Top 10 Best Trade Jobs (Trades Careers Ranked)

What's happening guys, it's Shane here

So there's a lot of noise going on around the Internet. You know, you go to one part of the Internet, they say that you shouldn't go into

trades because it's really backbreaking work and you don't get paid as well as you

could if you went into something else. And then you go to another part of the Internet, let's say Reddit, for instance, and

it seems like everybody is obsessed with trades and everybody needs to become a

plumber or an HVAC guy or something like that. Some think that you should get a four year degree so that you can sit in an air

condition office and just type away on a computer. Question, what kind of bear is best

Whereas other people say that it's better to go into the trades because you don't

have to go deep into debt, get a college degree, spend four years of your life in

order to get a job. And as with most things on the Internet, the truth lies somewhere in the middle

And I really do believe after doing a ton of research on this, that the trades are

making a comeback overall. In my opinion, trades are underrated. And as long as you don't forget to quickly smash the like button, I'll explain why

Remember, smash that like. So in recent decades, college has become so popular that it's almost the norm now

it's almost like the new high school degree. So, you know, a long time ago, there used to be a shortage of people who had a

college degree. And so therefore, if you got a college degree, it was pretty much a sure thing that

you were going to get a good job. Now it's getting to the point where there's almost an excess of people who have

college degrees. And so it's not nearly as rare and it's not nearly as coveted by people who own businesses

Now, on the other hand, when we're talking about trades, it used to be back in your

maybe your dad's day or your grandpa's day that a lot of men were very handy, knew

how to work on cars, they knew how to build houses, they could probably fix your

toilet or, you know, pipe if something happened there. Always winterize your pipes

But now it seems like most men don't even know how to change a tire

I don't know how to change no car tire, bro. Now, what does this mean in terms of getting a job and the economy

Well, things are starting to switch and there's now less and less people that have

the skills necessary to do these trades jobs. And the truth is, trades are a great option for a lot of people

And in this video, I'm going to be going over the top 10 trades jobs

Now, I did a ton of research in order to come up with this list. But at the end, I'm also going to go over basically tricks that you can use in order

to figure out which one of these jobs or which trades job that maybe isn't on the

list is perfect for you. Because if you do decide to go in this direction towards the trades, there's

really three things that are very, very important that you absolutely have to keep

in mind when you're deciding which one is going to be right for you. And I'm going to go over those three towards the end of the video

So the way I constructed this list is I looked at really obvious things like salary

That's a really obvious one. I also looked at things like future job growth and how many jobs are open right now

And then, of course, I considered job satisfaction ratings. And I asked people in real life who are actually doing these careers

And then on top of that, I also considered a bunch of things which I consider to kind

of be X factors. And just an example of one of those things would be wear and tear on the body

So there are some trades careers that are much more difficult on the body than others

And so these sorts of careers are obviously going to rank worse on the list

A lot of people who go into trades careers and specifically the ones that are very

physically demanding end up having to either a. Retire in their 40s or 50s or they end up switching careers entirely

Now, I personally work in the health care field and I've worked with a lot of patients

who take painkillers because they did an entire career in a very difficult trade and now

they have back issues, knee issues, etc. And it's really tough to see this, but it's really quite common, honestly

So this is something you really do want to keep in mind when you're thinking about which

trade career you should go with. Another thing to keep in mind is there are a lot of trades where they're very niche

like there's not that many job openings out there. But that doesn't mean that these aren't really good options for you

So those are ones you should look into. But I mean, my list would be ridiculously long if I included those types of trade

careers. But again, it's something you should definitely look into. I might end up doing a separate video on careers that are extremely niche where maybe

there's only like a thousand job openings or 2000 job openings in all of the United

States. So let me know if you want me to do a video like that. Another thing to note is that all the careers I mentioned in this video are going to be

ones that you can theoretically get into within two years. So that means you graduate high school and within two years you can be making full

time salary money doing any one of these careers. That doesn't mean that you will do it in two years

