IGX

My oldest son is moving down to Texas with me. He's 20. He spent one year not doing work at a community college and dropping out the the next year working like a dog as a mover, basically supporting his girlfriend. He's got nothing to show for that now that they've broken up.

I'm looking for ideas for him for a career.

He was interested in becoming an IT/network guy, but now he's considering a skilled trade like electrician or welder. on the Gulf Coast there are tons of oil industry jobs but I don't know what the qualifications are for entry.

Physically, he works hard...mentally, he's not dumb but he's lazy, which was the issue with jr college.

Any of you have any suggestions? He's 20 and doesn't have much to show for it. He's about 300# so I'm not sure the military is an option either.

Texas, like Florida,.. everyone has AC. Air Conditioning is like always breaking down. You are never out of work.
He could look to get on the work list in Houston for the stagehands. Moving furniture is actually a good thing since if you can do that.. the shock of building theater/arena shows is not so great. Stagehand Union is the IATSE.

I agree with Tom. HVAC is a well paid field here in Metro Atlanta.

Plumbers and Electricians do quite well also. He might be a bit too big for plumbing though.

If I had it to do over I believe that I would have learned a trade first. Later I may or may
not have pursued a traditional 4 year degree.

I know some hipsters that live in Atlanta. They pay "an arm and a leg" for tradesman to do
relatively simple jobs and think nothing of it.

Good call on the HVAC...would have never thought of it

Yep...check out the Steamfitters local. A number of my friends are fitters and they make a great living...great benefits packages. Classes include a lot of welding and they have to be really good at it yet they get to do other things. So if he wants to learn welding the Steamfitters could be a great way to go because he will be paid to learn. If he wants to move somewhere else after he completes his apprenticeship he can get his traveling card and roll to another local.

Stay out of carpentry imo. The threshold to entry is really low and thus the pay is much weaker than Steamfitters/plumbers/electricians. Electrical work can be good. Usually there isn't a lot of heavy lifting though I knew some electricians with fucked up necks from always having to look up...but big deal, probably most guys don't have problems. If he wants to get on an oil field he can probably get on really easy as a roustabout. They are making a killing right now especially in ND/MT and TX. If he wants to get on an offshore oil rig he is going to have to get a TWIC id card from the Department of Homeland Security or the Coast Guard...I can't remember which. There may be some other card needed too but I can't recall. If he is going to work on the oil fields just getting the twic card could help him get on even if he isn't working offshore.

I knew a guy who got on with the local Elevator Workers union and really liked it. He made really good money but it was tough to get on with them from what I heard. There is always going to be elevators around and somebody's gotta make sure our collective nightmare of an elevator dropping 30 floors doesn't happen. I think more of the work is done at night but again, my dusty memory may be wrong, so if he isn't into working evenings/nights that might not be his jam.

I hope that helps.

In Houston I'd say 99% of carpentry is hispanic, and probably 75% of that is illegal immigrant work, so I hear you there.

Awesome suggestions.

Steamfitter and Elevator tech. An acquaintance of mine is an elevator tech in Ohio, I might hit him up for some info.

pipefitter apprentice school here too

Look into the Merchant Marine too. Houston is a major port for oil tankers.

Dan Martin wrote:Look into the Merchant Marine too. Houston is a major port for oil tankers.

Agreed. One of my buddies went through the Merchant Marine school and now works for Maersk. He works for a handful of months, maybe 6 and then has a number of months off. He doesn't have a home anywhere so he just pockets all the cash and makes sex on prostitutes in Thailand in his off time. There are worse ways to spend a life.

One of my friends is a boilermaker/gasfitter by trade. He's a one man shop installing and fixing HVAC and water systems. He works his ass off and does a spectacular job providing for his family.

Being an electrician pays really well, but you've got to pay attention to the book learning or you're going to get yourself killed on the job site, literally.

Go the industrial electrician route and maybe have him pick-up welding on the side as a bonus. And when I say industrial electrician, I'm talking high power, automation, PLC's, HMI's, etc. He can get a lot of what he needs in a two year robotics program, and the rest from apprenticeship and self-study. I know so many guys with high school diplomas who went this route and are making anywhere from $85,000 to $200,000. He will need to go offshore to get to the $200,000 level...namely deep ocean drilling operations. Energy is taking off from Texas to Louisiana. You can cash in as a tool pusher, or go become the guy that everybody is looking for but can't find right now. The big money is in blue collar professional right now, with a premium on electricians. It's a can't lose strategy.

