Which majors would be best for future jobs?

SIL wanted desperately to be a welder. Finally went to a trade school and got his welding certificate...and then had to quit welding just a couple years later...the vapor made him too ill to work as a welder.

Mon

What Country Doc said.

I'm 41 and all beat to hell from the weld and fab business for the past 20+ years.

In fact, I'm nursing a stiched up wrist that got laid open last week when an 8" grinder got away from me.

Everybody and their dog is either a welder or carpenter. Go for the CNC, especially if you are good with math and computers, it will open up doors in many different types of industries and areas of the country.

Best of luck to you.........

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"...if only men were granted absolute freedom, and compelled to obey no-one, would they then associate themselves in the common good."

Another vote for CNC with welding running second. Factory jobs are moving overseas but of the factory work that is here, I see a lot for CNC-related positions.

/VM

Of all the trades, I think electrician is the cleanest and least toxic, and you never have to work in the rain! They make great money and never seem to be out of work. It is not as strenuous as carpentry. Carpenters lose their knees and shoulders, and often their hearing from the nailguns and saws, and have to work outside in less than ideal weather when necessary -- and when they can't work because of weather, they can't earn. And they get to fall off roofs now and again. I've known a number of people who have had to quite welding because of the toxic fumes: it's no joke.

Electricians also seemed to be the more intelligent of the tradesmen. Plumbers also make ridiculously good money and are always in demand, although it requires grubbing around in mud and skanky basements and dealing with sewage. Messy job, but very well paid for the skills involved.

I wouldnt do any of them if I were you. Lots better choices out there. Carpentry or the framing type you should learn in the feild and get paid while you learn. But its a crap job for a decent pay.....but you will be physicaly used up by the time you are 40.

Welding is good, but only if you sepcialize in something like underwater welding. Otherwise, there a million welders and its not training that will decide your pay, but how hard you work and how talented a buisnessman you are. You wont have a unique skill, so what would make you rise above the mass of welders would be your ability to grow a buisness...not a welding cert.


CNC. The best of the three, but much manufacturing is going overseas and you will do just OK at best. I worked for a year in a cnc and screw machine shop. On the bright side, the loud noise wont hurt your hearing!



If you want to do carpentry trades, custom finish and stair building type carpentry is where the big money is. Dont waste your time in school if building of some sort is where you choose. Heck, start a tile laying biz and you will have a nice life and can start tomorow. If I wanted to get back into building trades, I could open a tile biz and a kitchen and bath biz and be making six figures before long.


If you are going to go to school. learn a real trade like plumbing or electrical or hvac. Nobody wants to dedicate themselves to getting licensed, so you will be wealthy if you are smart and work hard in those fiields. I cant see that happening with the three you asked about.



Im a believer that you get paid what your worth. Smart, deicated and hard working people will always do well. You cant fail if you have those traits. Most folks dont have all three though.


Considering your disability, Machine shop production work would be easiest for you. Very little communication there and lets face it....that would be a plus. But I dont think it would be a major challenge in any of the trades I suggested.

Myself, I'd go with the welding. Then head to Alberta, Canada. Work on the pipelines for a few years then head back home and do whatever you'd like after that. Start ur own small welding shop or go to work for and existing shop, all that with a nice healthy bank account to fall back on.

Of your choices, I would go with the CNC machining. I would learn all I could about becoming a manual machinist as well. I live in a small community and a local company stays busy doing machining work for the local farmers.
Electrician isn't bad either. I started out entry level with nothing more than high school level classes and was trained on the job. I did three phase motor control and commercial wiring and learned everything on the job. I did that for seven years and transitioned to a electrical maintenance position at a local university.
But first and foremost, just make sure that it is something that you will enjoy doing.

Building trades are rapidly being taken over by immigrants, and suppliers are working overtime to develop materials that take no skill to assemble. So I would not recommend any building trade. Factory work, even CNC, is being shipped to other countries as fast as possible, so that is a dying field. Welding might go on because that is such a basic need that you can make an income even if the factories all close.

I think the gun smithing suggestion is a winner. It's very basic, always needed, and you can be self employed if you so choose. Car repair is pretty reliable, but bookish. If you don't mind books, you might as well get a degree in business management.

But you seem to prefer manual work. Go into gun smithing.

If you're completely open to ideas, I'd suggest considering nursing or veterinary school. There are tons of ads for nurses here but nothing else is hiring. I have to drive over an hour to get to the closest vet, and they only do pets - not livestock.

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Our homestead-in-the-making: Palazzo Rospo
Eating the dream

Vet school..no can do. Not exactly interested in biology or advanced mathematics since my weak area is math. I believe I can pass shop math but not the advanced ones. Was thinking of ag or ranch management but really what can you get with that kind of degree since nobody that I know actually owns a farm/ranch.

Gunsmithing...what schools are best for this and how long does it take to be one? When I was very into buckskinning, I thought about making my own muzzleloader. Maybe it's time for me to go back into buckskinning, lol.

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Ted H

You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas.
-Davy Crockett

http://www.trinidadstate.edu/certifi...smithCert.html
A teacher at the university I work at sent his son to this school to learn gunsmithing. I know a couple of other people who are going here as well.

Had one of my welder patients in today. He is 21 and does deep water welding of drilling rigs in the gulf. He told me he has made $130,000 so far this year.

I didn't think of this before but you might like to peruse the Occupational Outlook Handbook at http://www.bls.gov/oco/

You can search for careers you're interested in and it will tell you all kinds of info - training/education needed, if the job market is growing, shrinking, how much it pays, what a typical day is like, other fields you might be interested in... all kinds of info.

They didn't have any results when I searched for "gunsmith" "gun smith" "smith" or "smithy" but "welder" brought up some information. http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos226.htm

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Our homestead-in-the-making: Palazzo Rospo
Eating the dream

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Keep in mind, Wichita is the mecca for airplane manufacturing so cnc maching and welding are very much in demand here but I am not sure if I want to work in a boom and bust enviroment. I do know some deaf people who have been working for the manufacturing making $23-30 bucks an hour so I consider that pretty good!

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Ted H

You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas.
-Davy Crockett

Anything in the medical field or the education field. Always jobs in both fields. Always.