Sometimes people do an extra long apprenticeship. There are certain factors that go into this, but all of them can theoretically be done

in two years. With that being said, number 10 on the list is going to be welder

Now, welders make about $41,300 a year and this is the median income according to BLS.gov

And I think everybody kind of knows what welders do. They wield fire

I mean, that's pretty cool and stuff. They have torches, they cut metal, they combine metal, all sorts of extremely useful

things welders are able to do with their skills. And you might be surprised that welders only commented about number 10 on the list, but

I'm going to go ahead and explain why. So first of all, the $41,000 average salary is pretty low compared to a lot of the others

on this list. And then it's also only expected to grow about 3 percent in the next 10

years, according to BLS, which again, that's on the lower end, especially for trades

careers. A lot of them are up in the 10 percent range or so. But technically, the average is somewhere around 4 to 6 percent

So that's slightly below average compared to all other careers. Now, another downside of getting into welding is it is relatively difficult on the body

Not as bad as a lot of the other trades careers, but, you know, you do have to hold a

torch and, you know, your back might have to be in the same position for a very long

period of time. So it is pretty difficult on the back, not to mention the fact that

you'll probably burn yourself like 20 or 30 times. But overall, it is pretty difficult on the body

And so those are the main reasons why it wasn't higher up on the list

But let's talk about some of the pros of welding. First of all, you don't have to be licensed or have an apprenticeship in order to start

in welding, which is a huge advantage. That means that theoretically you could come straight out of high school and start welding

right away. And in my opinion, that is kind of the big advantage of getting into a trade

There's certain trades where, you know, if you join a union, for instance, it might take

you three or four years before you start making the full amount of money that you're

supposed to make. And that's kind of a huge disadvantage for me because you could have

just gone to college, gotten a really good degree, and you'd be making a lot more than

what you're making in the trades. So if it takes any more than two years to me, it's probably not worth it

Now, another thing about welding that is really interesting is the difference between a

new welder and a master welder is is massive. I mean, there's just a huge difference

There's a very low floor and a very high ceiling in terms of the skill that you can have

So new welders that are just going into it probably aren't going to be making very much

money. I mean, it's not going to be anything impressive. However, as you get through your career, if you develop certain types of skills that a

lot of people want to pay for and you kind of get known in the industry, maybe you have

to be a little bit entrepreneurial. You might buy your own rig, for instance, your own welding rig

You can really start making some good money easily up into the six figures

For instance, underwater welders might take on a contract that only lasts a few months

but they could potentially make their entire year's salary in just a few months

And underwater welding, as you could probably imagine, takes a lot of skill and it takes

many years to get good at. So just because this one comes in at number 10 on the list doesn't mean you shouldn't look

at it. I think it's still a really good option, especially if you're the type of person who's

a little bit entrepreneurial and you're willing to kind of go where the opportunity is

Now, number nine on the list is going to be heavy equipment operators

And this is a really good one to get into as well. So as you can imagine from the name heavy equipment operator, these are the people who

basically operate the huge machines like cranes or tractors, and they use them to build

buildings or construct roads and all sorts of things like that. Now, heavy equipment operators make about forty six thousand nine hundred dollars a year

which is pretty good. This is still on the lower end out of all the ones on the list, but it's still not too

bad. They're also expected to grow at about a 10 percent rate in the next 10 years, which

is really good. The average is four to six. So that's about double what the average is

And unfortunately, this is one that does require licensure and apprenticeship. These big businesses are not going to let you operate their million dollar machines

unless you're really well trained, because you could probably mess something up pretty

easily. Now, this is another one that's relatively entrepreneurial. And by that, I mean there's certain types of heavy equipment that probably pay a little

bit more than others. So from the research that I did, crane operators, especially in particular places, they

do tend to get paid more than a lot of the other heavy equipment operators

Wow, you're a good company. And without getting too much into the details, this is one where you really do want to

do your research, do your due diligence and make sure to talk to people who are in the

industry now. And that way you can figure out where more of the opportunities are

