Career ideas...

Eomer

Eomer

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Khane_sl said:
There are 3 master plumber who are members at my golf club. They are most certainly making well over 120k a year. Somewhere along the line parents in America became convinced their kids were too good for trade school. As a result there is an influx of kids going to college who will never be able to pay off their debt because they just simply don't belong there and are flooding the job market in their respective fields, while there is a shortage of trained, skilled trade workers. This drives up demand for trade workers and inflates their salaries.

2 months ago I had a plumber doing work at my house. He charged something like $225/hr. And that's typical around here.
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Those master plumbers either own their own businesses, or they are fairly high up in large mechanical contracting companies running large crews and job sites, with all the stress and responsibility that comes with it. In the US, the guy coming to fix your faucet I would imagine is probably not making much more than $25-30/hour (if that). Even up here in overheated Alberta where unemployment in the construction trades is in the negatives, journeymen service/residential/commercial plumbers aren't making much more than $35-40/hour plus benefits. Guys working industrial might be upwards of $50. But that still puts you below 100k a year, assuming you're working approximately 2000 hours a year (50 weeks x 40 hours/week).

As far as the plumber that came to your house, first of all you got fucked on the rate (or maybe you live in a very expensive part of the US, not sure how ridiculous things can get in say New York or Los Angeles). Again, even up here residential service work is billed at $100-150/hour. And of that, maybe a third is going to the plumber. Another third is paying for the van he's in and a bunch of other costs, and the final third (give or take) is profit for whoever owns the company.

No question that us assholes who own the plumbing companies do okay. But the grunts on the front lines aren't making much more than 100k a year unless they are working a serious amount of overtime, have a huge amount of responsibility with a large construction company, or own the company. And even getting to that 100k a year point will take 4 to 6 years of hard work. Apprentices start at $15-18/hour here.
 
Eomer

Eomer

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http://www.indeed.com/salary/q-Journ...ed-States.html

http://money.usnews.com/careers/best...plumber/salary

http://www1.salary.com/Plumber-I-Salary.html

The average plumber in the US is making about 50k a year, by the looks of it. More in the more expensive big cities. Only the very best and brightest are going to be making close to or more than 100k a year, and those guys are essentially construction managers by that point, running large crews and responsible for running jobs in the seven to nine figure range.
 
Springbok

Springbok

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Eyashusa_sl said:
Nah man, some of us got a Masters in Social Work because they wanted to change the world and are now miserable and doing everything and anything they can to get out of the non-profit world.
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You poor bastard - my younger sister just finished her Masters in Social Work and has got 2 offers on the table. One was something like $41k a year working with (actual) retards, the other was around $45k a year working with poor black people. Grad school was about $50k... If I wasn't related to her, I'd laugh at her - but it sucks. She's a good person, but the realities of life and $$ have hit her square in the face. Nobody ever got rich being idealistic.

Meanwhile, little brother got a job with a large E&P in Denver making $60k out of college. Degree in English from a small school in Durango, CO. We're all whores to the dollar sign, might as well maximize your potential while you can - even if its in an industry you don't love (and you'd be surprised with how much you can "love" a business once the big money starts rolling in - Shit, I may even grow to love cleaning up other peoples waste if I was doing it for myself and making cheddar).
 
McCheese

McCheese

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Social workers are the most miserable people I've ever known. Which is ironic, because before getting into the field they were so idealistic and upbeat about helping people. Dealing with the dregs of society on a daily basis will do that to you, I guess.
 
S

supertouch_sl

shitlord
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Someone who makes 45 grand a year isn't wealthy by any means, but a single person should be able to comfortably live on that salary anywhere in the U.S.
 
K

kidRiot_sl

shitlord
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Friday_sl said:
Listen. I was a NAVY FMF Corpsman from 2002 until 2010.

Go to your Batallion Aid Station or Clinic or whatever. If you have a Doc buddy, even better. You have the right to check out your medical record for up to 72 hours(?) for a Doctor visit off base. You don't even need a slip. You get that record and tear out everything that you don't want in it. Then enjoy your life.

Me? I'm color blind as fuck and it was in my medical record and it could have jeopardized some parts of my career. Guess who's not color blind anymore. If you ever get asked about high blood pressure or a murmer then shrug it off and grunt like all Marines do.

When you transfer to a civilian you will be screened by your hiring companies and your medical records wont (or don't) have to play any part in your civilian health. Then laugh as you get civilian health insurance that covers it because it wasn't a reported pre-existing condition.

