Hacker News Reader

Comment by deelowe | Hacker News Reader

You can get “high five figures” with a GED and a factory job. Why would anyone go through the stress and expense of law school for that?

View on HN

According to [1] full-time employed people with professional degrees earn a median of $117,679 while full time employed high school graduates earn a median of $38,102.

If it were easy to earn high five figures with a GED, wouldn't the earnings of GED holders be much higher?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_...

I didn't say full time high school graduates. I said factory jobs. The average starting pay here is roughly 25/hr which is >50k/yr. It's pretty easy to work up to 35+/hr in just a few years. If you get into a foreman position, you can be making upwards of 90 per year and supervisor roles are typically 6 figures.

I'd consider 75k/yr "high 5 figures" and this is extremely doable where I'm from. It's not a major metro, just an average industrial city near a port. Everyone in my family does factory work and has done so for 3 generations, I'm the only one in tech.

There are indeed plenty of folks out there making less than 40/yr. They are almost exclusively temp/contract labors with poor work ethic. The people who are dependable typically get hired on full time which comes with a significant pay increase and full benefits.

The factory job will destroy your body before your 50s. What good is high five figures if you can't do anything with it other that pay for insurance that barely covers the physical therapy you'll need?

Factory jobs, not construction. Running a pulp machine doesn't destroy your body.

And a sedentary life at a keyboard could leave one in poor health. Every job has its tradeoffs. I would argue that a job with physical activity is better overall - I'd take joint replacement over heart surgery or diabetes.

You can always exercise with an office job. You can not just sit down in a factory/amazon warehouse/coal mine

"You can always exercise with an office job."

Not in a way that counter acts the effects. Plus, it doesn't address other health issues like eye strain.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/even-with-...

Why so many downvotes?

Because the vast majority of factory work is not backbreaking labor. It typically involves running machines, taking QC measurements, performing maintenance, manning estops, 5s etc. Yes, there are days that suck and they can be exhausting, but most factories don't have days like that very often. Everyone knows the ones that do and it's best to avoid those plants.

So why wouldn't people downvote the person who said the work will destroy your body, or the one who said you can't sit down?

I never said factory work is backbreaking. It can vary greatly by industry, but is generally more active than an software dev job but harder on knees and such. Yes, there are some manufacturing jobs that you just sit at a machine, but many of the machines still need someone to load them, reset them, etc.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com