/diy/ - Do It Yourself

If you need to ask, you might want to consider joining the herd at college. Or at least the military. Clearly you need someone to tell you what to do and how to do it.

YOU WILL NEVER SUCCEED AS A FOLLOWER!

I put that in big letters for clarity in case you had other ideas.

>>287252
I've always wondered about this. Any reason why welders are so highly paid? Is the supply of welders just that low?

>>287256

it's a specialized skill that can be pretty dangerous and takes knowledge of not only chemicals/electricity, but can also require structural engineering knowledge, an aesthetic eye, creativity, and a steady hand

>>287256

tendency to go blind/die

>>287254
>implying I'm asking
>Implying I'm not just creating more of an Information General about doing stuff without college.

Currently, I do contracting work as fire-protection. Money is good, and job security is there. I always suggest contracting of some sort out of country to most guys I meet. There's wayyyy more money to be made outside of the States rather then within them.

>>287252
>welding school
>6 weeks

More like 2 years. Kinda like an associates degree.

Pilot. Great career prospects, but high starting fees. No college required until (if) you want to get into the bighuge airlines, which require a degree.
It can be any degree as long as it's not basket weaving or women's studies or english literature. You can do it anywhere you want and the fame of the degree-giving place isn't important as long as it isn't a diploma mill.
They just want to see that you can apply yourself to reading a manual and knowing it inside and out.

>>287263
So you DON'T need to go to college at all to become a pilot?

OP here again

Forgot to post EMT. You don't need a degree to become one. Then you can really just work, and move up. They make (where I used to live) somewhere around 45k a year. Not bad for a single guy living alone.

freelance programming

If you're not doing shit with yourself. look into it. Fuck tons of money to be had.

>>287277
Any certs needed specifically? Or just the know-how? From what I've been told, it's all about who you know.

doing some program for an electrician
shit easy classes, paid apprenticeship (with the right people) and once you put your so many thousands of hours you take a piss easy test and start raking in money.
just had 3 weeks of basic safety and climbing ladders and now we're moving on to elementary math

>>287252
Kiddo, you gotta find a niche. But for starters, you need to know how to effectively maintain yourself economically.

$10 book, has made me keep $2,500 in savings in the past year or so. As for what to do, (here's the overly liberal thing to say) do what you want, and what you have a passion for.

Zuckerberg is all about Big Brother, Steve Jobs was apathetic towards any opinions about him, and Bill Gates found his niche. So, there you are.

>>287252
>steve jobs
dropped out of Reed College one of the top 10 liberal arts colleges in the country. After that he audited many classes there.

>bill gates
1590 on the SATs and dropped out of Harvard.

>mark "ass first into a pile of money" zuckerburg
dropped out of Harvard.

>OP
would have trouble getting accepted at a trade school.

Plumber or electrician. Welding is an interesting suggestion but as a career involves toxic shit being used in confined spaces. Where I came up all the welders worked on subs or cargo vessels.

Personally if I had to start a "oh shit the degree isn't working out" business: hipster food truck.

Truck Driver.

I mean Big Rig, Over The Road Truck Driver.

As long as you have a CDL-A license (Standard Driver's liscense is a D) there are plenty of places that will hire you. Trucker's are always needed.

Getting that CDL-A requires performing a test at the Department of Motor Vehicles. What you need to do is on a state by state basis, and the biggest hassle is you have to provide the truck.

There are CDL-A school, price of those vary. A lot of the big Trucking companies, Werner Enterprise, TMC, Swift, ect..., offer reimbursement for school. My total cost for the school, who provided the Truck to test in, was around 3k.

You start making about 60k a year, with possible higher or lower depending on company and pay scale/type. Some pay by the mile, others are hourly or salary.

Great job, you get to see the country, and you get reduced insurance costs for any vehicles you are owner of since you spend most of your time in a truck. If you don't have a home already, then goods news for you, you'll never need one.

Can get very lonely and those that like to stay around one area are in trouble until they get the experience and seniority to be given a local route.

>>287297

I'm a locksmith turned truck driver. You'll make a fortune driving trucks but have little home time (but even then it totally depends on what company and contracts you take or choose to accept.)

Locksmithing can get slow. Truck driving is always on the go. So far I can say that these are the best two trades I have come across.

Ya dun goofed.

>>287311
Can you recommend somewhere to learn about lock-smithing?

What about jobs that don't require a high school diploma?

Those three guys in the OP didnt make any of their billions from doing what everyone else has listed above. You wont achieve that level of success from driving trucks or learning to weld. Its all about finding your passion, a market to sell it to, and an entrepreneurial mindset.

Big money comes from leading others, not working for someone else

>>287314

You can teach yourself! There are a ton of books out there and I can tell you firsthand that this is a trade that CAN be learned independently without a trade school.

It DOES slow down though and now with these new keyless cars I don't really know what the future has in store but there is EXTREME potential in this if you're willing to invest the time.

..Also, you can always turn to petty theft. Average soda machine holds about $200 when 1/3 empty. That's actually what I'm living off right now.

>>287315

Yeah, BIG money. But if you just want to make a good, decent living there's nothing wrong with common trades.

>>287315
Don't forget the truckloads of hard work and a massive helping of luck.

Data Center Tech
>50-60k while still in high school.

Data Center Tech, deployment operations specialist, 80k after two years.

Future: Data Center Director- 120k+

Total Education: 2 years of community college studying Kinesiology

>>287307
>>287307
Are you speaking from experience?
I am very interested and am about to turn 21 in two months. I'm working on my degree in computer programming, but I LOVE seeing new places/driving/road trips and I hate staying in one place; it's poison. I've had a hard on for it ever since I was a wee lad.
My biggest issue is that people just don't respect trucks anymore (or any drivers for that matter) and do stupid things behind the wheel. How much of a hell is it to deal with traffic/stupid people?

Also, who has the best deal right now in the USA? I've also heard that two person teams are desired.

>>287319

how did you became data center tech without any formal education / training

Have a friend who is a bus driver in California. He is makes $35//hour. For every year he works without incident he gets a raise of up to 5 additional dollars, up to a maximum of something like $60 an hour.

He doesn't even have a GED

>>287323
Built shitting machines at home during the summer, learned linux in my spare time, made a few home servers, and I knew how to build a cleanly wired machine.

Getting a tech job is more about having actual skills than a degree. Also, you need to be a cool guy because if no one likes your personality you will be out the door quick.

>>287324
>nope

I refuse to believe you don't need a highschool diploma to become a bus driver.

>>287333

Ride the short bus enough and they will promote you to driver.

Alberta welder here.

1st year schooling = 3 months, 1500 hours of work.
2nd year = 3 month, 1500
3rd = 3, 1500

then you have to write your test for your Jman ticket and interprovincial red seal. Also you can get your CWB tickets for structural welding, your B ticket ( different metals, different size of pipe, different welding ( GMAW, SMAW, GTAW) all have different tests. Every 3 years the B and your CWB expire and you have to re-do the tests ( but only the "all position" part ).

>>287339

Also, once you have your "B" ticket, you can make some serious cash. If you have your own welding truck/rig, you can make anywhere from 90-170/hour, depending on what type of welding and how remote.

Fitter/Machinist here. I make pretty good money compared to others around my age. I was making more than what my ex was making as a manager.
I'm currently looking at getting into the mines since work is pissing me off and I had enough of them. With my trade cert and experience working with mining equipment, I could earn close to $200k a year. Hard fucking work, but could be worth it.
FYI, Im Australian and our mining boom is delivering stupid crazy wages for people willing to work their arses off in the mines

The cool thing about learning a trade is that it's one job that can't be outsourced.

>>287344

What about robot welders, breh.

>>287349
For most production welding, yes
For general fabrication and intricate stuff, no

Some companies will pay for your school but you will be obligated to sign a shady contract afterwards. So basically they(CRST) promised me 500/week after graduation but sometimes it was lik3 15--300 for a seven day workweek. Just be real careful lot of predatory "schools" out there.

air traffic control

if you have the capacitites, its one of the best jobs i think you can do. look up working hours, holiday, pay, age to retire...

>>287410
Very high stress and suicide rate.

>>287252
Jobs and Gates were in the right place at the right time. IBM was literally calling around trying to find someone to create an OS for them, and handed the market to Gates. Jobs established Apple when home computers were a niche DIY hobby.

Even Zuckerburg (the name which my spell-checker wants to change to "Cheeseburger") was at the right place at the right time. Any freshman wanting to start a social media website today will find an uphill battle.

But they are the exception to the rule. *Thousands* of web-based services startups fail for every Facebook and Twitter. Dropping out of college to start a company is like paying a lottery - the rewards are great but the odds are heavily stacked against you. You cannot plan on that kind of success any more than you can plan on winning the lottery.

>>287263
May have been mentioned before but anyway, most commercial pilots are former military. And you usually need to be an officer to become a military pilot. And you usually need to have a college education to become an officer.

The thing about pilots is that the well paid ones fly the big planes. And to "graduate" to bigger planes you need to put x number of hours in smaller planes or similar planes under certain circumstances (only during the day, only in good weather, etc.). In the civilian world that means renting a plane which isn't cheap to begin with and gets very expensive when you need hundreds of hours.

The reason most commercial pilots are former military (From the US at least but I'm sure it's the same other places or at least similar) is because the government foots the training bill. By time you spend your 6 or so years as a military pilot and enter the civilian world you're already qualified to fly a good amount of civilian commercial planes. To get this training and flight time in the civilian world you're looking at the same or higher cost than a college education from a good school.

Also not all pilots are paid well. Some have shitty hours and get a (comparatively) shitty wage. Cargo pilots with the big companies like fedex and ups get paid pretty damn good. Pilots with smaller companies that run small passenger flights between a handful of smaller cities get paid crap.

DAK-operator does not necessarily require a college degree, And pays ok.

Trades hard mode: 55, good health, 30 yrs. construction experience,

What about gastronomy. I means cooks are something we are always going to need, and I'm currently doing a three year cook apprenticeship in Austria.
Challenging shit, but you don't exactly need to go to college or university for this shit.
I mean there is an 8 week culinary school you have to attend every year, but only during the apprenticeship. Oh, and that major practical test at the end, but...that...that's about it I'd say.

