What are trade/manual labor jobs actually like?

22 comments

1. There aren’t many “labor” jobs out there because most of them also require a skill. When you add skill you get to see improvement over time. So, while jobs that require physical labor can be grueling, the more you work the better you get and the stronger you get. It gets easier. And it’s not fair to say that the pay is low. A true craftsman can make a very good living.

2. Union laborers, plumbers, electricians and operators make anywhere from $43-65/hour here. All easily exceed 6 figures with OT.

3. Not bad. Very fulfilling. There’s something about putting in a days work and knowing that you earned something. I learn something new everyday. I work with people who can look at a colossal problem and figure out how to fix it in moments. There’s people me included who can do the math on different weights of liquids in a curtain circumference throughout a certain depth and can tell you what the weight at the very bottom would be. I know none of that makes sense, but the people who do manual labor jobs aren’t stupid. Most of the time they’re smart in different ways from what would be considered smart conventionally. Those type of smarts don’t normally pan out into a desk job though. Yes it can be grueling and intensive but there’s usually another guy there doing the same thing and you don’t want to be the broken cog in the machine so you try and put out just as much if not harder just to make it easier on everyone. There can be some emotional abuse if you’re a delicate flower that’s never used their muscles or actually worked before, but you get over that after you harden up a little and become part of the team. I can only speak on one specific industry but I’m sure it goes for most labor intensive jobs. After you get it, it becomes kind of like a club that you’re in.
   Also realize that there are completely alien lifestyles to the lifestyle you live. As in human vs ant that you can’t comprehend and there’s no way to explain it to you without you living it. There’s a word for it I just can’t remember. Never said I was good with words or explanations.

   Edit: Fixed some typos so I can look smarter

4. im a pipefitter, about to start as an union iron worker in the next few weeks. ive been doing trade work since i was 15 during the summers and its hard work but its super fun to me. when i first started all the pipe was heavy and i struggled alot but a year and few months later, the work has got alot easier and the pay is pretty good since it requires no further education.

5. I’m as blue collar as they come. You’ve been listening to a fair bit of hyperbole in both directions, but with a grain of truth of course.

   In this life you end up doing whatever you hate or are afraid of, from time to time. Don’t like heights? Gotta get on a scissor lift or whatever. Don’t like tight spaces? Hahaha, gonna get in a crawlspace or a tunnel. Don’t like getting dirty? Good luck. Scared of electricity? Being poisoned? Whatever it is that shakes you up, one day you’ll have to work on it / near it / around it. If you’re a messy slob, one day someone will need you to be neat and clean and tidy. 🤣

   This process of facing actual physical risk, discomfort and exhaustion tends to make people grouchy. Its usually not as abusive as it once was. I had to go through some hazing a long time ago. I don’t see that now.

   Tales of easy living, making big money for little input: these are fish stories. Yeah there are ways and means of building a career with plenty of time off and unemployment checks, but for the most part it’s a life of constant, grinding toil. Everyone expects you to fix their car / house too, so you can never get away from it. Or you can tell everyone to f— off and get a reputation as another blue collar grouch.

   Oh and yes, if you just get a job and not a career you will be forever stuck as a low paid unskilled worker, ruining your body for almost no money. That part is true.

   Source: 43 year old industrial maintenance electrical technician. I have worked in concrete forming, remodeling, custom home building, viticulture / winemaking, submarine ROV assembly (no shit!), and now industrial maintenance.

6. Both the extremes you said do exist. Working a paper mill is grueling, nasty, thankless work. A high end aircraft maintenance hanger? Free money hack. Most jobs fall somewhere in the middle.

   Trades are very much about who you know and what connections you can make, sometimes just as much or more so than the experience you have under your belt.

7. they can be extremely tiring. physical labor jobs, like oil rigs, electrical linemen, construction, deep sea fishing, etc. you can get those jobs with no experience. but some do require some amount of technical certification. a lot of cases, you’re only going to make bank if you work for yourself (ie you run your own company), and in this case, you get no employer benefits, so you gotta get your own retirement, insurance, etc. and you might work 16 hour days. they technically don’t get any easier as you get older/better/more experienced because by nature they are physical labor. but some jobs might be less physically demanding than others.

   for example, during the hot summer months, a lot of AC’s will break down. and if you do HVAC, you can make bank. a lot of AC’s not working is just b/c of an old capacitor. it’s like a 20 dollar part. takes 15 mins to fix/diagnose. and you can charge 300. depending on travel distance, you can maybe do 12-15 of these in a day. so that’s 3600 in one day. and if someone needs an actual AC replacement, that’s a bit more labor intensive. but you can charge like 8-10k or more and net at least half that for a one day job. now that’s only if you’re running your own company. if you’re working for someone, then you get paid a fixed rate per hour, or per job, or something like that.

8. There are many different trades, and not all are equal. Even within the same trade, the work can vary wildly. Blue collar work can be rough on your body, especially if you don’t take care of yourself. It can also be very lucrative, rewarding, and I’m glad to see it being considered as more of an option nowadays.

   I’m 19 and currently getting a certificate in diesel mechanics. I knew nothing about it when I started. I *did* know that academia sure as hell wasn’t for me, and neither was a desk job. A buddy was going into this field and I figured that it’d be as good a trade as any. I’ve learned a lot and am fixing to be inundated with opportunity; the trades are desperate for new blood. Pay is rising along with demand, and for most places it’s more than enough if you aren’t a complete idiot, don’t do dope, want to learn, and show up. If you’re a capable individual with a good head on your shoulders, there will be a place for you.

