Getting into a trade career is a great way to earn a high salary and experience professional growth. But you need to know what kind of trade job is right for you.
Some trades are easier to learn than others. Some require little more than a high school diploma, while others need a four-year college degree. However, some trades also require specialized training or licensing.
Aside from being physically demanding, trades can be hazardous. Many of them involve working with hand tools. But, these jobs are also in high demand, and offer decent salaries.
If you’re looking for an entry-level job, a welder is a great choice. These workers repair metal parts and follow safety procedures. They also analyze drawings for objects they work with.
If you’re interested in a trade career, you can learn by taking an apprenticeship. These programs are often offered through trade unions and job agencies. This type of training allows you to develop a strong professional network while practicing your skills. Depending on the type of work you’re interested in, you may even earn a salary during your apprenticeship.
For those interested in a trade career, but are not quite sure what to do, there are a number of vocational certificate programs to choose from. Some take only six months, while others take a year. These programs provide hands-on training to teach you the foundational skills you need to succeed.
The trades career tier list – that’s what we’re going to be talking about today and there is a lot to go over in this video and i don’t want it to be like 30 minutes long, so i’m gon na jump right into it and get right on with The list, i believe that trades are underrated and i think they’re making a huge comeback. I will explain exactly why so the way i construct these lists is they look at a bunch of Different factors like salary, job growth, job satisfaction and then a bunch of different x factors. Now these x factors generally include stuff like how easy it would be to automate a job or outsource a job or how well the skills that you learn in a certain job. Could translate to other industries or other careers, and in this video i’m going to be ranking all of these different trade careers from s tier, which is extremely good to f tier, which is bad. I’M not going to have time to go over all of these different factors, because that would make the video like an hour and a half long. So if you want to know that you’re going to have to watch some of my other videos and please if you think i’m wrong on any of these, go ahead, comment down below exactly why you think i’m wrong, maybe you’re right about it.
Maybe we all can learn something all right. First, one on the list is going to be welder. This is one where the pay honestly isn’t all that good. If you just get hired for it a lot of the time it’s going to end up being kind of seasonal or where you just get hired for a job, and then you know you do it for a few months and you’re not really needed anymore. This one, of course, can be really good if you’re working in certain industries, like the natural gas industry, there’s also a high ceiling in terms of the level of skill.
So there’s really basic welding and then there’s like above basic welding, and it can get really really high in terms of your level of skill. All the way to the point where you’re like an underwater welder, where you’re certified in diving and like all kinds of crazy stuff like that, so this is one of those skills where, if you get really good at it and you get a little bit entrepreneurial, you Start your own business – maybe you, you know, buy your own rig. For instance, you can make a really good amount of money, but when it comes to just getting hired for a job, it’s decent, but not amazing. This one is going to go into c tier next. One on the list is going to be a heavy equipment operator with this one you’re going to be making around 46 000 a year.
It’s growing at about 10 and you’re gon na need to be licensed, plus you’re going to need to have an apprenticeship, and basically you are going to be driving around heavy machinery. Anything from like big tractors to cranes. Now, depending on your specialty, the pay is going to vary quite a bit. So, for instance, there are certain types of crane operators that can make a ridiculous amount of money. However, they’re also dealing with a high stress environment, you mess up one little bit with a crane and, like lots of people could potentially die.
This is a pretty good one, though i’m going to go ahead and put it in b tier next. One on the list is going to be a plumber. They make around 53 000 a year. You do need to be licensed and it does require an apprenticeship generally speaking, and it’s growing at about 14, which is really really good. Now, as a plumber, you’re going to be installing and repairing pipes that carry liquids and gases, not only that, but we are also very very neat now one of the great things about being a plumber is you can pretty much get a job, no matter where you Go a lot of the careers on this list can be kind of like a little bit seasonal, where you might have a lot of work during a certain time of the year, not much work over other times of the year or they might be jobs where you’re Gon na have to move around a lot, but the great thing about being a plumber is, you can probably get a job pretty much, no matter where you live in the united states when it comes to being in the trades.
