It seems that young people thinking of their future have skilled trade careers at the bottom of their list. A poll shows that incoming college students do not care much for skilled trade careers. Some of the reasons for this mentality are very few choices of specialization and ventures, low salary and lack of respect from counterparts.
As a matter of fact, these are nothing but myths commonly held even now.
Thos who believe that there are few choices of trades to specialize in are those who have the image of tradesman as nothing else but a plumber, a carpenter, a mechanic, or an electrician. The reality is that there are more than just those previously mentioned. Some of these are: Construction tradesmen who could work as heavy machinery operators, plumbers, metal experts, welders, electricians and pipefitters. There are also trades in Manufacturing such as industrial mechanics and metal fabricators and Service trades such as chefs, florists, hospitality experts and horticulturalists. And of course, there are Transportation trades such as aviation and automotive technicians and service providers.
Skilled tradesmen actually have little problems earning a decent wage, making more than the average starting accountant. Don’t believe it? You have to. The average tradesman earns at least forty thousand dollars. Compare that to most jobs. Moreover, the increasing of infrastructures being developed, planned and put up has generated a demand for skilled tradesmen. Building a single infrastructure, for instance, would employ a number of workers. A nuclear plant would need as much as ten or more electricians.
Moreover, learning a skill or a trade is much easier than other careers requiring four-year bachelor’s degrees. Acquiring a trade takes lesser time because of the many vocational and short-courses offered around. Another beauty of skilled trade careers is the idea of “apprenticeship”. Apprenticeship entails learning your trade, much like internship programs of other bachelor’s degrees, with the difference being in that apprentices are actually paid for their time in learning.
As for respect, or the lack of it, that some people worry about, there really is little problem. It really depends on which aspect emphasis is put on. The truth is, skilled tradesmen play important and crucial roles to the development and improvement of the society in general, mainly because tradesmen are everywhere and are inevitably part of every aspect of society – they fix our cars, they make our cars, they cook our food, they provide light and electricity, they fix the roads, and the list goes on.
