Good jobs without college/long education

I have no advice for you because I'm a literal child but I wish you luck.

Oldstronauts GTFIH

 

Uhm it probably depends on where you are from, lot of people over here have started their own one man company in the building sector and are faring pretty well.
Or you could try to get some job in the tourism sector most don't require a long education and depending on where you do it are pretty steady

 

I’ve been an aircraft mechanic since the mid-80´s (my age is wrong in my profile) and it pays well.

Didn’t take years and years of college, only two in a junior college that had an Aircraft and Powerplant Certification Program. (Don’t go to a private institute since they charge ten times as much and don’t give as good of an education).

Two negatives are: Need to go ¨through the trenches¨ to get experience to get a good paying job. For me it was six years in the navy working on P-3 Orions and one year earning ¨peanuts¨ working on private planes before joining a major airline. Does not necessarily have to take that long to gain experience and some airlines take people straight out of school if the economy is good and they need mechanics.

Second negative is the uncertainty. I have been lucky and (so far) have been laid off only once in my career. But I know aircraft mechanics that have been laid off several times. Flying isn’t a necessity and an economic down turn effects the airline industry harder than other areas since people will put aside flying first before many other things. Right now of course we are getting slammed hard.

——-In all seriousness if I were to do life again I would become a plumber. Don’t need a lot of years of education, pays very well, and everyone is always going to need a plumber. People will pay the high rates even if they have to charge it and go into debt because everyone wants their water/waste systems working properly.——-

 

I’ve been pretty much in the same predicament. I’m a freelance carpenter and make pretty good money, but as I get up there in age I’m starting to have problems with knees and shoulders. I was thinking of going to nursing school or something. Sucks that I’d have to start from the bottom again, but I think I’d be much better off in the long run.
Maybe you could look into tech school. Usually you can get through the schooling in two years or less and a lot of them will place you in a job. Trucking is another option that pays pretty well, but it’s a tough lifestyle from what I’ve heard. You also need to take your location into consideration. Look into what’s in demand in your area. Also, if you’re good with computers, you’ll have a ton of options.

 

I’ll second you on the Plumber. It might not be the most attractive profession, but man those guys charge like $150/hr in my area.

 

you could get a job in IT without a degree (most require certificates). though its still hard to comeby because the field is over saturated.

 

Yep, $165/hr in my area.

The company I have are very good so I also make sure to slip them some extra the times I’ve had them over.

Totally worth it as far as I’m concerned.

 

Plumbing and welding are great options for you. I worked with a plumber recently and stayed at his guesthouse while I taught his kid to fly. Man it was nice. They lived in a community airpark and owned a Cessna 182, so we just walked to their hanger every morning and blasted off. Definitely seems like the kind of job your looking for, but it's hard work. The guy is an immigrant and busted his ass for his kids but plumbing made it all possible for them.

 

Yep! The first plumber I talked to at length was doing great financially. All the plumbers I’ve met since then were well off.

But it is indeed tough and sometime nasty work.

Pros and cons to everything.

 

Well I think that it is obvious that you can't be payed well for a simple work that everybody else could do, am I right ?

So to answer the question of OP, I think,at least for what I am used to live here(Italy) that without getting degree the answer is to "tough works". The ones that most of the people don't do because of the shifts, or maybe because of frequent business trip, you build your economy and your experience and then you can leave that life for a better work, without certificates but with experience(more valuable)

 

Oh I didn’t know you live in Italy.

Been making a new friendship with a gentleman that grew up there but moved here over 20 years ago. Great guy.

——-

Another thought came to mind about a career.

Making money and enjoying the job. For me I’m lucky, I have a job I love and it has great pay.

But if I had to choose between job I love and less pay vs. job I’m not enthusiastic about and high pay I’d choose the lesser paying job.

You’re going to be doing it for 30-50 years and be there approximately one third of your time. Go with something you enjoy and don’t let pay be the only factor.

 

logistics/shipping agent
garbage truck
restaurants/hotels

 

trashman

 

Are you currently trading? What’s a good amount to start with?

 

Sounds tempting, but I couldn’t afford to quit my day job. If it were something that I could ease into as a side gig, I’d be interested, of course I could always invest aggressively into a 401k and have someone that knows their shit make the decisions.

 

I am a community college instructor. Here is what I tell people who want a decent job with 2 years of education or less: Find something that you like to do THAT REQUIRES A LICENSE. Some on this thread have already recommended plumber or mechanic (a real one)- both of those things require a license. Whenever a profession requires licensure in a state that means that the those performing the job will automatically get paid a little more than the average person because only a select few can actually prove they are competent to do the job. Other good ones are electrician, registered nurse, respiratory therapist, and HVAC guys.

I wish you the best!

 

Just going to come out with a contrarian view to give you some alternatives. First, in a perfect world, what would you like to do, if you could get paid for doing it? Most people can come up with a list of things in this category pretty quickly. Whatever you come up with, someone out there is already getting paid to do it. E.g. if you just love grooming horses, and spend years honing your craft, you will be paid by rich people who want their horses to look good.

Second, live with your parents while you hone your skills. I know it's not a popular view, but it sure beats working at a job that you will grow to hate. It will be worth it for them to see you working on something that you truly find self-actualizing and eventually getting paid for it.

Third, a dose of realism. If your answers to the first part were a bit too wacky, a good yardstick is looking what your parents currently do. Is what you want to do similar to what your dad does, what your mom does, or an average of the two, plus some wiggle room for randomness? If both your parents are engineers and you want to be a rock star, I hate to break it to you, but your genes/environment combo is not working in your favour. On the other hand, if your parents are engineers and you want to be a game designer, then your genetic inheritance will be of great use to you. I would submit that in extreme cases, like the rock star example, the 'perfect job' is actually an expression of insecurity -- you might want something because of the status involved, not because it actually suits your temperament.

In such cases, it's good to ask why you want to do a certain thing, and be brutally honest about the answers you get. It's a forgotten wisdom that most people would be happiest doing something very similar to what their parents already do.

 

I second this. I'm a teacher too. I tell my students the SAME thing too. I tell them to find a major in their field that pays well, is stable... and it doesn't have to be gone through a 4 year route. I tell them to look for jobs that would be stable no matter what the state of economy is...