Ask HN : What would you do if you had to switch to a "manual" job?
It includes every job that a computer is not (or almost) used.
I've also had a hankering for owning my own sub shop at the beach. Walk up in your bare feet, place an order, and minutes later I've created something that makes you happy. I get to wear whatever I want, and the scenery is gorgeous.
That would be cool were it true, but the fact is that all construction work nowadays requires a ton of equipment, stonemasonry included.
Soooooo.... The manual job for me would have been an Electrician. I have friends that chose this route and are doing very well for themselves now. Good pay, make your own hours, potential to start your own business, etc. Manual labor in my opinion is extremely underrated, especially when it comes to trade related work. College is pushed so hard to high schoolers these days, that nobody considers alternative paths. Just like earning a college degree, I think you can lead a good life and possibly become extremely successful applying your skills to learning a trade.
Will: I wanna be a shepherd.
Sean: Really.
Will: I wanna move up to Nashua, get a nice little spread, get some sheep and tend to them.
Even though I can command pretty good wages, it's often worth an afternoon, for example, to swap out the rotors and break pads on my car. I'm almost earning enough to pay for it, but when you consider that the money comes out post tax, it still makes sense for me to do it myself. Besides, it's interesting and almost relaxing. And it means that I make superior decisions as to when I need to replace the thing, too. (it also means I can economically own a much nicer car than otherwise; at one point I had a used bmw 325Is. having a professional swap out the breaks was north of a grand, or maybe 1/4th that in parts to do yourself. Luxury cars cost a lot more to repair, and as far as I can tell, it's a 'because we can' fee- it was actually much easier to work on the BMW than to work on the nissan I currently drive. Assuming you have the right documentation, that is. there was always a 'trick' that made what you were doing really easy on the BMW. Pay extra for the Bentley publishing manual, if you have a BMW. the Chilton brand 'book of lies' is not worth the paper it is printed on.)
On the other hand, I usually pay others to, for instance, change the oil. It's usually cheap, and it's pretty messy to do in the driveway.
My father-in-law makes and gives away enough that he's probably violating a few laws about liquor distribution.
He's from Eastern Europe and everyone he knew made wine. It's amazing how interesting his wine tastes compared to the bottled variety. No sulfites, no ingredients other than grapes.
It tastes best about 9 months after it was created and goes south after about a year. The craziest thing, though, is that at about month 12 it starts to sparkle a little. Nothing serious like Champaign, but a bit of tingle on the tongue (and it hits you a little quicker imo).
There's only a few downsides:
1) Fruit flies. Oh man. It's bad. When I assisted him last year the first stage of filtering, we poured the waste out and it looked like half of it was dirt... except the dirt was moving. He does it in his garage so for about three months there's a thin layer of flies over everything in there and enough get into the house to make it sufficiently annoying.
2) Pressing is hard work and the amount that he makes, just about every other step in the process is very tedious. Part of that is because he refuses to use anything resembling modern equipment. It's all hard labour.
3) The temptation to turn the wine into Brandy always looms. Which is a great idea and produces fantastic truly snifter worthy brandy, but also runs the risk of burning your house down.
It's worth it though. Even the labour, since in the end you have natures best pain killer as your reward.
When I was growing up, people would ask me what my Dad did. The conversation usually went like this:
"What's your old man do for a living?"
"He's a farrier." Of course, no one ever knew what that was, so then I would elaborate:
"He shoes horses."
"He SHOOTS horses?!!??! WTF?!!"
That's actually why my first girlfriend broke up with me. She thought I was the offspring of some sort of equine mass-murderer. Killing ponies always goes over big with the ladies ;-) She had a new boyfriend by the time we cleared up the misunderstanding.
Large House Blend $2.00. Bagel and Cream Cheese $1.49. Handing someone a cup of coffee and seeing that smile on their face, Priceless.
There are some jobs you get just for the money. For everything else, there is Barista.
I think I'd do something like BBQ probably through some kind of catering situation.
Really makes me wish I had more time to work with Habitat for Humanity.
But yes, very rewarding. You can actually see the work. People in the town stop and comment on how much better it looks. Everyone can tell if a house looks better, but not many can tell if a website has a better architecture.