So, for example, you might have a lot more opportunity if you get licensed and learn how

to work cranes, although it will probably have its ups and downs

Now, the cons of doing a job like this is it's probably extremely stressful

I mean, one little mistake and you could easily end somebody's life or you could cause

like a million dollars worth of damage. So you really have to be on your A game all the time

You have to be locked in, dialed in at all time. Another thing is you do need the licensure and the apprenticeship, like I mentioned

before, that takes a lot more time than if you were able to just do it right out of high

school. Now, the positive thing about doing the licensure and apprenticeship, which I

haven't mentioned yet, but this really applies to all of them, is that it does take

time. It is going to be difficult, but at the same time, that means other people have to

do it as well. And so it does act as a barrier to entry to new people coming into the

career. And so therefore, when you do it, you do have pretty good job stability after

you've gotten it done. Overall, this is still a very solid choice, especially if you do your research and

you're a little more entrepreneurial and you're willing to probably go where the opportunity is. Very much like welding, this is a good option

Number eight on the list is going to be plumber. And I'm sure a lot of you are actually surprised that this one is so high on the list

Surprise. You probably thought it was going to be in the top three

This is one of the most popular ones to get into. But yeah, I'm going to have to put number eight as plumber

And I think that everybody knows what they do. They basically install, repair pipes that carry either liquids or gases

Now, plumbers make about fifty three thousand nine hundred dollars a year on average

which is pretty dang good. They do require a licensure and an apprenticeship, which means, you know, you've got

to spend that extra time. But they also have about a 14 percent projected growth in the next 10 years, which is

excellent. That's about three times as much as the average. So there's going to be a huge need for plumbers in the next 20, 30 years

Now, plumbing is definitely one of these really solid careers on this list where, you

know, maybe you don't have as much upside as a plumber, but there's also a ton of

need basically anywhere you go in the United States. So you probably won't have to move to a particular place in order to get a job as a

plumber. So if your family is all in one city and you want to stay in that city, this

would probably be a really good option for you because you're pretty much bound to be

able to find a job, maybe even open your own business no matter where you go

So the cons of being a plumber, like I mentioned before, is you do have to get that

licensure and the apprenticeship. It can be somewhat difficult on the body

It's not nearly as bad as some of the ones out there. Like I've heard Boilermaker is a really tough one on the body

It's definitely not that bad, but it is somewhat physically taxing. The pros to this career is, of course, the insane future growth of 14 percent

The fact that you can pretty much get a job anywhere you go doesn't really matter where

you are. There's going to be opportunities wherever. This is also one of those careers where you do get quite a bit of variation in your

schedule. So you might have quite a bit of free time at one part of the day and then

you're on call the rest of the day. So that can be nice depending on what type of person you are

And this is really just one of the most stable types of trades

People's pipes break during the summer. They break during the winter. So you're pretty much going to get work all year round

There's going to be some variability, but a lot of the trades, you know, maybe during

the winter, for instance, there's no work whatsoever. And then during the rest of the year, there's quite a bit of work

This one is kind of less seasonal. You're pretty much going to be working all year round

And that means it's more stable, which means you can have a more normal life if you

want to. And this is one of those careers where, yeah, sure, technically it says you're

only making, you know, 50, 55 thousand a year median. But I personally know plumbers that started their own business that are pulling in six

figures a year. So you can definitely get up to that six figure mark if you want to

Number seven on the list is going to be HVAC technician and HVAC stands for heating

ventilation and air conditioning. They're the people who fix your air conditioner in the summer and your heater in the

winter. And this one I know quite a bit about because my brother actually is an HVAC

guy. He owns his own HVAC business. And so I kind of have an insider's knowledge on this particular one

Now, HVAC technicians make median about forty seven thousand six hundred dollars a year

which is on the lower side on this list, but not too bad

And they're expected to grow about 13 percent in the next 10 years, which is excellent

Now, the cons of doing HVAC is that it can be somewhat taxing on the body because you're

going to be lifting, you know, heavy air conditioners, heavy heater parts

You're also going to be crawling into ventilation systems. So it's somewhat taxing on the body

