So my life plan has kinda fallen apart lately and I find myself thinking about picking up a trade.
Background information. I'm almost 25, very little shop experience, over the past year have gotten into DIY stuff for fun but am still a amateur. Pretty much was planning on going back to uni in September, but just got fucked out of a large sum of cash and am starting to think going to school until I am 31-32 and ending up in $80,000 or more in debt isn't a good idea. That I should just move on with my life and find work that pays and afford to move out with the GF and start life.
I live in southern Ontario by the GTA.
Anyone have any advice? Trades they would recommend? I don't want to have to travel or move. GF is a welder(same boat as me, her life plans fell through and said fuck it and went to trade school last year) so I figure I should stay away from that trade, don't want both of us out of work should something in the market happen.
I thought machining or tool making looked interesting. I know plumbing pays well but it doesn't seem all that interesting.
Welder: Easy cert, available from many CC's. Crap job conditions; hot, industrial. Average pay.
Electrician: More difficult cert, requires on the job or tech school. Conditions highly variable, but generally not crawling around in dirt (eg, plumber). Good pay.
Plumber: Highly variable depending on local businesses. Lousy work conditions, good pay.
EMT: Easy cert (6 weeks from a professional school, 1 year from a CC), work conditions vary immensely depending on who you work for. Comes with a large self esteem boost and automatic respect of peers. Requires strong stomach and ability to temorarily deactivate empathy on command.. Average pay. Large opportunity for advancement (if you upgrade to Paramedic)
Cop: See EMT, remove strong stomach.
Auto mechanic, diesel mechanic, aerospace mechanic (yes this is a thing in some cities), HVAC technician. Etc so fort and so on and whatnot.
if you wanna work in manufacturing, move to china. if you wanna eat, look for gigs where you take care of old people in their homes. under the table: no taxes for Wynn to waste. word of mouth gets you more clients than you can handle.
old people are the future. and the past.
Machining and tool making jobs are increasingly becoming more scarce.
Robots and China are stealing our jobs, ect.
Electrical and Plumbing pay the best. HVAC pays less, but is easier to get into.
>>951206
Diesel mechanic.auto shops dont pay squat even though the training is similar in timeframe.check into it OP.
>>951206
How hard is it to become a cop?
Would having a Masters of Science hinder my chances?
How hard is it to get into plumbing?
I hate what I do and there are no jobs currently... fml.
>>951206
In Canada, welding is a three year trade.
>>951188
join a union. can't go wrong with any of them. high wages and most of them offer free schooling to their apprentices
>>951329
There are 1 year welding courses in Canada. Then you can start an apprenticeship right from that. Most will even help you get set up and get you some basic CWB tickets.
>>951338
Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out what trade is right for me. Its one thing to look at a job on youtube, another thing to work it for the next 30 years.
>>951326
Entry requirements for law enforcement vary from country to country, region to region, county to county, even city to city. Generally have to have graduate from a law enforcement academy, not easy. On the upside, pay is good, job security is excellent. Masters degree may hurt your chances, depending on local politics, since they may think you are aiming for leadership positions and don't want to deal with that. The other cert'ed positions won't give a rats ass about having a masters or not.
Dunno how hard it is to get into plumbing, one of the areas I have no experience in. Don't be afraid to just call a company and ask. They should be able to point you to a school or certification board that can answer your questions at least.
OP here, they actually offer a 3 semester program at George Brown college called "construction trades techniques" that basically gives you a run down of multiple trades like construction, carpentry, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, welding, millwriting.
Anyone ever hear about a program like that? Any good?
>>951209
>Robots and China are stealing our jobs.
Wtf anon, get that kind of ignorance out of /diy/
Op, go to a school where you learn how to work with these "Evil" robots and automation. Every day is differant and North America is in fact taking business BACK from the 3rd world with automation. The demand is only increasing.
If you want a trade get to Nova Scotia man. Halifax is about to get 7000 new jobs at Irving in multiple trades, probably have to train loads
Appliance repair.
I'm in welding school and I fucking love it.
If I had the patience of staying in school for a while longer I'd probably try getting into heavy equipment mechanics, maybe carpentry.
you live in fucking ontario how do you not get it man?
fucking trades man
you will be in school until you are 30 no matter what if you start now
the difference?
government fucking subsidies
and only going to school 40 days a year
i go to school once a week (in cocksucking oakville)
my school was almost entirely paid for by the government
the $400 tuition fee i had to pay? i get $1000 when i pass this year of school. thats if your work doesnt pay for it
i got to school 1 day a week, i work the other 4 days in my trade
gta, there are assloads of cool factories, tool n die shops, molding eklectronics dude we have it all in ontario get your fucking shit together
>>951710
What school did you go to and for what?