Travel the world, be hired nearly anywhere. I can't see this job drying up anytime soon.

Anyone know much about instrumentation type jobs? How is the work and the pay?

i became a pharmacy technician in a hospital.
aged 18 i had to do 2 years training (work 4 days a week and spend 1 day a week in college) got paid £16,000.
once qualified i got 18,000.
became a senior technician at 22 and got paid £25,000
at 25 i became a specialist technician in an oncology hospital.... im 27 now and earn £30,000 ($48,000)

I have a decent pension, own a nice apartment, can afford nice holidays and live pretty comfortably

>>287468
also there's always plenty of work and i was able to travel a bit and work in canada and new zealand

OP you're an idiot. Any respectable welding school is way longer than 6 weeks. You may have learned to plate weld in 6 weeks, but that's still a shit job. And you are not getting paid 80,000 dollars a year for 6 weeks of training in welding.

I spent a whole year in welding school, just to learn the skill, I don't use it as a career. It's a shit career. Your chances of getting mesothelioma, skin cancer, Parkinson and a whole range of other diseases are very high. Plus you have to work with complete idiots.

I have x-ray certificates in pipe welding 6010/7018 6g.
6010/7018 horizontal and bellhole. I also have a cert in tig carbon root and 7018 out 6g. I know everything from flux core to stainless tig to high frequency tig aluminum.

You're a liar.

Op you are a idiot and a liar. You are not getting paid 80,000 for 6 weeks of welding training.

I hold certifications in all types of pipe welding and have proficient knowledge in everything from flux core to high frequency aluminum.

Welding is a shit career, Mesothelioma, Parkinson's, skin cancer, and dealing with idiots every day? No thank you. Go to college.

>>287551
>>287548
Samefag?

>>287552

probably accidental

Locksmith
PROS: Cheap tools, cheap to learn, good money
CONS: Lots of competition. Lots and lots and lots.
Welder:
PROS: Lots of work, Union benefits
CONS: Pretty likely you'll be maimed/killed. Like... very likely.
Programming/Tech shit:
PROS: Very cheap to learn, decent career.
CONS: Management generally vetos non-college shit. Shitty shit work early years. Quite a bit of competition until the next inevitable boom.
Trucker/Driver:
PROS: Good job and pay, depending. Funner than most.
CONS: Buying a truck. Being someone's bitch while driving their truck.

LEARN LANGUAGES. This is the internet, it's not just USA. Shit's not complicated, shit always pays well. Even learning sign language can get you a job.

trucking is a white trash job and it's not worth getting your kidneys shot to shit from sitting in the driver's seat 50+ hrs a week and coming home to your gf fucking jed from the trailer next door ... plus all the other chronic sedentary lifestyle and poor diet diseases like CVD, diabetes ... pros: cheap and easy sex with whores, look up lot lizards

>>287577

>truckers are white trash
>truckers aren't physically active
>all truckers are the same

My my, someone got out of school early.

>>287429
>$25k a year
>ok

Pick one

All the people in OP pic dropped out of top Ivy League schools after already building part of their businesses.

>>287654

This. If you can build a business that is taking up all your time and can potentially make you a billionaire, feel free to drop out of your Ivy League school.

If you score C+s in all your community collage classes and spend your free time eating cheetos and masturbating, I got some news for you son.

>>287263
>great career prospects
http://thetruthabouttheprofession.weebly.com/

>>287269 Forgot to post EMT... $45k/yr
Yeah, no. EMT Basics make no where near that. Paramedics do, but not Basics.

Besides, being an EMT is probably the WORST FUCKING JOB ON EARTH. You deal with horrible shit all day (sometimes literally) and get paid next to nothing for it. And you still need to attend some college to get the job. I think the EMT Basic School is 160 hours. If done during night classes, this can take up to 6 months.

And that's just for basic. If you want to actually DO something useful, you'll need to get your EMT-P by going to Paramedic school, which is a two year program. And then you STILL don't get paid jack shit.

About the fastest decent paying job you can get is an Associate RN degree. After a two year program (that actually lasts about 3 years), you come out making $50k/yr or more to start.

>>287316
>>287316
how do you open a soda machine?

For some side money: buy a redbox and stick it somewhere where it won't get stolen/where there isn't already a redbox.

>>287704

>Associate RN degree
Ha, my goal. Cheaper than college, less loans, better pay off the bat.
Plus if all goes well, military pays for it.

electric lineman

Pros: apprenticeship means you get paid to learn (but not much). Get to work outside. Get to drive a truck and use interesting equipment. Lots of work. Get to work overtime after storms. Get to travel to hurricane areas or storm areas and work overtime. After you complete your training and become a journeyman, big bucks, 100k or better if you do a lot of overtime.

Cons: high voltage can kill. union silliness.

how to get started: find your local electrician union hall and ask about lineman apprenticeship. it is a different program than construction electrician.

>>287548
>>287551
Looks like you also can get Alzheimer.

>>287252

So basically so far; trade jobs are all shit pay at first but have the *ability* to end up paying semi-well.

Or you could just get your 4 year degree and get paid the same pay to sit in an office style job.

I'd rather just keep working my shit job and going to school at nights.

>>287811
Mostly true, but some people don't like sitting inside the whole day and being completely sedentary. Not that you can't do active, outside work with some undergrad degrees like agriculture, but they take longer and cost more.

>>28725its like lotto these 3 were in the right place at the right time. there are millions of others who were just as good, but not in the right place at the right time

>Dental Hygiene

>1 year Pre-Req's
>2 years of Professional school
>Make 68-92k a year over your career
>Open your own office
>?????
>MASSIVE PROFIT

>>287811
I have a few friends and my older sister that got bachelors in business admin and they all have shit jobs that don't pertain to fuck all of what they do.

One works as a manager at jiffy lube, and my sister is a teller supervisor at a bank.

I laugh on the inside whenever she tells me about her shitty work days because I decided to get licensed to train horses and make more money than she does working for myself at my own pace.

My job has it's hard parts, but for the most part it's just being outside at my farm doing light-medium labor and overseeing certain aspects of training. I love it.

I also buy/sell on eBay and paint homes on the side to make an extra 200-800 bucks a month, easily.

The one thing I can say is that someone that is still young (early 20's, etc.) should just focus on doing something they like to do and are good at that people are willing to pay for. Don't worry so much about landing *the* job that will make money.

>>287343
Hey there!

I've been doing a lot of reading on the Australian mining boom, they're really looking for workers. So much so that they're altering the nations immigration/foreign worker laws. The point being they're needing workers.

How could an American such as myself get into the mining work boom out there? I keep looking for info but it's not bringing up much.
IF you know anything and don't mind sharing that would be a big help...even if it's not much.

Thanks,
AmericanAnon

I wouldnt bank on riding the Australian mining boom, with the slow of china's economy it has brought a massive decrease in exports, resulting in a much lower need for workers on mining sites.

>>287910

p.s I invest heavily in the Australian mining sector and have friends that work within rio tinto, bhp etc.

>>287912

Daummmm....
Thanks for the info anon!

>>287914

No worries. I personally know a senior rio employee that had to lay off something like 250 miners at a specific site. So its anything but a secure job at the moment

>>287565
>CONS: Pretty likely you'll be maimed/killed. Like... very likely.
Maimed in what way? they don't have spinning blades or parts so you can't be pulled in or have limbs torn off

>dropped out of junior year in highschool
>never got my G.E.D
>got to work doing labor and soldering shit for some seedy company that supplied gaming machines to casinos making .8.00 an hour
>4 years later because of going out in the field and talking to people get a job in the casino
>23 years old, making 43-47k a year, half of it untaxed

The key to surviving in the world without credentials?

Learn how to play the fucking game

>>287906
idk about australia but look up ford mcmurray.
it's oil fields out in canada that is pretty much always hiring for one position or another. no exp necessary. and i'm pretty sure those niggas get dosh.

>>287921

Idiots running cranes, idiots driving machines, idiots working above you dropping shit on you.

>>287934

Albertan here. Lotta Dosh in Ft Mac indeed. But its also expensive as fuck to live up there. A plus, a lot of the big outfits will fly you in and out of there just so you'll work for them.

>>287937
I assumed Welding meant working for yourself

Didn't finish school due to illness and shit. Thinking of going into plumbing. Any plumbers her want to give me some advice? I'm pretty clueless about the trade but I do have family members in the business so getting a job won't be the hard bit but i'm still sort of worried about the training.

>>287921
Oh, well a friend of mine lost his arm in a high voltage short, his friend died. My uncle got hit in the head doing something in a cramped construction site. It's not just.... welding being dangerous. It's a hazard just being around construction sites and things. Also yeah chemicals and all that.

Can you drive up there? I can get a cheap RV here in Wisconsin

You'll never get employed in any of these careers because people can just hire illegals to do the work for way less money.

>>287906
Whats your technical back ground? If you have have some form of mechanical/electrical trade its pretty much a foot in the door but as what >>287910 said, theres a wind down in the boom, so unskilled labour isnt in high demand at the moment. Smaller, upcoming projects still need workers and the fact that China isnt our only importer of resources. I was hearing that some Japanese firm has a 20 year contact with some mine for its resources, so you just have to be smart on where you look.
If you really interested, look at the big mining company websites for career opportunities

>>287910
Original poster regarding getting into the mines.
I know the mining boom is slowing down, but theres still money to be made, so its not all going to fall over in the next year or three.
The one thing I would love to get into is the the whole build up of green power etc.
There's a solar farm that has just had it tender won out near Canberra, but I cant find anything regarding it jobs wise.

>>288015
meh, spelling and grammarz isnt the greatest, time for bed I think

>>287307
Enjoy spending next 30 years of your life in the truck, never stepping out.
Seriously, I know several truck drivers and they literally live in their trucks. No fucking social life whatsoever, other than what they can keep with their cellphones.

I'd never go for trucking.

Hey OP I'm an EMT as well, started paramedic school last week too. Where the he'll are u making 45k as an EMT dude.... Maybe if your an EMT - I? And there is NO money in firefighting if your not full time.. Not sure how your getting these numbers unless there's info I don't know...

