It's ironic really. In the worst economy in a generation, I've finally gotten the job I want after about 6 years of tedious low-paid struggle in law school and starting a law career, and I don't know how much longer I can sit behind a desk. I still dream of driving tractor trailers or rehabbing old houses like I did as a boy. I know I'll miss the intellectual gratification of practicing law, but I feel like time spent indoors is time wasted and I'm no longer materialistic now that I see how expensive it gets.

At the same time, it is a little naive to think that there is instant gratification involved in manual work - I would be affected by the same social problems afflicting the middle class, no matter what.

Nevertheless, I am curious to see how everyone reacts, especially in a forum where so many people are looking for work.

THE ARTICLE (ABRIDGED)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08....html

THE tarnishing of Wall Street and the breakout success of “Shop Class as Soulcraft” by Matthew B. Crawford, the Ph.D. who left academia to become a motorcycle repairman, are probably no coincidence.

As corporate America has shed millions of jobs, Mr. Crawford’s philosophical musings on the spirit-restoring value of working with his hands touched a big nerve, quickly becoming a national best seller and generating widespread publicity.

It was not the only sign that recession-pummeled Americans are indulging in a romance with blue-collar trades, while also questioning the hollowness of white-collar work.

....

Whether this nostalgia translates into an actual shift in people’s careers has yet to be seen. Current government employment data does not track white-collar workers entering blue-collar jobs or training for skilled trades. Skeptics doubt that the romancing of manual labor will lead to a permanent realignment of the American work force.

Nonetheless, cultural critics like Mr. Crawford say a change is afoot, driven by a kind of collective soul-searching, growing frustration with mind-numbing, abstract office work and disillusionment with corporate America.

.....

Even as the unemployment rate hovers at 9.4 percent, some skilled trades like welding and pipefitting are in high demand now, among the jobs that cannot be filled with unskilled labor or outsourced overseas. The construction industry is expected to recover and generate more demand for trained electricians, plumbers and carpenters, according to a report last month by the President’s Council on Economic Advisers.

....

Even if manual labor is having a moment in the sun, he said, “I’m skeptical that our society, and the way in which the institutions of our society are geared and the economic situation in which we find ourselves will permit the realization of this noble dream.”

Mr. Crawford, the motorcycle-repairman-author, acknowledged that he was able to leave his white-collar job for the shop only because his wife has health insurance. Society’s appreciation for skilled manual labor and craftsmanship has faded, he said, because “we’ve had this dichotomy of knowledge work versus manual work, as though they are two different things.”

“There’s a lot of thinking that goes on in the trades,” he said. “And that experience of seeing a direct effect of your own actions in the world has become kind of elusive.”

Modified by alleghenyman at 6:24 PM 8-27-2009

Quote, originally posted by jderpak »

Huh? There's no plot against me, I already went through the VW-fanboy gauntlet, I'm free.

Keep your job til' the wheels fall off!

x2 though for me is much stressful than a blue collar job

Down The Line

The Bottle

The real difference is in a white collar position there's more upside and lateral opportunity than blue collar jobs. The only real way for blue collar folks to get ahead is to start your own business.

The reason why unions are almost a must at some blue collar workplaces which is primarily used to shield them from competition.

Quote, originally posted by jonnygvr6 »

i wonder sometimes too if i made the right career choice...im a blue collar worker myself....i work for a construction company...i try telling myself i like my line of work but in reality i dont....theres something about it that i like yet i hate waking up in the morning to go to work and break my back....i think my calling in life is somewhere in the hotel/restaurant/bar industy....customer service and food and bevarage has always been a passsion of mine....good luck with your decision

I did this while I was in college and for a couple years after college due to not finding a job in my field right away. But, after I landed a marketing/graphic design job I would not consider going back to blue-collar unless I absolutely needed to. I have progressed more in one year at my current position than I have in the past 2 years working construction/concrete.

Growing up on a farm meant I was doing physical labor by the age of 12, so I have been exposed quite a bit to the meaning of 'hard work', so my current, white collar job is a nice change of pace. I have no set in stone hours - come in anytime between 6am and 9am and stay until 2pm or 5pm, respectively - still have energy after work to do whatever, always have weekends off, can work from home if need be, able to take off for emergencies at little to no notice, air conditioned, and not to mention the pay, bonuses, paid benefits, profit sharing, and all that other good stuff helps in the long run.

I'm young, so I haven't had a great deal of time in the white collar industry, but so far I see no benefits of blue collar jobs that my white collar job doesn't have.

DIY: Protect Ignition Coil Harness | DIY: Retrofit | DIY: Dual Turns | Design

Sorry, I can't think of anything wittier for my signature.

At 33, I'm burned out and am questioning what it is that I was meant to do. This is not to say that I want to switch collars and go blue, but I have no clue what it is I want to do.

I'm great at my career, I get commondations for it and the rewards are good. But I find myself not liking the business I'm in, starting to see the greed in it and getting frustrated with the business culture in general. I've seen people I thought were invincible topple, I've been privy to their demise before they knew what was coming and had to shut my office door to avoid their "walk of shame."

