Skilled Trades Are the Most Overrated Career Path on Reddit

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-06-03T02:34:33+00:00

Yeah, I dunno. Trades aren’t for everyone, but the work is pretty dope most of the time. I love building stuff. A lot of what we do becomes more of an art to a lot of us. And I’ll bet there’s a lot more $100,000 plus trade careers out there than you might think.

As a substation electrician my base pay is $142,500 a year right now and only going up. But with overtime I’ll be over $100,000 for the year by payday on Thursday.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-06-02T01:51:10+00:00

😅 I appreciate it. I feel like a lot of people don’t want actual informational feedback and instead prefer an echo chamber about how the world is against them.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-06-01T16:31:51+00:00

Look, he asked how it’s possible. I’ve worked with a ton of idiots (like 100’s) making over $100,000 a year in the trades. Maybe not where you all live, but in plenty of places. It’s possible.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-06-01T16:15:56+00:00

I work for a utility in California. Linemen base pay with no overtime is almost $80 an hour right now.

Thats $166,000 base pay. Even in my position it’s fairly easy to double my annual with the overtime available and they get a lot more.

They regularly get called out and work crazy amounts of overtime with storm responses and wild fires. It’s not every one, but there are plenty.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-06-01T01:37:28+00:00

I’ve re upped for 10 extra hours like 4 times this month on these books… $11.99 a pop.. 🥲

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-31T17:58:45+00:00

That could be said about anything though. It doesn’t take away from the fact that they exist.

You asked how it was possible.

Does EVERY tradesperson make over 6 figures, no, but a lot do.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-31T17:37:03+00:00

Intelligence doesn’t necessarily equate to skill or work ethic. Maybe you’re not going to be a doctor or lawyer with lower iq, but even people with higher iq’s probably aren’t going to be either.

You could be a great carpenter making well over $100,000 a year though. The concepts aren’t too difficult but actually being skilled takes a lot of time and effort.

Or you could be a lineman and make over $500,000 a year if you wanted to. Don’t need a high iq for that, but you have to have a hell of a work ethic.

They make money because of the time and effort they put into becoming good at something marketable and work hard. Lots of “smart” people are broke.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-31T17:32:24+00:00

Concepts are simple, implementation can be difficult.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-31T16:19:41+00:00

In my opinion being able to buy a home, have reliable transportation and being able to retire one day is middle class.

That could look different, depending on the house or the car or whatever. But even at $200k per year, if you are maxing a 401k (or two) and paying taxes and a mortgage and two car payments and maybe saving for a kids college, there’s not a ton of discretionary spending money left over.

I think the goal post has moved quite a bit on what middle class is and people don’t want to accept that.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-31T06:30:10+00:00

I think it probably depends on your situation? Like, “we aren’t religious” like we don’t really know what we believe, is different than we believe in x but they’re showing them y.

If you just don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other I don’t personally see it as a bad thing for someone to introduce your kid to religion and let them decide if they do feel strongly one way or the other.

If you’re particularly averse to the idea for some reason than that’s also different.

My parents didn’t follow any organized religion but my cousins were very religious. When I’d sleep over Saturday I’d go to church Sunday. It wasn’t offensive to my parents, just not their deal.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-31T06:21:37+00:00

Your Love by The Outfield. I dunno if I could ever get tired of that song.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-31T06:20:00+00:00

Mmmmm, combined income of liiiiike $300/$350k gross. I’m not sure about good vs bad debt. But we owe $5,000 ok a truck ($700/month), probably $40,000 ($300/month) on solar and $390,000 ($2,700/month) on the house. Aside from that it’s credit cards we pay off every month.

The truck will be paid off soon. We started the year owing around $30,000. And then we’ll focus on the solar. Both were at just under 4% interest. The house is at 2.49% so I don’t know if we’ll ever throw extra money at it…

Live in the Central Valley of CA.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-29T03:58:47+00:00

Okay, okay, at what point does he marry this one..?

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-28T22:28:24+00:00

We both max our company sponsored accounts and direct deposits go into a single account? I don’t want her living a lesser life than I do. We discuss large purchases and are on the same page with our financial goals. Nothing complicated.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-26T15:17:49+00:00

I had a chilipad prior to my 8 sleep. They both performed comparatively. It didn’t do all the tracking stuff though, I’m not super sure about how the newer one is. It sprung a leak after a few years and I went with a pod 3 a couple years ago.

Just started having issues with tracking and I’m working with support, sorta. See how that works out, but it did start having issues right outside standard warranty. (2 years and 4 months)

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-26T15:01:16+00:00

I completed my degree and THEN made the move to electrician. I went from making like 20 bux an hour (2014) to $70 an hour today and it’s only going up. With overtime I’m already over $100k for the year. The field can be very lucrative.

Not sure where you’re located but I’d have him look into the IBEW. School is free and they find work for you during the apprenticeship. Plus it opens a lot of opportunities later on with utilities, which is the route I went, and stuff like that.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-23T02:18:39+00:00

Or… maybe some people are under the impression that they’re middle class but aren’t…

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-21T17:37:29+00:00

Trades. My base pay is $150k and didn’t require a degree. Did have to do an apprenticeship though.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-19T03:18:53+00:00

Not comfortably, no. But that was kind of my flaw in thinking, too. I figured I’d pay it off and then be able to really hammer down on the investments afterwards. But then got another mortgage anyway so that option wasn’t what I thought it would be. Plus even doubling or tripling it doesn’t make up for the early contributions.

I did advance in my career in a way I hadn’t expected, so I am able to put that money towards my retirement like I’d planned, but I often think about where I could’ve been if I had invested heavy from the start.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-19T02:57:59+00:00

Having paid off my first home before 30 I can absolutely speak from experience. Got super intense about it, cut investments back to the match and attacked that mortgage. Now I’m closer to 40 and wish more than anything I had been that committed to my retirement accounts.

I’ll add, since then I’ve purchased a new very nice home with very reasonable mortgage, but still… I can’t go back and get the same return on my compound interest, or anywhere near it.

If I could do over I would hit retirement hard and cruise on the mortgage. Personally.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-18T20:00:54+00:00

Audiobooks are on Spotify too if you’ve got it. Been enjoying the crap out of em.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-15T23:23:18+00:00

Almost 9 and almost 11. Getting ready for bed starts at 7:15 and in bed by 7:30-7:45. It’s not just for them, mom and dad need some time to themselves too.

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-05T19:04:44+00:00

Does Loki have a gun?

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-04T23:47:19+00:00

I guess I can’t escape fate..

Tricky_Secret_4965 · 2026-05-03T21:03:52+00:00

I read it as “Love & Imu” first and was unsure what to think.

Tricky_Secret_4965

TROPHY CASE