>>287324
He'll regret once the first insane crackhead gets on the bus and shanks his ass.

Really, any job that involves driving is hell.

Hyperbaric welding seems like an interesting challenging way to live should I go for it?

>>288026
That.... is a sexy sexy sexy job. Probly more dangerous than usual, but large scale underwater projects are getting more and more likely. Couldn't hurt!

>>287704

This guy knows! I can confirm all of this!

>>287906
Mining in a nutshell =
explosions, yes, cool, but dangerous
shit tons of different chemicals, damn near all of them lethal

Yeah, not cool.
And this is based on open air mines, I don't even want to think about how dangerous actual underground mines are.

>>287774
Actually, high voltage doesn't kill.
It wipes you off the face of earth.

I know a guy who's cousin fucked up while working on high voltage lines.
They only found his baseball cap and one of his shoes.

Also, OP, there is NO job security in the fire / ems field. Sure ppl are always sick but you're paid by the city, and all the sick ppl have shit insurance. When city goes into financial problems, guess what, they decide that they don't need as many cops and firemen.

Very few get full time jobs, it's all who you know and who you blow.

This is why many EMTs and such switch to RN

>>288028
fuck I just looked up welding apprenticeships in my area and they are paying $16.84 an hour day 1 with a 5% pay increase every 1000 hours I think I'm actually going to do it.

>>288041
Depending on your area, the apprenticeships can be pretty competitive to get into. I remember electrician apprenticeships were like... have family in union or gtfo for a long while.

>>287295

>implying bill gates didn't get kicked out

>>288033
voltage doesn't kill you.
voltage difference kills you.

>>288023
well most places have 3 tiers for emt's/paramedics

wages with the low being 40k and high being 120k and average being 65k

>>287320
I am speaking from experience, though it's not the career I stuck with. I went back to college in hopes of another career path, but I know trucking is always there for me to fall back on. Once you get 5+ years of experience driving 90% of all driver listings will hire you. Take a look at the drivers wanted section, around the north-east it's often the largest listing.

Whether driving a truck or a car people are going to be idiots, but people really hate being behind or even next to trucks. As long as you are careful you should be okay, just expect people to do stupid things and prepare an out. There's been plenty of times where there would have been an accident if I wasn't prepared, and through no fault of my own.

Speaking of accidents, if you do get in one you will have a lot of problems. You usually aren't in the same state for any length of time, and people generally look at the trucker for fault first.

As for two person teams, every company loves them because they are more efficient and keep a truck moving longer. However, finding two people who can get along for long periods of time in a small cramped space is hard as hell. There's plenty of stories of best friends being a team and assuming everything will be great, and then a few months later will never talk to each other again.

>>288022
If you only do over the road, yes having a social life is difficult. Not impossible, but difficult. Once you get experience though you grab a local or regional route. Home either every night like everyone else with days off, or home every 2-3 days with days off.

You can also pick up a nice house mouse.

>>288071
>high being 120k
Yeah, for the fucking director or some shit. Senior Paramedic Supervisors make about $60k at BEST. In our area, brand new EMT-Basics start at $22k/yr and Firefighters start at $28k.

[citation] I'm a Volunteer Firefighter who works side by side with the full time guys.

>>288064

no the voltage difference doesnt kill you.. its the amperage that kills.

>>288106
And by the way, I have exactly the same training as the full time guys, even had my EMT-B (which has since expired, I didn't bother keep up my In-Services). I get paid a whopping $10/call. That can actually be as much as $50/day or even more. Not bad for an extremely part-time gig right directly around the house.

Everyone saying truck driver is leaving out a few critical things...

My father was a truck driver, he was a miserable, angry, drug addicted mess. But I learned a lot about it from him.

1. You will see new places...much like sitting on your couch sees new places on tv. You are on a time limit and cannot stop to actually experience the places you see. Prepare to go "wow look at that" as you drive by at around 70 miles per hour.

2. other truckers are miserable, stupid, angry individuals. Pull over for a good nights sleep and some disgusting cunt is going to pound on your door. They are called lot lizards.

3. everyone else on the road hates you, and they will cut you off.

4. If you hit one of these stupid SOB's, its always your fault. Prepare to be on the news for a tragic story about plowing into a family of 4 and killing them instantly.

5. sleeping in the cab sucks shit.

6 you wont make 60K, try around 30-40K. You are an uneducated warm ass in a seat that is paid to stay awake and keep a truck between the lines. You are easly replaceable.

I luckily landed my job but it wasn't DIY. billing analyst for an phone company. I have a degree. my brother on the other hand is a mover (residential and commercial). I wrote this because of the post where someone said driving jobs are hell. Based on his stories and experiance, I am here to agree with you. Also to the other post where someone asked if drivers mess with truckers. people are fucking idiots if they drive like a maniac around 18 wheelers.

>>288112

I wrote my post before I saw this one and my point still stands. I CAN NOT believe someone will cut a truck off. this analogy is going to suck but I wish these people would cut a train off then stop short and expect that train to stop on a dime.

ugh that shit drives me fucking nuts.

Seems like this thread is people just reccomending what they do to the OP. While there isn't anything wrong with reccomending from experience, I'd just like to warn OP to take any information from here with a grin of salt.

I've worked blue collar jobs all my working life (16-23) and from my experience a huge amount of blue collar workers fall into one of 2 categories:
1) Bullshit about their wage as if they get paid on par with doctors to shovel shit. This is almost never the case. I had a truck driver at work the other week, who was getting paid per load, who told me he wouldn't even get out of bed for less than $2k a night. SO either that cunt has a shit load of bed sores, or he's full of shit.

2) They act as though they're Chinese sweatshop workers who get paid peanuts to build the colleseum.

Either way, neither category is truthful about how much they actually make. Or if they are they won't let you know the whole story. If you're a truckie that gets paid per load and you just had a busy arse week that netted you a couple grand, then you don't get many shifts for the rest of the year, you're not charging high class hookers on your American Express Black card.

just got to this thread and I'm not going to read through it all so I'm not sure if this has been said or not
The only way I can see to make a decent living without a college degree is to work for yourself. I work at a used car lot and we outsource various things that are not worth it for us to fix ourselves such as body work.
We have a paintless dent repair guy who comes around a few times a week, he just works for himself, he might have a few hundred dollars in all of his tools, and he probably gets $50-$100 per hour depending on how fast he can work, I'm pretty sure he charges per dent and the type of dent.
The only problem with working for yourself is that you are in charge of yourself, so if you are not good at getting up at a reasonable hour and holding yourself accountable then you will fail.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I would guess this is the main reason people don't work for themselves and they work for someone else. Basically you are paying your employer to do a bunch of work for you so you can be lazy and just punch in and punch out. so, lets say that I make $15 an hour (which I do) and we charge customers $80 an hour labor to fix their car (which we do) essentially I'm paying my employer $65 an hour to take care of all of the other stuff that I'm not doing, like paying the bills, calling customers, ordering and purchasing equipment, ect.
does all of that stuff cost him $65 an hour to take care of? probably not. even if half of that was for utilities, equipment cost, rent, insurance, ect. it would still be $32.50 that he's putting in his pocket per hour that I work, while he sits in an air conditioned office and comes out every once in a while to complain that not enough work is getting done, or to have someone stop working to fix his own personal car.

>>287252
OP: join the Navy, get into the Nuke program, retire at 40, go into industry making $80k/yr in addition to your Navy retirement, retire at 65 with two GREAT retirement checks coming in, live the good life without spending one single day in college.

>>288112
Trucker here,

You bring up good points, but it's always about how you approach your job. If you want to make the most money you run your ass ragged and work long hours. If you worry less about the money you can visit a lot of places and still make your deadline. Busting your ass for the extra money is highly discouraged, it's what drives drivers nuts and angry and leads them to use loads of caffeine or drugs to stay awake more than their bodies can take.

There's a lot of shit with the job, but there's good and bad found in everything. I've met truckers who I hate sharing the planet with, and I've met some who'd risk their neck for a stranger. Generally though they are in the middle, just like everywhere else.

Lot lizards are annoying as shit though. If they see any sign of movement while knocking they wont leave for a long while. Oddly enough though, the only lot lizards I ran into were in Louisiana.

Protip: Do a job you love, and you won't have to "work" a day in your life.

Life isn't about money. And if you feel that way, you're probably a short sighted, materialistic jerk. I have a feeling this thread is primarily focused on $$$/yr because you're all a bunch of young pups. And that's all well and good -- there's nothing wrong with earning your keep.

But, you can't take it with you when you die. And every year spent slaving away at some shit job, especially if it's just for the money, isn't coming back.

My suggestion: Find a job you can enjoy. Or, one that really interests and motivates you. Ensure you can make ends meat and live comfortably with the pay. Then, live like a king enjoying your life worry free.

Remember, even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat.

>>288145
lawl, work towards the future so you can live comfortably once youre bed ridden at the age of 70. Op, enjoy life now.

>>288190
and what would you do if you love nothing? There are only things I have a passing interest and if I choose one I can't enjoy it because the only thing I would be thinking of is that I didn't choose the other passing interest

>>288179
So is a lot lizard a prostitute? Or just a bitch trying to fuck/ get a ride?

>>288190
I understand where you're coming from. I'm aiming at money to afford for the generation after me. My folks weren't rich by any means, so I want to leave my kids something to keep going. And also, do things for them that I wasn't able to have because we couldn't afford it.

>inb4poorfag

Not poor, but not wealthy. Lower-middle. I just don't want my kids to wonder where their next meal is coming from.

>>287938
i heard they do 6 months on 6 months off.
do you know if that's true?

>>288195

You love nothing? That's a creepy mindset. You have no goals or dreams? (if so, work towards them). If not, seek counseling. You are not normal.

>>288202

How old are you? If you're < 55, then why do you have such a strong desire to martyr yourself so young? Why write yourself off? I mean, unless you catastrophically fuck yourself over financially, you'll certainly be able to leave something for your kids/whomever -- why must it be at the cost of your own happiness? Find some common ground.

>>288209
>You are not normal

I have pretty bad depression and I'm schizophrenic I don't think they affect my indifference

This thread again! Awesome! Here...
http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/teenlib.pdf

>>288145
We all live on a yellow submarine.