I'm really knew to trades or anything in this field so my knowledge is limited. Which is why I really want to scope out my options and what is and isn't a good idea. I've heard talk that there are too many carpenters around, same with electricians. That plumbing is great but you'll have back issues at 40.
Trust trying to get advice from people who know more than me.
What is your career plan if you don't mind me asking? Just trying to see what other people are doing.
>>951743
So new that you haven't googled anything?
>>951775
Google isn't nearly as good a tool as first hand opinions.
Googling careers will only ever give you 100% positive "this is the greatest and most rewarding career ever with so much demand!" or 100% negative "this job is the worst and is miserable and I make no money and can't find work." often you find both about the same job.
I put much more value in actually talking to someone, or in this case at least talking to them on an image board not looking at forum posts from 2002.
>>951690
Welding pays nicely. Get to beast level at TIG and stick, then work pipe and boiler jobs. Study and become welding inspector for more money and career path. Many welders are too lazy to move up.
>>951743
http://www.earnwhileyoulearn.ca/156trades
^^^^^ check this list
they added alot of stupid shit to the list but you can tell what ones are the realest. anything redseal is good (kinda)
now, using common sense, eliminate any stupid shit ones (ski lift technician, horse groomer, roofer)
then think about the ones that would have a low physical demand, but still be king shit
mill right/plumber/auto technician -these are all king shit jobs that make you feel amazing, but are physically demanding, that you will not be able to do in your 60's very easily at least
i personally am going for
tool and die/mold making,
thats like machanist but but better
i then will transition to machine builder
aswell as what ever else i can get, because once you have your foot in the trades door, you can transition to other related trades to diversify your skills. and most of the training will have redundancies that i will be able to bypass to become king of the trades with 7 tickets
the catch? you need a job already...kinda
heres how it works (unless OYAP but op is 25 so no OYAP)
you have a job in your trade,
working under tradesmen senpai
then they send you to school, and you become official
now its just 8000 hours until you make bannnnnk and are a full ticketed tradesman
http://www.tcu.gov.on.ca/eng/employmentontario/training/pathways.html
http://www.collegeoftrades.ca/
check out these websites, and remember the college of trades are just awful cunts
>>951787
I was wondering about that... How is the market for specialized welding, like high precision welding in difficult or thin metals or something. Is there much opportunity for that kind of work?
>>951786
ok, well anything technical is gonna be cool for a while. you are gonna learn new things every day and have a lot of fun , but dont forget , it is a job
it will be hard, but it will make you feel hard as fuck
if you are a guy who isnt a pussy baby then its gonna be fun on the bun, especially if your a wierdo
you will be doing the shit jobs until another apprentice comes along. deal with it.
dont like your employer? quit and find another one skilled labor nigga
i like to think about the trades as
"what jobs will still be around when the grid falls?"
anything that does not fall in that category is a shit useless slut job so dont bother
that way your career will always be in demand
>Study and become welding inspector for more money and career path
like him say, use your trade to make a better job for your self by constantly upgrading and dont stop learning. make your self future proof in your trade
you dont even have to be super smart, you have to not be useless at your job
>>951795
robots do that shit now,
buuuut
if you learn welding and become pro welding, then you transcend the trades and start showing robots how to weld, without ever having to manual weld again
start in a trade
advance in your trade
transcend your trade
>>951338
>can't go wrong with any of them
>tfw local electrician union requires me to already be working for a company as an electrician to join
Either I go to a Tech School in Portland, Oregon, since I live close to the border in Washington, or make frequent trips up and down the state for training. The Tech School sounds alright, but I'd rather be certified where I live.
I probably should look for a different trade.
Howdy bud. Almost exactly the same situation here down to the region. I'm upgrading my high school math and going to Conestoga. Gonna be a millwright, they've got a one year co-op program that looks and sounds pretty good. Got a bunch of family in the trade and they all do pretty well, gonna pick their brains once I get out of my shitty security job and back into daytime work.
>>951188
Welding is great, super easy to get, super useful.
>>951188
Hit up Seneca in King City for underwater welding easy six digit's but dangerous. ATM HVAC tech at Humber and loving it. Tuition for either is like 10k but in co-op payout is 25-45k
>>952119
No way man, underwater welding is an ex-job now that oil has tanked. Though it might be a good idea to start learning it now and get in before the next rush
>>952090
I hear starting out as a millwright you usually have to move around to get work.
Also I'm not terribly sure what the job entails aside from putting together big machines.
Care to shed some light since you have family in it? Where do they work?