HOWEVER

If you are wanting to claim HBP and Murmers(lol) as a direct result of your time in the Military then you need to leave them in there and I highly suggest speaking with a DOD authorized specialist about what that can net you in %disability and then weigh the pros and cons yourself.

PM me if you want more info. Been out for 3 years now.

[EDIT]

IF your immediate family suffers from shit like stroke=>death or stroke=>retarded from a direct result of high blood pressure (keep in mind that shit is like 250+ systolic) then you should consult a doctor. Taking blood pressure medications at your age has a side effect of causing sterility. You're 25 with a slightly leaky heart valve and above normal blood pressure. Far from a failing healthy individual.

Unless of course your sat% is like constant 80 then don't listen to me.
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Sorry I guess I didn't mention I've been out for a year now...Either way, for that EMT course, I HAD to get a physical, and a whole packet filled out by my Physician. That's when they found the heart murmur. I've always had high blood pressure, but it's funny...I had lower blood pressure when I smoked, almost every damn day in the first year or so in the Corps. Of course the bitch tried to push Pharma's on me, but she knew I wasn't having any of that bullshit.

One of my friends who trains at my gym is an Electrician, and he is rolling in dough. Married with children; Corvette, 3 other vehicles, crotch rocket, moto X, looking into buying a boat.

But I really feel RN is my way to go. I know in the beginning I will be cleaning shit off people, changing bed pans. Whatever, 5 years in the Corp of taking the big green weenie in the ass. Here in the Bay Area, I feel it is a safe career move, also something I have great interest in.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

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Yeah, cost of living varies drastically from place to place. When I was in the bay area I was making $80K a year and living in a 1 bedroom apartment for $1200 a month. Buying even a decent condo would have been double that. My brother in MT was making like 60K and buying a pretty nice house with a huge yard and his mortgage was about the same as my rent. Around here $45K a year is very comfortable for a single guy and even doable for a family.

Also, wages do NOT scale linearly with cost of living. If you're in a small town in the middle of the country you will have a higher standard of living than someone with a similar job and equal amount of experience even though you might make less than your counterpart on the coast. Of course you won't have as many events to go to on the weekend and you won't have as much selection in what restaurant you want to go to for dinner, but you will probably have a bigger house and a nicer car and you won't have to spend an hour in traffic getting to and from work every day or worry about getting shot if you go to the wrong part of town. It's all in what is important to you. Of course it's pretty hard to find jobs in some fields unless you're in a big city, so that is a factor as well.

I would also agree with what others have said about social work. My sister got her bachelor's in psychology and worked in social work and that field is fucking bullshit unless you really have a passion for it. The idea of helping people seems nice until you start doing it and realize that most of the people you are going to be helping are worthless junkie pieces of shit who won't do anything for themselves and won't appreciate anything you do for them. On top of that, with a bachelor's the jobs pay just barely better than minimum wage. She literally could have made more money at McDonald's. She was out of it in less than two years after trying two different jobs and now she works for an optometrist. It doesn't pay much better, but at least she doesn't have to spend time around people who are telling her they're going to kill themselves or someone else every day. One of her clients did kill himself like two weeks after she quit which was pretty horrible for her but only reinforced the idea that she didn't want to be around that anymore. I think the only way to stay in that field is to stop giving a fuck about the people, which kind of defeats most people's purpose in getting into that line of work in the first place.
 
Hachima

Hachima

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Khane_sl said:
IT and super flexible work schedule in the same sentence? Is that some sick joke, trying to troll the kid into thinking he isn't going to have to work late at night and on the weekends? Software Developers can have some flexible work schedules though, that's true.
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I probably worked late less than 10 days over 4+ years. If I ever did work over 40 hours a week I'd get that time off the next week. Not all CS jobs require perma 80+ hour weeks,
 
Fifey

Fifey

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Khane_sl said:
There are 3 master plumber who are members at my golf club. They are most certainly making well over 120k a year. Somewhere along the line parents in America became convinced their kids were too good for trade school. As a result there is an influx of kids going to college who will never be able to pay off their debt because they just simply don't belong there and are flooding the job market in their respective fields, while there is a shortage of trained, skilled trade workers. This drives up demand for trade workers and inflates their salaries.

2 months ago I had a plumber doing work at my house. He charged something like $225/hr. And that's typical around here.
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Eomer pretty much covered it but I am still surprised you believe that the tech sees a good share of the hourly wage charged. My work charges 50/hr and as a tech you make 15/hr flagged, granted it's still not bad if I work 40~ hours I can turn about 50-60 on average(I'm still new'ish, top techs can get close to 100 hours/week when busy) but as I said, it's not big money and it's hard work but I couldn't imagine doing anything else.
 
