Going From High school to Trade school?

putsch80 · 2015-03-15T16:47:29+00:00

I am an attorney working in-house for a US mid-major domestic energy company. Take my thoughts for what they're worth.

You're picking a rough time to want to get in the oil industry. Drilling is down. Lots of layoffs right now.

If you want to be in the oil industry, I would suggest going to college to study either geology, drilling engineering or petroleum engineering. Those fields are where you will make the most money and find the most demand for professionals. Going to college for a few years will allow the industry time to pick itself back up and you will hopefully come out on an upswing.

Working as a roughneck on a rig is fucking dangerous (find me a roughneck over 40 who still has all their fingers). It also is incredibly isolating, as most drilling is in sparsely populated areas or offshore. And you start at the bottom, which in a downswing in oil is bad because folks without experience are the first to get shit canned.

keep-it-dense · 2015-03-15T17:54:31+00:00

Electrician is a good trade to pick up, as we are always going to need electricity. Less chance of being priced out by illegals as people want certified electricians as they don't want to risk getting electrocuted by dodgy wiring. Oil is a rich industry, but a dying one, renewable or nuclear energy is the way forward.

cariboo_j · 2015-03-15T18:04:54+00:00

Oil industry = be prepared to travel to small towns and work fucked up hours. It's a young man's game.

I have several friends that became electricians and welders right after high school. They are doing better financially than most people I know that went to university. One of them saved up enough to buy a townhouse and owns 2 cars by the age of 25.

You won't get insanely rich but there's less bullshit and politics in trades compared to an office environment.

Paint_It_R3d · 2015-03-15T18:21:11+00:00

I can't directly comment on the oil industry but everything I've heard says expect tough working conditions and brutal hours. /u/putsch80 doesn't paint a rosy picture either.

I work in blue collar manufacturing, went to a 2 year trade school for general manufacturing and electronics. I would 100% recommend looking in CNC machining. You'll get your hands-on experience and be in HUGE demand. If you get a two year degree right out of high school (I'd recommend that, at least start on it), you'll have plenty of doors left open by the time you're twenty. It would be really easy to go to pursue a degree in management or mechanical engineering in your early to mid twenties if you wanted to go that route. Tool/die makers and robotics/packaging degrees are in high demand as well.

tl/dr: Look into manufacturing, specifically CNC machining. High demand field.

ComradeCynic · 2015-03-15T20:10:09+00:00

Welding seems steady, and you can get the basics down quickly, but then get into specialized things if you want. Electrical - always will be needed. The CNC machining (as another mentioned) would be good.

GraphThis · 2015-03-15T18:11:11+00:00

Trade is better than labourer in the long run.

If you're dead set on busting your ass in an oilfield job then Consider:

heavy duty mechanics/Welding (the equipment will always need to be maintained)

Survey (as long as there is dirt you will have work. Can't outsource mining/survey to other countries... Yet)

Geo technologist (quality control)

Personally being a mining operations specialist who's worked his way from the field to an office job I would go back in time and take engineering and work construction during summers.

White collar career with blue collar hobbies is where it's at in the long run. You wanna feel satisfied? Don't destroy you body working for some asshole. Build your own project car on your down time or something.

pipefitterap162 · 2015-03-15T19:52:19+00:00

You could always google unions in your area. They usually hire ever one to two years. Pipefitting is the best, obviously. Stay away from carpentry, immagrants are raping them hard, at least here they are. Laborers do all kinds of cool stuff. Plumbing is OK if you like playing with shit all day. Check out 'Plumbers vs Pipefitters.' on YouTube. Good luck.

mrp3anut · 2015-03-15T23:17:39+00:00

If you have the intellect to enter engineering then you should do it. You can still get involved down in the plant but you are removed from a lot of the harsh reality involved with blue collar trade skills.

Trade skills are a great thing and most of the kids in college would be better off picking one up, but don't pass up on tradeskill for the mind for one of your hands.

