Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Any Good Trade Schools?

After reading the lamentations about kids not learning a trade, I confess my ignorance about trade schools.

What trades do you consider the most useful? What schools have the best bang for the buck for value?

There are community colleges that offer some trade training, but I don't know if those are a good starting point. I've seen ads for auto mechanics, but don't know if they're just a fancy website with little training.

Some of the trades I would consider vital are: Electrician, Welder, Plumber, HVAC, Auto Mechanic, Carpentry, and Mason.


Thoughts?

In the diesel repair field, the one in Wyoming has got a pretty bad rap...the one in Phoenix turns out some 'ready to work' mechanics.

There are some very good trade schools in the Norfolk VA area for welding. I went to Advanced Technology Institute in Virginia Beach, and completed their welding program. I left there with a 6G SMAW certification, as well as all position GTAW and FCAW certs. The knowledge I learned there put me far ahead of other candidates for entry level jobs. It's what scored me my job as a turbine welder in a previous life. No way I would have ended up with the skill set I have now if I didn't first start out at a good trade school.

We have what are called "technical colleges" here. They teach welding, CNC, electricians etc. They turn out some good folks and skilled. I know for a fact they work a lot with various industries in the area to ensure the curriculum is applicable to what they need. For some stuff, still need to go through the union, the shop you work for will send you to school for courses etc.

If you're asking what's a good trade? That's harder to quantify - all have plusses and minuses. Were it me, electrician would be high followed by plumber/pipe fitter. Locally, supply and demand - welders don't make what they might on a pipeline. We have a lot of welders in the area keeps supply even with demand and wages are decent but not "go buy a new diesel dually and 120 acres of land" good. From what I've seen.



When I was hiring diesel techs - we always hired the local kids/schools over that famous one that sounds like an STD. Those guys didn't know much and all thought the only work they'd ever do was trans rebuilds/overhauls and all at 45 an hour etc. They didn't know what they didn't know.

Don’t overlook the Building Trades Unions’ apprenticeship programs.

Good pay, benefits while working and attending night school.

My nephew is in The Plumbers and Steamfitters Instrumentation Program and is doing well. Once he becomes Journeyman status he can take it on the road if he so chooses.

Just a thought.

Another one to check out is the Millwright Building Trades Union.

If your going the diesel route, go with a factory sponsored school IMO. I think that's the best value going if you are paying for school. Deere has a tech program and Cat has Think Big. They are community College based and a lot of dealers will pay around 5K a year toward your student loans when you go to work.

Learning a brands parts and information system is a pretty big deal that probably takes a year to be good at. Dealer specific paperwork is another thing you learn at a sponsored school. If you know these things you are worth more on day one vs someone coming from a genetic school IMO. Butler Cat was starting new techs around $24.00 an hour out of school.

Most of the major brands have something like this


DEERE TECH PROGRAM

CATERPILLAR THINK BIG

Or, you could go in the Air Force as a generator technician

One critically overlooked trade is the machining/manufacturing trade. Students that come from fresh trade schools for manufacturing can't even do the simplest tasks that are asked of them. I place the blame on the schools. the curriculum must be just to broad and they only get a brief exposure to machining specifically.

In most states, Electrician, plumbing, and other building/construction trades your trade school is an apprenticeship. You go to school a few nights a week or one day a week and work/learn on the job the other days of the work week. And you can earn a living while learning a trade. Win/Win... no educational loans to repay forever and make a decent wage once you get even half way through the apprenticeship, not to mention what you make once you get your journeyman card.

For machinists, mechanics, and welders I would definitely consider a good trade school or community college program. These particular trades need additional technical training that these schools give in a very short time due to all the new tech installed in new equipment these days or specific requirements such as welding certifications.

Check your state's apprenticeship division to see how to get on the list. Be aware this isn't a slam dunk, though. Most apprenticeship programs require decent high school transcripts with strong science and math skills along with manual dexterity. A good dose of motivation also helps ...

Sheister your point about no student loans is hard to overlook and hard to overstate the importance of with the Building Trades Local Unions’programs.

My nephew just walked right in, introduced himself and stated his interest. The Instrumentation instructor came out and interviewed him, got him to fill out the necessary paperwork, 25$ application fee for background check, etc.

