I'll admit though I had a better tradie job than most. Did hardwood floor refinishing mainly for gyms. Traveled every week, boss paid for all meals (and they were good meals, especially for dinner we would eat like Red Lobster, Applebee's, etc). I was in the best shape of my life. Sometimes we would take naps on the job while we would wait for finish to dry. Boss was probably the GOAT boss I've had so far. At nights the crew (usually only 3-4 of us) would just chill and drink at the hotel or go the local bars and bs. I made enough money to not have to worry bout bills and had a little spending money.

I quit because I decided to go to college cause I know I didn't want to do manual labor all my life. Now a System Engineer. Make good money with good benefits, but chit honestly sucks sometimes. Lost my social life completely, WFH all day so I've become lazy, have to be a placater to corporate... sometimes I think being a tradie was the good ol' days

pics for reference of what i did



cliffs:
- op was a tradie for few years
- enjoyed tradie job
- quit to go to college/IT job
- sometimes missing tradie job (although I would never go back)

Don't think they have changed that much. I make over x2 as much which is why I couldn't go back, plus I live in a different city now.

yeah im a bit higher up too but i do miss the low level grunt ****. just hanging with the boys all day goofing and talking ****. have to be way more reserved and sensitive about what i say now. can easily lose job for a simple slip. back then you just talked **** then got drunk with the boyos after work calling up sloots.

Former tradie (Ironworker) and current officecel (Analyst).

Feel you OP, I miss having a job that had me moving around and being physical all day.

The thing is, I would love to do it for two weeks every six months because phuck getting out of bed at 4am every day, phuck union bullchit, phuck working with scumbags (no offense tradesmen, but there are a lot of chitheads in the trades). The list goes on.

Best job I had was as an auto mechanic in uni though hands down. Very similar to what you described in the OP.

yeah I know what you mean. I use to work in the oil rigs

but oil tanked and now I have to go back to school

For me the best things were the projects themselves not the work. Like it was cool seeing it come together and the end result but why be tired all the time when you don't have to be? All the old guys are totally beat, do I want that? Anyway, what's a systems engineer? What was your major

you said, "good meals" and said "red lobster and applebees" holy fuking chit balls OP you really are a tradie, LMFAO

Yea depends on what trade.^LOOOOOOOOOOOL

brb night shift 50% smoking rocks.

Lol nothing wrong with some steak, lobster etc. Every morning it was either McDonalds or gas station food. 100% tradie stereotype.

Been in manual labor work off and on my whole life. Don't really miss it. Like someone else said, lots of sh!t heads and junkies. The work is tough on you. It usually pays less then office work. Upward mobility isn't really there unless you plan on going off on your own. I got into managing tradies a few years ago and that's what I do now. Will take that over getting dirty any day.

tbh I would rather end the day being physically tired instead of mentally tired like I am now. My degree is in computer networking and telecommunications. System engineer is a pretty broad term in IT field but we manage the web servers and work closely with software engineers on upgrades to site, functionality, etc. as well as do stuff like resolve vulnerabilities. Just gets stressful a lot because we also do gov contracting on some servers and everything for that has strict deadlines.

Ironworkers are the biggest chitheads in the tradie world. Srs.

Every other tradie including roofers and painters look at steel chuckers as a bunch of neanderthals

I think that’s just nostalgia brah. I’m sure when you were in the moment you probably hated that job and would hate it in one day if you did it again.

The grass is always greener.

If you really like it, you should go back to doing it, part time. srs.

I can see the fun in it.

You can do it part time. Hold a higher position. Grow the company. Start you own company. Etc. Make it work for you.

Since you would be doing part time, you use the other time to maybe improve the industry. IE better safety equipment, vapor control, dust control, etc.

But then again, Im a freaking General for China so my ambitions may be too much for you.

i would love to actually get a job that is intellectually stimulating. can't think of too many

didn't want to work at a hospital cause being surrounded by disease all day and everything else

that's why i'd rather get paid to almost exercise. but we'll see.. i've always worked in the entertainment industry and my perception of trades is based off of that. we have carpenters and things of that ilk but it's building show sets and not houses

i'll prob be starting a construction trade here shortly

and i still intend on getting my chemistry degree depending on what happens. maybe foray that into alternative energy

lmao that job looks easy as ****. how much did that pay

not much, I ended at like $17/hr but when you factor in getting all your meals paid for plus we got paid for drive time to job sites (which i just slept on the way there), it was prob over $20/hr value

nah tbh i actually enjoyed it and I probably called in sick less than 3 times in the 2.5 years I was there. but I knew there was a ceiling on what I could achieve there which is why I went to school. The only time it sucked was freshman year I was working like 50+ hrs a week and doing online classes full time which is why I quit and went to school on campus instead and got some easy part time job

if i never took the job at the theaters.. i highly doubt i ever would have gotten into the trades

over time i learned how much i liked it. travelling to all the different theaters. tons of new people coming in all the time. different shows with different materials and different construction. meeting famous people. building their stages. most of the theaters are in cool areas like on the water. can get hectic as shows come in at 8am and HAVE to be built by 5pm, but mostly chill. good pay. some dangerous chit like tossing 40 lb. bricks 60 feet up in the air over the stage that feels cool looking back at it

sometimes i'll have a call where i just load a truck and i get paid for 4 hours. always cool to bust ass and be done by like 12pm. legit just feels like i went to the gym and got paid for it. i've had 15 minute calls that got paid as 4 hours as well (union). not really stressful AND or don't have to carry my work home with me. at least as of now, maybe things will change

then i'd go to more feminine environments and thought about how i'd rather be at my trade job, etc.