I come from a family where my father never got the opportunity to get a stable education. Instead he relied on his craftsmanship and his cleverness as a laborer. He may be no businessman, but he can build just about any structure from wood, is proficient with electrical wiring, and is over skilled with any tool; and yet he has stressed these words of wisdom to me, “Study your books and go to college.”

It seems that I am far from being the only one in my generation who has heard this same exact line from my parents. Since the new age of technology and online communication, many Americans have traded out their wrenches and drills for an opportunity to take a comfy seat in an office chair with a computer fitted across from them. The fortunate truth, on the other hand, is that those willing to keep their tools and skills can expect to find benefits and make good money doing the things they already by sticking with a trade job verses suffering with an office one.

With the older generation of manual labor workers on their way out of the workforce and the newer gen having little interest in anything outside of technology and social media, there is a large void of skilled trade jobs waiting to be filled that many people seem to not want or see as a lesser career path. Many jobs are now offering more competitive wages to current employees and are being forced to find new workers, for instance, truck drivers can now be offered six figure salaries. For those with such skills, there’s plenty of room to find a trade job without having to worry over competitive job markets.

As mentioned earlier, companies in need of skilled workers are offering better wages to their workers. Overall those who enter the skill trade work force actually receive excellent pay. The average salary for skilled trade work starts off at 47 thousand dollars a year, but an experienced and educated worker can easily make upwards of 80 thousand dollars or more a year.  

With the benefits skilled trade work offers in it’s pay, they also offer better education routes to take. Pursuing a skilled trade career means that an individual does not necessarily always need to get a conventional bachelor's degree at an expensive university. Instead, students who are interested in the field of skill work can gain experience with hands on programs that work for their learning styles, versus being crammed into a lecture hall with hundreds of other students. These programs offered are also far cheaper than typical four-year degree without having to take the risk of investing countless dollars and time into going to a university, that many students never end up graduating from.

The issue in our generation is that despite all the good pay and opportunities for skilled work available, most people see it as a career for lower class worker and associate with the typical stigmas that come with “blue collar work.” It's often believed that being a welder,HVAC technician, and other careers of the sorts is only for people who aren’t smart enough to get degrees and work an office job. This couldn't be further from the truth as many of these careers have workers with an education and/or years of perfecting their particular craft. Many of these jobs require delicate hand work and knowledge of tools and parts.

Workers that do the skill trades often choose to do such fields because of the work environment offered to them. Some people can’t meet their best potential by being cramped in an office cubicle. Instead they would much rather prefer working with their hands in a space where they can move about and be free of typing out reports. The new modern trade skill job environments have also seen such a reform in the recent years. What used to be warehouses littered with hazardous materials and brutal work conditions have now been revised to be safe and productive workspaces for workers.

The outlook on on skill trade jobs in our society needs to change. Many of these jobs offer the opportunity for young individuals to follow their passions, such as the automotive(car) culture, while being able to display their craftsmanship and experience as a product. These jobs consist of bright and talented individuals looking for the opportunity to make a good salary.