College vs Trade School

A few months after moving into our home, we noticed that our dishwasher would flood on the floor. Now we are talking about a brand-new dishwasher – in a brand-new home. So immediately, we thought this was strange and I put in a warranty ticket. After a few days a technician came out to the house, and he pretty much knew right away what the problem was from our discussion. He didn’t even need to open the dishwasher door. The problem ended up being that the drainage plug in the garbage disposal had not been removed. I thought this was DOPE! You know, the idea that he knew his profession so well that a small conversation led to a definitive answer for my issue. Anyway, if you know me then you know that I am a conversationalist at heart and haven’t met a stranger since the day the Good Lord gave me the gift of speech and the ability to consciously smile. With that said, the gentleman and I struck up a conversation pretty much as soon as he walked through the door. Everything we talked about isn’t pertinent to this forum, but there was one topic in the short thirty to forty-five minute visit that stuck with me as I had asked him a few basic questions about his profession. 1.  Because I have a younger brother that is interested in becoming a handyman of sorts. 2.  Because of the topic of trade school being more efficient than college in the social media ecosphere nowadays. My questions to him were: What are the barriers to entry? How difficult is it being a plumber? And is it beneficial pay wise to become one?

Let me be the first to admit, I was not prepared for his answers at all and they kinda caught me off-guard. He proceeded to tell me that, “Man, we have such a high turnover in my field and at my place of employment, it’s crazy! We can’t keep none of the new guys. They come in and are right back out as soon as possible. The money is great, but they just can’t hack it!”  So, now he has my interest and, I am listening to every word. Early in our conversation he had already established that he has been in the space for thirty plus years. So, his insights are more valuable than gold… ok maybe not that far, but clearly his opinion weighs more than the podcast bros. He then goes on to explain that over the past five to eight years or so the game has become more technical.  You need to be able to have a great understanding of mechanics and almost be an engineer of sorts as most of the equipment that they deal with have computer chips and motherboards attached to them now. Quoting his direct words, “Everything is SMART now and the time of just tightening up a bolt or changing a pipe are pretty much gone!” He left and I pondered on that conversation for months. Not completely knowing what to do with the information. I mean, I had my own opinions on the matter, but here was this seasoned veteran in the space that brought up without saying it outright that this new generation of kids coming out of high school and people entering the workforce are missing something. I myself not completely having it all figured out sat on it and just allowed God to do his thang.

Late June I noticed that our washing machine was doing something weird and practically had decided not to work anymore. Again, I’m thinking we have been in this house less than a year. The washer might be a year old; I’m putting in a warranty ticket. First there was a wait of two weeks before we could even be seen and if you live in a house with women of any age then you know that is a problem. LOL! Ok, so boom, the technician arrives in July, mouth full of gold (I LOVED IT) and he is asking me about the symptoms. And I explain to him, to the best of my non-experienced knowhow, what is going on. Standing in my laundry room he looks around at the space while I am talking and says, “Your motherboard is burnt out.” I’m like huh? “You haven’t even opened up the washer. How can you say that with certainty?” He then goes on to say that you have a high efficiency washing machine and I bet you are still putting full cups of laundry detergent and those scent beads into it right? I’m stumped. So, he never opens the washer but gives me a full rundown of what is wrong. Then he says the part is on backorder. Calls back to HQ, orders the part and gets us scheduled for an appointment two weeks later. The Timeframe sucks, but I want it done right. Ok, two weeks later he comes to replace the part. And like before we strike up a conversation. He is telling me that he has already been cussed out for the day by a client and mind you he is at my house at 9am. We laugh about that. Anyway, I am reminded of the conversation that I had with the other technician last year, so I tell him what the other guy and I talked about and his assessment on the state of affairs. Not quite knowing what to expect him to say, he hits me with this, “That man was right! These new cats can’t hack it, they can’t read, and they don’t understand you are both a doctor and an engineer. This is a science and a practice now. These guys lie on their resumes and when you get them out in the field the truth comes out, that they don’t know what they are doing and have holes in their game. And to be honest we don’t really have the time to train them.” He talked a little about how people perceive that trade-school is the easy way of making money without going to college. However, you are likened to an engineer, hell you are an engineer! Cause while they are the ones that create the equipment, we are the ones that fix it and keep it running. And you have got to understand how these things work. And if you don’t like to read and learn then you ain’t gone make it in this game. He then went on to say, “Yeah, we have a very high turnover rate. Our company gives big sign-on bonuses because they can’t keep people. The money good but if you ain’t qualified to get it, then you ain’t gone make it.” I wasn’t shocked at all, by what he said, as it has become increasingly known, is that literacy rates are dropping exponentially here in the United States.

There has been much discussion on the social media platforms that I frequent about how trade schools are the way and the future and how we have too many people going to school for useless degrees. I personally believe there is no such thing as a useless degree. Recently, I took up the hobby of golf. At the place I went to get fitted for my clubs, the guy that personally assisted me through the process went to golfing college. Yep, you read my words correctly, he attended a golfing college and obtained an associate’s degree. I couldn’t believe my ears, but it is a real thing that he makes a living doing. More to come in the future about me and golfing. What I personally believe the larger issue at hand is that we have people running away from education because our education system here in the United States is broken and the scapegoat for the madness is college. Which in turn allows people to say well push them to pick up a trade not realizing that this isn’t the 1950s anymore. Gone are the days when you can simply turn a wrench and it fixes the issues in most cases. We live in the futuristic year of 2025 where everything has a super-computer chip in it and has a touch screen attached to it. I don’t think it is beneficial nor is it fair to our youth to let them believe that trade school is the easy path to success and that they don’t have to put their all into their schoolwork. Because it gives them the notion that nothing, I am doing in school matters when that is a complete mistruth. It all matters. I heard someone say how you do anything is how you do everything and while I don’t like the saying personally because I feel attacked by that concept, it is true in most cases. And work is one of those cases. Especially when that work requires you to read, do beyond basic math, do measurements, compute equations, think in strategy, and diagnose things based solely off of what the client is telling you because you have a limited working window. Someone’s life is in your hands with electricity, you are building some family’s home, you are operating a crane 200 hundred feet in the air, driving an 80,000 pound 18-wheeler, or keeping the food cold in a refrigerator.

In closing, trade school is dope and should be a viable option for whomever would like to attend. And I don’t think any less of the individuals that trade schools produce because as an accountant who has focused much time on becoming the best number cruncher and data analyst I can be, have very little time or desire in most cases to understand how my smart oven works and even less desire to want to fix it myself in case something happens to it. So, I personally enjoy the work of trade-smiths. I just ask that we stop telling these kids that it is the easy way to make money and stop selling them a false dream. The same amount of work that is required to become a doctor, lawyer, accountant, or engineer is the same level that is required to become an electrician, plumber, HVAC technician, truckdriver, or carpenter. I heard someone say that it was the teachers and trade-smiths that financed the civil rights movement for Dr. King and others. And while that is true, it’s a half-truth. Medgar Evers and the others were successful because of a well-rounded community of welders, doctors, plumbers, lawyers, teachers, pastors, carpenters, cab drivers, accountants, pulley portmen, insurance salesmen, truck drivers, computers, shoe-cleaners and any other profession you can think of in our community.