After dying and coming back, corny but true, there has got to be more than 10-12 hour days filled with stress and my disdain for living at my desk. I'm supposed to accept this and love it because those before me did so without complaining.

Here is my daydream: awake when I want, head to my old fashioned type writer nestled on a desk set in the dormer window of my pretend Cape Cod house in, wait, Cape Cod and become the next James Patterson. Pour my imagination out onto the blank sheets and get paid for it. I would be able see my yet to be born kids get on the bus, hear the waves crash, smell the sea air and not have to hear about my assistant's life. Twenty times an hour.

Every time I buy a lottery ticket I beg and plead that I don't need much, I would donate a lot of it, just let me be free. Let me win enough to pay the bills, I don't need a mansion or fancy cars (well, ok maybe a Murcielago or three) but really I could do without fancy stuff. Let me trade in style for khaki's and a plaid shirt tucked in, with my reading glass in the shirt pocket.
Someday.....

So maybe if the writing gig doesn't work out someday, I can go back to waitering....

Here is my daydream: awake when I want, head to my old fashioned type writer nestled on a desk set in the dormer window

Let me trade in style for khaki's and a plaid shirt tucked in, with my reading glass in the shirt pocket.
Someday.....[/QUOTE]

These parts made me think of Funny Farm with Chevy Chase!

I would like something that is sort of in-between white and blue collar. Sort of like my job was when I started, before management came up with a great initiative I like to call QTP or "Quality through paperwork".

Excellent read!

I would be inclined to read some of your works!

If you have no ties and no one to be responsible for, then I say go for it!

When you reach the end and you dislike your job, I believe it's better to have less and be happy on that metaphorical beach.

Right there with you as well!

I don't want to grow old knowing that I spent my whole life putting inputs into a computer or moving numbers around on a spreadsheet. With my aptitude scores I may very well end up doing exactly that one day in the military after promotions but at least for now I'll be able to say I'm doing something. Hell, I'd be happier turning wrenches on a truck than working on anymore spreadsheets.

People today want more, we don't want to just settle and force happiness. I look at my current white collar job as a means to an end for the current time. But like so many others, I've made changes and moved ahead with my career. All the while accumulating more experience and things like higher salary, better starting positions, etc..

The challenge is how to keep up with everyday bills and totally switch gears to a new career. This, I haven't figured out.

Now that I have a desk job it isn't bad. Im not going to lie though, when I look out the window and see the guy on the riding mower flying past my window part of me wishes I was out there instead of at my desk! The problem is that I like stuff. Well really, I like cars and traveling, both of which are really pricey. I just don't think I could be happy, long term, if I took a blue collar job and made less than I do now. I'm finally getting to a good financial place and I just wouldn't want to give that up. I've always enjoyed a good intellectual challenge so I'm not sure I could be happy in an enviroment without a steady stream of such stimulation.

I sometimes enjoy working on my car, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to do it for a living. Anything more than an oil change and I'm usually sore the next day and my fingers/hands are cut up. I guess I just don't see the long-term value of completely leaving the white collar life. The only advantage would be that I'm not chained to a desk. If my company ever gives me a laptop, I could potentially do work outside of my office, so even the complaint of not being able to leave my desk can be worked around.

Same with landscaping work I did in the past.

With any job, I always hated having someone control my schedule. This is not much of a problem with my current job. I just miss being physically active at work, and wish I could go somewhere different every week.

In all honesty, the only way I would want to get out of white collar life is if I ran my own business. A friend of mine owns a pest control company, another installs decks (doesn't own the company though ). For some reason it just feels like it would seem a lot less like work if I was going to different work sites all the time, and not having a boss besides the customer. I compare my routine to teachers who have the summer off, or contractors who lie low during the winter, smoke bud and play video games (I'm more of a skier and hunter) and think it wouldn't be a bad compromise - 15 hours days half the year, 2-3 day workweeks the other half.

Modified by alleghenyman at 12:38 PM 10-2-2009

Quote, originally posted by jderpak »

Huh? There's no plot against me, I already went through the VW-fanboy gauntlet, I'm free.

I find the general public (customers) to be a bigger pain in the behind than any boss I've ever had.

All that bs of the customer always being 'right'

Down The Line

The Bottle

thanks for that

I NEVER want to do it again.

I had a wealthy friend tell me, look at a persons character/lifestyle/job, whose at the top & been doing it for at least 20 years.

talk to that person/buy him coffee, if it agrees with you, then do it...

What?!

You have a window and your complaining? Man I'd kill for a window. My office is like a sardine can that happens to have maintenance people working in it now and gets up to 94f in the summer.

Ahhhhh to have a window. I can dream big!

sure ya can. get certified with CCO(certification of crane operators), A qualified crane operator makes about $46.00 an hour. A first-year apprentice (who has completed up to 2000 hours) makes 50% of the rate. Once you have done the 2000 hours, you make 55%, and then when you hit 3000 hours, you make 85%, and so on