I gunsmithed for a shade over a decade. Wonderful job that I enjoyed immensely. Horrible pay and nonexistent benefits all the while having to toe the line with .gov regulations. Wouldn’t recommend it as a career.
Put that behind me and got back into welding. Mostly structural steel but some pipe and petroleum jobs too. You can make a pile of money at it if you take the time to get good. It’s a package deal too, lots of Joes can sling a bead around something but lots more can’t cut and fit. A good bit of fairly complicated math involved in being a good fitter/fabricator. There’s also the fact that to make the bucks you need to be on the road. Chasing rigs, putting up structures, or on the firing line on the ROW welding out pipeline. Then there’s the toll it takes on the body, eyes, ears, lungs, and joints all suffer in the welding game. If a young fellow is inclined toward the wild side the pipeline and oil patch can be the Wild West and get a guy in trouble. Lots of drugs and wild women around the big money when you have 100 welders living in campers putting in a pipeline making $75 an hour. I still love to weld and fab but I could see that at my age and with a family it wasn’t the place for me to be in the long game.
I’m now a maintenance tech at one of the local power Co-ops. We do a lot of trades work with no one specialty. On any given day I can be called on to be a plumber, welder, electrician, carpenter, mechanic, lawn guy, HVAC tech, pretty much you name it and we do it. It’s a great gig and the pay and benefits are incredible for this area, I’m thankful every day that I was able to get on.
As an aside, everyone needs power. The electric company isn’t going anywhere for a long time, regardless of boom or bust. Every position at the place I work for is very well payed and stable with almost no chance of layoffs or cutbacks. We have truckers, heavy and light equipment operators, welders, warehouse guys, mechanics, construction workers, linemen, and myriad office type personnel from secretaries to attorneys. Bottom line is to look for something that’s recession proof. If I’d have skipped my first two trades and started where I am now I’d be retiring before I turn 50. At least I had a life of adventure when I was younger and I wouldn’t want to trade it.
