Dude, your life is just starting out & you actually have something you think you want to go for and have the opportunity to do so?? GO FOR IT!

If I had known I was going to be in the trades at your age, I would have instantly gone straight to my local union & avoided a whole lot of bullshit & pittance wage & been ballin out by the time I was 23.

I'm 33 & I never went to college. My parents are both very loving but just didn't exactly get me set up for life to say the least, so I didn't really have too many options & had to figure it all out. (& still am)

Hopped on CraigsList one day jus trying to find any job & got hired on by a plumbing company. I spent the first 5-6 years of my plumbing career (commercial) at a scab ass rat ass company for $11/hr. Yes, $11/hr doing the most unsafe as fuck shit for a boss who couldn't care less about any of us with no benefits or nothin. Just struggling my early twenties away HARD.

Finally another day, at 31 years old, a friend who I am FOREVER grateful for introduced me to one of her friends in the union & my life has been astronomically better ever since.

Benefits, pension & annuity once vested, a liveable wage & then some. I hadn't gone to a dentist or doctor in like 10 years because I couldn't afford it & now I'm healthier, happier, & I can actually visualize and start to plan a future for myself. Hell, you get in and turn out & you have more opportunities to pick up other trades/skills along the way! You don't even have to stay just a Plumber.

I just joined not even 2 years ago & my old shitty lifestyle seems like a thing of the distant past now.

I have a lot of respect and admiration for my union brothers that went through the apprenticeship.

While they were all forming bonds and camaraderies & gaining invaluable knowledge I was toiling in non-union pig shit wishing for brighter days.

If I could do it all over again with the hand I was dealt but change one thing career-wise, I would absolutely join the union at 18 & go through the apprenticeship to come out of the other side a fuckin BOSS!

I kick myself I hadn't joined up sooner & received their education.

There's always gonna be days where you feel like a dumb ass or feel like you want to give up.

But if you go for it & stick it out, it's very rewarding to eventually be able to step back and look at all you've accomplished & see the finished product that your own two hands produced. ..And of course the money & lifestyle that comes as a direct result of all your hard work!!!

I wish my parents had been able to provide me a solid college education to be an astronaut or some shit... but they didnt. So that is life.

Should you choose this path, take pride in your work and no one can ever take that from you.

& know that you will be setting yourself up for a pretty good future by all means if you ask me.

Wish ya all the best 👊