I know a guy who was a superstar networking engineer in the 90s, who now is a wildlands firefighter. But it's not like he left all his problems behind in computing -- there are still politics and other workplace frustrations.
I could totally see myself going into cars, though, if I was born a century earlier. That would have been really interesting.
Load up 20-40 tourists on the catamaran (based on the size), and charge them something like $40-50 each.
Costs (other than the boat itself and local fees/taxes) would be a crew of 2 or 3, food and booze, and whatever cut the local resorts get for referrals.
Biggest challenge would likely be to make sure the tourists don't get too drunk and fall overboard. (seen it happen once, the captain wasn't pleased).
I'd guess the oboe as the next least popular, but that's probably just because of the joke.
What's the difference between an oboe and a bassoon? The bassoon burns faster.
The instrument itself plays differently from anything else in an orchestra. It really is a bizarre instrument. And it's an absolute riot to play. The double reed, woody sound, and enormous four-octave range make playing the bassoon a really unique endeavor. The instrument is built out of tune with itself. It takes a certain kind of... distinctive individual to really connect with the instrument. Ask any concert musician - they'll nod and grin when you mention those odd bassoonists.
The closest instrument I can think of in terms of rarity and unusualness is the French Horn. It's really the odd duck of the brasswinds. French hornists are a little more common than bassoonists, but then most instrumentations call for a few more horn players.
Man, this has been a trip down memory lane. What might have been....?
Also trying to save the world for my kids, but that might end up being a virtual effort so I'm not sure I can list it.
Just took a great course (for the second time in 9 years) from the Heartwood School (heartwoodschool.com), with my second son (first son the first time).
We built a two-story 24' x 28' craft shop in 4 days and raised on the fifth.
Highly recommended.
We also built a timber-frame small horse barn at our farm back in 2000 with some itinerant framer help (well, they did the bulk of the work, since they had the experience). Great time, with a 200-person barn raising, big get-together, bonfire, etc.
Or a chef :)
I'm actually working on all 3 right now, hoping to switch in the future.
There's a line running to the faucet, containing hot water. Near the faucet, this line splits and one of them continues to the faucet while the other one goes back to the heater where its contents are pumped into the heater. This keeps the water near the faucet warm. There are other methods for that, but that one is common. And because the pipes are too tight for that flow, there's cavitation at bends inside the pipe, which destroys it over time.
But if he did, it would not cavitate. If you have observed shorter life in the joints near those pumps, it is because the pipe corrode faster there because they are always at a higher temperature, just as the hot water outlet on a water heater always corrodes before the cold water inlet.
A long time ago I was trained as a commercial oceangoing ship's officer. Now I live on a small farm in a landlocked state and I miss the ocean more frequently in recent years.
But I still think the guys on "Deadliest Catch" are insane...
I'm surprisingly good at teaching, but I would go on a killing rampage if I worked under typical education administrators. Maybe private tutoring or an alt-education job.
Being an electrician looks like an awesome career too, though I have no relevant skills.
- My back hurt less and I was generally in better shape when I had a job that involved standing for the majority of the day.
- When the dominating factor of your job is smiling at and being smiled at all day, I think it'd be hard to leave work in a bad mood.
Or a teacher, a storyteller, or any number of other professions?
Is life so bad without computers that death is really an option?
Maybe I'm weird, but I've loved almost every form of work I've done; the politics and management haven't always been great, but for the most part, the work itself has always been enjoyable... and that goes for everything from fast food and mounting tires on cars, to drywall, to writing software and building robust networks.
1. Alpine skiing instructor, while training to eventually become a mountain guide.
2. Chef. Probably specializing in pastries. I love cooking, but I'd need to go to culinary school before I could do it for a living.
It's hard work, but very potentially rewarding. And I've never seen a gym employee stressed before.
I would be a general contractor and sub-contract the work I wasn't an expert at.
I have a lot of experience doing repair work and would enjoy the varied tasks.
EDIT: In terms of self-improvement. Hated every minute of it, though. :)
There is an old orchard that I have been visiting for years. Every hour it it is bliss.
May your branches always be heavily laden.
It's easy to forget we work to live, we don't live to work.