Also military isn't really /diy/ job.

>>288145
>>288145
Navy cook here, Nuke specialty is HARD. You need to have the specialty in it, and the ability to actually handle it.

>>287416
>>287410
>atc
Hey, I'm not the only one!

>>288214
> pretty bad depression
> I don't think they affect my indifference

Lol. Indifference is more or less a part of depression's definition.

>>287904
This guys right! You find something that you like to do, or love to do, then find a job doing it. It might not be exactly the same thing, but close will work.
Profound saying, "find a job you love to do, and you'll never work a day in your life"...

>>288200
>So is a lot lizard a prostitute?

Yes.

>>288200

HO HO, Roll the dice my friend! A lot lizard is generally defined as a truck stop prostitute. Should I really explain the type of "woman" who prays on obese men who are paid to sit in a truck all day with no education other then "drive forward till you get where you are going?"

You pull into a stop at night, and these skanks make the rounds...going to EVERY FUCKING TRUCK unless you post that you will murder them in the window. Sometimes they will wanna fuck for a ride down the road later, other times they will want like 50 bucks, and other times, they will trade sex for meth (most often this is the case)

SO HOP ON THAT BIG RIG SMOKEY, 10 4 OVER AND OUT WE GOTTA SNAIL TRAIL IN THE YARD, OVER.

>>288271
Also, they rob you blind. Also they travel in gangs and break into trucks. Also theres a buncha dudes in it. They're pretty gross.

>>288201

Not true. In Alberta, the most days you can legally work in a row is 24, and then you a required by law to take 4 days off. Some jobs are considered "essential" or emergency and you can work more than 24. Ive never heard of people working 6 months on, 6 months off. Some people work 2 months on at a time when they're working on the rigs, but that's rare.

Anyone in Europe have any ideas?

>>288219
I am taking a peek at the book. Nice, but you can't just not go to school, gubmint will come after you. :(

>>288136
You might be underestimating the investment capital put in to that place to begin with. Say, for example, it was $500,000 for a small shop. The owner could invest that money elsewhere and make maybe 11%, so $55,000 each year. Economists call this " opportunity cost". Even if they own the building and equipment without a loan, they still could be getting that interest money somewhere else by selling the business and investing elsewhere.

Think about it: Why haven't you started your own competing business so you could pocket that extra $32.50/hr? Because you don't have the capital for the building, equipment, and misc. And if you did, it would be an opportunity cost for you, because that money could be invested somewhere else.

>>288033
This really stinks of an urban legend. Notice how it's "my friend's cousin", not "my cousin", or "my friend", or even "my friend's brother".

There would be a charred corpse for sure after that kind of accident, not just a pair of shoes. Spread your bullshit elsewhere.

>>288442
I'm working toward it, you are correct that if I had the money to strike out on my own that I would, I'm slowly setting the stage for that to come.
You are crazy if you think that anyone could earn an 11% return on straight cash, it's just not going to happen.
You must have just started taking an economics class this semester. guess what. 100% of the stuff your professor is spewing out is complete garbage. There is nothing finite about economics, everything is a guess at best, it's just a bunch of pretty words to try to explain away the bullshit.

>>288444
Tbh, I wanna know what shoes he was wearing. I'f they can survive something that cause my bones/clothes/every fibre of my being, to disintegrate, then they are some fucking good shoes.

My buddy went straight into carpentry at 18 after high school. We're 23 now and he makes $31.50/hr. Yes, he has been laid off for months at a time over the last couple of years, but now he is in with a company and he is the foreman on many jobs he does. He has a great house he just bought, a new car, jet ski, boat, ect. I went to college, just graduated, and have $43,000 in debt, no job, and have to live at home.

College, the american version of the prince of Nigeria scam.

>>288602
Formal education and training is not a scam. It may be expensive in many cases but it is not worthless. Maybe I just say that though because I'm majoring in biology to be a neuroscientist.

>>288602

Unless you're going into technical field and/or research fields.

I'm currently in a welding program. We do SMAW GTAW GMAW FCAW also some oxy-feul gas welding and brazing along with plasma cutting and gas cutting. Training is targeted at petro chemical and we qualify with a red seal in carbon steel, stainless steel and aluminium. As part of our training (3 years) we have to work 3600 hours at the plant. We get paid about $550 dollars per month for the 3 years and at the end you do your red seal as a chemical pipe welder. I was talking with some of the artisans about a week ago and he told me about a foreman job hes going to do in Ghana where he gets $700 per day, they are building a oilrig, other guy told me about a job he worked in Angola where he got $3000 a month plus $2000 dollar living allowance, dont know how true their word where, but i know theres money to be made if you're willing to travel.

I want to take my savings and start distance learning for my bsc in chemistry - want to go into metallurgy or material science.

excuse my English, i'm not a native speaker.

>>287334

What can I do to double my 3,000Aud by May next year?

>>288602
What field did you major in? Did you do any internships during the summers?

You cannot expect to get a job if all you have is a degree. A degree doesn't tell you shit about real life work. An employer still has to invest considerable resources to train a fresh college graduate to work, hence lower paid internships that introduce you to it.
Also, people think that if you didn't do any internships and such, you must not really be "into" that field, are just taking it to get a degree and a job, etc.

>>287343
Bertram?

Bumping thread for more input.
There's many alternatives while still getting college done in the US. I'll list two, one of which I'm doing atm.
>Get technical degree as a step-up
I'm getting an associates in science in CompSci at local community college. This might give me some connections, access to job fairs or internships (not many so far), it also gives me some math help and I met a really cool professor.
I study a lot of shit in my own time, I'm gonna get my 2nd Cisco cert in a few months and I'm learning python (for web-dev every day).
My next step is to get a entry-level IT job (help-desk + admin/network duties). They rake in about 30-40k per year. This will pay for house/drivers licence. All the while I'm learning more programming whilst working 30-40h/week.
Then I wanna switch to programming exclusively. A combination of freelance and salary work. This would allow me to work from anywhere, travel a lot and relocate as much as I wish.
>2nd option
There's a way to get a bachelors degree in as little as a year. It'll be liberal arts bachelors, but sometimes it's enough to crack open some doors.

I still prefer learning some specialized skills (like programming) and selling them for a good price, preferably using currency exchange rations to my advantage, to getting pieces of papers and hoping for a service-type of job like office work.

>19 Year old English Plasterer here
>Had chance to go to Kingston for Games Design, bottled out due to economic crisis
>Grandad knows most trades pretty well so I though lets try something orthodox
>Now on my 2nd year of Plastering, distinction in first year along with 2 qualifications in Environmental sustainability (CV boosters)
>IF I manage to get my foot in the door and get a labouring job I stand to make over £10k on first year (probably more but lets play it worst case scenario)
>Potential is the ability to move any where globally and get a job after I get a couple of years experience
>£50k+ easily as a plasterer willing to work fibrous along side common plastering

The only issue I am finding is getting a labouring job, I need my CSCS card and a driving license is a bonus

If you choose a trade be willing to learn as much as possible from all trades. The more you know the more you are desired and get payed

took a 9 month course for my LVN. (went to concord). now 5years down the road, the hospital I work for is sending me as well as paying to to get my RN degree. In exchange for guarenteed employment for 7 years.

>No fishermen
>U serious?

(Note, I don't know how it is in the US, but I live in a country, which's economy is mainly based on fishing. I suppose that is a great plus)

I work on a trawler. 2 months out, 2 months home. 6 hours of easy labor, 6 hours of relaxing.
Plus, it is great exercise, and the 2 months of free time are fantastic.

I make a minimum wage of ~17k per trip. My pay has yet to be so low.
On a good trip? ~50k. The most I have made on one trip is ~120k, but that trip was a freak of nature. Insane amounts of mackerel out of nowhere.
Average pay is around 30k.

All I need for qualification:
>Health inspection (an hour or so)
>Safety course (a week or so)
>Other course, depending on the ship. Currently I need none, but a friend of mine needed a 'Helicopter Safety Course'.

CONS: Work hazards, I'm sure, but I have yet to experience anything bad happen. A friend of mine didn't close the hatch door thingies properly (don't know what they are called in English). He lost his thumb, but the ship's cook/medic sewed it back on no problem.

You will miss many a birthday, party and holiday. I haven't been home for Christmas the past two years. I don't really mind, but I see why some might.

Also, seeing as you basically have nothing to do for two months, weak minds turn to alcoholism. I have seen many a college and friend drink themselves into oblivion. Not to say I don't party hard every weekend, but I have hobbies to keep my mind occupied for the rest of the week.

Doubly-also, speaking from experience: If you have a girlfriend, she will probably cheat on you.

>tl;dr
>Fisherman on a trawler. Average pay of ~30kr per two month trip. No education needed. I became a millionaire before I hit 30.

Firefighter

You can be the biggest idiot in the world and be a successful firefighter right out of highschool if you're lucky.

Degree and EMT-B or P will boost your chances, but if you have a good attitude and know who to talk to, you'll be set.

A lot of places will train you. Otherwise, getting into a fire academy is cake.

Depending where you get hired, your salary will start at $40k-60k and go up from there as you advance and gain seniority.

Or if you're too lazy to put in any effort at all, be a cop.

>>288948
Forgot some pros and cons.

PROS:
Your living expenses are basically halved. You don't need to pay for food, electricity and heat for most of the year.
You often land in other countries to stock up on supplies. Party fucking hard in Thailand, mother fucker.
You are allowed to have a tattoo of an anchor on your forearm.

CONS:
Your house is prone to get robbed, seeing as you aren't home most of the time, and it is easy to figure out your schedule. This is fixed by having a roommate/girlfriend/whatever.
It might be hard to land a gig. Unfortunately, it is mostly about knowing the right people. However, when you get a foot in the door, you are in, and can basically get aboard any ship you want.

>>288939sorry for spelling. the bad thing about working grave yard

>>287263

I've read that pilots make shit.... Like 30-40k...And it's not really even that enjoyable of a job.

>>288960
>>288948
I think I want to really take a look into this...THANKS BRAH!

Well, this and Crabfishing. Whichever I can get my foot in the door first with I guess.