I always say that it’s a very good idea for you to start your own business as soon as you possibly can, because that’s where the real money is even if you’re, just working on your own. If you have your own business, you can make way more money than if you were working for somebody else and plumber is a perfect example of this. So, even though it says they make around 53 000 a year, if you own your own business, you can very very easily make over six figures a year plumber is going to go into a tier next. One on the list is going to be hvac technician that stands for heating ventilation and air conditioning hvac techs make around forty seven thousand dollars a year and this one’s growing at about thirteen percent. These are the people that keep your heater going in the winter and your air conditioning going in the summer now my brother owns an hvac business, so i know a little bit more than the average person about this.
It is somewhat seasonal, you’re, probably gon, na make more money in the winter than you are during the summer months. But again that could be different depending on where you live. So, for instance, you might make more money in the summer months. If you live in miami now, you can see the seasonal nature of the business as a pro or a con. It’S kind of a pro just because of the fact that you kind of have a busy season where you know you’re going to be busy, and then you have kind of a slower season where you can go on vacations and kind of just take it easy.
It can create difficulties when it comes to scaling a business, so, for instance, if you hire people in order to accommodate all the work, you need to get done during the busy season a lot of the times. Those people will not be able to get enough hours during the slow season, so that can make scaling a business a little bit tricky. A lot of the trades are somewhat taxing on your body and i would say: hvac is a little bit taxing, but it’s definitely not one of the worst ones. Overall, i’m gon na go ahead and put this one into a tier number. Six on the list is going to be dental hygienist and yes, this one is actually a trade career.
Technically they make around seventy four thousand dollars a year. It does require an apprenticeship, a license and it’s growing at around eleven percent. Now this one, you are going to be assisting dentists, you’re gon na be doing things like cleaning and educating patients on dental health. So the cons of this one is you’re gon na be all up in people’s mouths, which that’s gross. This one does take around three years to get into so it’s a little bit longer than some of these other ones, but it’s also a lot less physical than a lot of the other ones on the list.
So you probably would be able to be a dental hygienist for a longer amount of time. I know somebody personally, who is a dental hygienist. She works about 40 hours a week and she makes six figures a year. A lot of dental hygienists do not work 40 hours a week, and so they make a little bit less than six figures, but i would say this number 74, 000 is probably on the low side. I will say that most dental hygienists, that are very successful, are going to be, and i’m not saying whether this is right or wrong, but it’s just a fact: they’re going to be young, pretty women who are kind of extroverted again, not saying that’s right or wrong, But that tends to be the people who are successful as dental hygienists.
Overall, i’m gonna go ahead and put this one into a tier next one on the list is going to be an elevator installer or repairer. They make around 79 000 a year. It does require an apprenticeship as well as licensure, and it’s growing at around 10, which is great, so they are obviously going to be installing and repairing elevators, but also things like escalators, basically, anything that moves people up or down. So with this one you’re probably going to be on call quite a bit. I remember one time when i lived in las vegas, i got stuck in an elevator and an elevator repair guy had to come and rescue me.
This was pretty late at night, so the poor guy probably got interrupted from watching like late night news or whatever he was watching and he came and he got the person. I was stuck with in the elevator out of the elevator, and it was happily ever after, but overall this can be a really good one. It’S gon na go ahead and go into a tier, and i will also mention that this is one of the less physically taxing ones on the entire list. Next, one on the list is going to be an electrician. They make around 000 a year.
It does require apprenticeship as well as licensure, and it’s growing at around 10. So some of the cons of this one is that you are going to be dealing with electricity all the time that can be extremely dangerous. However, there are a ton of pros to this. One being an electrician is definitely going to be one of the less physically taxing trade careers. That means that, if you want to, you could probably be an electrician into your 60s and 70s.
This is a great one. I’M going to go ahead and put it into a tier next. One on the list is going to be a geological and petroleum technician. They make around fifty three thousand dollars a year, no apprenticeship, no licensure needed, and it’s growing at around seven percent. Now they’re going to be working in the natural gas industry, and i’ve talked about this before generally speaking, people who work in this industry get paid really really well they’re, going to be supporting scientists and engineers and extracting natural resources.
