Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What trade would you recommend a young man get into?

It’s hard to find a good plumber, they charge a lot because they get stiffed a lot on small jobs for individuals. You agree to do a job for a certain amount, when you get done they want to renegotiate the price or won’t pay even with a written estimate. You can take them to small claims court, but that takes time. I quit doing side work, unless it’s someone I know.

I don't begrudge the plumber for the $157 an hour. I knew it would be expensive, I just am not good at plumbing and don 't like to do it.
I have sweated a good deal of copper pipe, and done a lot of pvc. It doesn't agree with me. I was glad to get this guy out here, the other two guys we called never even showed up to do an estimate.

That is one aspect I hadn't thought about, a slimeball customer could stiff you on the payment and dare you to take them to small claims court. There are a lot of sleazy customers out there, I guess.

I can tell you for a fact, there is a bunch of them. The hindu- Indian MF’s are the worst, with chink bastards next in line. Most small guys have learned to avoid them, I wouldn’t go in a black persons house either.

Small general contractors are bad about stiffing subs too.

Auto tech.
Everyone is trying to find experienced techs.
Read an article in a magazine the other day that Rick Hendrick of NASCAR fame needs over 500 techs in his dealer group right now.

Tell him to get in a factory training program for BMW or Benz.
The people that drive these cars tend to keep them for quite awhile after the warranty expires and they have the $ to fix them.

Auto tech.
Everyone is trying to find experienced techs.
Read an article in a magazine the other day that Rick Hendrick of NASCAR fame needs over 500 techs in his dealer group right now.

Tell him to get in a factory training program for BMW or Benz.
The people that drive these cars tend to keep them for quite awhile after the warranty expires and they have the $ to fix them.

while we're throwing out everything but the kitchen sink to the subscribers, might as well mention radio & tv technicians/announcers/script writers.

it's a small field. not for everyone. but it can be lucrative and lot's of fun too, or so i have heard.

sellin' intangible ads is one thing, on-air announcing is quite another.

usually an FCC radio-telephone license is required.

might need a special endorsement stamp.

worth checking into for specialists.

I've worked electrician,plumber and HVAC trades. Electrician paid the best and is the one I finally retired from. Here is a tip, don't just learn one. The last job I had was top civilian electrician at a military base, after working there a while I was chatting with the boss and he asked if I knew why I got the job. I told him no. He said others had the same qualifications as electricians as I had but no else had a EPA Universal Refrigerant certification. The base HVAC tech had just quit and they hired me to cover two jobs till they could hire another HVAC tech.

there's that "certification" deal showing up again.

worked with a dude that got grandfathered into a general contractor license back in the day.

few of those grandfathered licenses/certifications left.

they can add considerable value.

Whatever he does, tell him to be in the top 5% of it. If he makes it to that, he'll be fine.

"The last job I had was top civilian electrician at a military base"

I'd like to swap your pay, for the $15 an hour I was making as a carpenter.

It helps to learn other aspects of a trade, I learned to be a certified welder, backhoe operator, got my masters license, backflow license, wastewater license. Also got a CDL license to haul the backhoe around. All that helps you get a job if you want to change employers. I also learned enough About HVAC to work on my AC and furnace when I have problems. I wish I knew more about electric work.

My recommendation would be for him to do a skills test to see what he is good at, these are available commercially. I don't know how it works now but at one time the Military would do a skills test without an enlistment commitment, that may be well worth him checking into just to find out where his skills may be.

My point being that there is no use in trying to be an electrician, HVAC, welder or any other trade field unless he has a bit of ability in that particular field. Chances are if he goes to something that he has some skill in then he will be happier in his work and will be more likely to be successful in what he does.

drover

Agreed. Never turn down an opportunity for training. The "checkmark" in the right boxes can get you ahead.

I think that makes a lot of sense. I wouldn’t have any aptitude for electronics or working with computers.

Maybe there's a vocational "rehab" or training type agency in the kids state?

I took some aptitude tests once. After answering a bunch of questions, I found out I was suitable for things like "back country forest ranger", game warden, cattle rancher. In other words, I had no aptitude for working with others, especially in larger settings. By myself or with a few other workers, sure, but other than that. Nope.

No wonder I ended up taking the route I did working and living in rural areas either mostly alone or in small facilities with small staffs.

It might be worth a dollar or three for the kid to find some sort of testing to figure that out before he spends 10 years like I did making money at a job he doesn't like, just to be making money.

Geno

[quote=Whiptail]
One that requires a license which limits supply and keeps wages high. Otherwise the wages will be decimated through uncontrolled competition from illegal labor!

This!
I was a union carpenter, and the beaners have ruined that trade, also the cement, and brick layers unions.

Every building trade down here!