Hacker News Reader

And plumbers get paid pretty well, just like programmers. I talked to the plumber who did my house and he loved his job. He was reluctantly retiring and handing over the day-to-day operations to his son, but if he had been physically able he'd keep doing it.

He also said he refused to do work on existing plumbing. He loved to build new systems but hated maintaining old ones. Where have I heard that before...?

View on HN

In a previous professional life I hired an electrician to put in some outlets in my warehouse. Long to short, he said he mainly worked solo (read: didn't want to deal with employee bullshit), and tended to work for 4 to 6 weeks and then go on vacation with his wife for a week.

I think it's the only time I said "THAT is the kinda setup I want."

A plumber we had doing some work for us explained that electricians were always miserable because it was boring but plumbing was actually fun. Subjective of course, but he was a very jolly fellow so perhaps there’s something in it

That largely depends on the tasks. Putting down 2km of electrical cable each day is pretty boring, as much of new construction is, but troubleshooting why the ventilation stopped working at a restaurant and fixing it is pretty awesome.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com