General_Fear · 2015-03-15T17:35:16+00:00

Aim for blue collar careers that allow you to go into management. Or careers that are not very physical. The problem with the trades is that if you are old, then you will have a difficult time doing a strenuous trade jobs. For example, I remember a guy in his 50's who had bad knees. He was in the carpeting business. He had to get on his knees to put down carpet. It was very difficult.

So look into jobs that you can either start your own business in your trade, go into management or does not require a lot of physical effort.

Try to pick jobs that require licenses. Or work for the government. Why? Because many employers hire illegal Mexicans who work for below minimum wage. I had a friend who dreamed to be a welder. He knew everything there was to know about welding. But he could not get a job. Employers were hiring Mexican and paying them 4 to 5 dollars an hour. Illegals shy away from jobs that require a license like truck driving. Also illegals stay away from jobs that require working in large institutions like big business and government.

A small business like a lawn care business or contractor has no problem hiring carpenters or plumbers who are illegals. But a hospital will avoid breaking the law because they don't want any trouble. And governments don't hire illegals. So if you become an x-Ray technician, you will have work and not worry about the illegals.

Final note. If I had life to do over again, I would get a job as a cop, firefighter or garbage man. My buddy became a cop. 20 years later he is retired with a pension. I wish I did that. He is now 40 year old and does not have to work again.

dub121686 · 2015-03-16T00:37:27+00:00

I work on wind turbines. Its an interesting job.

CrimsonDeep · 2015-03-16T01:36:27+00:00

Hey OP, gray collar worker here, truck driving is seriously booming. I'm nearing thirty, the solitude is great.

I make hella good money at it.

The US DOT is considering lowering the CDL range to 18 year old drivers.

Swazey93 · 2015-03-16T03:07:31+00:00

I started out changing oil in a heavy duty truck shop right out of high school at age 17, I'm now nearly done my apprenticeship for heavy duty mechanic and all i can say is its probably the best thing I could have done given the options i had coming out of school, im 21 now, making very good money (big oil money in alberta canada drives up tradesman wages).

you will learn a lot of important skills to apply to everyday life, i can fix my own vehicles and save a ton of money on that alone, you will learn electrical, hydraulics, how to deal with asshole customers and such. Its physical and its hard some days, you will learn to accept the fact that you will have to put yourself in a lot of uncomfortable positions to get work done. I have absolutely no debt related to college, in fact i got paid my full wage to go to college. I'm still young and i can change my career path at any time and i have the bank to pay for everything if i decide i want a change.

The trades are a good, respectable way to make money and i recommend them to anyone willing to get their hands dirty. Have an open minded approach and be willing to learn and you will be successful.

CrazyHorseInvincible · 2015-03-16T04:56:04+00:00

Personal questions like this should go in /r/asktrp. I'm going to remove it here, please resubmit it there.

buritobandito · 2015-03-15T21:49:51+00:00

whatever you do man, stick with trades. I studied for a white collar job and the exp required is way too high. For example they want 3-5 yrs of exp for level entry work. 5 years ago that requirement was at 0.

White collar jobs are on its way out due to automation. Won't happen overnight but you will see 10-20 years down the line where ppl will really begin to suffer due to increase costs and stagnated wages.

I have learned my lesson and plan to go back to school for either plumbing or electrician. Those are the hardest jobs to automate for a long time. Also elevator technician makes really good money.

cover20 · 2015-03-16T03:11:12+00:00

Oil industry is undergoing a massive contraction, your timing is probably wrong for that particular industry.

jamoni22 · 2015-03-15T20:21:29+00:00

Look into rope access work.

Title	Going From High school to Trade school?
Author	Irrelevant_Walrus
Upvotes	6
Comments	28
Date	March 15, 2015 4:32 PM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/TheRedPill
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/2z4vd8/going_from_high_school_to_trade_school/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/TheRedPill/going-from-high-school-to-trade-school.30241 https://theredarchive.com/post/30241

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