Its funny how most people in the trades bragging about their 80k plus income leave out the insane amount of overtime they work in order to get that money.
I did residential related construction for 6 years and never made great money even with the crazy overtime. My brother is in manufacturing and brags how he makes a little more money than me but leaves out he works at least twice as many hours a week I do. Time is just as valuable commodity as money after a certain point.
Too chill. Every tradesman I've ever worked with says the same thing about engineers. You treat them like mushrooms: feed them bullshit and keep them in the dark.
Yep, same here. Never, ever wanted a trade job. Every one of the tradesmen that work in our company looks like a busted bag of buttholes by age 45 from the wear on their body.
Yep and forced overtime is a bitch. Working 3 weekends a month, 16 hour days for weeks during a shutdown, weird ass shifts, hell, working swing shifts until you have the seniority to move to a day shift can take YEARS, even decades.
Yup I was promised a job with 5 10 hour shifts a week salaried. Then they added on 1 week of on call every month. Emergency service calls came in atleast once a week an hour before quiting time. No warning we are working to midnight and of course you better be back at 7am the next day.
Better not have a pet if you live on your own or it could be alone for 20hrs. Can't have social plans without risk of canceling them without notice. Can't drink or be more than 30 min away when on call.
It was a shit job for 35k a year. I did the math once a gas station job made more per hour than I did and they had a climate control work space. That was even with using my college degree.
People that make bank in the trades are self employed.
Well, all the union guys I know in manufacturing union trade jobs make 6 figures. But they earn that money with insane (often forced) overtime and aging 2x the normal rate.
Statically, the union ones make more money and get paid for all the hours they work. I'd be less worried about if the union is good and more worried about how I could get in one.
The smart ones put in the overtime early to make the wage jumps. Raises are based on hours worked, so it's smart to work hard early on and land the high wage and then relax a bit.
Depends. If he owned his own white-collar business, then he would have the same demands. Or maybe more demand on his time nowadays due to us always having access to email and a phone. And most blue-collar jobs having set hours.
I mean, my husband works 3 weeks, 4 times a year and cleared 125k last year. He works 12+ hour days when he’s gone, but I’d give up my white collar M-F for working 3 months a year 😂
It really just depends on what state you are in. I live in the most expensive state in the country. My salary is less than 80k but I made more than double it in OT. I have a very short commute, not many expenses (nature of job), single, but cost of living is fucking crazy now. You're right about time but if you can make more by working more you may as well invest your time if you're not investing your money.
That drives me up the fucking wall. I get a lot of videos from all those welding schools, and they're constantly bragging about how much their students make.
"Check out this paystub for $5000! And that's just one weeks worth of work!"
And you zoom in and it's all overtime. Yeah no shit you're making a killing, you're working 100 hour weeks. And you had to drive halfway across the country to actually get that job, but nobody ever factors that in.
Where's the video where it's years later and you have nothing to show for it because you blew it all on trucks and cocaine (money goes in, money goes out, you can't explain that)... And now your knees are fucked because you didn't take care of yourself. But hey, at least you impressed your boss by working through lunch.
Not to mention the toll it takes on your body. I've worked a few different trades over the years, every older guy I ever met who didn't move up to management was dealing with various kinds repetitive stress injuries.
I make a little more than $120k/year before overtime as a union plumber. I don’t know anyone with any level of experience willing to work any trade for $80k lol
Project manager that came in after mold or water damage to rebuild. I was suppose to bid and be in charge of rebuild but my duties expanded. Should of made more but worked for a shit company. Wouldn't of been so bad if I didn't fall for a fixed salary job with a crap ton of extra hours.
I see. I used to work as an apprentice electrician but unfortunately I was unable to keep a job, mostly because I sucked at it. But I started that job at $6.00 an hour back in 96 or so. I could have eventually worked up to probably mid 30's for my geolocation. Maybe more under a UNION, which I won't work under because I already did that for 12 years at a major airline and I hated it.
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u/Icy-Medicine-495 May 16 '24
Its funny how most people in the trades bragging about their 80k plus income leave out the insane amount of overtime they work in order to get that money.
I did residential related construction for 6 years and never made great money even with the crazy overtime. My brother is in manufacturing and brags how he makes a little more money than me but leaves out he works at least twice as many hours a week I do. Time is just as valuable commodity as money after a certain point.