I've been a:

Marine Pipefitter for 6 years on military ships
Personal Trainer for both gyms and freelance
Bartender
Contractor
Water Treatment Specialist
Conveyor Installation Mechanic (I've installed conveyors for Under Armour, Sephora, Pharmaceutical companies etc..)
Maintenance Mechanic for huge factory cutting machines
And most recently after going back to school I moved to the IT field

Tradie Pros:

Nothing beats the feeling of crafting something with your own two hands
Feels more like a brotherhood with your co workers
Less females which is both a blessing and a curse
You learn real world applicable skills instead of filling out forms and dicking around on computers all day
Work culture is usually a far cry from the politically correct bull**** you have to deal with in an office
Tradies get a lot of flack for being "dumb" but a lot of the blue collar dudes are faaaar smarter than most officels when it comes to mathematics/design/engineering

Tradie Cons:

Work out in all of the elements depending on your position
Come into contact with a lot of hazardous materials/fumes
Beat the fuk out of your body daily
Job is just overall more dangerous
Depending on the job, it can draw some real druggie scum

Officel Pros:

Climate Controlled
I've been working remotely this entire pandemic which has saved tons of money on gas and given me much more free time while being just as productive
Depending on the job, can be much higher paying and can move up the ladder a bit more quickly
Much easier physically which I consider to be both a pro and con

Officel Cons:

Less of a feeling of accomplishment. A lot of times you may not have an actual product/thing to show for your hard work
Gotta deal with political correctness bull****
Boring ass meetings
Not as much trust for your co workers

Interesting, have only had a few summer jobs etc that were tradie-ish but were very low skill and I wasn't too good at them

Can imagine if I were actually skilled/knowledgeable a physical job where I'm doing something worthwhile would be very rewarding (helping build a house, designing and building, repairs etc).

Unfortunately due to my job history and qualifications it looks like I'm bound on an officel trajectory and am unlikely to experience it. Going out and doing something like that now would likely derail my current career which I do enjoy.

Thanks for the insight

Hey we've all thought about it when we needed some extra cash.Yeah that's the one thing I miss the most about being a tradie, the feeling of satisfaction/accomplishment. Why not pick up a wood working or some other type of hobby on the side and see how you like it?

Haha the extent of my skills in that area is replacing cupboard doors, building furniture, fixing small things around the house. Have always had a vague feeling that learning some woodwork or general mechanical know-how would come in useful, it's a good suggestion. Always had the vague notion that it is essential to have some skills in that area to be sufficiently manly lol

cheers

Yeah man for sure. I feel like the pandemic kinda brought to light the fact that a lot of people are severely ill prepared to fend for themselves. The more skills you have, the better.

as you get older the monotony and ease of white collar will become infinitely more enticing.

I'm sure the 50 year old "you" would prefer to walk into a climate controlled building and get paid typing out reports than to dig ditches in the sun or weld chit in a hot factory for hours per day.

Yeah for sure man, that's where I'm at now. Chilling and working from home.