Construction, trades, and basically physical-world stuff that AI cannot do are still hiring.

ux266478 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

People will roll out the trades whenever employment is mentioned, but do you have tradies in your family? Do you have friends who are tradies? It's not easy to get in, it takes a long time to make journeyman, and work can have seriously spotty periods no matter who you are. Fact of the matter is, it's not really an alternative to anything except other types of bluecollar work.

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citrin_ru an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Construction, trades e. t. c. will have not many customers with other professions facing unemployment so it's not a safe bet either.

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AstroNutt 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Believe it or not, I've been in construction/remodeling for 35 years. We currently have 3 home remodels going on at the moment with more down the road. I've never experienced a slow down. Even during COVID.

I'm not your typical HN member I don't think. I've been a computer nerd since I was 14 years old. I come here to stimulate my inner nerd.

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cyanmagenta 8 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> I've never experienced a slow down

You didn’t experience a slowdown at the height of the recession circa 2008?

	▲	johnnyanmac 7 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		being in construction for 35 years must mean they're already in the place that does the layoffs (instead of being laid off) by the time things get bad. You can easily say things don't slow down when you're divorced from the increasingly strained workers with less hours and benefits doing the construction.
	▲	jerlam 6 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Homeowners are often rich and older and isolated from recessions.
	▲	AstroNutt 7 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Nope. Things still break and need repaired no matter how the housing market is.

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wincy 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Seconding this, I work as a SWE for a large construction company, while the IT department is small considering the large scope of the company as a whole, but we’ve been extremely busy. Construction is absolutely booming.

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mgh95 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

How did you get into construction/remodeling, and how would someone best reach out to this community? I have been thinking about some construction related ideas (mostly around prefab automation and sales) and haven't the slightest idea how to reach these types of people.

I am always curious about people who are strongly oriented towards one thing (computing) but somehow wind up in another area, such as construction.

	▲	AstroNutt 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		When I was a sophomore in high school, I worked part time for my neighbor who was a master electrician. I learned the basics with him. My parents divorced when I was 17 and we were forced to move away. My mother was an assistant manager at the apartments we lived at. I turned 18 and just so happened the complex she worked at was hiring someone to do make readies, (painting and repairs on vacant units before new move-ins). The management company my mother and I worked for sent me to various classes over the next several years (electrical, plumbing, HVAC and pool maintenance) and my supervisor was an old HVAC tech. I learned a ton from him. By the time I was 22 or so, I was promoted to maintenance director. I got bored with apartments and wanted more. I started doing side work and met a lady that owned lots of rental property. That opened doors and she introduced me to other investors. Eventually, I was able to leave the apartment industry and do my own thing. It just kind of blew up from there. As far as your construction related ideas, just put yourself out there. Meet people in the industry. Go to local industry related events. See if the city you live in has real estate investor clubs. DFW has a few and it's a great opportunity to meet people. This is also a great way to pick up work. Rent houses are always needing things repaired or replaced. I know Mueller metal buildings is always looking for sales people. They were even looking for an IT person not too long ago too. In the rural area of Texas I'm in, we finish out lots of them and seem to becoming more and more popular in recent years.

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mschuster91 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The problem is, for construction, trades and what remains of agriculture the competition is brutal. It's a low-skill job in terms of prior required education which means there is a looooot of people without degrees flooding into that market already, and then comes immigration that's further driving the wages down because (again) it's work that doesn't require much education or language skills.

I've done a stint in construction (I think y'all call it "civil engineering", aka digging trenches and moving soil) myself, it was rare to find Germans - most of my colleagues came from Eastern Europe.

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honkycat 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yea! Start over my career, work way longer and harder hours, and make 1/3 of what I currently do! Sounds great!