What advice do you have for a transition from white to blue collar work?

November 4, 2024 9:07 PM

I am a 27-year-old electrical engineer, and I am very frustrated with my career. I am strongly considering switching things up to become an electrician. My dream is to have a job where I feel like I am working for people in my community, not for the C-Suite of a multinational corporation. This is the main reason I am considering the trades. What advice would you give to someone moving from a white collar career to a blue collar one? How might I be able to use skills from my current career to get a head start in my new one? How would you suggest I go about finding an apprenticeship?

More about my background and reasons for making this change:

I come from a blue collar family background (mostly maritime trades), but I love computers and let that passion guide my career so far. I earned a B.S. in electrical engineering, worked at a Fortune 500 company for a few years, then set my sights on academia and have spent the past 2.5 years in a PhD program at a very elitist and very insufferable university. I am planning to walk out this December with a Master's degree.

I am a personable, charismatic, deeply community-oriented kind of guy. I feel socially/temperamentally ill-suited to the types of work available to me as an electrical engineer, despite my technical skills. I feel constrained by institutions -- constrained in how I can express myself, in my options for where to live, and how my work effects the people around me. Sure, the available jobs pay quite well if I go into industry -- but they will likely require moving to specific cities, working in big, impersonal corporate environments, suffering along with the stock market, and doing work that I ultimately feel hurts working people.

Here are some other (possibly misguided) reasons I am considering this move:

(1) Geographic flexibility;
(2) Income resilient to stock market fluctuations;
(3) With time, I will have the potential to become my own boss;
(4) I love interacting with customers;
(5) Removing myself from the 'rat race' and having time to focus on my artistic hobbies;
(6) Unionized workplaces!

I would love to hear your experiences!

posted by gunwalefunnel to Work & Money (5 answers total)

Would you have any interest in working on power transmission lines? Engineers who work out in the field can make quite a bit of money, which generally isn't tied to stock market fluctuations. Workplaces are unionized and not really in the "rat race". Given the need for electrification to facilitate the transition away from fossil fuels, this kind of work is generally good for people and the planet.

In general, you're likely to do better finding work with more of a blue collar flavour as an engineer than you would retraining for a trade, which would take a number of years. There are lots of jobs you can do as an electrical engineer that aren't working in an office.
posted by ssg at 9:28 PM on November 4

Have you considered becoming a Project Engineer? It's essentially the other end of what you've been training for. Check out the Project Management Institute. Also, PMs work internally or externally, depending on what and where you decide to pursue employment.

If it interests you, I suggest finding someone in the field and going for an informational interview.
posted by dancinglamb at 10:31 PM on November 4

I once worked in the non-profit space; now I'm a paramedic and firefighter. Despite the challenges of the job, I'm so happy I switched to a career in which I have a more direct connection to the community and other people. I've been doing it nearly twenty years, and I know I made the right decision.

But. The defining characteristic of a blue-collar job is that it destroys the one thing you need to keep working - your body. If you make this change, from Day 1 you should consider how to preserve your health, and specifically take care of your back. People form bad habits when they start a physical job in their twenties, when their body generally adjusts to whatever they put it through. They don't think about it until they tear a rotator cuff or seriously damage their back in a way that impacts their ability to work (and their quality of life going forward). I'd suggest paying attention to your overall fitness and lifting techniques now so you preserve your health.
posted by itstheclamsname at 11:45 PM on November 4

Keep in mind that blue collar is typically a lot harder on your body and your health... and keep your options open in case you need to change direction again.
posted by stormyteal at 12:56 AM on November 5

Hey, I’m an HVAC human (oddly enough with an unrelated college background and then years as a merchant mariner).

With an engineering background, I might suggest looking into building controls/automation. Johnson Controls does a lot with this, and they have a lot of unionized shops, and there will be a significant overlap with tradespeople in this kind of work. The pay is outstanding (6 figures easily), the work is mostly going to be brain work (rather than brawn work), and it’s something that’s going to be a lot more important as more places look to go green for efficiency reasons (less certain is what the potential effect of work from home will have on commercial real estate, which is the type of place that will use this setup).
posted by HVACDC_Bag at 2:46 AM on November 5