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Comment by mothsonasloth | Hacker News Reader

In the UK there was a drive by the Labour government to push everyone into higher education. Not to blame them for this but it has effectively made it worse for some people who took any degree and at the same time has made it hard to fill trades and apprenticeship schemes (at least in Scotland).

There is a kind of snobbery to working jobs which I think is wrong. My pal who is now a leccie (Electrician) can charge crazy money and is laughing all the way to the bank. Maybe I will quit my dev job and become his apprentice :)

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In the US, there's a great deal of protectionism that really makes it difficult for your average person to start a random electrical business.

You usually need 4+ years of experience as a licensed journeyman. That requires 4-5 years of apprenticeship school and usually 2-3 years as a helper before you will be able to get in. No chance at that "startup" until you're in your 30s usually.

Next, you need a few hundred for the exam. You need thousands in "working capital". Then you need tens of thousands for a bond. Not many people have that kind of money lying around.

Finally, as a final dose of nepotism, you have to be "pre-approved" to take the exam. That means that a few people who already have master's licenses must approve you to become their competitor.

During the big offshoring craze in the UK 15 years or so ago I knew of developers who retrained as trades people - you can't offshore plumbers, electricians etc., you need them on site.

Well that's what you would expect the cohort that would have gone into higher apprenticeships now have better options and those jobs are now 100% degree entry.

Note that back in the day the entry requirements for advanced apprenticeships where quite high - higher than for entry level jobs in Banks or Nursing

>> My pal who is now a leccie (Electrician) can charge crazy money and is laughing all the way to the bank.

Can he scale his business to more than a single employee? Does he get many connections that allow him to move on - e.g. become a senior engineer at a nuclear facility? What happens to him when we move on to some other "smart" electricity scheme which outdates all of his practical skills?

How far away is that? 20 years? That's 20 years worth of "laughing all the way to the bank" for that guy.

Also, does every business need to scale more than 1 employee? Even if it's 2, 3 people max, that level of "freedom from worry" would make that duo/trio very happy indeed.

AFAIK smart electricity for scheme for even a block level is notoriously hard with today's tech, the number of edge cases must be enormous.

GP already talked about taking on apprentices, with the implication being the the friend is already scaling their business past a single employee.

The practical skills are unlikely to become outdated quickly, since they are mainly about standards compliance and electrical safety. Even if something as large as the shift from gas lighting to electricity >100 years ago happened today, there would probably still be need for electricians, just as we still have gas engineers now.

Source: I live in the UK and have multiple friends in trade work.

Most can take on other workers or young apprentices quite easily. The two i know that have done it now only work their trade 2-3 days a week and spend most their time doing the admin / business side.

Not sure how piratical skills in electricity can become outdated? New legislation can be released around safety i guess...?

As long as there are pre-paid meters, pirate sparkies will be in demand

It sounds like the electrician here has a far higher chance of doing any of those things then your average university graduate to be honest!

scaling an electrican's business is far easier than scaling a software engineering practice

citation needed

The self-employed electrician lives on connections and contacts to get work. There usually isn't a formal career path into a "senior position", but remember that by law of numbers those are only open to a fraction of people.

> What happens to him when we move on to some other "smart" electricity scheme which outdates all of his practical skills?

Maxwell's equations aren't going out of fashion. Some regulatory updates are necessary, though. Cost of doing business.

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