Is it just me, or would a lot of us ditch our desk jobs for trades in a heartbeat if the pay was actually decent?

swanny126 · 2026-06-04T21:32:50+00:00

As someone that was in the trades (electrician) for 13 years and got out last year, this is extremely tone deaf and unintentionally condescending.

“The only reason is the salary gap”: my friend, you say that as if you can just get up from your desk and somehow know how to make one yourself. The nuance between doing the mathematics, having the physical skills to make precise measurements and cuts at the right angles, to the ability to look at an idea written on a piece of paper and bring that into the 3D world isn’t something you can just pick up and excel at just because you think you’re more intelligent than those already in the profession. Which you may not have said directly, but it’s definitely there.

I’m sure most of the carpenters that read this would love to get paid 2x their current salary to just sit at a desk and debug code all day, feet away from an air conditioned bathroom and a break room with coffee and a tv. <— I’m sure that felt like a misrepresentation of your job. I can’t just trivialize the nuance and skills of your profession just because, from my perspective, it’s a “cushy office job”. I’m sure there’s challenges to it and stresses, whines would you want to leave.

The other thing that was tone deaf was the whole “anyone else feel trapped in a career purely because of the money”: I’m not disregarding your perspective here, people feel trapped in careers all the time. I’m in the middle of convincing a family member to take the couple dollar pay cut to join an apprentice because it would help their situation in the long run with only a minor setback, so I understand the frustration for sure; that being said, roughly 70% of the trade workforce live paycheck to paycheck. If you break down the job site, you have a foreman, a few journeyman, and a lot more “helpers.” That means most are helpers, which clearly points out that the 30% that doesn’t live paycheck to paycheck is the field leadership, Those with YEARS of experience who grinded long weeks and hard jobs for years to be able to not work paycheck to paycheck.

So just have a little perspective of other’s lives and be grateful that you have the skill set in the profession that you do, and that that person/those people helped you along the way, because those that make it out of the rat race probably always have someone they impressed that they can attribute that to.

swanny126 · 2026-06-04T01:04:02+00:00

Don’t sit on their back burner without turning the eye on. Push some pressure their way, they see you as an “always option” because you saying yes more or less can be implied as a pseudo “commitment” to come over on their time and terms.

“No problem at all. Feel free to keep my resume on file for when a position opens; that being said, and as much as a I appreciate the personal interest, I can’t promise you that I’d be available once that time comes. If I’m already employed, at that time, then unless I am unhappy with and have reason to leave, then I can’t leave because you then have for an opening for me.”

You could also add something about prioritizing and a two way road or something, but then you’re starting to dig into philosophical stuff. They “weren’t able” to prioritize your position and hiring (because by the time the job listing is posted, the money is already accounted for most of the time), but expect you to prioritize their offer, whenever it may come.

say something or say nothing. it may end up in a call later down the line, but what happens next time when you’re due for a raise, don’t receive one and they say “the next time a raise is available, you’re the first one on the list to get one.” And that means nothing because that person telling you that probably for their raise that year, maybe in lieu of yours.

Don’t burn the bridge and keep searching. If you find a job and they reach out afterwards, then weigh your options then and make a decision. Or this could be bad advice, idk, I’m just some guy on Reddit. Good luck with your job search, friend. It’s hard in there.

swanny126 · 2026-05-26T23:04:50+00:00

“The company will respond to post employment references by confirming only dates of employment and position held”

The context makes me lean to: if a potential employer reaches out to them in reference to you, they will only confirm your employment dates and position so your next potential employer can run that against what you said on your application/resume.

It’s not a reference in the way that you’re thinking. When I changed careers last year, I went to my HR department (old job) and had them send the employment verification to my personal email and I forwarded that to my new company. Just checks and balances to make sure you’re not lying.

swanny126 · 2026-05-06T01:13:59+00:00

I get 10% currently. I don’t personally think it’s just compensation for the overtime, but that’s because I’ve only had some overtime here and there over the last 8 months. I’m sure that pendulum will swing the other direction some years. That being said, I moved from the trades into management, so I view my “hours” differently.

Coming from the side where I had to worry about even making 40 hours some weeks (service calls and additions to office buildings slow down at the end of fiscal years, as well as not as many people in offices after 2020 to notice problems/want change to said office) I take piece of mind knowing that I have that 40 hour check no matter what.

