Personally, I’ve always loved the process of taking things apart, understanding how they work and putting them back together. I turned that into a degree in mechanical engineering and eventually a career in power plant operations. Couldn’t be happier with my work than I currently am. Its WORK but I don’t hate it and I feel like I’m doing something important.
I was stuck working in restaurants in my late 20s recovering from alcoholism. Managed to get set up at trade school with a friend who gave me rides till I got my license back. Studied industrial electricity and got a job as a helper shortly after, I’ve been a licensed electrician for a few years now and work for myself.
I love my trade. It kicks my ass some days but most of the time its not bad, I make good money, and I can feel good about the work. I do a lot of residential service calls these days, I love fixing homes.
I asked my eldest child what he wanted to do when he was older.
He said “I want to be one of those people that put cables into people’s houses”.
Absolute lad. Electricians are fucking voodoo workers. I don’t think he’ll ever be short of work either!
edit: that said, if I had to change career tomorrow, I think I’d go into either data networking at the physical layer, or work for a telecoms firm dropping fibre and sorting telephony dramas and whatnot.
Aww bless! It’s a great trade with a lot of directions he can take it for sure. It always feels so nice to be able to show up and fix a problem in an hour or two that was driving the homeowner nuts, most people are very grateful. I love being a house surgeon ;)