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Comment by chiph | Hacker News Reader

The homeowners in Charleston SC found that in the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo in 1989, the craft skills weren't available to repair their historic homes. So a group got together and founded the American College of the Building Arts, which awards a four-year liberal arts degree with concentrations in timber framing, architectural stonework, ironwork, plasterwork, and woodwork.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNqqomuL-64

http://americancollegeofthebuildingarts.com/

Somewhere around 20% of them start their own businesses after graduation. The rest get heavily recruited by high-end builders and restoration firms.

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I frequently wish I had taken up a career like this instead of going into data science.

Eh. I've done both. Data science is better.

There are drag days to be sure, but having to get up at 5 in the morning every day and working until your whole body is sore then having to do it again sucks if you have to do it every day.

This is exactly why I did not get into the trades. I love doing that type of work and working with my hands. But my dad who has been doing construction/electrical work for over 30 years now has trouble using his hands at times or holding a screwdriver. So that basically convinced me from doing it.

Thanks for the reality check.

Awesome news to hear that the graduates are finding good jobs. Makes me wonder why there wasn't anyone in business with these skills present.

Housing collapse.

You had vast swaths of experienced tradesman that were out of work, essentially, overnight. If you're ~23-28 years old, then you graduated at a time where there were literally no open positions in the construction industry, so you never had the opportunity to get into it. And if you're 29-35, you probably found a different career during the turmoil and never came back.

I saw this a lot first-hand. Any friends that graduated to become tradesman all switched careers, joined the military, or went to college during the 09-10. Being in their early 20s meant they were first in line for the cuts.

Not directed at you but I'm really surprised when I hear people say, "young aren't interested in trades." As if they seriously never connected the dots between "trade jobs disappeared" and "lack of people in trades".

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