The Trades

[Chew]

I was a horrible student. BARELY graduated high school. In 2000 at 15 I started working summers as an electrical apprentice in my dads residential new construction electrical company. Even at that time it was all illegals and alcoholic 50yr olds. I learned Spanish quickly and learned how to work. Started on plugs and didn’t learn switches until I was as fast or faster than the lead guy at doing plugs. That lasted two summers.

My junior year I was eligible for work program and would drive to jobs in my own vehicle during the week and work full time on weekends.

When I graduated I went in full time.

21 yrs later I am a master electrician. Passed the test first try. I run an manage 4 crews for my dad and run my own electrical company on the side.

Sometimes I swear I never want my boys in this industry and then I do a few jobs for myself and get it.

The only people we have to hire from is felons, drug addicts, workman’s comp job hoppers, illegals, and burn outs. Not a single kid straight out of high school has walked in the door looking for a job since 2000. And we are literally 1/2mile away from Tomball high school.

I speak English, I show up, I say yes ma’am and no ma’am, I can literally charge what I want. If it keeps going this way we won’t be able to afford to build homes anymore.

I think after typing all this, I will teach my kids the trade, but also teach them to get to work for themselves ASAP.


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Great post!

[quackadikt]

My wife has a BS, MS, and PhD. I've got a BS. She was in academia and earned tenure, now she's a stay at home home(kind of). We know the college route inside and out and have consistently talked about how we hope out children (4yo boy and 2yo girl) don't fall into the "you have to have a college degree" trap. I know the only good thing I gained from college life was a wife. Unless something drastically changes, I hope my son will go to a tech school and learn a trade and go to work. After being in a trade for a few years, it would be pretty easy to start his own company and be making a great living by the time he's 30-35.

[hogslayer78]

I guess I will chime in here on the welding side of this. I been welding 25 years now and im 43! I had a welding job lined up before I graduated and started the Monday following graduation. I have done every kind of welding there is. Stick, mig, fluxcore, sub-arc, and tig! I passed my first structural x-ray plate test before I ever graduated high school. I worked my way up from structural welding to pipe welding and everything in between. The last 15 years I have spent welding in the a/c sitting on my butt as a speciality welder. Tig welding exotic alloys like incolnel, monel, hastaloy, haynes 214, ect. The lowest I have made in the last 15 years is $70,000 per year and thats if I work no overtime. My goal is to open my own welding shop one day and build hunting equipment. Feeders, stands, tripods, ect. Eventually I will take the leap of faith once my kids are all done with schooling. I was lucky and had an actual welding class I took 4 years in high-school not just welding in Ag class. I dont think either high-school in our district offers that now only welding in Ag class. If your child wants to be welder, they need to learn how to tig weld. That is where the money is at👍

[Spearchunker]

Well said and agreed.

The next problem hitting very soon is the current Hispanic workforce is getting older. Not many young replacments as they are part of the entitled movement now.The lazy give me give me generation is what we have to work with soon.

[labman]

Great post. I'm very close to to one of my son's best friends. He's over at the house all the time. He graduated from a top school with an engineering degree with zero debt due to scholarships and is making 6 figures three years out of college.

He hit me with the news last night that he's looking to get either his master plumbing or master electrician certification. He spent his high school and early college summers as a plumber's or electrician's helper. He loved the work then and really hates his career field now.

He's using PTO to set up interviews with several firms and plans on walking away from 6 figures and walking into something paying maybe $15-20 an hour initially. Kid has a great plan and wants to eventually start his own firm.

His dad is adamantly opposed to it, I reminded him that one electrician his son worked for is pulling down 5-600,000 annually, runs a company with over 50 employees and loves every minute of it. He's also a partial owner of a huge electrical supply warehouse and roofing distribution center. Not bad for being just a "tradesman", lol.