Elevator repair is another route. Never gonna stop fixing those.

You want a trade that has a barrier to entry. Anything that takes some education/training and or union that keeps the illegals and dumbasses out.

Electrical
Iron Workers
HVAC
Utilities
Cell Tower or cell Infrastructure
Fire Systems
Gas and Energy- Pipe companies

BTW- I have a cousin that makes crazy amounts of in the oil business out in the gulf. He's your typical HS guy that did 3 years in the Navy; no special education. He lives 30 minutes south of Houston in Texas City. I could ask him what is available in that industry.

Or have him join the military to learn a trade. Not everyone ends up in the sand box dodging bullets and living like a dog.

He could join the Coast Guard; learn a trade, get money for college or vocational school and also have his attitude (laziness) adjusted. If he picks his Military Occupation carefully, he shouldn't have any problems finding a job when he gets out. Plus he'll have education benefits that can't be beat. Also, the VA loan. Almost every house I've lived in since leaving the military was purchased using my VA loan benefit.

The merchant marine is another solid choice. I grew up with a bunch of Portuguese Kids who's fathers were/are Tuna Fisherman. A lot of them jumped from that industry to the merchant marine. Mostly Navigators or engineers of some sort. All mad amounts of money and have a lot of free time when not at sea.

Another industry that's becoming increasingly important in Texas: clean energy/renewables. For an state that has a reputation as cowboy-hatted oilmen and roughnecks, it's also one of the national leaders in renewables. From my vantage point (in the Public Utilities Commission of one of the other national leaders in renewables) we're seeing a lot of demand, both from the big utilities and from smaller startups, for guys who know how to install a solar panel or fix a windmill.

He might just look at the careers page of some of the area electricity utilities (I'm not super familiar with the companies that serve Houston, I think Champion probably? Reliant? Cirro?) and see who they're hiring.

HVAC techs or Electricians I know so quite well for themselves.

Stay out of EMS.

I thought about the coast guard route myself for him. They are apparently prioritizing coast guard/merchant marine guys for off shore oil rig work

A model for the "before" picture in nutrition supplement ads?

Skilled welders are always in need, anywhere in the world.

An outside the box one, get on with an additive manufacturing/3D printing company, sweeping the floors if need be. Work his way up from there, learning how to run the machines eventually. The next internet-ish boom.

nafod wrote:A model for the "before" picture in nutrition supplement ads?

Skilled welders are always in need, anywhere in the world.

An outside the box one, get on with an additive manufacturing/3D printing company, sweeping the floors if need be. Work his way up from there, learning how to run the machines eventually. The next internet-ish boom.

The wife was looking at welding as an option to both compliment her artwork and offer a viable means of earning. Good stuff out there for a licensed welder.

A lot of good suggestions above, I wish I'd had the same advice 30 years ago.

Keep in mind that being able to get into a trade union is more important than education. Education is not what gets you into a trade union. Trades are good when they are good but there is down time for many, many tradesmen, every year.

HVAC is good if you're the guy that works on the equipment. The tin bangers that just make duct and hang duct don't make out as well. Service rather than installation (that is, fixing things rather than building things) is what keeps you working during lulls in construction, as we have had since 2008.

Electrical is pretty good but again entirely IBEW dependent. Non union electricians don't do nearly as well, although they probably have less layoffs. The IBEW has a good apprentice system, and if you can learn the code and get a license, you can do pretty well. But most of them still get laid off a lot. Not that they seem to mind, unemployment is a good deal for them.

Another good way to go is working for a utility company or telephone company, even as a way into other work.

Automation - PLCs and electronic controls - that's the only one I think is actually going to grow, maybe even boom. He can wet his feet with some very low cost things these days. Google Arduino for a hobby item that you can buy at Radio Shack and he can learn a lot with and a low risk of zapping himself. If that goes well, this company

http://www.triplc.com/

has dirt cheap products and good self-study materials on their site.

Oh one other thing, if he can get into the state police, it's one of the best overpaid jobs around.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_wLVCLPx0M[/youtube]

I'm a gonna push this, because it would be awesome to make him listen to this every time I see him.

In Michigan, a Conservation Officer could make pretty good money, but you have to deal with assholes with high powered rifles and drunken fishermen all the time.

Has he given thought to the French Foreign Legion?

Too fat, eyesight too bad.

I've been down this road, too, with my oldest. Bottom line, he's gotta figure it out for himself. You can be supportive and advise but, and no offense intended, the more you push him this way or that the more you delay him taking responsibility for himself.