Worker of tomorrow

Some of you know that I built decks and fences to help afford college. Being the first in my family to attend college was a big honor for me - and I used every break from school to work. I had the great opportunity to work for a small fence and deck building company, and I learned several "truths" from my time building decks. First, it is common to bleed once per day. It's the nature of working with wood, nails, saws, being outside, etc... We wore some PPE to protect us, but nicks and cuts were very common. It was also your own safe (or not safe) actions that would prove 'how much' you would bleed in that given day. Second, you had to drink a LOT of water. Work like this is back breaking, and hydration was key (and, most of this work was during the summer for me). Third, you need humor to get through the day. If you can't laugh at a silly mistake, or see the lighter side of something --- it makes the days go by more slowly. Lastly, I learned it's not easy to find a sense of accomplishment in many of our careers and our day-to-day. But, please go out and build a deck with your own bare hands... When you stop and look at what your blood, sweat and tears have built --- it's a tremendous feeling.

I worked with a man named Evan, the owner of the small company. He is one of the most wise people that I have ever met. I was reminiscing today about some of the decks and fences we built, and the life lessons that I learned while working for Evan. I can recall many times that we built an entire deck in a single day.... (sleeping very good those nights). In between carrying a stack of deck boards on our shoulders, we would sit and talk about the future. We predicted, back then, that people that have trade skills --- people that use their own hands to make a living --- will eventually be in more demand than in the past. An expert in carpentry, for example, is not something that can be easily automated. The future workers are not trying to become deck builders or car mechanics, so we felt there would become a shortage.

The intent of my message is this... If you're young and want to know where your career will head -- you can do a lot worse than pushing yourself in the direction of a trade like carpentry, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, masonry, etc... When you move throughout your career and gain an expertise, it is something that cannot be taken from you. Looking into the future with more robotics, drones, the Internet of Things, and automation growing rapidly - we will need more people that can fix all kinds of stuff.

Josh