Hacker News Reader

Comment by HEmanZ | Hacker News Reader

I don’t think anyone idealizes those kind of physical labor jobs. Usually “the trades” is much more skilled manual labor: plumbing, hvac, welding, specialized mechanic work and repair, woodworking/carpentry, etc.

No one says people should want a life of a mover, meatpacker, or ditch digger.

View on HN

There are various levels of 'suck' along a spectrum, but many of the trades you listed are no picnic, especially when you're low man on the totem pole. HVAC work involves hauling heavy equipment that has sharp edges and spending good chunks of time in hot attics or dank crawlspaces. Most carpenters aren't boutique craftsman of expensive furniture; they are straddling joists holding a heavy nail gun above their head for hours. Plumbing...well, I think you can imagine the unpleasant jobs there.

It's easy to only look at the top level workers: owners that have young guys to boss around and/or tradesman that have built enough reputation/savings to decline jobs they don't want.

None of this is to say the skilled trades can't be a great career. The work is usually honest, rewarding, and a good mix of mental and physical. Most tradesman are able to work on their own house/car or they have buddies that will help for cheap (and reciprocity). I'm sure many would trade places with the upper tier paid software engineers in a heartbeat, however.

I think that's a cultural thing.

In Australia, trade workers are very highly paid and generally very well respected in society (even day labourers).

In fact many envy 'tradies' as they're called, because they can outearn white-collar workers pretty easily.

I believe there was a comment on here earlier about how surfer tradies were the preferred partners of female doctors.

By surfer do you just mean "a tradesperson who surfs for fun", or is there a slang meaning there?

Literally tradespeople that surf when the breaks are good.

Good job, good income, fit and healthy.

The idea that plumbers/hvac/welders etc don't have physical wear and tear is also a myth that needs dispelled.

Indeed, I've talked to a number of 20-something tradespeople in these fields and many of them already have back problems. I think if you go into the trades, you need to plan your career carefully and plan on stepping into management or business ownership by the time you reach middle age. They are hard jobs.

One old timer welder once told me there's a good reason you don't see many people like him (old welders).

The end of Office Space did. Not that the ending was too serious a take, but I think there was at least a little sincerity to the idea that physical labor might be more enjoyable than a desk job for some people.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com