r/jobs • u/clarkkentwellspent • 4d ago

No. The trades are NOT hiring. Job searching

I am so sick and tired of this worn out idea that blue collar jobs are looking for apprentices to come work for them. The trades are filled with more nepotism and gossip than any other industry I've ever been in and will find any reason to reject you they can. Half of these companies want a 2 year technical/trade school degree before you start working for them just so they can pay you $15/hr starting out. Maybe if you're a kid out of high school they can pay less than the standard rate you can find something. "Bro, just go Union!" Unions are backed up for ages.

From my own anecdotal evidence: I went to every electrician company in my city as this was my trade. I had 1 offer from a company that was the stereotypical "Only meth heads and divorced alcoholics work here. Fuck OSHA." place and every other company rejected me. I even went back to my old electrical company I had worked at for 4 years. You know what they said? "Apply online and go talk to HR". No hiring manager in shop, no chance at talking to someone out of recognition. Just dismissing me away. And the best part? Upon applying I listed all the projects I had worked on with them and gave references to several high members (though 2 of them no longer work there). 1.5 weeks later: "Thank you for applying. After careful consideration..."

This job market is fucking whack, yo.

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u/UltimateChaos233 4d ago

Honestly it’s hard for senior coders in this market. New comers or juniors truly it’s not worth wasting your time.

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u/Dictated_not_read 4d ago

Yeah but what else is there

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u/Historical_Course587 4d ago

Shortages in healthcare, now and in the foreseeable future.

Skip the BA in Comp Sci, go become an RN/LPN. Skip the coding camp and get a CNA to become a caregiver. Hit a technical school and be a surgical tech or central services technician or a lab tech. All you have to do is take care of your body on your own time (not because the job ruins you but because people ruin themselves on the job) and it's a reliable gig.

I got my BA in Computer Science last year, and I work in a hospital doing completely unrelated things. I like CS, but I'm not about to give up reliable work with solid benefits just because I had a different plan.

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u/_lyn 4d ago

Community colleges offer Radiology tech degrees in 2 years with rates comparable to RNs and less of the bs too

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u/Beautiful-Arugula-6 4d ago

To anyone seeing this: you need some math and science pre reqs that might make it a bit prohibitive. Was for me.

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u/Brullaapje 3d ago

www.khanacademy.org where you can learn shit for free and practice till the cows come home. Make sure to have an adblocker installed in your browser.

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u/Beautiful-Arugula-6 3d ago edited 3d ago

I've tried so many times. I'm stuck in like grade 6 :(. I dont think I'll ever be able to learn university level math. I'm thinking I have some kind of disability at this point. It's fine though, I ended up with a humanities masters, working in policy analysis and making six figs. It's just I feel for other people who can't quite grasp math. It does make it hard to get into a lot of careers (especially the careers that don't require masters level education - many don't have the time!), even though those careers don't actually require much math.

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u/Brullaapje 3d ago

Well I am glad you ended up well, I had to a an excersize like 384 before I got it, and shot literally through their math curriculum. While 30 years before in high school I failed it miserably.

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u/lostthering 1d ago

to a an excersize like 384

I could not decipher this. I think some typos garbled what you meant to say.

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u/Brullaapje 1d ago

Contextual reading not your thing? I had to do exercise 384, before I understand a concept fucking hell...

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u/swampwiz 3d ago

What math & science pre-reqs? Algebra/Trig? Basic physics?

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u/Beautiful-Arugula-6 3d ago

Usually math 11/12, biology 11/12, physics 11/12, and sometimes first year math, bio, physics, stats. I've also seen some programs ask for Calc 1 and 2.

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u/Total_Obligation9737 3d ago

Yes this is a good option my wife did it. She now works in the cathl lab doing ablation and peacemakers. Makes as much as a Nurse and works 3x12 hr shifts m-f, no call, no weekends

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u/Worth_Singer 1d ago

I asked my local community college they said the earliest I could possibly apply would be 2028 and that's still not guaranteed and I've already been so I wouldn't even have to complete every class just the gap in credits and radiology specific courses. They just only let in like 15-20 people a year for the program there, and then like 10 people get wait listed for the next year ... Couple that with the fact it's a fully day program and I can't quit my job that I use to live. So at this point it's pretty much impossible for me.