O

Ortega

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Khane_sl said:
IT and super flexible work schedule in the same sentence? Is that some sick joke, trying to troll the kid into thinking he isn't going to have to work late at night and on the weekends? Software Developers can have some flexible work schedules though, that's true.
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I keep seeing shit like this. I must be really fortunate in the IT jobs I get. Been at my current gig a year where I'm in charge of a 200k equipment budget, make 55k a year with an associates degree, and can do pretty much whatever I want as long as things are progressing and I resolve user issues in a timely manner. Sure I'm not making bank, but a general ed AA isn't anything to write home about and I'm not exactly old at 28. Yes there's an occasional emergency, or late night maintenance/updates, but all the jobs I've encountered more than let you make up for it in comp time.

EDIT
Just to clarify. I'm pretty sure most people put in a IT position like mine for a few months would never even consider being a plumber even if it meant making 80k a year instead of 55k. Constantly on the move and doing dirty/hard work vs playing with new software/tech all day, and getting to come and go as you please, work from home, work from vacation, whatever. I would never give up my flex time. If my girlfriend ends up with Thursday off no big deal as I can take it off and then work Saturday to make up for it, or if I put in overtime last week just take both days off. You aren't going to be doing that as a plumber...
 
Khane

Khane

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Eomer_sl said:
Those master plumbers either own their own businesses, or they are fairly high up in large mechanical contracting companies running large crews and job sites, with all the stress and responsibility that comes with it. In the US, the guy coming to fix your faucet I would imagine is probably not making much more than $25-30/hour (if that). Even up here in overheated Alberta where unemployment in the construction trades is in the negatives, journeymen service/residential/commercial plumbers aren't making much more than $35-40/hour plus benefits. Guys working industrial might be upwards of $50. But that still puts you below 100k a year, assuming you're working approximately 2000 hours a year (50 weeks x 40 hours/week).

As far as the plumber that came to your house, first of all you got fucked on the rate (or maybe you live in a very expensive part of the US, not sure how ridiculous things can get in say New York or Los Angeles). Again, even up here residential service work is billed at $100-150/hour. And of that, maybe a third is going to the plumber. Another third is paying for the van he's in and a bunch of other costs, and the final third (give or take) is profit for whoever owns the company.

No question that us assholes who own the plumbing companies do okay. But the grunts on the front lines aren't making much more than 100k a year unless they are working a serious amount of overtime, have a huge amount of responsibility with a large construction company, or own the company. And even getting to that 100k a year point will take 4 to 6 years of hard work. Apprentices start at $15-18/hour here.
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Well 2 of em work for the other one who owns the company, but they are a small hometown shop and it's only the 3 of them. I mean, you can tell me I got "fucked" on the rate all you want but I called 6 different companies and they were all right around that price. That's just what it costs around here. Plumbers make very good money in my neck of the woods. I mean sure, my evidence is all anecdotal and the average salary being 50k is lower than I expected, but let's be honest, the best and brightest make more money in every single profession out there.
 
Khane

Khane

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Man, I just looked up what the expected hourly wages for Plumbers in the US is and it's even lower than an expected $50k/yr until you're a Plumber III. Why the hell do even the mom and pop shops charge so much in my area?!
 
D

Dabamf_sl

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I know someone who was an RN then went to 2 more years of school to be a nurse anesthetist. He shits out cash now. ~$200k
 
Khane

Khane

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APRN (Nurse Practicitioner like your friend) make very good money.
 
D

DeadAgain!?_sl

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McCheese_sl said:
Social workers are the most miserable people I've ever known. Which is ironic, because before getting into the field they were so idealistic and upbeat about helping people. Dealing with the dregs of society on a daily basis will do that to you, I guess.
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Also to make some inkling of money you need to get your masters or more so not only do you get paid nothing, you have a shit ton of student loans.
 
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prescient

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Khane_sl said:
APRN (Nurse Practicitioner like your friend) make very good money.
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An anesthetist is a CRNA and they get paid significantly more than a nurse practitioner. $200k is on the high side though. So that probably means some overtime or they are in an area where they can't find them. Interestingly the lower the cost of living the more you get paid at hospitals usually because people don't want to be there. My friend's wife is graduating from med school this year. She can go to DC or Chicago and make ~180k or go to the middle of nowhere Kentucky and get closer to ~$280k because they can't get anyone go to there.

I voted middle of nowhere, he quits is job and plays golf all day because that sounds awesome...
 
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