Again, definitely not as bad as some of the others. I didn't even include some of the worst ones on the list, because even if you make

one hundred thousand dollars a year, if you get crippled from it, to me, that's just not

worth it. Another thing about HVAC, and I guess you could say this is a pro or a con

but, you know, we'll put it in cons, is it's extremely seasonal

So if you own an HVAC business in Miami, you're probably going to be doing like 80

percent of your work in the summer because it's going to be 100 degrees outside and

you know, 95 percent humidity. And when people's air conditioner breaks down, that is a problem

Whereas if it breaks down in the winter and you're in L.A. or something like that, not as big of an issue

It's more of a convenience. Let's get some ice. Same goes if you're in a really cold place, like let's say you live in Minneapolis

Minnesota. If your heater breaks down during the winter, that could potentially be

life threatening. So that is very serious. And you're going to be calling an HVAC guy right away

Now, the problem with it being so seasonal, you might think this is a good thing when

you first hear it. I mean, you'd be like, oh, you make all your money during one season and then you get to vacation during another part of the season

And that's true. But the really big problem with it being so seasonal is the fact that you have to hire

and fire people. So, for instance, you might need, you know, three or four guys during the winter and

then the work kind of dries up during the summer. And now you have to kind of put them all as part time guys because there's just not

enough work to go around. And most of them are probably just going to quit or they're going to find something

else. And so for that reason, it can be really difficult to scale your business

And there's also a huge difference in pay depending on where you live

Now, on the pro side of the list, you know, the seasonal nature of the business is

really nice because when you're in the off season, you can kind of just do whatever you want. It also doesn't require licensure or apprenticeship, which is amazing

because you can pretty much just start right at the high school if you want to

And then, of course, it has a really good expected growth rate of about 13 percent

Next one on the list, number six, is going to be dental hygienist

And this one is really, really good. And basically what they do is they're going to help to examine patients

They're going to help prevent patients from getting certain dental diseases. They're also going to do teeth cleanings and basically they're going to do all the

things that the dentist technically can do, but they probably shouldn't be spending

their time doing it because it isn't that difficult. Now, dental hygienists make about seventy four thousand eight hundred dollars a year

which is one of the higher ones on the list. That's excellent. It does take an apprenticeship and a licensure, which is a downside to this, but

it's expected to grow at about 11 percent over the next 10 years, which is really

really good. So the cons of this one are pretty obvious. You're going to be all up in somebody's grill basically

And that's pretty gross for a lot of people putting your hand in somebody's mouth. It does require licensure and apprenticeship

And when I was doing my research on this, I found that a lot of schools actually do

take three years total. And in my opinion, that's like 75 percent of the way to a normal four years bachelor

degree where you could have been making quite a bit more if you just graduated with

something else. So out of all the ones on the list, this one probably takes the longest

You can technically do it in two years. But doing my research, I found out that a lot of the time it's going to take you

three. Now, another thing about this, and this is kind of me nitpicking, I guess it

could be a pro or a con, but there is something really special, something magical

about doing work with your hands. I remember when I used to do construction and I used to do all these projects during

high school. I was really happy even though I was out in 100 degree weather, sweating

my butt off, building pathways, for instance. It's very satisfying just doing work with your hands

I don't know if this is just something that's like genetic, going back to the caveman

days, but there's something extremely satisfying with building something, using your hands, having to use your muscles a little bit

Whereas with something like dental hygienist, it's more of fine motor movement

So I guess this could be a pro or a con. But if you're somebody who's maybe not as strong or you don't really want to do any

physical work, this is a really good one. Now, the pros here are, of course, the pay pays extremely well

It's also growing really fast at 11 percent. And then another huge thing is this one is a lot less physical than most of the other

trades jobs on the list. And that means that you can have a longer career

That means you're going to have less back pain, less leg pain and all those sorts of

things. And just overall, that's really good. Overall, this is a great option depending on what you're interested in

