Success I think...

[Fedup]

I know a few incredible successful college graduates. One was my sister's friend from high school. Back in 1990s and and his wife each cleared at least a million. Bought house in Brentwood. Unfortunately they are pretty competitive and the marriage didn't survive. Lawyers and investment banking type.

The second guy is/was a very successful hedge fund CEO, he is godfather to my kid, last time I googled him, he was earning at least GBP 100 million in one year. He has a BS in math and an MBA.

The successful trade guy in my circle is the dentist, I call him that because that's basically what they do, they use tools for their job. He owns the business and hires people or dentists to work for him. Millions in income range per year. Too rich to care.

 

[38Chevy454]

I think all kids should works some. It gives them a sense of what it takes to make money, and hopefully an appreciation for that. I have worked full time since 15, with part-time during school, both HS and college. I tell everyone I had a J-O-B scholarship, 25 hours/week. It was called working my way through school. Christmas break and Spring break just meant an opportunity to work more and make a few more bucks to help out the finances. Always worked a full time job in summers, usually as something related to school.

I am also a firm believer that not everyone is set for the college path. That is typical HS counselor BS that every kid needs to go to college. As stated, there are a bunch of six figure trades people. Put up with some hard work and learn a trade, you will have as much work as you want.

Back to OP, good for you having your son work. He is learning the value of work and also the benefits of what a college education can get him. Assuming of course he gets a degree in something that has value and an employer is willing to pay a good wage for. For a useless degree might as well stay working at the grocery store. I won't get on my soapbox about the stupid degrees some people get and then wonder why they are not able to earn a decent living wage.

 

[Scuba]

Love the "JOB" scholarship program! Going to recommend this to my friends with kids.

 

[Winemaker]

I, too, had the JOBS scholarship.

I had a mining engineering degree, and several credits towards a MBA, worked 35 years in coal mine management, working shifts. I loved the job, but every once in a while, one of my underlings would rib me that I had to go to college to end up working with him in a coal mine.

 

[Johanson]

My high school guidance councilor told me I wasn't college material and I should consider the trades. I went to college anyway and eventually became a CEO, making the company owners very wealthy. I often wonder whether I would have done better building a company in the trades for myself.

I had a grade school or junior high teacher that like to tell the story of her classmate that was the captain of the high school football team. He was academically very lazy and the principal would constantly get after him and tell him he was going to spend his adult life digging ditches. It turned out that the principal was right. He became a multimillionaire owning his own excavating company. At that time of the story telling, he was building and rebuilding roads and highways. Apparently it was the big joke at the high school reunions every 5 years.

 

[rayinpenn]

I seem to always get a chuckle out of it when its insinuated that college has to be the destination otherwise you will have no future.

Point of order sir - i said 'unskilled labor' (like stocking shelves in a supermarket) an electrician isn't unskilled. Stop being so darn sensitive. Ps the statistics dont lie. An education increases the odds of earning more in life. You and I know It does not guarantee it.

 

[Luck_Club]

Another reason to consider a trade: earnings begin earlier in life. If I had a kid with the right aptitude, I would encourage him/her to become a plumber. We will always need bathrooms!

National rates are about $25 an hour for employees with 5 years experience. Not bad, but not great either. Starting salary for most engineers is roughly $28, so not a huge difference.

The major difference is in the upward mobility of the two fields as an employee. The electrician not living in a high construction area isn't going to always have a steady supply of home owners who don't know how to learn basic home wiring through reading a book.

 

[427Vette]

National rates are about $25 an hour for employees with 5 years experience. Not bad, but not great either. Starting salary for most engineers is roughly $28, so not a huge difference.

The major difference is in the upward mobility of the two fields as an employee. The electrician not living in a high construction area isn't going to always have a steady supply of home owners who don't know how to learn basic home wiring through reading a book.

This why it pays to be a well rounded electrician and do commercial, industrial, agricultural, motor control, service work, troubleshooting, diagnostics etc. If any skilled trade had to rely on just residential work it would be sure trip to the food shelf at some point.

 

[Gumby]

Around here, if you can operate a CNC machine, you could have your pick of jobs. No college required.

 

[samclem]

Around here the community colleges are producing folks who know how to use CNC machinery, but companies are finding that many of these young adults can't be counted on to come to work. They've started calling up the old timers who have retired, offering to put them through some classes if they want to come back to the shop floor. It's apparently easier to teach an old machinist with a good work ethic to use CNC than to teach some younger people what work means.

 

[Walt34]

I own and operate a small electric contracting business and I can certainly tell that there is a skilled worker shortage. It is almost impossible to find someone who wants to actually work. I don't think most kids going into a trade realize that there is real work involved. Sometimes you might have to sweat, lift, pull or figure out something complicated.

My father was an electrician and while he worked full time for the power company, for "beer money" he would do small side jobs that the large companies don't really want, like "move this ceiling fixture there" or "I want a new wall outlet there" type of thing. The first dollar I ever earned was at age 5 for pulling cable in a crawl space he couldn't get through. No advertising, all word of mouth, mostly from people he knew through church.

