Trade work is admirable work. Never downplay fields that allow overtime. My best salary years are in an industry that allows unlimited OT.
Comment on Anon is 23
benderbeerman@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Why are people talking like being a mechanic is bum work, or like there’s a huge overhead cost in being a mechanic, or that you have to go to trade school to be a mechanic, or like mechanic work is going away?
None of these is true.
Mechanics will always have work, usually with overtime, and usually pay is very decent.
No degree required. Certs optional.
Tools are very affordable when you’re not buying them all at once.
Lots of room to change specializations.
ICE mechanics are still going to be hugely in demand because the Internal Combustion Engine isn’t going anywhere, even if they stop putting them in some/ most automobiles. But there are dozens of other mechanical disciplines, and as long as you know how to (when to) then a wrench, you can always get a job.
A bearing is a bearing, whether it’s on a crank shaft, an electric motor, a tail pulley, or a garage door.
mursejoy@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
quarkquasar@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I must be a psycho for thinking people should be paid more rather than work themselves to death.
It’s a cold world to live in when people think like this.
mursejoy@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
I’d rather have the ability to pickup an extra shift when times are tough. I have my friends that are on a strict 40 hour week and when the check doesn’t cut it they are fucked. OT has allowed me a lot of luxuries I otherwise would have had to scrimp and save for.
Meanwhile most people are fucked if their car breaks down. I just pick up an extra shift and the problem goes away.
ximtor@lemmy.zip 18 hours ago
Thats exactly the point, if you are on a 40h week and that doesnt cut it, something is very wrong. If you say to work extra as a bonus, well maybe. But if you need it to make ends meet it’s completely fucked imo.
wittymyusername@lemmy.zip 21 hours ago
I’d rather times not be tough, but it seems that’s no longer allowed.
ricecake@sh.itjust.works 22 hours ago
It can be both, can’t it?
People should be paid a living wage. If you do more work than is the defined norm you should be paid increasingly more sums of money.
The intent of overtime laws was to encourage companies to hire someone else instead of making someone work 80 hours a week.A business saying that they’ll pay you more if you work more at your discretion doesn’t bother me. Even with a perfectly good wage and benefits you’re going to have cases where people want a touch more more money. I had a coworker who did contracting jobs to pay for a new deck. He didn’t have to, but it kept his budget from getting weird.
benderbeerman@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I worked 3300 hours a few years back. I was not prepared for what the overtime would do to my taxes. Still brought home more than I ever had before (or since). Also was not prepared what the overtime would do to my personal life or my mind.
mursejoy@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Yup two years ago I worked just over 3500 hours. I basically lived at work to help put my wife through college and hold down the fort.
It was very difficult but worth it.
NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net 1 day ago
HAAANK DONT ABBREVIATE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE HAAANK
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
shop rate around me $180/hr now. the mechanics better be making at least a quarter of that. my company only charges half that rate for custom machine building
Raiderkev@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Mechanic pay is ass these days. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone unless it’s like specialized and unionized.
benderbeerman@lemmy.world 1 day ago
How much do you think mechanics get paid today?
Raiderkev@lemmy.world 1 day ago
They make a good living, but they are paid flat rate, and there is no guarantee that there will be steady income. If there’s a lul, the mechanic might make $0 in a given week. Also, if for some reason a job takes longer than the billable hours for that job, they are essentially working for free. Of the trades, it’s the shittiest one to make good money in imo.
TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
so many bozos on the internet they know what these fields are like, and it shows they know nothing.
TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
do you know any mechanics?
every mechanic I have met hates their life, unless they work for like a really high end place. and those jobs are far and few.
benderbeerman@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
I… uh… i am a mechanic. I just don’t work in a car shop that pays only billable hours. Why would you do that to yourself?
That would be like getting a minimum wage serving job and hoping the tips will be reliable. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I never struggle for hours, I have great benefits, non- union, no certs, degrees, or specialization required. I make enough to pay all my bills, invest in retirement, and still have money left over for life afterward. I work with a gang of guys all doing the same. We work in a field where we can go pretty much anywhere and get another job paying about the same.
I’m not sure why the mechanics you have met can’t find these jobs, but they have all misinformed you.
TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
i work in IT. it’s so easy, just get a six figure job like me.
it’s not that the vast majority of positions in the field… are part time contract work that pay shit…
benderbeerman@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
Wow, you have it hard in IT i guess. Maybe you should have looked into being a mechanic.
You don’t need a degree to get jobs as a mechanic, so no formal education necessary. You don’t have to worry about jobs being hard to find because basically everything that moves has bearings that need to be changed. You don’t need to worry about contract work because there are substantial amounts of mechanic jobs that pay hourly and offer tons of overtime.
I’m not sure why it’s so offensive to you that plenty of people don’t have the experience you heard about from “every mechanic you met.”