this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2024
63 points (97.0% liked)

No Stupid Questions

35511 readers
2339 users here now

No such thing. Ask away!

!nostupidquestions is a community dedicated to being helpful and answering each others' questions on various topics.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All post titles must include a question.

All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.



Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.

On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it's in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.

If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.



Rule 7- You can't intentionally annoy, mock, or harass other members.

If you intentionally annoy, mock, harass, or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.



Credits

Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!

The greatest banner of all time: by @TheOneWithTheHair!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Don't think its "technically" considered professional advice (since I'm just looking for general info), but not sure where else to turn. I have been apart of the corporate world for a while, and even though I follow all the rules, my companies consistently find ways/loopholes to screw me over.

Are there any industries or careers that are kind of easy to get into with strong union protections?

When I say "easy" I understand there will be education involved, but I already have a degree and am scared to waste more money and time (for seemingly nothing) again.

I have no desire to get rich or anything, I'm just hoping to get ideas on what I can pivot my career to so I can support myself and my loved ones without worry of the rug being pulled out from under me again.

top 11 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 6 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I've heard they'll take just about anyone willing to learn to be a train conductor and it's supposed to pay well after a few years.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 19 hours ago

Can agree. My friend went this route a couple decades back Has huge house and kids now. The kids are skinny, but he has a few

[–] [email protected] 3 points 21 hours ago

Labor jobs! Low Voltage Technicians specifically have a great union. I've never been without a job for longer than a few weeks (and getting calls constantly from people wanting to hire/help me find a new job).

Labor sucks though. I would probably trade it for a desk job any day just to save my body, but id likely take a pay reduction and hate being stuck to a chair all day.

Really depends on what you want to do!

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 days ago

Pretty much any "trade" job will have what you're looking for. Most have good unions.

Probably the only trade that is the exception to that would be the trucking industry. This is where I am.

Decent pay, relatively easy to enter, but it's a lifestyle, not so much a job and the Teamsters (the main trucking union) and I very much don't get along. That is an understatement due to community and instance guidelines. We've had... words.

[–] Wxfisch 13 points 2 days ago

In case you’re looking for something more white collar, I have found working for government prime contractors to be a sweet spot. I know, it feels gross to work for “the man” or to be the ones taking in those tax dollars, but hear me out.

The work is well defined, they are very often unionized, even the office staff, and it’s essentially guaranteed employment as long as you want to work there. I’ve also found that putting in what I consider pretty normal levels of effort is highly rewarded because often the bar is pretty low by those that have been in the various companies for decades that no longer care. As long as you guard against professional apathy and keep driving yourself to do the best you can, it’s can be a great sector to work in.

I would suggest looking for ones you don’t already know the names of though (often small subsidiaries of the larger companies are fine). Battelle for instance operates almost all of the DoE national labs and I hear from colleagues they are a good company with labs all over the country that need scientists, engineers, accountants, IT pros, facility folks, etc.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

If you're in the USA, I cannot understate how useful it may be to refer to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics's (BLS) Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), a resource which I believe has no direct comparison:

How can I learn about an occupation that is of interest to me?

The Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) provides information on what workers do; the work environment; education, training, and other qualifications; pay; the job outlook; information on state and area data; similar occupations; and sources of additional information for more than 300 occupational profiles covering about 4 out of 5 jobs in the economy.

As for answering the question, anecdotal conversations I've had suggest that the trades (eg glazier, electrician, plumber) in the USA are promising fields, since while the nature of the job might change with different needs, people still require electric wires and piped water. But the OOH could give you more specific outlooks for those specific trades.

I was once told that plumbers can make very serious sums of money, even if they're only ever installing supply-side piping. That is to say, the plumbing for water supply, as compared to drainage or sewer pipe, which are generally perceived as less appealing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 15 hours ago

My brother is a journeyman plumber in Seattle WA. He only does new pipe on metal frame (big buildings) for new build. He makes $130k a year not counting overtime.

Great job. Amazing job.

[–] FuglyDuck 9 points 2 days ago

That is to say, the plumbing for water supply, as compared to drainage or sewer pipe, which are generally perceived as less appealing.

I once knew a plumber who hadn't yet learned to never look into a blackwater pipe (i.e. it's coming from the toilet.). he learned after somebody flushed.

[–] Potatisen 9 points 2 days ago

Don't know about where you live but jobs like plumbers, electricians, etc. usually have good salaries and good unions. Often times there are food jobs to find as well because most people don't want to do these jobs.

[–] andrewta 5 points 2 days ago

Over head garage door repair. No where enough people doing the work and the older crowd retiring. Takes a few years to really understand what you are doing but Damn you can make money.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Explore the trades. Welding and wind turbine repair is in high demand I'm told. With a degree you could potentially find your way into a management position too.