Now some of the cons to this one is that you’ll likely have to move to an area where some of these companies exist, so you might not be living in your ideal situation. Unfortunately, however, you’re going to be getting paid really really well and there’s going to be a lot of opportunity. This one is going to go into esteer next, one on the list is going to be a sonographer. They make around 67 000 a year and it’s a 14 growth. They also don’t have to do an apprenticeship or a licensure, which is probably a pro just because of the fact that that can take a long time, they’re going to be operating special imaging equipment.
So they’re going to be doing things like ultrasounds, there’s honestly, not that many cons with this career, it’s not going to be as physically taxing as a lot of the other trade careers. And yes, this is technically a trade career. I know in my other video people commented: that’s not a trade career. No, this one is technically a trade career. So with this one, you’re gon na have a lot of the upside of a trade career where you don’t have to go to college or anything like that.
You can just pretty much go straight into your profession without a lot of the downsides that you commonly find in trade careers such as having a lot of physical issues. This one is definitely going into s-tier next, one on the list is going to be a radiation. Therapist they make around 82 000 a year. It does require licensure, but no apprenticeship and it’s growing at about nine percent. Now as a radiation therapist, you would be treating cancer as well as other diseases with radiation therapy.
This can be a really tough one emotionally. So you do have to be somebody who’s, pretty tough, emotionally, because you’re going to be around people who are sick all day long. However, it can be extremely rewarding because you’re going to be helping people who are sick and in a time of need overall, this one is going to go into s tier next. One on the list is going to be a logger. They make around 40 000 a year and the projected growth is negative.
12. This one is extremely tough on you physically, it’s also extremely dangerous. It’S one of the most dangerous careers you can possibly get into. It also doesn’t pay nearly as well as a lot of the other ones on this list. This one is gon na definitely go into f tier next.
One on the list is going to be dock worker they’re, going to get paid around 28 000 a year. The projected growth is around 7 now they’re, also known as longshoremen, that’s kind of another word for them, and it’s actually a really common job. There’S over 2 million longshoremen in the united states, you’re going to be unloading, huge cargo ships, it’s a very strenuous back-breaking type of job, it’s also very dangerous. It leads to a lot of injuries and deaths. This is another one that, in my opinion, unfortunately, it’s gon na have to go into a pretty low tier.
I mean 28 thousand dollars a year. Are you kidding me? They need to get paid more than that. That’S ridiculous! This one goes into f tier next.
One on the list is going to be a roofer. They make around 39 000 a year they’re growing at about 11. Now roofers are going to install repair and replace roofs. A lot of the time they’re going to be up on the roof out in the sun. It can be a pretty difficult job, you’re going to be sweating buckets if it starts raining outside you’re gon na have to pack it up and call it a day.
It’S also relatively dangerous. I mean if you fall off, of the roof. You’Re, probably gon na get seriously injured. Still it’s a little bit better than the other two. It has a decent growth rate, so i’m gon na go ahead and put this one into d tier next.
One on the list is going to be a construction laborer, so they’re going to make around 35 000 a year, it’s growing at 12 and there’s over 1 million jobs available. Now this is an extremely physically demanding job. There’S probably going to be a lot of injuries and on top of the injury rate, it also has a lot of deaths. Unfortunately, now this one kind of goes in that same category, where they’re going to get paid decently well, but honestly, probably not as good as they should i’m going to go ahead and put this one into d tier next. One on the list is going to be an automobile mechanic.
They make around 40 000 a year they’re growing at about 6.1 percent and there’s around 648 000 jobs available here in the us. Now i would say out of all the different types of trades. You could argue this is somewhere in the middle when it comes to how physically demanding it is probably not going to be as many deaths and not as many serious injuries as some of the other ones that i mentioned on this list now. This is a very popular job.
A lot of people really love working on cars. There can be a lot of opportunity here, especially if you own your own business. This one is just gonna squeak into sea tier, i would say: welder is probably a little bit better than mechanic in terms of the opportunities, but overall i’m gonna go ahead and put it in c tier.
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