4 days later he was in night school even though it had already started the previous week. The following week he’s out on the job as a first year Apprentice.

He did say that the night school was strictly run.

After spending 30+ years teaching auto mechanics at the state trade school and high school level, I have some definite opinions about trade education. A lot of the state programs are "last chance education"- - - - -trying to give people some entry level trade skills before they have to go on some sort of welfare program for the rest of their lives. High school- - - -"trade and industrial education"- - - -now known as "STEM" (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Manufacturing) is where the counselors used to shove the special ed kids and others who couldn't handle the "college prep" curriculum. Most of those "counselors" would starve to death if they ever had to leave public education. They have NO skills that qualify them to make a living other than sucking up public dollars.

One of the best auto mechanics schools in the country used to be Nashville Auto-Diesel College. Unfortunately, the third generation of the family that founded the school sold it, and the new owners have pretty much gutted the program and replaced it with a very much inferior one. Wyotech and Universal Tech are absolutely worthless. General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Mercedes have excellent factory-based technician training programs, but they're brand-specific.

Considering we are officially in recession (contrary to morons in DC.) one might want to assess their future choice of trade carefully. Housing markets around the country have peaked and new construction is on the slide as well depending on region. The employee shortage may lesson the impact for a while but I know from the 08/09' collapse the market here in MT. tanked, the only thing saving a lot of local construction companies was the Bakken oil fields boom....that may not be the case this time.

My dad taught auto mechanics in the Boise State vo-tech department for years. They could guarantee any of their graduates a job as they had shops waiting in line to hire them. Then the government got involved. 1st they cut the program from 18 months to 11. There wasn't enough time in 11 months to teach what needed to be taught. Then they started giving preference to prison early releases, welfare recipients, etc., those who were being paid to go to school, or to be baby sat is more accurate. There was no longer room for the students who really wanted to become mechanics. It completely destroyed the program and in just a few years, they couldn't give their graduates away. They didn't want to work and weren't competent to push brooms. Dad was able to retire in the middle of that and he was really glad to get out. He'd been part of building a great program and he was sick to see it destroyed by the feds.

This was quite a few years ago. I don't know if the program still exists and if it does, whether it's improved any.

No way would I be a mechanic again...did that first 15 years of my life. Buy your own tools, just to have a job. Imagine it would probably take $50,000 to get started in tool boxes and quality tools these day? Harbor Freight crap does not cut it for making a living.

Personally, I would give plumbing a long hard look. But if you can't grab a turd in your hand and squeeze the crap out of it, you are not cut out for the job.

Electrician would be my second choice.

Check unto getting an apprenticeship from your local union pipe fitters or electrical unions.

One of the best programs to go into for a tech degree is Instrumentation and Robotics. My FIL ran that program At Idaho State University until he retired a few years ago. My son has doing an internship this summer and has one semester left. Those kids have a 98% placement rate (the 2% was a girl who got pregnant and decided to be a mom). They start at $65k up to $250k if you can land a job at one of the nuclear power plants. Probably $55-$70 per hr is the norm though; not bad for a two year degree.

I been involved with trades education most of my adult life, from my tool and die apprenticeship to my last job as a program director in a technical college. One thing I would strongly suggest is looking at a school/program’s outcomes in terms of where graduates are a couple of years down the road. Talk to employers, not school recruiters. Programs run the gamut from almost criminal flim flam to world class education…sometimes different programs in the same institution.

Some of the most successful people I’ve seen in the construction trades learned as Navy Seabees. A big advantage there is that every Seabee (last I knew) cross-trained in a second trade area.

If I were starting out today, I’d probably pursue the electrical trade. We’re going to be dependent on electricity for a long time.

If you plan to go into any of the construction trades, learn to speak Spanish- - - -you'll be working with laborers that are mostly wetbacks. My grandson spent a few years on a concrete crew that built bridges, retaining walls, etc. and most of his co-workers didn't speak or understand English, or at least they pretended to "no habla Ingles"!

I don't think that's right about STEM.

STEM is where the brightest kids went for my kid's school. It's where future engineers and math kids (prob all quants at IB firms now) focused.

We didn't have that when I was in school - they had small engines and drafting, rest was 100% college prep.