>>287929
I hear the guys who program the logic/actual game of those slot machines make like $200,000 a year plus stock options.

...downside? You'll never be allowed to play slot machines EVER AGAIN because you'll know how to cheat them.

I actually recently spoke with a lady on a bus in Las Vegas whose son did this.

I got an apprenticeship straight out of high school as an electrician. I make more than most of my friends who went to uni/college, and doing this kinda job you learn some very decent DIY skills for around your house. first house I brought was really run down I did the plumbing and electrical work, got a mate of site to do plastering, did the kitchen myself, and made a profit of £9k 8 months later when I sold it. Highly considering selling the house I live in now could sell it for £6k more than I brought it or start renting it and doing up houses for a living. Apart from that having a job on a major building site their are chances for promotion if your not a complete uselss twat, as foreman I do very little work and get paid more than the other guys, I like all the organising and going through the drawings sorting shit out.

>>288960
what country you from? how is this possible?

>>289211
Faroe Islands.

>>289211
Also, mind you, I work 84 hour weeks for two months straight, with the occasional break when we stock up on supplies, or need something repaired. It is hard work. Though, now that I think about it, I get 50$/h minimum.

But yeah, our country is on the down low when it comes to laws and regulations like these. And the companies often don't give a damn, seeing as we, the uneducated fishermen, are paid less than, say, fully educated Norwegians or Swedes.

>>289246
Scratch that, 25$/hour.

sales positions are available everywhere mainly because I imagine a lot of people cant handle it. Most sales positions require no formal education, and the growth potential/amount you get paid is generally entirely up to you. Many of the top salesmen are making 6 figures

>>288948
>He lost his thumb, but the ship's cook/medic sewed it back on no problem

what

>>289272
DO IT YOURSELF: THUMB SEWING EDITION

>>289272
what else are you going to do at sea? i doubt the navy/coastguard will traverse international waters and attempt a helicopter rescue because some idiot lopped his finger off.

>>289281

But how do you just sew it back on? I don't even.

>>289285
with a needle and thread. bone can fuse back if its done quickly enough. happens all the time

>>289246
im an engineer working in oil rigs atm, want to try fishing for a year or so just for the experience rather thatn money. What country would be easiest to get on some international fishing vessel like yours?

>>289294
people seem to forget basic biology. even humans are capable of simple regenerative properties. thankfully for technology, some day we will eventually no longer have to envy certain members of the animal kindgom that can completely regenerate limbs.

>>289294

Well, you learn something new everyday.

>>289302

>>287262
this

>>287966
shit. lots of it.

>>287966

Depends on what you want to do. In Texas, there are 2 options. The first would be to go through a union. They'll put you through their school so many nights a week and you'll get on the job training during the day. Rinse, lather, repeat for 4 years, then you can qualify to go to Austin, Tx to take your journeyman test.

Option 2 is to get hired on with a local service company, work 4000 hours to qualify to take your tradesman test in Austin, and then you're able to work on almost any residential home in Texas. After another 4000 hours of work, you'll be able to go take your journeyman test which allows you to work on commercial and residential properties.

I live near Houston. During the months of May-September, it sucks. The humidity kicks your ass when working outside or in an attic. And you will sweat your ass off in attics because that is exactly where the builders install water heaters 9 out of 10 times. Usually by 10 A.M, you'll be drenched with sweat.

It's no where near as bad as most people think. My usual day consists of replacing the insides of a toilet, giving an estimate to remove all the rusting out galvanized water pipes in a home, running a roto-rooter cable through the flange underneath a toilet to unclog their sewer line because the cleanout cap outside was buried by landscapers, or replacing a water heater. Very little of my job actually has to do with fecal matter.

>>287320
where i live you have to be 24 to get a class a cdl
might want to check age restrictions first

>>287966

Union pays more. They pay a higher wage during apprenticeship and guaranteed raise every year. You do pay union dues too, and if there's a strike you no worky. I didn't go union because I believed most unions only worked on new construction. I hired on with a local plumbing company. Started at 9.50 an hour, then eventually maxed out at 12 as an apprentice. After passing my tradesman test, I went to 15.00 an hour, then to 18.00 after 3 months. After another 6 months, I went to 20.80. I stayed there until I got my journeyman license, now I'm making 22.00 an hour. Not bad, considering about 2 and a half hours of my day is spent driving to customer homes.

Pros-
a) Skill shortage creates lots of work.
b) Low stress job.
c) Some companies offer a bonus system depending on how much revenue you bring in for them. Example; perform $30k of sales during a month and you get a bonus of $500, etc...
d) Can start up your own company without any college education.

Cons
a) Extreme weather conditions.
b) Some jobs will require you to get down and dirty.
c) Dealing with customers. You don't usually think of this, but customers already have the preconceived notion of you as being on the same level as a used car salesman. You are seen as charging more than doctors for a "Ten dollar part that doesn't take 5 minutes to install". It's hard for some people to understand they're not paying for you to fix the problem. They're paying you for your experience to diagnose, fix the problem, and how to prevent it from happening again.
d) Some plumbers are complete assholes to new guys. There's a bit of a hazing process, but if you stick with it they'll grow to respect you. Eventually.
e) It will take a minimum of 8 years from Apprenticeship to Masters license before you can open up your own plumbing company in Texas.

GO UNION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They set the prevailing wage.
Union Sparky here

>>289295
Tell us about your job. Thinking of going down that road so I'm interested in your experience.

>>290008
I thought that this was a wooden stump designed toilet from the thumbnail
even though im wrong this idea sounds interesting...

>>288031
I work underground...Gold mine in Northern Nevada...Theres a huge boom going on right now because the price of gold is so high.

Your "mining in a nutshell" comment is pretty far off.....Theres practically no danger involved anymore since were regulated so heavily by MSHA.....Theres always going to be freak accidents, but they happen less often than a person would get hurt just driving to work....I work quite a bit of overtime doing mine rescue training(EMT, firefighting, gas detection,mine exploration etc), and I made almost 130K last year..

It takes time to work your way up...Most underground miners start off around 60K and if your not worth a fuck you could stay at that pay level your whole life....If your willing to get busy and break some rock you'll advance pretty quickly...

Its a pretty alpha group of guys underground....You'll need some thick skin or you'll get eaten alive...lol but its fun.

>>290060
I forgot to mention...Mining on surface in an open pit is for faggots.....Just sayin'....

>>290060
this is relevant to my interests, I live pretty close
how long did it take you to work up to the point you're at now? do you just opt in to do rescue training or do you have to wait for an opening? could you go into more detail about what you do on a daily basis? and other interesting info would be appreciated

>>290056
well I do a lot of things since I am an engineer. Somedays I sit in an office and redesign or design equipment that is needed ASAP in the field and go to machine shops for fabrication, others I just work in the fiels like a regular operator, drive the truck, rig up, use a pipe wrench etc. Go to any booming oil town, apply in person. Most of these town NEED people, buisnessea are not worried aboit competition rather people leaving.

this thread was legit, thanks guys

How about bartending?

I took a two week course in bartending, now I'm a registered bartender, you start with less than minimum wage, but the tips are pure gold.

It helps if you are charismatic or something, I'm a magician, so I get mad money tips that all the waitresses hate me and management wants to lower my standard pay rate. But fuck that shit, I'm leaving if they do, and people from my small town know me as the bartending magician so I bring a fair amount of business just myself.

I also ocassionally put an ad out on cragislist as a bartender or magician.

The hardest part of being a magician is the stage fright thing. You really only need 3-5 tricks to perform for an hour.

>>290259
That sounds pretty hilariously corny.

>>290259
I applaud you, while the magician thing sounds corny as fuck, you found a gimmick. Finding a little gimmick like this can really bump you up to the next level.
In college we frequented an Irish pub. I live in the Midwest. The main bartender spoke in a thick Irish accent and made *bank*. He didn't have a drop of Irish blood in his body nor had he ever visited Ireland.

Any /diy/ mariners? I heard they make decent money (Able Seaman at ~$200/day), and get lots of time off.
You can also work your way through the ranks (hawsepipe) or go to a maritime college.

Cons:
Away from family/friends for months at a time with people you may not like
Miss weddings, funerals, etc.
Coast Guard bureacracy

>>290365

>Pros:
>Miss weddings, funerals, etc.

ftfy

>>290011
I don't think its 24 for the licence. Its 24 before anyone will hire you because insurance rates for people under 24 are too high for companies to swallow.

>>290259

That's actually pretty fucking awesome. I wish I could watch a bartender do magic tricks while drunk.

Programming seems to pay well, and there are tons of resources online so you could learn at home. It's actually what I want to do and if any actual programmer has some input it'd be appreciated.

>>290622
It's actually pretty hard to learn best practices on your own, even reading through free code is luck of the draw. I'd recommend at least MINOR programming for anyone, it's just another tool in the box. Actually getting work as a freelancer is... another matter. No experience there.

Can't believe no one has suggested drug dealing.

>>288668
/diy/ pls

>>290622
Just spoke with a guy from my course yesterday. He said skills and connections are kings, degrees don't matter much.
Basically, he outlined the way in as:
>learn to code
>start doing your own little projects
>see how they compare to quality work
>get on github, get with industry standards (like unit testing, VCS, best practices, etc.)
>fork a project you like
>(all of this looks good on your resume, counts as experience)
>big plus if your fork gets pulled
>big plus if your projects get forked
>go to meet ups ie. ruby meet ups, java meet ups
>start commenting things online, get a blog
>do a presentation on one of the meet ups
He said he followed this course and after his presentation, he got 3 job offers right off the bat there and then.
And when I asked him why he's going to college with me then, he said it's because it's fun and he wanted to see what college is like.

I intend to follow on his advice as I've also deduced that same ideas from reading hacker news and a bunch of other tech related blogs and they seem to confirm his version.

3 years nursing
2 years ER experience
1 year anesthesiology specialization

226k a year on an oil rig.
work 2 weeks on and 4 weeks off.
Paid off all my student loans the first year.

how hard would it be to start up as a DJ? for whatever purposes. I have the speakers and equipment, but all I really do is play music from my itunes for shitty high school dances and family occasions.

