Lets have a trades thread.
I'm a millwright, also known as an industrial mechanic, and made a thread here a week or two ago. My work is pretty specialized in the area of industrial automation and also requires me to be a licensed journeyman electrician and certified welder because my work demands a lot of skills.
I'm from Texas, have never been to college, and make a solid six figures. My company flies me all over the US and Canada to do jobs because there are so few people who can do what we do. We're now halfway through the year and this week was the first week I've had two consecutive days off, if we exclude days spent at airports.
We're so damned busy that we need to hire 35 more people who can mechanic, weld, and electrician well, but there are very few people who can do any of these even halfassedly. If you can do one of these well and not be a fuck up 80% of the time or better my company would be happy to pay you 50-60k. If you can do 2 of the skills well and not be a fuck up 90% of the time, my company would be happy to pay you 70-80k per year. If you are completely reliable (as in you can work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, for a month straight) and can mechanic, electrician, and also weld, you can easily earn 90 - 130k at my company.
Yet there are so few young men who can do any one of these skills and also work very hard. Have young men given up on doing hard work?