Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What industry and trade skill are the most profitable? If my son isn’t interested in college, I’m open to other options. He’s not interested in the military.

Colleague's son negotiated well with the USAF Recruiter. His contract guaranteed training as an Aviation Mechanic in writing. He did the 1 hitch, got the training and experience for free that way, then left the military. He now works in the private sector for a major US airline as an aviation mechanic - well paid union job.

I mentioned this as a possible career on an earlier post and we’ve gone to the open houses at MIA and AIM (tech schools). There are options directly with airlines where students can apply and get training paid for and then guaranteed jobs. Piedmont was recruiting at one of the open houses. My kid is exploring this possibility and other trades as options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maritime transportation with coast guard license. 6 figures after graduation working 6 months a year on a boat.

How do you find job like this or the thousand other niche jobs?
I assumed jobs like this are for people who happen to live near the base of operations.

No.

Merchant Marine jobs usually require passing a USCG test and obtaining a corresponding USCG license. The various maritime schools teach one the essentials of the trade and prepare one to pass the test. These sea going jobs are union positions normally. Ship operators often search for employees by contacting the union to advertise their openings.

At the moment, a big shortage of qualified merchant mariners exists in the US.

"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Merchant_Marine_Academy"

King's Point page at Wikipedia is above.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maritime transportation with coast guard license. 6 figures after graduation working 6 months a year on a boat.

I know several kids who went to SUNY Maritime and are doing very well. Can be a 2 or 4 year program.

I agree with this. Ditto for King's Point or other maritime schools. Tremendous shortage of USCG licensed mariners. MSC has started to park several if their ships long term - simply because they cannot find a crew for the ship.

Military Sealift Command is part of the Dept of Navy, but it has *civilian* crews for its US Flag ships. Typical MSC direct employees are civil service jobs which top out at GS-15.

MSC also contracts with commercial shipping companies (like Matson and Maersk) which operate their own US Flag merchant ships with their own crews. Pretty much the entire US merchant shipping industry is unionized, so those are all good jobs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maritime transportation with coast guard license. 6 figures after graduation working 6 months a year on a boat.

How do you find job like this or the thousand other niche jobs?
I assumed jobs like this are for people who happen to live near the base of operations.

Mass Maritime Academy on Cape Cod

https://www.maritime.edu/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21054447513&gbraid=0AAAAAC0N2thV5ZwqHn43p2DbL7884AGZM&gclid=Cj0KCQjwxo_CBhDbARIsADWpDH5m4vIN0Mz_ma1lWGNlE1D78zcOf6dba63N9bUVR47Gpi89LWAtX34aAm34EALw_wcB&utm_source=google&utm_medium=&utm_campaign=&utm_term=&utm_content=

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you know any chefs that are not drunks with a blow habit to boot?

You can become an addict in any job but blue collar trade jobs are notorious for addiction. I worked with some real high end house painters, they were considered top shelf pros. The only rule was no drug or alcohol use while at the job but as soon as the crew hit the work van to drive back to staging it was cray cray.

The highest rate of alcoholism by profession

Miners.
Construction Workers.
Food Service Workers.
Lawyers.
Doctors / Nurses
Entertainment and the arts.

Yeah…but what are the raw numbers.

There are 12.3MM restaurant workers and 11MM construction workers…which is way more than the other professions combined.

Around 10% of doctors and 20% of nurses struggle with substance abuse.

Lawyers and judges also have high rates of addiction. 20% of attorneys with alcohol, and sedatives.

Restaurant and hospitality workers , 19.1% abusing drugs and 11.8% binge drinking.

Construction workers 20.1% alcohol abuse.

Transportation workers, particularly truck drivers, amphetamine use is 21.3%.

Stress is to blame for health care workers misusing drugs, restaurants is the availability, no surprise truck drivers use amphetamines at high rates.

These numbers will vary a little bit but are mostly consistent.

Anonymous wrote:What industry and trade skill are the most profitable? If my son isn’t interested in college, I’m open to other options. He’s not interested in the military.

Colleague's son negotiated well with the USAF Recruiter. His contract guaranteed training as an Aviation Mechanic in writing. He did the 1 hitch, got the training and experience for free that way, then left the military. He now works in the private sector for a major US airline as an aviation mechanic - well paid union job.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maritime transportation with coast guard license. 6 figures after graduation working 6 months a year on a boat.

I know several kids who went to SUNY Maritime and are doing very well. Can be a 2 or 4 year program.

I agree with this. Ditto for King's Point or other maritime schools. Tremendous shortage of USCG licensed mariners. MSC has started to park several if their ships long term - simply because they cannot find a crew for the ship.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Carpenter
Plumber
Electrician
Chef

Except for Chef, the building trades can be physically intensive.
Not a problem when young but get into your 50s and the joints hurt.
It's not the actual work that is demanding, it's the crunching and bending into awkward positions to get something to fit in the right place in the right way.

Architect here and have done lots of my own DIY and I tell you, I need physical recovery time after X days of labor equivalent to the X days of labor put in. This was never an issue when I was younger.

You obviously don't know any chefs. I am married to one. It is a physically hard job lifting 50 pound bags and being on your feet in hot kitchens for 10 hours a day.

I know a sous chef. Cooks don't have to crouch down in awkward positions half the time while doing physical labor. Their work surface is usually an ergonomic countertop height. And I have seen old cooks in the kitchen. I have yet to see an old carpenter move in and install the cabinetry

I've never hired a young carpenter!

Anonymous wrote:HVAC businesses are hot!

Not very good at HVAC, are they then?

Anonymous wrote:Maritime transportation with coast guard license. 6 figures after graduation working 6 months a year on a boat.

How do you find job like this or the thousand other niche jobs?
I assumed jobs like this are for people who happen to live near the base of operations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you know any chefs that are not drunks with a blow habit to boot?

You can become an addict in any job but blue collar trade jobs are notorious for addiction. I worked with some real high end house painters, they were considered top shelf pros. The only rule was no drug or alcohol use while at the job but as soon as the crew hit the work van to drive back to staging it was cray cray.

The highest rate of alcoholism by profession

Miners.
Construction Workers.
Food Service Workers.
Lawyers.
Doctors / Nurses
Entertainment and the arts.

Yeah…but what are the raw numbers.

There are 12.3MM restaurant workers and 11MM construction workers…which is way more than the other professions combined.

Anonymous wrote:Do you know any chefs that are not drunks with a blow habit to boot?

You can become an addict in any job but blue collar trade jobs are notorious for addiction. I worked with some real high end house painters, they were considered top shelf pros. The only rule was no drug or alcohol use while at the job but as soon as the crew hit the work van to drive back to staging it was cray cray.

The highest rate of alcoholism by profession

Miners.
Construction Workers.
Food Service Workers.
Lawyers.
Doctors / Nurses
Entertainment and the arts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What industry and trade skill are the most profitable? If my son isn’t interested in college, I’m open to other options. He’s not interested in the military.

Go to a non college and university forum to find out.

There’s plenty of posters here who are familiar with all kinds of post high school education. Don’t worry. They’re in the right place.

A friend’s son became a lineman with the power company. Made a ton of money last year with overtime due to the hurricanes.