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[deleted] OP t1_j1wwe6r wrote

A trade. Most work done in front of a computer is low hanging fruit for AI to do. It's gonna be a lot longer before a robot can perform all the tasks a plumber or electrician can do.

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DeepSpaceWarlock t1_j1wyvcw wrote

Am previous trades electrician. Money is good, but it will take a physical toll on you. In my 30s now with a bad back & knees already, which is why i am going back to college for engineering. Something most people don’t tell you about trades.

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Rider003 t1_j1x1rpy wrote

I’ll counter this. 30 year old Electrician and feel just fine. Renovating some of the biggest hospitals in my state capital and feel like I worked harder at my first job stocking shelves than I do now as an Electrician. Naturally a physically demanding job will take its toll but so does sitting at a desk. Just different types of exhaustion

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GuitarRzrDad t1_j1x47sq wrote

Agreed heavy equipment mechanic since I was 19 …. 34 now and I’m pretty beat up

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resdaz t1_j1wwlni wrote

Yeah, nobody is going to bother replacing those jobs unless the cost of those robots get insanely low. Which I frankly do not see in my lifetime.

Problem is, being an electrician apprentice in your mid 30s, does not look very rosy. However, might just be what you have to do.

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Gaddafo t1_j1wxnms wrote

Don’t need to be an electrician to be a tradesmen and yes that’s fine to be changing careers.

I’m an HVAC technician, i service commercial and industrial refrigeration equipment. We just had a 28 year old start 2 weeks ago and a new guy who’s in his 30s this coming week. Speak to your local union halls about jobs. You can be a machinist at the Millwright union working on compressors to combustible engines and more. You can focus on robotics, etc.

There is tons of trades such as longshoremen, HVAC, plumber, equipment operators, who makes very good money. The equipment operators around me are unionized and they work 4-8 hours a day but take home is a percentage of jobs, which ends up being a 50+ an hour work.

The demand is there for people to get into trades even without experience, speak to your local union. Also check out elevator technician, those guys make bank.

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[deleted] OP t1_j1wzucj wrote

I'm in a trade and maybe 40% of our apprentices are over 30. We're union and in a highdemand field and we get paid pretty extortionate wages in my city it's sort of funny. I make 6 figures easily if there's any overtime at all.

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TonyWhoop t1_j1x0jcg wrote

I started my first trade job at 30. 11 years on and I won’t look back.

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Rider003 t1_j1x25nh wrote

Also worth noting that this job is a ton of “make it work”. Everything looks great to the engineer until you get out into the field with 1000+ premade things and each one needs adjusted an inch because the concrete raises 3” from one side of the building to the other. We’re not even close to automation.

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GrayBox1313 t1_j1x20wy wrote

Trades will be automated Down to where the Human is just a low paid machine operator. The higher paid trade jobs will be technicians to manage and service groups of machines and that will take a lot of education. Even in plumbing or hvac that still needs humans for some parts, Wages will be driven down as there is less work available and more workers available. It’s foolish to think those giant construction machines and manual labor will be safe from automation when that is what they are good at. Companies will LOVE the opportunity to no longer need to deal with trade unions and automate.

Even auto mechanic will become more computer based as we see more EVs and less gas engines on the road.

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[deleted] OP t1_j1x33sl wrote

I can see a lot of fab shop work being automated but I don't think people respect how difficult it is to like, wire a building for electricity or heat or plumbing let alone something more complex like an industrial process.

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GrayBox1313 t1_j1x6d6t wrote

Alot will be prefab. Yeah it’s difficult on-site but even if you can replace 1 or 2 out of 5 on-site jobs with a rentable machine companies will do it. It’s coming for all industries.

Example: They are currently building an extension to my kid’s school and I see the workers everyday. The other day I saw a guy operating a bobcat digging a trench, then in the afternoon, 3 guys laying cable in that trench. That could all be one guy supervising 2 machines.

Also it’s a prefab permanent building. A giant Lego basically. They put the walls and roof up in like a day.

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GrayBox1313 t1_j1x7uka wrote

Disagree. AI can’t form opinions, come up with brand positioning, strategy, analysis, creative campaign concepts etc.

But it can be programmed to dig a trench at coordinates on a grid or install a set of prefab components and connect point a to point b.

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abrandis t1_j1x4ln2 wrote

Trades do offer good money, but as others have said, the physical toll is pretty high, unless you only plan to work in a trade for 5-10 years.

I have uncles in trades they're in there mid -forties and look 60 , all complain about knee/back pain, many are out of shape (their jobs exhausts them daily they don't have any energy to come home and work out, not to mention a shit diet, again out in the field, they don't have the luxury of finding healthy food.). One does have a nice boat and they all have decent homes and their kids are well supported, but its a touch life..

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