Society/Culture The great myth of higher education value

[Kram]

Plans from the portable office?

Yeah that's why I said even leading hands 'on site'. They are still workers but mainly just organise and delegate work.

The guys I'm referring to from the first sentence above them in the office never touch a tool and rarely leave the office at HQ.

 

[its free real estate]

My best mate's 18 year old son missed out on an apprenticeship for next year so he'll have to console himself earning $120k a year as a warehouse officer doing a 7/7 roster, fifo from Brisbane.

If he doesn't end up getting that apprenticeship, he'll pretty much have a half a million dollar start on a uni graduate. Will that uni graduate ever catch up to him over their working lives?

Possibly, 18 year olds can’t be trusted with that much income.

 

[its free real estate]

Plenty of people with degrees saying "Really has nothing to do with my job now" but are never going to remove it from the resume. Plenty of old people without a degree that are happy or claim to be in the line of work they'll be in until they retire. What there isn't is plenty of young and youngish (under 40) degreeless people dismissing university. People in construction and FIFO etc probably don't love the idea of another 3-5 decades doing it. The cumulative damage builds up. Most "I stayed in Blah industry!" success stories involve moving into an office. If you don't want your body worn down and want something resembling 9-5 Mon-Fri there's limited available without a degree.

What cumulative damage? They don’t use hand drills and hammers any more.

 

[Goosecat]

$,000

 

[Goosecat]

An interesting aside.

Two "tradies" are next door working on neighbours property, building retaining wall, bench seats and fire pit etc right now.
I've watched them travel back and forth down the side of the house with barrows full of sand, cement, timber, blocks etc as the access is only small down the side. Each trip involves ducking under the neighbours clothes-line attached to the side of the house which has a steel peg bucket full of pegs hanging on the line via a hook. I've watched each "tradie" hit the bucket with their heads and just a short while ago one has hit it so hard he's managed to knock all the pegs out over the ground and hurt his head. He swears, rubs his head and bends down to pick them up handful by handful, depositing them back in the bucket.
They both carry on ducking under this bucket back and forth with equipment and still not one of them has thought to simply unhook the bucket!!

Perhaps I'm easily amused but I'm finding it hilarious

 

[twotooto]

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Possibly, 18 year olds can’t be trusted with that much income.

I 100% know the figure is accurate, time will tell if he's wise with it. He's a good kid.

 

[Goosecat]

Too funny!
Now I'm envisioning a drinking game with each player taking turns to nominate whether this trip will involve "tradie" head hitting bucket or not.
Correct call gets to nominate who skols.

 

[Goosecat]

Wait... Oh no they're unhooking the bucket, damn!
I was just deliberating on whether the game could be a single person player!!

 

[its free real estate]

I 100% know the figure is accurate, time will tell if he's wise with it. He's a good kid.

I don’t doubt the income level, I’ve just known a lot of guys the same age earn that money and blown it and then never come into that kind of easy salary again.

 

[Scotland]

Yeah that's why I said even leading hands 'on site'. They are still workers but mainly just organise and delegate work.

The guys I'm referring to from the first sentence above them in the office never touch a tool and rarely leave the office at HQ.

Another thread BBOK has NFI in. What are the chances?

None of my friends that didn't go to uni ever bring it up. Degrees are great for getting starts in certain fields and vital in others. Trades are great for getting starts in certain fields and vital in others. You don't get to be an electrician by just turning up with a pair of wire strippers and a red and yellow screwdriver. And you don't get to be a surgeon because you have a degree in creative writing.

I know plenty of successful 'white collar' guys who started as boilermakers, diesel mechanics, carpenters etc. Being an interface between blue and white collar guys makes you very, very employable. Way too many stickered hat wearing knobs out there who won't listen to any suit wearing a yellow vest, and way too many bean counting suits who wouldn't know one end of a hammer from the other.

 

[Kwality]

Is it a luxury, the degree I mean.

Just re read this, my apology it did not come out as I meant it, my mistake.

Somehow I misread your post RoyLion to suggest you had completed your degree later in life. Any primary degree/qualification has real value in shaping who you are.

