I was talking with a general contractor a few weeks ago. He was dismayed at the bills he gets from plumbers, electricians, HVAC technicians, and disaster remediation specialists. “It costs me $250 just to get a plumber to walk through the door,” he wailed. “In 10 years they’ll be asking for a whole lot more.”
Don’t take my hearsay as authoritative. Ask any accountant who their top earners are. Go look at the current job openings for plumbers in our area on Indeed.com.
Another positive for trade schools is that they don’t use DEI discrimination to lock males, whites, and Asians out of their programs. We have yet to hear of a violent “encampment” at a trade school or expelling Jewish students from dorm rooms. Everyone is welcome, and the students at those schools are interested in furthering their careers and earning potential in the shortest time possible.
If you’re lucky, you can do your apprenticeship with a licensed tradesman, and save the trade-school tuition altogether. While you work as an apprentice, you generate actual earnings—not great, and not as much as Kimberly Griffin, the Dean of UMD’s College of Education (who betrayed MoCo residents by hiring a high-ranking bureaucrat that covered up a confirmed case of sexual harassment.) Nevertheless, you’ll be accruing valuable skills and work habits that pay off handsomely after five or seven years; far more than any of Dr. Griffin’s graduates.
While the effect of artificial intelligence on white-collar jobs is uncertain, we have already seen strikes and layoffs motivated by the AI-driven future ahead of us. It’s a guess what the effect will be on the trades as well, although the thinking is HVAC technicians are less vulnerable than radiologists.
Another option is the stellar FAA academy in Oklahoma City. I’ve met several air traffic controllers who studied at the academy, and they all said the same thing: it’s relatively easy to get in, and it’s very difficult to graduate. Those who do graduate are on a trajectory of ever-increasing responsibility and compensation.
Clean Slate MoCo is by no means an authoritative source for career counseling, and clearly working in the trades isn’t for everyone. Furthermore, attorneys, accountants, physicians, and engineers need undergraduate degrees before advancing toward their earning years. Regardless, considering the discrimination in higher education (admissions and employment) as well as the tuition that is completely misaligned with post-graduation salaries, MCPS juniors and seniors might want to have some discussions with their parents to explore trade schools as a post-secondary option.
(Lead image from Indeed.com)
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