>>291229
For whatever purposes is learn how to network big time. Upgrade to better equipment so you're actually DJing and not picking songs. Go to clubs and bug the owners to let you play a set for like 30 minutes or whatever. Hand out demos. The list goes on.

Networking is the biggest thing today, because everyone wants to be a DJ these days.

Surprised at the lack of incentive to learn languages in this thread.

Knowing languages (at least 2 + native tongue) can highly increase your salary and gives you a greater range of countries you can work in. You could be an important asset for a multinational if you're into PR/Marketing and you know languages, as they can send you places for you to do your work.

I'd suggest alternative ways of education, years abroad, etc. I'd personally hate having a fully physical job like most of the ones mentioned here. Some people are made to think and plan, not to do.

>>291229
There seems to be a lot of bad DJs, who just buy a DJ kit, and play at birthdays and office Christmas parties.

>>287706
>>How do you open a soda machine?

They never answer the cool questions.

>>291179

please elaborate

join the military as a linguist. once you get sent to language school and you pass you can get an associates from the department of defense for free if you take a few other tests. get a $10k+ enlistment bonus when you graduate from language school, and extra flp (foreign language proficiency) pay every month. use language to get a job with NSA/other government agency after 5 years.

One of the most legit threads I've seen on 4chan in quite some time. Thanks /diy/

So does anyone have anything on becoming a photographer? I have a pretty good camera, but I don't know how to get "in the business". How would I go about finding things and getting a name out there? Kinda like how Peter Parker sold pics to the Daily Bugle, I want to sell pictures,

>>291354
Well this is in Norway, so i don't know how it works anywhere else.

I took 3 years collage to become a nurse, then i worked 2 years in the ER to get the right experience to then start the year and a half courses to become a anesthesiology nurse.
Then i took 2 safety courses to work on an oil rig.

Now i work in the North sea. Well its hardly work, I'm there just in case something happens. I hold simple CPR courses and take care of anyone sick, sometimes i even get to suture some of the workers. The best part is the working schedule ,work on for 2 week then paid leave for 4 weeks. I get a bit bored when I'm at home, so I'm going to get a part time job at the ER again.

And the pay in the north sea is crazy. 226k my first year. Even the cleaning ladies here make about 104k a year.

Welding = free suntan quick

>>288033
Why am I laughing so hard at this

>>288256
About ATC: Is it hard to get into? I work for a major shipping company making about $14/hr, but I only get around 15-20/wk.

>>291404
>15-20/wk

I meant 15-20 hr/wk.

I'm apprenticing as a midwife. The laws vary greatly from state to state, but in Texas you don't need a degree. It's a field that's expected to grow a lot in the coming years, and you get to work for yourself.

>>288898

You better have some damn good programming skills off the bat.

Otherwise your just another turd with no experience and a degree.

Enjoy your mop.

Sysadmin, Australian edition.
> Need experience in system building, super simple stuff
> Get some computers, install tons of different OS's, Windows server, solaris, suse, fedora, debian.
> Set up a home network, install/set up DHCP, DNS, SSH, FTP, Mail server, as many things as you can think of
> Learn to script, this isn't part of the job, but it makes your job 10x easier and faster
> Learn how to use google proficiently
Grats, you are now "qualified" to earn $40 an hour as a sysadmin.

For bonus points
> Get some certs

Straight after highschool graduation I went in to sysadmin job at Australia's largest ISP. Our group managed 40,000 servers Ausrtalia wide. Had no qualifications apart from being able to build windows server systems, and knowing a handful of acronyms. That alone put me ahead of almost all the other applicants and I got the job.
> 3 month contract at $40/hr, 40 hr weeks, usually 10 hours overtime
Should have taken the follow-up contract instead of going to study CS straight away. There's no rush to study, making bank is super useful.

Though sysadmin work is really sucky. Not as bad as VB.NET dev'ing though...

>ctrl-f
>no HVAC

seriously?

my brothers both did HVAC, now this is something you can probably only make good money with in the south but it is good

they were both living in apartments free of rent with a large pay because they took care of the entire places HVAC and my oldest one was head of maintenance (now to be fair, my brothers are also really good handy men and able to do anything from drywall to roofing before they got their HVAC). Now them and my uncle have a nice little business going on and have made around 70G or more a year each just from this.

>>288064
Voltage is difference in potential you moron
>>291387
Are you too imagining him being a little pile of ashes inside the shoes with a baseball cap covering them?

>>291672
well, HVAC is a lot of work and it takes time to be good and know what is what.

Source: my father has owned a HVAC businnes since 1983, and everyday we learn something new.

But yea, there is a lot of money in HVAC, and i guess there is more money in the USA if you get licenced

Umm, I'd just like to add that landscaping/gardening is good route for self made financial success. I started working for a few people on the side just weeding etc. I accumulated skills, tools and contacts. In the space of three years I've gone from charging $15 and hour to $28. Also went from jobs on the side to being booked completely every summer and pretty steady over the winter.
I use just a few tools, work alone and don't even own a truck. I have spent about $150 on my kit( I replace my gloves about every month though).

>>287324
Yeah but think how many hours a day he works. Buses only run two times a day, taking the kids to school and taking them home.

Metalworking?

Anyone have any input on this? I have a bit of interest in metal working or blacksmithing.

>>287252
> Welding school = 6 weeks. Finish, get paid 80k coming straight out.

The best part is that you really think a month and a half is all it takes to walk into a job like that.

>>291750
are you me? i use a bike trailer to move my tools around though

>>291906
Haha, when my car was out of commission for a while I rode the bus with all my tools in my bucket!
I love gardening, I get by using my hori hori for almost everything.

>>291750
>>291906
This is a viable idea in many places and more so in small rural towns where there are usually big yards and lots of fences. When you have a good amount of work you can start taking on employees, one at a time, and get more clients. You can work up to having many employees and your own full time business. Eventually, you'll be the manager and won't actually need to work, just coordinate.

If you live in an area where cold winters set in and pretty much stop business, you can consider having a winter business area where you move to in the winter to continue the work.

I know of a few companies that do this for keeping electrical lines clear over miles and miles of those giant electrical towers. They pay their employees a good hourly wage plus per diem (early 2000 years the per diem was $25 and simply added to the hourly wage at the end of the two weeks.)

>>287344
You can't be serious.

Yeah no need to outsource at all.

>implying the Chinese haven't been imported to do everything(Goldrush, Canada's Railroads, Canada's OilFields, Australia's mining boom etc)

>implying tons of companies aren't just sending their factories overseas for foreign 'tradesmen' to do work for pennies

>>287686
>spend your free time eating cheetos and masturbating

That feel.

Wow, first time on /diy/ in a while, you guys are great. Thanks for the tips.

>>291367
Literally go into a media place (news room, local newspaper etc) and show them what your made of i suppose, a lot of it is comes down to you giving in consistent photos, but having the ability to be able to give reference and detail of what you've photographed i believe

Been thinking about going into a union apprenticeship for a residential wireman. I've thought about becoming an inside wireman instead too. Is there any bullshit in particular I should watch out for?

>>291986
tfw your red, because of eating hot cheetoes and masturbating.

Gigolo

Period.

Find some 45~60 y/o single ladies.
Fuck them.
Get paid.

If you're good looking though.


Otherwise; "cheap business"
-Buying cars in Europe, selling in Russia
-Buying woods in Eastern Europe/Russia, selling it in Europe
-that kind of shit.

That's what my uncle does (the business things), get's shitload of money in "money~physical/mental work"-ratio

>>288668
Forex Aud -> JPY -> NZD -> JPY -> Aud

or if you don't like gambling, learn a bit about real estate short sales.

>>291387
I use to work at a convenience store and had a regular customer with no arms. I saw him at a bar once and he told me his story. He worked on powerlines for the city. Aparently he was standing on top of his van and handling powerlines when his emergency break failed. He rolled onto a parking meter which grounded him or something (I dont know anything about electricity.) Anyway both his hands were grabbing the powerline when this happened. He said he was frozen while he watched the skin and muscle melt off his forarms. Once the cartilage and sinew boiled away he was able to fall backwards onto the roof of the van and blacked out. For some reason it was a one in a million perfect storm, the arm melted at the shoulder and re-healed perfectly and his health was just fine. He sued the city and got MILLIONS and now he drives expensive cars with his mouth and feet. Everyone calls him treefrog and his drink of choice is a makers and gingerale with a straw.

Pretty cool guy.

Oh fuck, this is a fantastic thread.

Anyway, Im thinking about getting into nursing. I know a norwegian on here said he makes a lot while working on an oil rig, but does anyone else have any experice working in the healthcare field? I have to take a year of prerequesets that I'm starting in a few months, then I can apply to my local comunity college's 2 year nursing program. From what I understand I can make over sixty thousand a year right out of school, even working in an interdependent clinic that just labels and tests urine samples for people applying for a job at walmart. Also, I have a family friend who has a daughter who has a nurse's degree and works through a temp agency and just works the days she wants.

All I want to do is save up money to buy some property in the woods and make a hobbit house.

>>291972
Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that is quite true with Australia's mining boom. I seem to remember talk of bringing in a bunch of Chinese workers to do some of the jobs, but it created a massive shit storm and got knocked back.

it's not the best time to import used cars to russia. Putin trying to promote local shit put high import taxes on used cars. Didn't he ?

>>292320
I don't have first hand nursing experience (I'm an engineering student) but have lots of friends doing nursing.

The type of job that Norweigan was speaking of is extremely niche. The majority of nurses work shit hours for pretty average pay.

Casual jobs exist, but from my understanding it's not exactly you deciding you want to work tonight and them giving you a shift. It's more the agency will call you when they need someone and you can either accept or decline. But, they'll tend to give the first call to people who always accept, as they see them as more reliable. From what they tell me it's much like the casual work I do in transport. Your best bet is to sign up to a few agencies so you have the opportunity to work every day and then accept the jobs that fall on the days you want to work. Even then, there are periods where the work dries up. Which is why I always keep at least $1k in a seperate bank account, just in case.

This is in Australia, though. Don't know of the specific idiosyncrasies for each country.

Boss'n thread going on here; would like some additional input of or from programmers/web designers/information technicians.