 

[Nuggs Bunny]

Make sure you bookmark this thread too, because eventually the same people who say tradies get paid s**t to do awful work will be whinging about tradies getting paid too much for doing no work at all in another thread some time in the future.

 

[Scotland]

I don’t doubt the income level, I’ve just known a lot of guys the same age earn that money and blown it and then never come into that kind of easy salary again.

Or get sucked into the vortex of FIFO riches and can't get out.

Knew a bloke who went into it in his 20s because the money was better than he was getting in the city. Became accustomed to a certain level of spending and now (with family) can't get out,

 

[Scotland]

Make sure you bookmark this thread too, because eventually the same people who say tradies get paid s**t to do awful work will be whinging about tradies getting paid too much for doing no work at all in another thread some time in the future.

"The plumber charged me $200 to unblock the toilet!"

Well bloody unblock it yourelf then...

 

[Seeds]

Make sure you bookmark this thread too, because eventually the same people who say tradies get paid s**t to do awful work will be whinging about tradies getting paid too much for doing no work at all in another thread some time in the future.

Do you know why tradies get paid multiple times in real monetary terms compared with their equivalent in a poorer country despite often doing exactly the same work with the same productivity?

 

[Nuggs Bunny]

Do you know why tradies get paid multiple times in real monetary terms compared with their equivalent in a poorer country despite often doing exactly the same work with the same productivity?

Is it the same reason why seamstresses in Australia also earn more than $2 per day?

 

[Kram]

Do you know why tradies get paid multiple times in real monetary terms compared with their equivalent in a poorer country despite often doing exactly the same work with the same productivity?

I dunno, why do airline pilots or school teachers in the US get paid a pittance compared to the ones in Australia?

 

[Scotland]

Do you know why tradies get paid multiple times in real monetary terms compared with their equivalent in a poorer country despite often doing exactly the same work with the same productivity?

Is it because for every electrician and plumber there are 10 people with degrees in gender studies?

 

[Kram]

Plumbing despite being skilled and very well paid has hardly the most glamorous reputation as job in society, can't imagine many kids grow up wanting to be one.. Within the trades electricians (unless they go mining) usually get notably paid less in the equivalent sector because way more people tend to want to do it. In lean times there still never seems to be much of an over supply of plumbers.

 

[parsons nose]

Plumbing despite being skilled and very well paid has hardly the most glamorous reputation as job in society, can't imagine many kids grow up wanting to be one.. Within the trades electricians (unless they go mining) usually get notably paid less in the equivalent sector because way more people tend to want to do it. In lean times there still never seems to be much of an over supply of plumbers.

There are plenty of kids growing up wanting to be plumbers, unfortunately many of them don’t make the cut because they don’t have the requisite skills. Likewise carpentry. Plenty of kids want to be carpenters too, there’s something attractive about making and fixing things that you don’t get from working in an office.

 

[Scotland]

Plumbing comes with the advantage that a lot of the work is easy. It's not glamorous but it's not difficult either. You get paid the same hourly rate whether you are retrieving an iPhone from behind a toilet or unblocking a sink as you do to chase walls and install new copper pipe and fittings. The former anyone with half a brain can do and if you are willing to pay a call out fee and an hour's labour for someone to do that that's on you. The latter is more skilled work which most people can't do. Plus you need a pipe bender and tools for cutting, soldering etc.

Electrical work is a bit different. A lot of it is pretty straightforward but easy as it appears you are not supposed to do it by law.

 

[Engimal v3]

Trades are for dumb people, university is for smart people. I think this is pretty well established.

 

[Nuggs Bunny]

Trades are for dumb people, university is for smart people. I think this is pretty well established.

So are you a carpenter or plumber?

 

[Kram]

There are plenty of kids growing up wanting to be plumbers, unfortunately many of them don’t make the cut because they don’t have the requisite skills. Likewise carpentry. Plenty of kids want to be carpenters too, there’s something attractive about making and fixing things that you don’t get from working in an office.

Unless the kid is lazy, very stupid or born with 2 left hands I doubt there is anything stopping someone being a plumber if they really want to. Finish school, go to TAFE/Tech put their head down and finish a pre-appenticeship with work experience, they will get an opportunity.