>>951341
but it is still a 3 year trade
>>952090
millwright is a great trade do a whole lot of shit depending where you work make sure you get in somewhere big ie OPG, hydro one, steel mills, factories, food plants all sorts of shit
>>952156
in ontario we have the bruce nuclear plant who employs underwaterwelders
>>952029
>requires me to already be working for a company
this is pretty standard for trades in canada
>>952247
its like, you fix shit. how a mechanic fixes cars, you fix factories. it could be small, it could be big, it could be a robot,,servos,pneumatics, hydraulics, electrical, gears, it could be... anything
>>948150
we had a good millright talk in this thread where we talked some high level technical robot shit, so shit like that
today i set up a feeder that cuts and bends resistors from a reel for a job for GM, i had to set up the proper bends proper lenghts for the resistor leads
i dont know if thats millright stuff, im not even a millright
>>952380
Bruce is shutting down in the near future, isn't it?
>>952340
OP here, millwright actually looks pretty fucking cool. Though I do have once concern I hope someone here can answer.
I've had people in the trades tell me that it will wear your body out. I mean I'm a fit guy and lift so I'm not gonna kill myself on manual labour.
But I know a carpenter who's knees are shot and his shoulder always aches from swinging a hammer all day. Says his plumber buddy has a bad back from being hunched over all the time.
Will trades in general just run you down? I don't want to be 50 and have nothing but aches and pains. I take really good care of myself with exercise and diet and the reason I do that is so I can be healthy and energetic in my 50's and 60's.
>>951188
ok bruh, here's what's up, contact the local union for whatever trade you're interested in and ask about apprenticeships they'll put your through school and hook you up with a job
>>952501
What if I'm an immigrant? I bet they hate immigrants in unions.
>>952541
That is entirely dependent on where you immigrated from, there is a huge difference in being from Saudi Arabia compared to being from Ireland. Either way the union isn't going to directly discriminate against you. Your coworkers might though depending on how big of assholes they are.
>>951326
If you aren't a minority or you've smoked in the past 3 years? Not a chance in hell.
>>952744
Nice. I'm from Ireland so I'm well set
>>952746
Slow down, Zyklon Ben.
>>952380
>>951790
OP here again. I can't seem to find any Millwright programs that let me sign up unless I am already a registered apprentice.
I was really hoping to be able to start this shit in September and the chances of me getting registered as an apprentice by then and being able to get into the course seem slim to none.
Plus I have no experience with a shop really, which is why i want to go to school to learn. But who would take me on as an apprentice without any idea what I am doing?
>>954905
Open up the phone book and start calling millwrights one by one
>>951188
I was a CNC setup tech for a few years. Operators where I'm from (Midwest USA) usually make 12-20 USD/hour. Setup techs usually make 16-25, and tool and die makers with a apprentice card are 25-35 mostly.
Its good money, but the hours in some places are rough. I was making 50k a year at 19 but I was working 60+ a week.
CNC setup is pretty fun its like playing with tinker toys and programming robots. Depending on what machine you get on you can almost go anywhere with it as well. If you get into a job shop you rarely have the same part more than once a month as well. The one I was in had over 1k customers and countless part #s so we got lots of cool random engineering blunders to work with.
Blue collar is hell on your body though, you been warned.
>>954905
i told you about program
i warned you bro
you WILL NOT find any programs unless you already have a job in your trade and are registered with the government
you CAN NOT stay in school if you get fired and do not find another job soon enough
any program you do find will be a waste of money in a sense, because the program will be a water downed version of the LEVEL 1 program, so you will do everything twice, and it will cost money. the level 1 will be $400 a year to enroll in school and work will probably pay for it, if they dont, doesant matter because the government will give you $1000 when you finish level 1
ok, opre-apprenticeship programs arent a waste, but they only cover the fundementals that you will have to re-do , as a level 1
>>954905
>Plus I have no experience with a shop really, which is why i want to go to school to learn. But who would take me on as an apprentice without any idea what I am doing?
yeah, this is the inherent problem with the system.
but there is a saving grace.
to sign up a new apprentice, the company will get $6000 a year in government subsidies , that is an incentive to companies to not have that shit happen.
what i did, personally, i went in the side door. i couldnt find a tool and die job ,having no experience, so i took a job as a production technician (like a millright but they expect less) .it took over a year, but i told them everytime, every review, and in my initial interview, that if i wasnt going to be transitioned to tool room i would quit.
im of the opnion that this may not work with a large company (ford/mondaleze/stelco) because of the way they structure, but for a mid to small size company this will probably work.
a technician job will get you the needed experience to let you almost seamlessly move into millright.
also, start networking with your parents friends.
do not despair. i work with an go to school with bigger retards than you.
