Have fun in your cubicle—better you than me

Josh Welton welding.
Photo by Andrew Trahan.

Here is a story I told a while back—maybe six or seven years ago—but I’ve never shared it on thefabricator.com. What’s cool is that since this was written, I think the perceptions I expressed have evolved in a couple of ways. Kids and parents are questioning the value of a four-year university degree as the costs to attend climb to disproportionate heights.

Mom and/or dad don’t want to spend six figures on an education their son or daughter isn’t excited about. High school students are getting into shop classes and falling in love with welding or wrenching or machining; some are even working with outside manufacturers in place of certain classes, and getting credits, good money, and a jump on their career. Community colleges and trade schools aren’t shunned the way they were even five years ago.

One of my favorite things on Instagram and Facebook is watching a new generation rise up in real time and take pride in being blue collar.

I was a pretty smart kid. I never really applied myself in high school, but I got decent grades. And despite having a father and a grandfather who were (are) both extremely skilled craftsmen, I never even thought about shop class. I wasn’t into wrenching, building, or fixing. At. All.

When the time came to go to college, I had scored high enough on the standardized tests to go pretty much anywhere I wanted. And, of course, going to college was never in doubt. That’s what you do. You graduate from high school, go to college, get a job doing something respectable and clean while wearing a suit, make money, and live happily ever after.

My dad operated a metal shear for Steelcase for the better part of three decades. The company had a program at the time in which employees’ kids could get temporary summer jobs in the plants, with one caveat: They had to be enrolled in college for the fall semester.

It was a cool deal; kids could make some nice cash for the upcoming school year, but it was also supposed to show us how valuable that education was: “Without it, you may end up having to slave away in a factory for the next 30 years.” And, of course, the execs who approved of the plan thought, “Who in their right mind would want to do that?"

The thing was, I liked working in the factory. I liked the crazy characters I worked alongside. I liked hanging parts on a line; I liked sanding down steel cabinets; I liked driving hi-los; and I liked running a paint line. I liked it a lot more than going to class, writing papers, deciphering algebra, and trying to stay on a teacher’s good side.

So, my life ended up taking a different direction. After more than two years of classes I quit school, and I found work in factories and on construction sites from Grand Rapids to Detroit to Southern California. There was no long-term plan; it was just about finding work, being the best as possible at that work, and making enough money to enjoy life.

In the middle of this period, I landed a brief stint at Mopar, and I took the skilled trades test. When I made it into Chrysler’s apprenticeship program a couple years later, my gramps joked: “Don’t you have to have some type of mechanical aptitude for that?" Ha…yeah, that was never supposed to be me.

But it ended up defining what and who I am, at least professionally. A skilled tradesman. A millwright. A mechanic. A welder.

I couldn’t sit in a classroom. I surely wouldn’t be able to sit in a cubicle. And what’s wrong with that? The easy answer is absolutely nothing.

Then why is there such a stigma attached to it? There’s nothing “lesser" to being a pipe welder than being a software engineer; it’s just a different field. To excel as a skilled tradesperson, you need to be able to think critically and work with your hands.

Our schools oughta be giving kids the same opportunities and incentives to rebuild an engine as finding the value of x. Trade school shouldn’t be looked at as a fallback; it should be a viable first option.