I personally feel I'm upon a global niche in these fields.

>>291899
learn to weld, take some blacksmithing workshops, visit some local shops, and learn some spanish.

Where would/should I start to get into programming? I don't know a single fucking thing about comp sci, code, running command lines, operating servers etc I just know the basics of hardware.

>>292603

Download Python and Google for a beginners tutorial. Python comes with a really nice real-time command interpreter so you can experiment and is a very useful for building all kinds of software from quick throwaway scripts to large software applications.

>>291454
Wow, awesome input.
Gotta change some plans, I know a bit of windows and linux but not much making networks/adminning them.
Gonna get my CCNA real soon and I know some python, just gotta work with windows domains and such network admin related.
>>292549
This too is a good idea.
I read hacker news, have been for some time, it gives a pretty interesting view of programming. Definitely no codemonkey stuff, most of it seems like a damn good way to live.

A webdev guy from my class said it's all fun and games and in NY, if you pick your code niche correctly, people are throwing money at you.

I was considering going into corporate/java stuff... but that just looks like code monkey business, working in a suit and tie, filling out orders depending not on their feasability but on company politics.

Web-dev seems like the wild west of IT.

The worst you can do is becoming a pilot.

>>291899
Blacksmithing is a niche occupation. You'll end up building ornamental crap for rich people for the rest of your life. Welding doesn't pay shit unless you master the more difficult processes, which can take years. Machinists can do alright if they can produce consistent products and have the capacity to do super-tight tolerances, like for airframe, aerospace, submarine and other high-pressure parts. Most machinists have at least a little college background, though, so it doesn't totally fit into this thread.

>>292514
thanks for the heads up, man

>>292659
Does anyone know about the helo side of the industry? Seems more ripe for opportunities (logging, journalism, hospitals, tourism, oil, etc.) at first look.

>Police officer
>Peewee football coach
>Sells beats to shitty rap niggers in Texas
>Ocassionally bust them for drugs, prostitution etc.

Make close to 90k a year. Wife is a children's physical therapist. Makes barely 60k. She went to med school, I never finished high school.

>>288948
For some reason I find it hilarious the cook doubles as a medic.

>>293497
I can only imagine that if he hadn't been able to reattach the thumb, he would have thrown it into a stew.

IT really has a bunch of fields (other than shit tier code monkeys) that you can earn qualifications outside of higher education for and have relatively little trouble finding jobs.

Personally, I'm at college (CIS major) for the experience. Just started as a freshman but I already have a Network Technician job with the IT department learning more shit than I will in most of m CIS classes. Getting paid 8 bucks an hour which is pretty cool considering I have unlimited block meals and don' have a car on campus.

I did Networking classes in high school so when I went into the interview I told them pretty much the basics of the basics (whats the OSI model and the other entry tier shit) and got told a week later I was most qualified.

For the most part, the requirements of what you'll need to know can be acquired with basic level certifications. Whatever company that hires you will train you in whatever apps they use.

> Leave for a day or two...
> Find thread, again.

This, whole entire thread, sums up why I believe 4chan needs a business or an entrepreneur board.

Any thoughts on jobs working for Union Pacific or some other Railroad?

>>293559
>CIS major
Check your privilege, cis scum

>>293563

except this thread has been up for 9 days

>>293590
GB2/SA/

>>293585
>railroad

Enjoy your hard labor and arthritis after a few years.

>>293585
diesel mechanics are always in need.

Here's my story.

I've dropped out of university after 5 years of not knowing what to do with my life, doing some translation works and private English tutoring, but that's about it. I've been in IT helpdesk at a major bank for almost 3 months now. Phone channel stuff, kinda boring but it is the monitoring that really kills the people at the workplace. We are not to use the computers for any personal browsing, else we get fucked by the quality team. So most people surf on their smartphones, I, however, own no phone that is internet-ready.

So I read. I print out plenty stuff I bring in in document form and read them on paper, saving my eyes from staring at screens 8+ hours a day. Also, I'm studying poker and personal finance this way. I'm looking into playing poker on the micro limits for a profit. It's really just another skill, such as programming or electronics, both of which I had a go at but didn't find them fitting.

I find that, as with all skills, the return is equivalent to the work and effort you put into the studying and practicing process. They more you read and practice and analyse, the better.

The most important thing I've came to understand, from talks with the girlfriend as well as psychology and self-development books, is that I should live what I do. When I'm at the workplace, I work so that I score the top of the quality list simply because I pay attention to the guidelines. Sure they are dumb, but this is what I'm getting paid for, so I might as well obey the rules while I'm at it.

>>293711
Also, the distinction between work and fun should be observed. Most people look at their jobs as chores, and their spare time as 'fun'. Now the thing is, this way you will end up hating your job, hating your life and especially yourself for wasting this one life you have. So pay attention to the following:

-either understand that your job is what you do FOR NOW. You might as well do a good job at it.

-if your job is such a chore that you cannot come to find a flow in doing it, leave now and get something that you find your flow in, even if it pays less. You will be able to find much more side-activities and income opportunities while doing a job you like, than doing a job you hate.

This is how I am able to study poker. I do not depend on it, and I do not much detest against the silly work I need to do, even though I know very well that it is much more customer service than actual tech support.

>>287252
open a shop.

>>287320
my father was an international truck driver in Europe when I was age 9-16. He was home every second weekend for 2-4 days at best. Imagine how well our relationship progressed. I am 27 now, and he has been home for a really long time, driving a bus locally, but there are still gaps that we could not build a bridge over.

As far as I can tell, the cons of being a truck driver are eroding social connections, no chance for a relationship, really, my mother asked my father to leave for a roadtrip if he stayed for a week or so, as she said "because it felt so alien to have him home." Also, you spend your time in a "static" workplace so it does get fucking old after a couple years. It will be your home, your work, your bread and butter. 24 hours a day at tiems, except for visits to the shitter and cooking. What else. Oh yes, you miss out on building prospects regarding a base when shifting occupations, for example, a plumber can still work on his electronics skills to switch over to that filed if needed/he wants to. In truck driving 12 hours a day? You won't have energy for much besides reading, internet or tv.

I do not recommend such a life.

Oh, I just talked to father about this, asked his thoughts on the matter. He mentioned the one serious accident he had, with an idiotic woman on a highway. You have no possible chance to stop a truck, 100 metric tonnes in weight, when a cardriver fucks up. The toyota with the driver got crushed to a height of 120cm. No survivor. Father is haunted to this day, he says.

>>293711
>>293712

The poker thing is a smart idea, not sure if you are in UK or USA but from what I hear Android phones have Poker apps. You could play micros at work, I think the apps can also multi table.

I would suggest Limit poker for grinding

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=py4Un8Gq1J-MX9b_fS8Ibag&output=xls

There is a link to a spreadsheet that estimates your potential earnings, I read "Small Stakes Hold ’em: Winning Big with Expert Play" and just following that allows me to average about 2.5 BB per 100 hands (over 100k hands).

And remember, if you are in the UK, you don't pay tax on gambling winnings, so its a really good way of supplementing your income, or even becoming a living.

The poker thing is a smart idea, not sure if you are in UK or USA but from what I hear Android phones have Poker apps. You could play micros at work, I think the apps can also multi table.

I would suggest Limit poker for grinding

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=py4Un8Gq1J-MX9b_fS8Ibag&output=xls

There is a link to a spreadsheet that estimates your potential earnings, I read "Small Stakes Hold ’em: Winning Big with Expert Play" and just following that allows me to average about 2.5 BB per 100 hands (over 100k hands).

And remember, if you are in the UK, you don't pay tax on gambling winnings, so its a really good way of supplementing your income, or even becoming a living.

>>293711
>>293712

The poker thing is a smart idea, not sure if you are in UK or USA but from what I hear Android phones have Poker apps. You could play micros at work, I think the apps can also multi table.

I would suggest Limit poker for grinding

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=py4Un8Gq1J-MX9b_fS8Ibag&output=xls

There is a link to a spreadsheet that estimates your potential earnings, I read "Small Stakes Hold ’em: Winning Big with Expert Play" and just following that allows me to average about 2.5 BB per 100 hands (over 100k hands).

And remember, if you are in the UK, you don't pay tax on gambling winnings, so its a really good way of supplementing your income, or even becoming a living.

>>293723
Eastern Europe. I'm planning for a Maltese or Gibraltar bank account to deposit to. I was planning moving to the UK, but with all the internet snooping and bittorrent hysteria, I'd rather stay out of the kingdoms.

Phones and tablets are limited, and you can only play one table at a time. Also, no Holdem Manager 2 software available yet, so that would make it much harder to grind the tables. Why make my life harder, right?

I prefer NL. Limit is different and the fish are harder to milk. I also have my own complex spreadsheet, thank you anyway. How many tables do you play for that 2.5BB/100?

>>293619
I was thinking of going to my community college and doing the diesel program

Anybody here have experience working on diesel?
How bad would it be?

>>293730
Lots of oil and shit to which many are allergic. Get yourself tested first. My father studies for 2 years after highschool, loved it, but had to abandon it due to being aggressively irritated by oils on the skin.

Surprised no one here has mentioned SEO. It's the prime career choice for someone who:

- doesn't want to go to post-high school education
- great money
- decent interest in marketing
- decent knowledge (or motivation to learn) for technical website analysis

I got in to SEO after high school 5 years ago working on my own websites optimising for AdSense. I've had a bunch of different roles since, some freelance, independent and agency work, all pay great.

There's no official qualification for SEO. People tend to fall into it from a range of different career paths - marketing, web design, web development, pr, communications etc

Feel free to ask anything about SEO or my experience with it.

http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo

>>293735
Turning the gears for half a pence pre-admarketcrash, in my opinion. But tell us anyway. How much do you work a month, and how much do you earn on average? Are you able to sustain your own or a shared household (no parents' house) with 10-20% of your wage invested on a monthly basis? What lifestyle do you lead?

>>293738
>Turning the gears for half a pence pre-admarketcrash

sorry, what?

>>293739
Just answer the question.

>>293746
Since I've worked from a bunch of roles with different incomes I'll just talk about stock-standard SEO working for an agency that represents clients.