But number five on the list is going to be elevator installers and repairers

And this one is pretty obvious what they do. You know, they install elevators, they repair elevators

But there's a lot of different types of jobs. You know, you might do something like renovation, for instance, where you take out an

older elevator and then you put in a newer elevator. You might be a guy who's on call

You know, someone gets stuck in an elevator. You're the guy who goes and rescues them in the middle of the night

So there actually is quite a bit of different types of jobs you can do within this

career. And I'm extremely grateful to these guys because I did actually get stuck in an

elevator one time when I was at a hotel. Me and my girlfriend got stuck and basically they got me out really quickly

I mean, I think it was within 30 minutes. They got there, they fixed whatever the problem was and they got us out, you know, in

record time. So I was extremely impressed with that. So the cons of this one are, of course, you know, if somebody gets stuck in the middle of

the night and you're on call, for instance, you got to wake up in the middle of the night, go and repair the freaking elevator

And, you know, that's always something that kind of sucks. It does require an apprenticeship and a licensure, which is going to take quite a while

This is one of the ones where you have the option of going union or non-union, and

that's a very complicated subject with all of these. It's kind of different from state to state and from career to career

But I've read that if you do decide to go union, it can take up to four years before you

start getting paid, you know, the full amount that you would normally get paid

Now, this is one of the ones where you kind of have to be a jack of all trades. You have to know quite a bit about electricity

You have to know quite a bit about the mechanics of how things work. So you really do have to have a lot of skills

And then on another note, it is kind of dangerous. I mean, elevators are like a thousand pounds and they're suspended in the air

And so if that thing drops on you, that's extremely dangerous. This one is somewhat physical and labor intensive compared to some of the others on the

list. But again, it's not nearly as bad as the ones that didn't include on the list

Now, the pros of this one are great. You get paid, you know, over seventy nine thousand dollars a year

That's an amazing salary. It's expected 10 year growth is 10 percent

That's awesome. And with this particular career, there's a lot of options for you to go

into. And, you know, depending on what you want to do, you can probably get quite a bit

of time off. And when you ask tradespeople, people who work in all kinds of different

trades, which ones they think are the best to go into, you do hear this one quite a bit

You hear elevator repair and installer. They seem to think that this is one of the less physical ones where you make, you know

pretty good money. Another one that's in that same category where when you ask

tradespeople their opinion, they speak very highly of this one is electrician

Now, I think it's pretty obvious what electricians do. And this is another one where you do have to get an apprenticeship and a licensure

So it does take a little bit longer, but you do have the 10 percent expected growth over

10 years, which is really solid. So some of the cons of this career is it's really dangerous

I mean, you can get electrocuted to death. So you really have to be on the ball, locked in all day long while you're on the job

And then another con is you do have to do the licensure and the apprenticeship

Now, the pros to this one is you get paid really well, fifty five thousand dollars a

year. And again, this is another one where if you start your own business, you can make

quite a bit more than that. It's got that 10 percent expected growth, which is excellent

And then a very important point here is it's really not as physically demanding as a

lot of the other trades are. And then I guess you could say this is a pro or a con, but this is another one of those

careers where there's a high ceiling and a low floor in terms of your knowledge

So entry level electricians don't know nearly as much as electricians that have been

doing it for a very long time. And so as you get better, you become more valuable and you really can make a lot more

money depending on your knowledge. Number three on the list is going to be geological and petroleum technicians

And basically what they do is they provide support to scientists and engineers when

they're exploring and extracting natural resources. And this is actually a common theme that I saw when I was researching a lot of the

trades, trades that are related to natural gas, the oil industry, for instance

They tend to pay extremely well. Now, there are a lot of really niche careers and that's why I didn't include them on

this list because there's just not that many openings available. But there's a lot of careers related to natural gas, the oil industry that pay

extremely well. The downside is you probably have to move to that area

You might even have to go on an offshore rig or something like that in order to get

these sorts of jobs. So the cons of this one is you are somewhat limited what companies that you can work for

