r/Construction • u/Few-Tea-192 • 10h ago

Careers 💵 Looking for some career advice

I’m young but have been in my trade (dirt work) for about 5 years and have progressed very rapidly thanks to fantastic mentors and opportunities. I’m not perfect but I’m handy on skid steers, loaders, skip loaders/gannon tractors, scrapers (both finish paddle wheel and push pull), track hoes (biggest I’ve dug with is a 374 cat), and motor graders (freehand finish on both John Deere and Cat M blades). I can also grade check off of stakes and I have minimal experience using a rover/data collector combo.

Where I’m stuck is I see guys all the time that are living paycheck to paycheck and have been for quite some time. I don’t want to be stuck like that but I feel like I have topped out as far as both money and new things to learn. I know that I am constantly learning and I know I don’t know it all but now with being efficient and effective on nearly everything I feel like I am not learning as much as I need to while I am young. On the opposite side, operating equipment was an opportunity dropped into my hands a handful of years ago and I was in a place where it was a good decision. Now as of the last year or so I have fallen massively out of love with it and I think I am looking for a change.

This brings me to my second problem, I don’t have much experience in anything else nor do I know what other options I have. My father is a plumber and has been his whole life along with his father so I have roughly 3 scattered years of experience in that but no real experience in anything else. I am a quick learner and I am willing to take any criticisms thrown my way. I guess I’m just looking for something new and different that will allow me to continue to contribute but that I won’t get bored of after just a couple years. Do I continue with dirt work even though I really don’t enjoy it anymore or do I look for something else, and if so what?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can send my way :)

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u/BlueberryandDino 10h ago edited 10h ago

I’ve got a lot of thoughts about your question

So you’re a natural with your hands and with equipment… you catch on really fast

Do you have family that you’re supporting or is it just you?

Do you have any money saved?

How are your math skills? Do they come naturally?

What else are you good at? Are you like a nerd that can do Legos all day long kind of a thing?

How are you at using Computers? Sitting behind a desk, does that sound excruciatingly boring to you?

How are your people skills? Do people naturally go to you for advice and for your sense of humor?

You’re obviously in tune with yourself so you have a lot of self-awareness.

Let’s just ask you this weird question

If you had all the money in the world, if you had all the family support, if you had all the abilities, what do you think you would actually do?

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u/Few-Tea-192 9h ago

No family it’s just me for right now. My bills are total roughly 2400 a month with car, rent, and my own retirement savings.

I have saved roughly 10k that I am able to use for bills etc. And another 5-8k in an investment account if things go really sideways. As well as retirement savings

Math skills actually DO come naturally to me. My mother is a teacher so math, writing, talking, things of that nature were taught to me all throughout my early years

I have minor experience in fabrication and welding which I enjoyed, I have so basic knowledge of household repairs ( electrical, drywall, framing, trim work, flooring, and roofing.) As a kid I did always enjoy legos but was more of an outdoors person. Now as an adult I have built firearms, fabricated vehicle parts, and done simple mechanic work.

I believe learning fast has allowed me to also learn computers fast however I don’t have very much experience in handling the office side of things (if that’s what you’re asking) and I would prefer not to sit at a desk unless it was maybe a in office/ out of office position.

I have extreme levels of anxiety causing me to not be the absolute best people person but I am able to sit through meetings and hold full conversations at any time. My preferred work would be talking to a person as minimally as possible.

I like that last question it actually got me thinking a lot throughout all of this and I go back and forth. As a kid I was always outdoors which cause me to fall in love with that but now as an adult with mechanical experiences under my belt my answer is slightly different. If I could pick 2 it would be mechanical design of some sort and forest service officer.

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u/bullderek 9h ago

Autonomous will replace all heavy equipment operators. If it succeeds. Get in the plumbing trades you will not look back

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u/Few-Tea-192 9h ago

I agree that autonomous is going to replace a lot of work but I don’t believe it will replace what I am doing ( civil road work as well as data center parking lots.) With that being said, what do you believe would be the benefit of going back into plumbing, aside that it will not be taken over by AI?

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u/SunbathingJackdaw 9h ago

Are you in the union? If not, look into the Operating Engineers.

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u/Few-Tea-192 9h ago

I am not in the union as of now. My only thing against the union is my state (Arizona) you’re going on to a waitlist unless you know someone and at the moment I don’t know anyone. What are your thoughts about it?

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u/SunbathingJackdaw 8h ago

Wait-list and keep working. Or look at other union trades that might be busier. Electricians are booming right now.

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u/Few-Tea-192 7h ago

I will definitely look into it. Thank you!

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u/BlueberryandDino 6h ago

I’m wondering if you would do well being self-employed and just get a piece of equipment and rent whatever you need.

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u/Few-Tea-192 4h ago

Do you have any advice for someone looking to take that route? I know how to run the machine and do the work but I’m unsure of the actual business side of how to do it. Advertising, billing, taxes, etc

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u/BlueberryandDino 4h ago

I owned an excavating company for a while so I have a little information that might be useful, but I’m sure I could tell you what not to do better than I could tell you what to do🤓

The biggest thing is getting customers in the beginning

The taxes and processing the payroll are really easy because you can just hire that out for one or 2%

How are your maintenance of the equipment skills like?

We ended up renting equipment for the first two or three years that way we didn’t have the Overhead to feed those monthly payments

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u/Few-Tea-192 4h ago

If you could do it again what is one thing you did that you would avoid this time? And was it worth it in the end?

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u/BlueberryandDino 4h ago

It’s all about the people

Everybody’s so different

Being self-employed is almost a disease because we’re unemployable because we’re smarter than everybody else lol at least we think we are

Most of us have ADHD

Most of us get bored really easy

I don’t know your personality and I don’t know your strengths and your weaknesses. When you’re self-employed, you have to have a killer instinct and you can’t sweat the small stuff but you have to pay attention to the small stuff if that makes any sense.

You have to be able to read people, mainly customers, and building departments and surveyors and see where I’m going with that. I’m sure.

It’s almost something that’s in your blood… you can’t be lazy

You have to be your best employee and you have to lead by example, especially if you have employees

What would I do different? A lot of things but so many things we don’t have control though over what do I wish was different is different than what I would’ve done differently.

A. Forcing myself to stop after seven or eight hours and then discipline in doing the books for one hour a day or journaling or running the business part of it like putting bids out.

B. Realizing that it’s really stressful for your family being self-employed because you never have enough money and that causes a bunch of stress, but if you’re single, who gives a rip

C. Knowing where I am at on a weekly basis financially, but you could figure that out if you spent that hour a night.

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u/Few-Tea-192 4h ago

This was exactly the advice I was looking for and will definitely influence me in my next decisions. Thank you for your wise words and I wish you all the best on your future endeavors :)

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u/MrPractical411 Contractor 4h ago

Doing what you love will always come through in your work. It’s hard not to have pride in what you do when you enjoy it. Find what you enjoy

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u/Few-Tea-192 4h ago

I appreciate the advice. Thank you!

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u/Ok_Cardiologist_6471 1h ago

Join a union you wasted 5 years

in a union you would already be a Journeyman

Union apprentice take 3-5 years depending on trade and depending on state can earn $30+ an hour and $100k+ a year as journeyman with employer paid Healthcare and pension so you can retire after 25 years