When I graduated from High School in 1962, I quickly learned I had no saleable skill. So I did some research, you know, looking in libraries and such. I enrolled in Boatbuilding School then waited six months for an opening. I then spent a bit over two years learning the basics of the trade. I got my first job as an apprentice earning 65% of base Journeyman pay and delighted to get it. In two more years I was promoted several times to Journeyman (a bit faster than average.) I then spent 35 wonderful years playing with rich men's toys, meeting some millionaires, a few billionaires and finding most of them to be some of the finest men I've ever had the luck to meet. I'm now happily retired and well enough off than I can enjoy it.
I might just take a motorcycle repair class once I'm out of the Army. I'll also be taking a welding course. I need some marketable skills beyond what I've learned in the Army, and I figure the skilled trades are never going to go away.
The only limitation I had in my choice of trade was that it requires living not more than ten or twenty miles from salt water. Not much of a limitation in my case, but shows that thought must be given to choices. Welding and engine repair are excellent choices. Especially if one enjoys them.
Today, I would seriously consider CNC programming and/or machining alongside fabrication and engine repair.
When I graduated from High School in 1962, I quickly learned I had no saleable skill. So I did some research, you know, looking in libraries and such. I enrolled in Boatbuilding School then waited six months for an opening. I then spent a bit over two years learning the basics of the trade. I got my first job as an apprentice earning 65% of base Journeyman pay and delighted to get it. In two more years I was promoted several times to Journeyman (a bit faster than average.) I then spent 35 wonderful years playing with rich men's toys, meeting some millionaires, a few billionaires and finding most of them to be some of the finest men I've ever had the luck to meet. I'm now happily retired and well enough off than I can enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI might just take a motorcycle repair class once I'm out of the Army. I'll also be taking a welding course. I need some marketable skills beyond what I've learned in the Army, and I figure the skilled trades are never going to go away.
ReplyDeleteThe only limitation I had in my choice of trade was that it requires living not more than ten or twenty miles from salt water. Not much of a limitation in my case, but shows that thought must be given to choices. Welding and engine repair are excellent choices. Especially if one enjoys them.
ReplyDeleteToday, I would seriously consider CNC programming and/or machining alongside fabrication and engine repair.