You'll probably have to move to the place in order to get a really good job

And then let's say the industry just collapsed for some reason. It's not that obvious that your skills would transfer very easily over into another industry

So you kind of might be left empty handed. And I guess you could say another con on this one is it only has a 7% expected growth, which

is actually above average. But for the ones on this list, it's one of the lower ones

Now, the pros of this one is you don't need a licensure or apprenticeship

You can literally put your boots on right after graduating from high school and go get

a job doing a career that's related to this field. And then another thing is you make a really nice salary of over $53,000 a year

And that's honestly extremely solid, especially since you don't have to technically do the

licensure or the apprenticeship. So number two on the list is going to be Sonographer

And if you're not sure what they do, they basically operate special imaging equipment

so that they can see inside of the human body, for instance, like an ultrasound, that sort

of thing. And sonographers make about $67,000 a year on average, which is just amazing considering

you don't have to do a licensure or an apprenticeship. They also have a 14% expected growth, which is one of the highest on the list and it's

just amazing. And this is another trend that I noticed, not just studying trades careers, but just

careers in general. A lot of the ones that are related to health are going to have very high expected job growth

you know, usually 10% or more. Now, of course, there's exceptions to this, but as a general rule in healthcare, it seems

like we're always short-staffed. We never have enough people to fill the positions

So that is why I really recommend healthcare quite a bit, because not only is there a lot

of jobs available now, but there's going to be a lot of jobs available in 10 years

And if you think about it, no matter what happens, we're always going to need healthcare

professionals because unfortunately, people are going to continue to get sick and continue

to die. And so there's always going to be a huge need for people who can treat them and can cure them

So the cons of getting into this career, honestly, it's really tough to even find a con

You do have to interact with patients. Sometimes they might not be in the best mood

So if you're somebody who doesn't like interacting with people, you're just a huge introvert

you don't want to talk to people, you don't have to deal with patients or customers, then maybe you probably don't want to go into this one, but it's not excessive

It's not like you have to talk to hundreds and hundreds of people every single day

The pros are it doesn't require licensure or apprenticeship. It's got that amazing 14% expected growth

It pays extremely well. And then of course, this is one of the trades where you're definitely not going to have

to do a lot physically. So it's not very difficult on the body

And so therefore, you know, you're not going to have to, you know, quit in your 40s because

you have horrible back pain or anything like that. And so this is really just an amazing option

Overall, one of the best options on the list. Number one is slightly better, barely beats it out

And that is radiation therapist. Now, this is one of the toughest mentally to do on the list just because you're going

to be treating cancer patients and, you know, other different types of diseases using radiation therapy

So an obvious con on this one is you're going to be around sick people all day long

A lot of them probably aren't going to be in a very good mood. And this is true for all health care jobs, honestly, but especially so with a job like

this, it's hard to not bring your job home with you. And so if you're an extremely sensitive or emotional person, you probably don't want

to go into a career like this. Now, another con is it does technically require licensure, not an apprenticeship, but it does

require licensure. And so that's going to take you a little bit longer

Now, the pros to this one are, first of all, it's the highest paying out of all of them

on the list. It's $82,000 a year and it also has a 9% average growth, which is really solid

And then another thing to consider is you're going to be doing a job that may not be very

fun, but it will probably be extremely fulfilling because you're helping people out

And this is one thing that I think is kind of underrated about the health care profession

Yes, it's really difficult. Yes, you're going to have people yelling at you sometimes, but it's extremely fulfilling

because you know that you're helping people out. So as always, I'm underpromising and I'm over delivering in these videos

And I'm going to go over the three most important things that you want to consider if you're

thinking about going into a trades career. So the first thing, and this is the most important thing for you to think about, is wear and

tear on the body. Now, I know a lot of my audience is extremely young

Some of you might still be in high school. Maybe you're kind of just out of high school and you're early 20s

