI their futures are bright. If they are making solid money though they are likely either self-employed or union (not wanting to start a union debate - I'm not solidly on one side myself). There are also plenty of folks in the trades who can't be relied upon to show up for work the same time each day, who show up drunk or high, have criminal records, or who are generally just train wrecks personally or professionally. Skilled labor can be a last stop on the employment ladder for those who are unemployable in all other segments of the economy. It can also be a starting point for someone who hates the classroom, the cubicle, and who is motivated to work with their hands, get stuff done and make a nice living.
On the other hand in the context of college education, while there are far too many useless nincompoops getting laughable degrees and/or spending inane sums of money at private colleges just to make society or mom and dad happy, at the other end of that is attending an affordable state school and graduating with a degree in something the employment market finds utility in. Thing is, those aren't easy degree programs you just sleep and party your way through. But the earning potential of an engineer, CPA, financial analyst, nurse, etc. is very good, and you're not doing any of those sort of things without those respective degrees. Plenty of them start at or above the $80K figure shown above for "Chris" right out of college. Most of them will work into six figure salaries easily by mid-career.