When working in office, on average would work about 4 hours a day. Some days I did nothing. Others I powered through and did 10.

I earnt $70k in an intermediate role. Seniors and directors earn 100k+ easy.

Yes I could sustain my own/shared.

Not sure what my lifestyle has to do with it. Agency work is pretty standard 9-5. Since it's all online there's always time and room to catch up from home.

>>293753
I do not really believe those numbers.

>>293753
I would like to thank you for opening my eyes to some things sir. The site you linked to about SEO was informative. I'm trying my best to move to Seattle some time soon. Learning more about IT and Web Development seems like the way to go.

>>293753
Search engine optimization; that is something developer's should integrate way before the site launches.

Standards are upheld by a site's developer throughout development, are you optimizing old websites?

>>293753
Big companies wanting to redirect web-crawlers for whatever reason? Or a person with a blog that they want to show up on the first few pages of a Google search?
Continuing off this >>293865 post; what kind of work are you dealing with on average?

Pentester/Security Consultant.

I have no college, was a pretty shitty high school student and no make 92k a year without counting quarterly bonuses and my salary isn't even capped off yet

>>293897
Ahh, the field of security; both in occupation and financial status. Nice catch.

Mostly freelance type stuff.

As for myself, I do freelance webdesign, but I also designed and run my own websites containing blogs, and videos from my several youtube channels and links to affiliates and adspots. There are a lot of streams of revenue for each site.

On top of that I do some freelance graphic design and web design to local companies. I also sell my web templates on flip domains.

Basically, if you want to make money on the Internet you have to go ALL out. You cannot think you have a chance competing against an Indian that builds websites for 2 dollars an hour.

Even if you do not have web design skills you can still run a web design company and outsource your work. With a little set up you can have it run autonomously sending requests for websites to your outsourced freelancers. Have them use your billing system and give them a chunk of the change.

If you're planning on working specifically on the Internet, plan to do several different things or you're screwed.

I offer simple website designs for $50/ea (4 pages max), then I turn around and sell the template and have my web design company name at the bottom of every page.

Like I said though, I also run blogs that recommend products(affiliation) with youtube reviews(partner), sell ad space.
They will eventually earn you money with you doing next to nothing. After hit count is high enough you can hire people to write your content.

Hopefully this all makes sense, my mind is out of it today.

>>293911
Could you elaborate a bit more on the technical sides of what you do?
Do you use php/python/ruby, which framework, etc?
I'm currently working on getting into this field, going for python/django, freelancing is pretty obvious but also looking at some contracted/salaried work, if it exists in web-dev.

As a backup choice, Im almost done on my CCNA and I heard they really like their network techs who also have some coding experience.

Any tips?

>>293918
You're going into a different area than what I do. You are going towards a more specialized field.

The only tip you need is to keep doing what you are doing and find a promising start up to work for. I hear Fitocracy is still hiring.

Problem is you'll have to be willing to relocate as you won't find any jobs for telecommuting (telecommute jobs are all outsourced because it's cheaper)

On top of trying to find a place that needs what you know, you'll have to prove your worth by having a large impressive portfolio and github profile. It takes a long time to build those portfolios up. You'll want to seek an internship with a web design/development firm.

Then, if you are lucky, you may find one of the few places that does not require a degree in computer science.

Basically, if you don't land the salary job you will be stuck competing with impossibly priced contract work on sites like odesk (You want to work for 1.88/hr? Me neither)

The last option is to start your own websites, run them, profit from them.

-Post amazon referal links.
-Post your partnered youtube account videos.
-sell ad space
-Provide useful content to help with SEO and keep return visitors.
-Build your portfolio by showcasing your websites, build it more by creating cheap websites for others.
-create a few dozen microniche sites running off adsense or affiliate marketing
-create ebooks on how to do everything I just mentioned.

ebooks, affiliates, ads, youtube

>>293923
For the ebooks. Create them based around whatever your site's content is about.

I would never create a website that isn't selling an ebook.

A website costs 10.99/yr
The ROI is outstanding and completely worth it.

Also make your websites seem like there are millions of viewers. Pretend you're popular and you will become popular. They will buy your products

>>293897
Could you recommend any books on the subject or reputable classes/certifications? Security is pretty much the only thing that's been able to hold my interest consistently so i;d love to make it a career.

>>293923
>>293924
Thanks man. I've read about this stuff, got some SEO theory (all of it's 2011 though, Panda update and whatnot).
Btw, where do you operate from? I'm in NYC at the moment, met one guy whose specialty is php/wordpress and he says he lives comfortably doing some contracts and some salaried work, doesn't have a degree.
He recommened getting on github asap, coding every day, reading some good books and just keeping at it.

Again, thanks man, I'll keep everything in mind.

>>293929
I'm from Texas.

If you're wanting to code for a company, that's fine, just remember that the company is making way more money off your work than they are paying you.
They'll sucker you in and keep you around by increasing your pay and throwing bonuses at you, but never forget that you could be making the big bucks by working for yourself.

Then again, I know people who are completely content with making others money in turn for a steady paycheck. Whatever you choose, good luck and have fun.

>>293932
Thanks man, hats off for all the advice.

>>293723
Could you explain this a bit more?
I have no knowledge about any of this, but I have a lot of time sitting around waiting for things at work and this sounds like something I could do. Could you shoot me some links or a few names I could research?

>>293923

Where do you buy your websites from? like the domain? and do you create them yourself?

Also, how do you get the most sales you possibly can with an ebook? I am writing one not, only 3,000 words atm but it will be done in a few weeks,

Thanls

>>293979

>not

meant 'now'

>>293979
I get them from namecheap, but you can get them anywhere. I create the sites myself. ebooks are promoted on my blogs. Their success depends on it kinda, but you share the link on your youtube videos and blog, so the combined traffic sees it. Also have it on Amazon and if it has a catchy title you'll start selling copies within the first 30 minutes anyways. If it's really good then word of mouth will have even more copies sold.

I have to go for now, I'll be back in a few hours.

>>287548
>flux core
You mean soldering?

>>293981

Thanks for all the info. I want to make my books as professional as possible. I don't have a blog or youtube channel set up but this first book is a learning experience for me so I'll set those up later for my next book.

From a SEO perspective, is it a viable strategy to use google keyword tool to find a topic with many monthly searches and compare that keyword to the Amazon ebook search results? I am assuming that searches on google correlate to searches on amazon. So if there are low results for the topic on amazon ebooks, and high searches, but also high results on google, then would the book topic be something that would sell many copies?

Also, how do you price your ebooks?

thanks again

>>287704
>>287704
>>287704
>>287704
>>287704

Fucking this.

I was an EMT for 2 years and it didn't pay jack shit, but hey i got to see some cool shit though.

My last EMT job paid 13$ an hour and went up by 50 cents every 6 months.
It was a very decent job but HORRIBLE shitty job because it was for the city, when I moved to the Private sector I went to 10$ an hour and got raped even worse on hours.

If you guys are going to be EMT's I recommend you go to school for something else.

>>294001
>>294001
Sorry I mean Really bad hours for the CITY Emt job.
it was decent in the sense that you got some respect and a nice retirement. but still couldn't pay me enough to deal with that shit for 25 years

>>293985
No, I didn't mean soldering. Soldering is mainly used in plumbing w/ copper, or used to attach small pieces of steel like in gunsmithing. It has no place in pipe welding usually unless you're forced to plumb.

I have a question, how do you even get a job like one of those long haul fishing gigs? Or oil rig or something else with a similar type of high cash reward with a long "away" work time and then lots of time off.

I mean I don't expect to find those jobs on craigslist or indeed and I don't exactly know the names of places or companies to look into.

>>294001

Is it really that bad?

I want to go to my local technical school and get an EMT course.

If its as bad as you say I guess I could instead go with plan B and get an Economics Degree.

>>293985
Check Wikipedia

>>293995
You should go all out on your first ebook, put a lot into it. You want to give it all you got so you can see what works and what doesn't.

For instance, with tracking data you can see how many visitors follow the link on your site to buy the book. You can see how many people found it from your YouTubes talking about the book. You can see all these statistics and make a decision. What do the reviews say? Good or bad? It's all mix and match. If you have good reviews and a lot of traffic to your site with return visitors then you probably just need to change the book description and/or cover art.

Cover art is more important than many people would think. It's the face of the book. I get my cover art from stock photos. It's another small investment. A few dollars to use a professionally taken image as your cover. A little photoshop magic and you now have something great.

You want to start out by pricing your books between 1.99 and 2.99
Everyone has a different strategy, but I believe it's important to build your name first so you can brag about your sales on the cover of your next ebook.

It goes like this and it's kind of cheap but here is a nice layout:

>>294115
(cont)

1. write books on different subjects related to one topic, sell them cheap (15-30 pages)
2. After about a year, start writing books on how to make money, sell them anywhere from 19.99-49.99 (Yes, people will pay 49.99 but you better have good content or your reviews will suck.

I have seen websites created with fake comments talking about how great a product is to trick the viewer into purchasing bogus material. If you write good content, people will rate it highly.

To price, it's best to distance yourself from all the work you put into it, the customer does not really care if your book took you 1 week or 10 years. What would you pay for your book?

This comment window is so small it is difficult to see what I have covered thus far. Hope it's helpful anyways.

>>291986
>>292048
>community college
>fapped 3 times today

that fucking feel..

>>292312
MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS

umm yeah unless you're already a writer that enjoys writing for its own sake don't even bother trying to become an author, even an e-author.

>>294143
...that is the most idiotic thing I've ever heard.

Hey guys, unless you like making hamburgers then you shouldn't work at McDonalds.

>>294115
>>294117

Thanks, that's very helpful.

Bumping for ultimate justice.
Best thread on 4chan.

>>294444
It is, isn't it? Love this thread.

>>293946
2+2 forums, FlopTurnRiver forums. Go to the beginners' circle, look for general stickies and START HERE posts. Good luck. I'll be there to take your money, though.

Bumping this epic thread.
Spent half the morning reading this. Got so fucking pumped with motivation.

hit the corner, earn upwards of 2 grand. Works well for me and im picky

This thread deserves more bumps.