A dream of mine would be to setup a hostel of sorts, with an area for camping, a cafe, maybe food trucks in the summer?, surf/climbing options nearby and perhaps a partnership with schools/guides.
And the main thing: a big hangar to work on campervan conversions, with a ton of tools available and some staff supervision. The idea being that you bring your van, pay some sort of membership/one-time fee and work on it, with our help.
Perhaps do some in-house conversions for clients, but that would be just a side business to help keep things going.
Just an FYI, but if it’s at an airfield, the FAA can come after you if you don’t also use it for some kind of aviation. I forget the exact wording, but it’s basically to help protect hangar prices for people who fly.
Don't know if Tim has retired, but was a ton of fun to stay there:
As a software developer, I get by with a combination of Adderall / Vyvance, software tests, and the freedom to take a day off if I'm feeling particularly flaky.
But I'd imagine that doesn't work with e.g. industrial / commercial electrical work. Partly because schedules assume you're rarely out sick, and partly because making a mistake can kill you or other people.
Especially considering the restaurant industry is exhausting. Have a few friends who are chefs and they do genuinely enjoy it and are passionate. not sure if I could do that though.
But then again, you can try your luck at the creator lottery with any other topic as well.
But as another commenter said, making a youtube channel or something of the sort could be a great idea - but no sure profits.
And going to culinary school is an absolute pleasure - I highly recommend it for your own knowledge only.
I’ve wondering about going into PLC programming, a couple different science/engineering fields. Hell I’d think about joining the NOAA Corp if I didn’t want to keep my hair.
Like we had uniformed service branch I had no idea existed.
Wow.
But I already spend a lot of time doing board game design and used to be better about writing. I can do both to an extent without a computer, but I can type a lot faster and with less stress on my hands than with pen and paper, and at some point with board games I have to do graphic design, design/type up a manual, sell sheets, how to play videos, a Tabletop Simulator version (so publishers can test with their teams, that are often not all local anymore, or so I can utilize online playtest groups), and that's just for me pitching the game to a publisher, I'm not even manufacturing the game.
So ideally I'd probably be doing board game design supplemented with writing. Although it's super difficult to make good money with those (not impossible, but very difficult).
I just read a tweet this morning from a pretty well known game designer in the hobby board game industry (Jonny Pac), and he made $22k doing it full-time last year (and $10k! the previous year). And his business and travel expenses were $10k (you have to go to a lot of conventions to network and pitch to publishers if you want a decent chance at having your games signed), so he netted $12k last year[1].
So yeah, don't choose board game design if you care about making money to support your family.
[1]: https://twitter.com/jpaccantin/status/1647455444884156417
I would probably go back to some aspect of geology. Part of me still misses it (though, my previous jobs were less glamorous: environmental consultant helping to do environmental remediation on land that people wanted to build McMansions on).
If it could be absolutely anything, prior experience or not: definitely wood working. I don’t know which side of a saw to use, but I’d love to learn.
Once you get the hang of making base kefir, which is like a drinkable yogurt, you can get into advanced applications like straining it greek yogurt style or using the kefir to quickstart other fermentations like sourdough or bokashi- most fermentations are lactobacillus or yeast, and kefir gets you a pretty reliable DIY source of a liquid containing both. Get great at making kefir, and you can use it to power a lot of highly marketable and unique products that can easily be marked up way higher than the cost of the milk that goes into them.
Hmm, maybe I should be keeping this idea to myself? Oh well, competition makes a healthy market.
But I like carrying somewhat-heavy stuff. I bet I could get really into masonry. I've loved building e.g. short retaining walls out of landscaping bricks. The historical-restoration side could get delightfully nerdy and bookish. I've enjoyed tiling when I've done it, except for all the time on the ground, which masonry would have a bit less of. So masonry's probably what I'd try first.
The worst part is the money... but it's not all about money, right?? :-)
Just trying to understand: when you say "make my schedule Fri-Mon as much as possible", is that for your 'primary' computer-y job or your moonlighting piloting job? How you do prevent conflicts?
Can you 'dictate' the availability for your pilot job? Wouldn't airlines want people that were reliably available rather than 'part-timers'? Or do they like having a pool of 'spares' to fill in gaps for short notice unavailability?
Also if Union gives you work a large amount goes to them. So a lot of people don't go through them.
Nobody mentioned YouTuber yet. Hate to be the “old man shakes fist at cloud” but the world is changing. My friends kids are in middle school and they have to say what they want to be when they grow up. The list is like: president, firefighter, YouTuber.
If I could manage making less money I would probably do gardening.
I hope work will be more fun when I work fewer hours and I will also be able to fill my social needs and spend time in nature.
I've also got a side hustle 3d printing some of the discontinued small plastic parts like brake hose guides and fork guard guides for vintage motorcycles and ATCs so that would very likely expand.
Already doing it (to a limited degree) for my hobby electronics projects, e.g. to make custom heatsinks.
I imagine any role in the service industry must be way more stressful than most IT gigs.
