The Trades Are Really Good Career Options

A while back I ran across an article that talked about the severe shortage of workers in the skilled trades - pipefitters, carpenters, electricians, welders, etc. I have seen some evidence that supports this claim at a local shipyard in the area where I live, which has job openings to be filled but can't find enough workers with the right skills to fill these roles. The claims aren't hype; they're real.

Though I didn't save the article to share here, the shortage was generally attributed to two main causes: 1. a growing number of skilled trade workers who are hitting (or will be hitting) retirement age; 2. the glamour of a college education and the corresponding push for kids to go to college to get a "good job". Statistics may vary a bit and some experts may debate the precise shortage of skilled workers but generally speaking talk of a shortage seems to be true in the United States.

I think this is a shame. We must do more to help close this gap if we expect to keep ourselves competitive on the global economic stage. Sure, we need bright minds but we need people who can take ideas and turn them into stuff - really cool, cutting-edge tangible stuff.

I'm on my second career. Before I became a communications professional, I was a master plumber in Wisconsin. (Yeah, huge change) I chose the trade because a friend I worked with many years ago, Troy, was preparing to become a plumbing apprentice and it sounded interesting to me. The job I had at the time wasn't the kind to support a family and if I wasn't going to college, I figured a trade was the next best option to earn a good living. (I left the profession to go back to college because I realized I still wasn't working in a job I loved.)

We all need to be Troy to someone who may be wandering around in school or life, not knowing what career they want to choose. The trades are respectable careers and we need to help people of all ages see that. They're not for people who can't hack it in college and need something else to bring home a decent paycheck. My plumbing apprenticeship lasted for four years and included on-the-job and classroom training. I took a state certification test before I could work as a licensed professional. When I look back, I learned more critical thinking skills in that four year training program than many college programs will give us. Some of the brightest people I have ever known worked with me on those construction sites.

The United States grew and prospered in part because of our manufacturing and industrial base. Granted, times have changed but there is still plenty of need for workers who can build a hospital, rewire a house, or weld the plates that become an ocean-going ship. The trades can't survive if Americans don't stop treating them as a second-best career option for people who aren't going anywhere in life. There is still plenty of respect to be heaped on a true professional that just happens to like working with their mind and their hands.