Please be weary of people telling you to “just switch into the trades”
I see this advice getting tossed around very often on this subreddit, to the point that I’m wondering if the people giving the advice have ever spent a minute working in the trades.
This field is in a very weird spot right now, but you’d be challenged to find one that isn’t. The trades aren’t some cake walk to six figures.
You’re looking at 3-4 years of training with harsh physical labor before you can even get the licenses to break into what’s considered “a livable wage” in this economy, even if you go for some of the higher paying trades like being an electrician. Also, that’s for ONE jurisdiction, if you ever end up wanting to leave your state it’s very possible you’d just be starting the whole process over again.
There will also come a point where you won’t want your income to be tied to your physicality, and it is NOT any easier to get supervisory jobs in these fields than jobs in IT.
It’s very concerning seeing so many young people think the trades are some life raft to six figures. Plenty of people do have very successful careers in the trades, but the same is true for IT.
Panic-switching career fields because you aren’t hitting it big after a few years is how people get caught in the cycle of never having enough experience in one field to make meaningful progress.
This post isn’t to talk down on the trades, but rather as a PSA that the trades are NOT an easy out, and that you’re trading some of the uncertainty in IT for immense physical labor and higher potential for burnout. Please think about these decisions.