Post covid things were crazy but hoping it will be normal by end of this year.
I'm decent enough with my hands and have the patience and mindset to figure things out so that's no problem, but there's not too many other things that offer comparable compensation without considerable credentials and/or field experience.
Ignoring pay, if I had the resources required I guess I'd just throw things against the wall and see what sticks. I spent a lot of my teens and early 20s sketching on paper, so maybe a good starting point would be to pick that skill up and polish it to marketability.
Plus it would give me a lot more time to spend with her and our daughter, which I don't get nearly enough of right now.
If you have a family already then getting into the funeral director industry is safe, well-paid and will be around forever.
The people who pick up corpse parts on train tracks are paid very well and it needs no education.
Lol I have a friend looking for work, I'll make the suggestion.
I quite enjoy woodworking, but I don't know how feasible it would be to turn that into a career.
Edit: autocorrect
I'd imagine that depends on where you teach. My sister is a public-school science teacher in a U.S. city, and it's been a horrible experience.
She has very little control over the curriculum, and some students are so disruptive that the rest of the class learns little.
Can you just politely ask them to… go away? My high school teacher did this and it was very pleasant for us that actually wanted to learn.
I presume it was pleasant for the disruptors too since they always seemed more than happy to spend an hour doing something pointless instead.
You can ask. When one of them threatened to kill her, the school administration kindly moved him to another classroom in the same hallway.
But it's nearly impossible to get these students expelled, even for criminal threat.
(One person I know became a middle school teacher at a public school and described it as “easy” compared to her previous job, which was informal education. There is a lot of variability in this profession.)
I prioritized handmade in the US. I live in shoes like this, so I was OK spending more for quality with the later ability for refurbishing/resoling.
Quite an art.
I'd be interested in applying specialized robotics automation to e.g. hydroponic grow systems or residential/commercial environmental controls or something like that too.
When you factor in unpaid oncall and unpaid overtime, many programmers are in the same boat.
But even as a hobby, it's a good gateway to DIY, and that's a good gateway to actual trades, and you can make serious money, plumbing, roofing and general maintenance.
In your place? Electrician.
Sooner or later I will have my own CNC mill to play with in my garage.
I would start by making a little zipper bag, then pajamas, then whatever interests you. Maybe t-shirts because it's so cool to make a t-shirt out of a unique fabric. But they can be tricky.
The instructor will help you learn the patterns and techniques. And with someone helping you its less frustrating in the beginning.
Eventually you learn the techniques and then it becomes all about the creativity and craft. Im telling you, this hobby pays dividends. I hope you enjoy it!
One thing to remember is that commercial garments are usually certain types of fabrics for a reason. So when you break the rules you really gotta know what you are doing. Just like business ;D
And civil engineering. That seems like it’s always beneficial.
Anecdote:
I live in Florida. A years ago, when I was starting to get my foothold in computer security and cryptography, several of my friends began transitioning from minimum-wage restaurant work to working in HVAC. (For installs, piece work is better than hourly.)
Even as a helper, their wages rose from $9/hour (dish pit) to $300 per install (typically one install per day, sometimes two if they're smaller jobs), which for a typical 8 hour shift is congruent to about $37/hour. Most days, they left at or just before dawn but were home for lunch, which is 4-5 hours. (Occasionally they'd have a late evening, but most homeowners and gated communities don't like workers staying past 5 PM.)
Last year (almost to the day), my friends started their own HVAC company. (They would have sooner, but you need four years of supervised work to even qualify for the state certification test.) They drew enough business to be self-sustaining in their first quarter. (Remember, though, this is Florida; I don't imagine the same demand would be felt in Alaska.)
The secret sauce to running a successful HVAC company in a state with a warm climate is surprisingly simple, and the bar is very low: Don't be a scumbag.
Don't try to sell people things they don't actually need, especially a unit when their existing one doesn't need replacing. Often, they encounter customers that need a new capacitor (less than $200 of parts and labor) or a drain line cleaned for a 3 year old air conditioner, but other companies wanted them to fork over $10,000 for a new unit.
More bluntly: Don't be a Louis Bruno. https://winknews.com/2022/07/05/state-reaches-a-deal-with-br...
It's depressing but the most basic business ethics put you in a class of your own compared to a lot of your competition, but that's the world today. (There are some obvious comparisons to other, more white-collar industries here, of course.)
Trust is the currency of every business, whether they realize it or not. There are fertile lands waiting to be tilled in this respect. Having integrity has a high up-front cost (harder sales pitches), but is better in the long-term for your community.
This is all to say: If I had to leave my computer job, I'd study HVAC and work with my friends. (I helped get their business off the ground, as their only investor, so I'd already be more than welcome.)
There are a lot of technical blue collar jobs out there (and not all are hard on your body like construction).
It's important work; everyone needs running water, electricity, and running toilets. Everyone in cold climates needs a viable way to heat their home. Everyone in warm climates needs a viable way to cool their home. Many people need both.
- gardening
- assembling lego for Legoland