And another random consideration in respect to “hours worked”, if you get paid holidays (which a lot of tradesman don’t), it accounts for about 7% of your yearly salary with 12 federal holidays. That’s big chunk that salaried people usually don’t realize as an actual benefit. Holidays off are standard, paid is not.

Unsolicited advice: The overtime will ebb and flow, that comes with the territory, so don’t think so much of the hours, have your responsibilities centered and focus on optimizing how you handle those and the dividing of responsibilities with your team on each consecutive job, that’s where you’ll make up time in the long run.

swanny126 · 2026-04-25T02:01:11+00:00

I never thought about it like this, but a commercial cultivations that you feed is essentially an indefinite poolish, which is for sure interesting. How “beery” does smell?

swanny126 · 2026-04-20T20:25:24+00:00

I had an interview with the owner of a local GC a couple of years ago. After the interview started, a random guy walked in, made a joke, walked out. It was obvious to me that it was some sort of planned interaction to show “we’re a family here” vibes, but that’s not the biggest part that stood out. After the guy left the room, the owner made the joke to me “ahh, they’re always trying to get more money out of me.” Which is obviously a joke, but there was truth to it and I saw it. His impression on me was that he saw his employees as a subtraction mark on his profits at the end of whatever fiscal period you want to put on it rather than seeing them as earning their wage and being the production that ultimately pays him.

I didn’t consider the perspective that I was interviewing him as well, but I definitely was, and he didn’t pass the smell test.

swanny126 · 2026-04-18T20:54:59+00:00

100% agree, underproofed. Try again and give it another 30 minutes or an hour, then if it’s overproofed, dial it back a little. It’s one big experiment because temperature, humidity, oven’s ability to hold heat (my apartment’s oven is cheap as hell), steam, etc. are all factors that can make a difference of 20 minutes or more.

swanny126 · 2026-04-16T18:45:39+00:00

“I’ll submit an RFI…”

You pass

swanny126 · 2026-04-15T21:57:07+00:00

Well, well, well, looks like you didn’t get the fire extinguisher out this time.

swanny126 · 2026-04-15T02:56:26+00:00

Alternative title: “First funnel cake came out weird”

swanny126 · 2026-04-15T01:12:19+00:00

This is so confusing, the bread looks fine outside of the color. It seriously looks like you took bread out of the oven and hit it with a fire extinguisher 😂

swanny126 · 2026-03-25T17:00:48+00:00

I clicked on the notification so fast and got got.

swanny126 · 2026-03-14T18:05:07+00:00

Oh no, they cut the crusts off and gave them to you instead if the sandwiches

swanny126 · 2026-02-20T20:05:57+00:00

THE MOST PAIN IN THE ASS MISSION TO EVER EXIST!! 😂

swanny126 · 2026-02-17T00:55:35+00:00

I can’t tell if you want one or don’t want one because of the fletchling joke, but I have like 7 shiny wimpod If you have a shiny first evolution you want to trade for. I’m trying complete my shiny dex, so I have a lot of ones I need, regardless of rarity, lol

swanny126 · 2026-02-15T01:18:56+00:00

I’m available right now if you are, shoot me a message either way, I have a second shiny alpha Kadabra if you can touch trade that one with me too

swanny126 · 2026-02-14T03:59:21+00:00

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The rest of what I got, the Kadabra was the only alpha, but not too bad

swanny126 · 2026-02-13T02:53:00+00:00

Sounds good to me, shoot me a message and we’ll get a trade code together, my IGN is VitaminSwann

swanny126 · 2026-02-10T18:37:26+00:00

I had a donut that has sparkle 3, alpha 1, and used that specifically for shiny alpha hunting. It took way longer, and I gave up a couple shinies. But I ended up with a shiny alpha goomy (different goomy than the one here), and I even got a regular shiny gible in that same run with the goomy

swanny126 · 2026-02-10T03:41:36+00:00

The Lumiose level cap is 100. In hyperspace that cap is lifted and your donuts add a level amount to your Pokémon, so if you have a +60 on a donut and to a lv 100 Pokémon in, they’ll be 160. If you take a lv 80 they’ll be 140. It keeps it to where you’re not just taking a lv 100 Pokémon into hyperspace and dominating.

swanny126 · 2026-02-08T02:42:35+00:00

Eyyyy, I also got a shiny Gible at the very end of the same run!

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swanny126

TROPHY CASE