9. I’ve walked on both sides of this fence. Whether a person hates it or not probably has a lot to do with their personality. I’ve found that the trades can be challenging and rewarding. It was attractive to me because I felt like I was *making* something. There was frequently a sense of accomplishment and pride when I could see the product after I was done.

   In terms of money, it can be all over the boards. If you’re self-employed, you can earn what the clients are willing to pay, not just the fraction that an employer will give you. If you work in unions, the pay can be very high, much more than I’ve ever seen people earn in the private sector.

10. I am a machinist. It’s loud, hot, dirty, and can be dangerous if your not paying attention to your work, or what is going on around you. Mistakes can be expensive, so there is little room for error. It can also be very technical and complicated. Not always easy in an uncomfortable environment. However, the more I learn, the more skill I develop, the more money I earn. My immediate supervisor pulls six figures, I will be there in a year or two.

11. Having gone from working a physical trade job to working in IT… I would never go back to doing trades/manual labour ever again. From my experience it sucked ass big time.

    Long hours, shit pay, usually toxic work environments, working through Christmas + public holidays and it broke my body physically. I now have joint pain and back/knee issues from the work I did for 12+ years and not a single day of that work got me anywhere but stuck in the same position earning barely enough to survive.

    There are some trades that pay quite well, I just happened to pick the lowest paying of them all.

    Comparatively now I don’t make a massive amount more than I was but I am so much happier and I’d do what I do now for half the money before I’d even consider going back.

12. I poured concrete, swung a hammer, and drove truck long enough to know I don’t want to do those again. But I miss it.

    There’s something about ending a day and looking back at what was accomplished. Now I manage software projects and have no sense of completion.

13. Its different for different people.

    I worked almost 15 years in the dental field- AC, not much physical torture, gotta be precise and know what the dentist needs before he asks for it, dexterity, being a people person.

    I fucking hated it. Office politics, Dealing with women whos cycles sync up and being the only male, multiple dentists with different preferences and different specialties, different ways of doing a certain procedure, the onslaught of karens and specificity and level of detail all while having a smile on your face. all for 15 bucks a hour.

    I now work outside in the sun, i get sweaty, im moving big ass heavy equipment, i can have my headphones in, nobody talks, i dont need to have a perfectly shaven face or ironed attire.

    I show up. I work. I go home.

    All the boogie(bougie?) (stuck up shit) is out of my life and now im working out and i sleep good and ive lost weight and my stress levels are lower.

    My boss says hey- x y z needs to be done by this time today- and then he walks away, if it takes me 20 min, or if it takes me 2 hours, doesnt matter.

    ​

    I dunno a combination of not sitting down all day and not dealing with the social aspect of things make me gravitate towards the trades.

14. *”What are trade/manual labor jobs actually like?”*

    Labor.

15. Lots of heavy lifting, lots of time in the sun, no discrimination and the money’s pretty good (in Australia)

16. I like them. You get to see your skills improve and also feel accomplishment when you see your project go from start to finish.

    I could never have an officer job.

17. I’ve always worked in factories and I find it to be good. I knew I’d be too distracted by a computer to want to work in an office, and maintaining physical health has always been important to me, so I made sure to work jobs that kept me on my feet and hands-on.

    Grunt jobs as I like to call them are a dime a dozen and pay well, I think. Warehouse work pays over $20/hour now, and it’s just basic lifting and maybe some line work, but being easy money for unskilled labor it tends to attract less than savory people. Shop welding is perfect for me, since I’m left alone to focus on working and it pays pretty well, plus I’m still active and hands-on. Actual construction is the toughest stuff I’ve ever done, and would not recommend it.

    I tried to be an Ironworker, and after three days of rebar work (which involves carrying and laying down heavy rods and tying them together with wires under the hot summer sun) I was delirious from the heat, my back was horribly stiff, and my fingers were blistered and sore, so I quit. It wasn’t worth the benefits I’d have seen down the line.

18. I’ve done construction and factory work all my life. I am a jack of all trades, and master of none, which means absolutely nothing in the work force.

    In construction, the pay is usually minimum wage, and 40+ hours a week, in shit conditions.

    Despite the fact I can literally do damn near any trade job at or above apprentice level, no one has ever given me a chance to prove it, except on rare occasions, and it never got me a raise or promotion, despite my work always being approved.

    It’s thankless work, and it’s really no different than prostitution. You’re selling your body for money.

    All I have to show for it is osteoarthritis.

19. It’s like the high school P.E. locker room with tools.

20. can be very fun at times

    most of these types of jobs ebb and flow between very chill with a lot of down time and then hellaciously busy at other times

    basically when its good its REALLY GOOD and when its bad its REALLY BAD

21. I am sick and tired of American tradies from rich states spreading the myth that tradesmen can easily make 6 figures. That’s only true for them, in that particular area, working that particular job.

    I did a summer of construction and a summer of warehouse in high school. I was just a part time kid looking to earn money for weed and band practice, but I met older and more experienced people there who were nowhere near successful. They were mostly alcoholic, uneducated and didn’t make anything close to the numbers I see people brag about online. The only remotely well off person in the workplace was the manager and he didn’t make six figures either.

    I’d only recommend trade jobs to people who are highly skilled and specialized, otherwise its just miserable, long hours of grunt work.

22. If you are young they are fine, but overtime you pay with your body. I was a plumbing apprentice for 5 years, and did maintenance, and construction jobs till I was 35. Luckily I was able to go back to school and land a teaching job. Now in my 40’s I have 2 bad knees and a bad back. Working inside is 1000% better.