Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Just curious about vocational skills

Are you as a parent happy with the vocational opportunities for kids in your town? It could be plumbing, electrical, HVAC, welding, etc . Just asking .

No and I ran the largest skilled trade department in our area

Lots of opportunity here...Forest Service or welfare, same thing ...green pants or sweat pants.

The district I worked for built a trade school, teaching elec, plumbing, welding, and AC I hear they are turning out some kids with skills.

They do in some areas, but not where the money is going

I taught auto mechanics, auto body, welding, and machining for 30+ years. Most "educators" hate trade and industrial courses because they produce people who can actually work for a living and produce something of value instead of just accumulating worthless diplomas.

I remember some dudes in 12 grade that were taking 10th grade English, 11th grade English and Senior English on a final attempt.

Sitting bldg trades listening to one dude. “Man fugg this sheeiitt, my dad owns Moore Construction”

lol

Opportunity is there - the pay isn't. IMO.

We have J.M.Perrey Institute here where they teach everything from medical coding to diesel repair Just about every kid that comes out of there can find a job in his chosen field if they want one.
Contractors are waiting by the door for them to graduate.

boom!

I taught vo-ed in the sixties and seventies. Teaching didn't pay as well as doing so I swapped jobs and started making money and deriving satisfaction at the same time. Around '80 schools decided everybody ought to go to college and scrapped the shop classes. Wrong!
At Caterpillar, in the 90s we scrapped apprentice programs. Wrong.
Couldn't hire qualified tradesmen off the street so had to restart trades programs.
Eggheads, lawyers and accountants who have never had dirty hands can ruin about any industry.

I haven’t used it much, but sure glad I learned to arc weld and use an acetelene torch as well as quite a few other handy skills in my vo-ag classes in the 60s. In my high school, lots of girls in those classes these days. I have no idea what they’re teaching.

In my area, pay is there, but that's about it. Other benefits are nearly nonexistent unless you work for a big company, which I detest doing.

I guess it's probably relative though. I mean a person out of HS could work retail for 14-17 an hour or become a CNC Machine operator for 21-23, welder for 19-22 etc.

Trade wages here were stagnant for a long time, but in recent years have finally climbed up a bit. I'm in bit if a microcosm for construction here. Tons and tons of seasonal wealthy people who buy/build multi-million dollar homes/condos and only use them 3-4 months a year. Things have to get really bad for us to see a slump in work.

On the other side of things, because it's a wealthy area, everything is more expensive and in order to have some land and own a home, guys like me are forced to commute a long way to our work. As the local saying goes,"A view of the bay is part of your pay".

Vocational skills are in high demand in many areas but the pay doesn’t coincide with the need. In my area for example there are several manufacturing companies that desperately need skilled MIG and Tig aluminum welders but these same companies feel they can hire trained welders for $14-18.00 hr. McDonalds is paying that. The balance of the cost of goods produced, cost of labor and the cost of living continue to grow way out of balance. The worker bees just can’t support the system anymore and survive.

Doing it right and getting licensed, insured, taxes, and other costs of doing business can't compete with the millions of illegals who don't follow our laws from the beginning.

I went to our local Tech College for a couple years.

One of my best decisions.

I’m not sure today what they are teaching but the same schools are still around from when I was that age.
Those with hands on skills will do well in the future. Heck people used to look down at the garbage collectors, now that industry owns us, check your recent bills.
I tell young people asking to get into a trade people can’t/won’t attempt themselves. Anyone and everyone picks up a hammer it seems but most won’t mess with electrical, AC, heating, etc.
Good friend has a business supplying and installing dust collectors. Can’t get enough help of any kind for field work and they start them at 31.00 per hr. Company trucks, fuel, per diem as well.
Electricians up here commercial are at around 50.00 with bennies. Other trades not far behind.


Osky

Here we go again......everyone's little Billy has to make 100 g's out of high school or it ain't worth it.....