If you could do it all over again, would you have gone to a trade school?
I enjoyed college and was fortunate enough to enjoy a good white collar career. But if I could do it all over again, I would have learned how to become a licensed electrician, plumber, etc.
No. For whatever reason I’m just not good at it. I can do basic things well but otherwise it’s just not my thing. When you have a skilled craftsman’s their work is beautiful. My birdhouse was condemned in shop class.
I enjoy my corporate job enough that I wouldn't change it. It's frustrating most days but I switched careers so I could be technical and do things (Code and analysis on a computer) all day instead of being in pointless meetings and sending emails. I now have enough flexibility to work at home and I really need the money and stability.
That said I really enjoy working with my hands especially outside after work. I wish I could do some basic learning in practical skills now as an adult so I could feel more confident fixing things in my house.
The things I have most enjoyed is gardening, foraging, herbalism and botany. This is as close as I can get to my actual dream job of field biology. I always wanted to do that my entire life but there isn't a real need for it. So I'm happy enough
No, I think I’m in a good spot: I’ve made a pretty good income to support my family and still enjoy developing - actually, I’m DevOps now, so more like many small projects building the “glue” that automates everything together, and I can mostly define them myself
My regrets include:
not taking better care of myself financially and socially - I have way too little set aside and no one left to spend personal time with
maybe I shouldn’t have taken that last promotion: it’s not as fun, nor am I as good at “influence”, project planning, design docs
I originally went to college for computer science because I liked programming and I was good at it. Then I got a gig to write some software for a company and swiftly realized that if I had to do that 8 hours a day 5 days a week for the rest of my life I would jump off a bridge. So I dropped out and went back to working in a factory.
Now I’m a process tech at that factory who basically works as the right hand of the engineers. I spend my days keeping my brain busy troubleshooting new and unique issues, fixing equipment, and generally doing whatever it takes to keep production running. It’s the same problem solving fun I got from programming but I get to work with my hands and with more varied mediums. I absolutely love it and I make more doing this than I would if I was a programmer in my area. I make enough money to be fairly happy and I’m in a position that is about as automatable as plumbing (not at all) so my job is secure.
So, with all that said, if I had to make the decision to drop out of college again, I would do it even faster. That’s not to say I’m not grateful for what I learned in college, but it wasn’t worth all the money I spent. Not to mention the drain on my mental health of trying to both work full time and go to school full time which is what I needed to do to afford it.
No. I worked as a machinist while I got my engineering degree right out of highschool. So now I can do either, or both. Plus a lot of other things which are neither, because having both a trade and a degree shows you’re pretty competent all around.
I probably would have still gone in the service but I would have used my GI Bill for trade school when I released, I used it for a networking degree and I can’t remember a single thing I learned in college. Going to trade school would have reinforced things I already knew and would have been more likely to stick with me.
Yes. As somebody in their mid thirties, blessed by corporate America, I’d give it all up for a simpler life in a heartbeat. the rat race is exhausting and corporate America doesn’t care about me. I’ll never produce something that brings me value as a human being. I’ll probably die knowing some stakeholders are pretty happy…
I have a friend who had to move back to Japan due to family health issues, but ended up taking over a family tea farm. he is just living a simple, hard working life and is able to provide for himself and his family. if this opportunity came knocking, I’d take it in a heartbeat.
I could just take the major risk and leave it all behind, but the capitalist world has made instability so damn terrifying that I’m petrified of doing something that can possibly lead to further instability. all those in college now, don’t let your peers going on nice vacations or buying nice things make you think that’s what happiness is. it’s not. find something and someone you love and it’ll all be easy going from there. if it’s corporate America, more power to ya, but think about it first.
Ugh, I’m in the exact same situation, I can feel your pain. Seems to be a common theme.
I actually bumped into a guy at the local pet store, and after a short chat he told me he was a developer at a big company and just couldn’t take it anymore. He quit and became a manager for the local pet store. He says he loves it. I’m envious lol.
I always get the “are you really sure you would give up your current lifestyle for something like that?”. and the older I get, the more I think I think… yeah… I kinda do…
I should’ve waited to go to college, when I went my mental health was terrible and I was only there because I was told I had to or I’d be a failure. I failed miserably because I had no motivation, years later I have found my passions, I wouldn’t do trade school, but I wish I had known what I know now about myself
Totally depends. Everyone gets joy in different things. Something that might bore me, like sales, might appeal to someone else. You get to know the client and develop a relationship with them, etc. I’d rather solve new situations, not handle repetitive sales. But any white collar job is different depending on your job and your industry
No but I definitely enjoy learning those trades now as a homeowner, but every time I do a major project on my house I’m reminded why I don’t want a job like that. I’m sore for days and usually have a new cut or something on my hands.
Good answer. For me I try to do stuff around the house and I usually make it worse costing me more money in the end when a professional comes to fix it.
I treat it like any other technology issue and google the “right” way to do things, not just what some streamer does. I think it’s generally resulted in good quality work, but at a massive cost in time.
Actually, now that I’m finally getting a little ahead financially, I find myself unwilling to spend that time. Recently I’m more likely to pay someone to get the job done fast and right, with no hassle on my part. I have no idea how most people can afford that though
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