Twenty-One years in the building automation business, I would highly recommend to young folks. Great pay and its only going to get bigger as people want to find ways to save energy dollars.
I did a lot of that but my eyesight is gone. I tried just terminating an end a few years ago. I couldn't even see the fiber when I stripped it. I have spent many an hour doing the figure eight.
Can’t believe no one said Firefighter going on 7 years. Good pay, schedule and retirement. Plus it’s fun and you will get fulfillment out of most things you are able to do.
I would have guessed you owned a appliance store. Lol
What I tell everyone asking the question from the OP is to chose the trades if they have no direction about engineering or so on with a degree.
I went to college right after High School with a wife that was pregnant working 40 hours and couldn’t keep up with the federal requirement to stay out of the military draft. Received a draft notice to report to the military, taking that letter to a recruiter unopened and went to a tech school for electronics.
After a year deployment got selected to instal satellite communication around SE Asia and Australia while still military to replace the undersea cables in use at the time .
Finishing up that, back in civilian life drove a semi for a year cross country because my FIL ran that businesses.
Bored at that job got a job with a company that pioneered oil exploration with vibrosize electronics.
Basically big trucks with huge plates under them that shook the ground creating reflection of the strata underneath to see if oil can be drilled for.
We built the electronics with another company building the trucks.
Then moved to Industrial Maintenance on the instrumentation and control maintenance systems with another company.
Worked at the apprentice level doing 50-60 hour weeks while doing 2 hour classes at the local votech in the evenings.
Most businesses require a degree for that job but got in at OG&E for time and votec served.
Overtime in that profession is mandatory. Lots of overtime.
Sometimes one doesn’t make it out the front gate before getting a phone call that your required back in the plant.
Worked around 900 hours overtime each year in 2002 and 2004 doing major plant technical Overhauls converting the plants from analog to digital controls. 250 hours per year is normal.
Overtime pays big bucks so I never refused a call out.
40 hour money paid the bills.
Overtime money went into the retirement account starting in my 20’s never to be touched.
Retirement is good now. Didn’t squander money on stupid things over the years.
Lived well with no regrets
People tend to live above their means to impress peers.
I went to college right after High School with a wife that was pregnant working 40 hours and couldn’t keep up with the federal requirement to stay out of the military draft. Received a draft notice to report to the military, taking that letter to a recruiter unopened and went to a tech school for electronics.
After a year deployment got selected to instal satellite communication around SE Asia and Australia while still military to replace the undersea cables in use at the time .
Finishing up that, back in civilian life drove a semi for a year cross country because my FIL ran that businesses.
Bored at that job got a job with a company that pioneered oil exploration with vibrosize electronics.
Basically big trucks with huge plates under them that shook the ground creating reflection of the strata underneath to see if oil can be drilled for.
We built the electronics with another company building the trucks.
Then moved to Industrial Maintenance on the instrumentation and control maintenance systems with another company.
Worked at the apprentice level doing 50-60 hour weeks while doing 2 hour classes at the local votech in the evenings.
Most businesses require a degree for that job but got in at OG&E for time and votec served.
Overtime in that profession is mandatory. Lots of overtime.
Sometimes one doesn’t make it out the front gate before getting a phone call that your required back in the plant.
Worked around 900 hours overtime each year in 2002 and 2004 doing major plant technical Overhauls converting the plants from analog to digital controls. 250 hours per year is normal.
Overtime pays big bucks so I never refused a call out.
40 hour money paid the bills.
Overtime money went into the retirement account starting in my 20’s never to be touched.
Retirement is good now. Didn’t squander money on stupid things over the years.
Lived well with no regrets
People tend to live above their means to impress peers.
Good pay and job security. They get a lot of grief but engineers have the cat by the tail.
Only cause you beat me to it rookie.
I graduated high school in 1975. Ten days after graduation I was in Air Force basic training. I was a fire protection crash/rescue specialist. When I left active duty I returned to Oklahoma City and joined the fire department.
On my days off I drove an ambulance for two years. After that I was a police officer for another city until 2000 when I was promoted and went to the Fire Marshals Office. I retired in 2007 with a little over 31 years of combined fire service.
I got certified after two years of training at TTC. The CNC side will have the most demand, I wanted the old school manual stuff. With straight As and a great work record, that will put you in as a floor sweeper, as real machine shops tend to want you to apprentice as a new guy.
The CNC training will get you a better paycheck quicker. If one sticks with the conventional machining and becomes an expert, the pay is much better, and there is always demand.
CNC programming is a good option as well - more interesting than just listening to your machine run.
I don’t like lung cancer. Firefighting == higher risk of cancer.
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