[curtintex]

I guess I will chime in here on the welding side of this. I been welding 25 years now and im 43! I had a welding job lined up before I graduated and started the Monday following graduation. I have done every kind of welding there is. Stick, mig, fluxcore, sub-arc, and tig! I passed my first structural x-ray plate test before I ever graduated high school. I worked my way up from structural welding to pipe welding and everything in between. The last 15 years I have spent welding in the a/c sitting on my butt as a speciality welder. Tig welding exotic alloys like incolnel, monel, hastaloy, haynes 214, ect. The lowest I have made in the last 15 years is $70,000 per year and thats if I work no overtime. My goal is to open my own welding shop one day and build hunting equipment. Feeders, stands, tripods, ect. Eventually I will take the leap of faith once my kids are all done with schooling. I was lucky and had an actual welding class I took 4 years in high-school not just welding in Ag class. I dont think either high-school in our district offers that now only welding in Ag class. If your child wants to be welder, they need to learn how to tig weld. That is where the money is at👍

NCHS Ag department built a flat bed for my Tacoma last year.

[Smell the Glove]

I own a few construction-related companies and employ a few hundred amazing people. I know the industry and the market.
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Can confirm.

[Gumbo Man]

I guess I will chime in here on the welding side of this. I been welding 25 years now and im 43! I had a welding job lined up before I graduated and started the Monday following graduation. I have done every kind of welding there is. Stick, mig, fluxcore, sub-arc, and tig! I passed my first structural x-ray plate test before I ever graduated high school. I worked my way up from structural welding to pipe welding and everything in between. The last 15 years I have spent welding in the a/c sitting on my butt as a speciality welder. Tig welding exotic alloys like incolnel, monel, hastaloy, haynes 214, ect. The lowest I have made in the last 15 years is $70,000 per year and thats if I work no overtime. My goal is to open my own welding shop one day and build hunting equipment. Feeders, stands, tripods, ect. Eventually I will take the leap of faith once my kids are all done with schooling. I was lucky and had an actual welding class I took 4 years in high-school not just welding in Ag class. I dont think either high-school in our district offers that now only welding in Ag class. If your child wants to be welder, they need to learn how to tig weld. That is where the money is at👍

Throughout my welding career I always thought the route to go as far as working for myself was teaching. I too had all of the experience of being certified on all of the exotic metals used in the petrochemical and power plant industry. That’s where the money was. Welding schools can be very lucrative I’m sure. As well as a test lab.

[Bayouboy]

Working in the construction, maintenance, and operations side of the petrochemical industry I can attest to the shortage of craftsmen in the trades industry. There is an extreme shortage. The pay is great for skilled craftsmen. And, the industry has no choice except to pay top wages to these folks. It is not unusual for our refinery to have between 2-4 thousand contractors in it in any given day. Maybe 25% of these folks have true craft skills.

Electricians, instrument techs, analyzer techs, pipe fitters, combo welders, millwrights, and good eqpt operators are hard to find!

[Chew]

Anyway, found out his wife was a college graduate, and of all things, it was an animal science degree, specializing in large mammals. Elephants to be more specific. She graduated and has never used this degree. WTH....

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I may be able to use her on my place. They are taking over.

[DFWPI]

I may be able to use her on my place. They are taking over.

LoL

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[Chew]

Yessir. We do have an internship program and have hired several great people from it. The guy that now runs our estimating department was our first intern. We also are partnering with the local ISD to get kids interested in construction. We are helping to write curriculum for trade-based studies as well.


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I'm still waiting on the call to be your loss prevention, investigations, employee safety, stolen trailer tracker manager.

[Texas Grown]

I'ma weld.....uh......electro-metallic fusionist. I've got 2 years till I start draw-n S.S. Does this mean My ship is finally gonna come in?


































Seriously, it's been a blessing that I rejected at first, and for a very long time. But finally realized, and gave into the Lord.










("No Hector. Those burn marks on my forearms are not scars. They are welder's tattoos.")

[curtintex]

I'm still waiting on the call to be your loss prevention, investigations, employee safety, stolen trailer tracker manager.

Some day, buddy....some day!!!!

[Chew]

Some day, buddy....some day!!!!

Can I pick? Maybe January 31st, 2023?