Of course now that would be a horror! Forced child labor (no I didn't have a choice). I could have been bitten by a brown recluse and died. But I sure enjoyed all the kid stuff I got from the dollar. A Coke or chocolate bar was 5 cents.

So in my early teens and a bit before I knew about work because I could do the simple repetitive tasks that he would inspect later, and woe to me if he found anything wrong! And for some things it's just a lot easier if you have a third hand available.

 

[Fedup]

I have not had the need for plumber nor electrician for 40 plus years. I guess my engineer husband serves as plumber and electrician. I don't know if other families use them or not.

 

[Pilot2013]

National rates are about $25 an hour for employees with 5 years experience. Not bad, but not great either. Starting salary for most engineers is roughly $28, so not a huge difference.

The major difference is in the upward mobility of the two fields as an employee. The electrician not living in a high construction area isn't going to always have a steady supply of home owners who don't know how to learn basic home wiring through reading a book.

I agree on the upward mobility, but I think your starting salary for engineer is a little off. We start engineers at ~$63k with no experience (well, maybe COOP experience) which is about $30/hr. Increase is rapid, and usually within 5 years somewhere around $85k. This is in the South.

 

[Fedup]

I agree on the upward mobility, but I think your starting salary for engineer is a little off. We start engineers at ~$63k with no experience (well, maybe COOP experience) which is about $30/hr. Increase is rapid, and usually within 5 years somewhere around $85k. This is in the South.

Do they get RSUs with that?

 

[meierlde]

Another trade one can learn is welding again a lot of construction welding can't be offshored for example on pipelines etc. Their are associates degrees available in this also.

 

[Pilot2013]

Do they get RSUs with that?

Not sure what RSU means....

 

[Fedup]

Not sure what RSU means....

Restricted Stock Unit.

https://blog.wealthfront.com/stock-options-versus-rsu/

 

[Pilot2013]

Restricted Stock Unit.

https://blog.wealthfront.com/stock-options-versus-rsu/

Nope. They get an EVA Bonus, and Profit Sharing based on metrics and company performance.

 

[samclem]

Not sure what RSU means....

C'mon, Pilot. Everyone wearing a flightsuit knows an "RSU" is a Runway Supervisory Unit.
You must have gotten your hours the hard way--with your own pennies!

"Okay, lieutenant, it's your turn to sit in the box today."
"Again??"

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

C'mon, Pilot. Everyone wearing a flightsuit knows an "RSU" is a Runway Supervisory Unit.
You must have gotten your hours the hard way--with your own pennies!

"Okay, lieutenant, it's your turn to sit in the box today."
"Again??"

Yeah...spent many years in mil aviation and I didn't what you were talking about. Is that the same dude we called the SOF?

 

[Souschef]

I agree on the upward mobility, but I think your starting salary for engineer is a little off. We start engineers at ~$63k with no experience (well, maybe COOP experience) which is about $30/hr. Increase is rapid, and usually within 5 years somewhere around $85k. This is in the South.

The problem is the salaries plateau after a while.Before I retired, I did not get an increase my last 2 years. I was making twice as much as anyone else in the department and they took the raise pool and gave it to them. When I left, they hiresd 3 people to replace me.

 

[samclem]

Yeah...spent many years in mil aviation and I didn't what you were talking about. Is that the same dude we called the SOF?

The SOF ("Supervisor of Flying") is normally higher up the chain. He may be in charge of deciding who flies in what part of the available airspace, is the first to get a radio call if there's an inflight emergency etc.
The poor schmo in the RSU is in charge of the runway: Clearing people to take off on it, to do a touch-and-go, to do a straight-in approach, etc. He even is the double-check to assure the landing gear is really down when the pilot says it is. It's crummy duty.

Sorry to all for the digression. I had a flashback . . .

 

[NW-Bound]

I have not had the need for plumber nor electrician for 40 plus years. I guess my engineer husband serves as plumber and electrician. I don't know if other families use them or not.

My sister-in-law does more work around the house than my brother. He's an IT guy, very well paid, and not at all a handy man.

She's a home mom, so she gets to do the dirty work. She cannot do things I do, but does things my wife would not know where to start.

 

[Fedup]

My sister-in-law does more work around the house than my brother. He's an IT guy, very well paid, and not at all a handy man.

She's a home mom, so she gets to do the dirty work. She does things my wife would not know where to start.

Nothing dirty yet. Mostly draino, hot water, and plunger.

 

[FUEGO]

This is a kid who only opened the book twice in his entire HS career.
No effort and all too easy...

So is he in academically rigorous classes? If he doesn't need to crack a book to do well in advanced classes then he's probably set in life as long as he can coast into and through college. Might even win some scholarships to pay for beer (and multi-screen computer gaming setups, which are sweet by the way ). But if he's not in academically rigorous classes and isn't being challenged, then that's a different issue.

Ps we've banked every penny for him...
I hope some day he'll appreciate it.

Are you saying he turns his paychecks over to you? Or does he get to keep some or all of them? You're not charging that poor high school kid rent are you?