So you might think that, hey, this body that I have right now, I don't ever have any back

pain or anything like that. But let me tell you, as somebody who works in the health care profession, I have seen

tons of patients that come from these trades careers that end up having to take painkillers

just to get through the day. This is heartbreaking to see, but please learn from their mistakes and make sure to not go

into a trade that is extremely difficult on the body. Now, of course, there's always exceptions to this

Let's say you're a very strong person and you can just do work like that all day long

and you won't even be sore, then OK, great. Maybe you can go into it

But overall, you really want to be careful here. You don't want to be 40 years old, 20 years away from retirement, and you have horrible

back pain every single day. Now, another thing that I didn't really mention, but I talk about a lot on this channel is

it's extremely important for you to save money, invest money. But it's even more important in the trades because there's always a chance that you throw

your back out, you hurt your back, maybe you have a knee injury or something like that

that stops you from being able to do your job. And so for that reason, you need to start investing even earlier

So check out my other videos if you want to see, you know, all about how to do that

I make a ton of videos on that. So that is by far the most important part that you need to consider

The second thing that you want to consider on top of the wear and tear on the body is unions

Now, unions can be in a lot of different other careers, but in the trades specifically, they're

very, very important. And it's really going to differ depending on what state you live in, what area you live

in, which trade you're doing. There's tons of differences with all those different things

So an example of this is plumbers and electricians. There's a rule that they can't get laid off while they're doing their apprenticeship

which is really good if you're an apprentice, because it's kind of a waste of time for somebody

to lay you off and then you get done with your apprenticeship and you don't know what

the heck you're doing. Unions will also pay for ridiculously expensive certifications

So let's say you're in welding and you want to learn how to do underwater welding

There's probably a certification for that. So your union will likely pay for that for you

They also get you amazing benefits like holidays, vacations, extra pay, health care, retirement

accounts, all kinds of different things, annuities. All of these things are really good overall

And they're things that you should look into. Unions generally negotiate a higher pay for you as well, although a lot of the time you

do have to pay the union fee. The higher pay that they negotiate is going to make up the difference

And then some when it comes to the union fees. So as a general rule of thumb, and again, this might be a little bit different depending

on where you're living or what trade you're in. It's generally a good idea to join a union

And again, this is something it's so important that you do your research on this

So I'll give another example. Carpenters and laborers, unfortunately, just because of the fact that it's kind of easy

to get into it, they are actually starting to lose their unions because of the fact that

so many of them are not unionized. And therefore, the unions don't have any leverage over the employers

And so they can't really negotiate benefits or anything like that. And you can look online all you want to do this sort of research

I'm sure there's forums that are, you know, specifically for carpenters or plumbers or

HVAC guys. And those will be extremely helpful, I'm sure. But nothing replaces just picking up the phone and calling people who are currently

doing the career right now or reaching out through your network or messaging people on

LinkedIn, something along those lines. Nothing replaces talking to real people who are doing the career now

Now, after you've considered the first two things, and I really think you should do it

in this order. The third thing you want to think about is what are you good at and what are you interested in

So don't just go for the money. You want to go for something that you're really interested in. Like, let's say you're extremely passionate about electricity

It's just something you really enjoy messing with and you think it's just a really cool thing

Maybe you should consider becoming an electrician. The great thing about going into the trades is you can kind of sample different trades

pretty easily compared to, you know, getting a college degree. Sometimes you get a four or six year degree and you don't really know what you're getting

yourself into. You kind of do know what you're getting yourself into when it comes to these different trades

You can always go and shadow them, go work with them. You know, it's not that big of a deal for you to just go and see what they're all about

Ask them their opinion. And so that is kind of a really positive thing

And it's a huge advantage when it comes to getting into the trades

And again, doing your research beforehand is going to be of paramount importance

You definitely don't want to skip that step. Make sure you do your research. Talk to people

You're going to be making a decision that's going to affect the entire rest of your life

So it's worth it for you to put in time now so that you don't have to later

Other than that, check out my videos right here. I made them just for you

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and then comment down below any ideas or comments you have on the video

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