I've done both, rule : 196

[-] TheSecurityNinja 146 points 9 months ago

I started my career as a plumber (exterior - digging up water mains), and currently I am a corporate IT security engineer.

While the plumbing part was absolutely harder physically, the work was overall more enjoyable and much less stressful. I was outside a lot of the time, I got to play with heavy equipment, and most of the time there wasn’t much urgency to the tasks. I never stared at the ceiling at 2 am worrying what tomorrow would bring.

In corporate IT security? There are days I don’t leave my desk for 6-8 hours straight. I feel a constant need to be connected, and I’m always planning, strategizing and worrying about the next project.

Everyone talks about the sitting at the desk thing, which is an issue, but corporate life is also much more mentally taxing. And that crap adds up over 10-20 years.

[-] praise_idleness 55 points 9 months ago

There is something about manual labor that office workers cannot simply understand. Sure it's hard and often times dangerous. But at the end of the day, you feel tired than drained.

[-] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago

Yeah, I miss that too. I had to get out because my body was beat up.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Or you just move into management. I still do some physical work, because I never want to be the boss who refuses to get his hands dirty, but most of my days are spent coordinating, tracking and problem-solving and also a fair amount of pointless paperwork.

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[-] [email protected] 39 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I went the career firefighter route.

Pros: tons of time off, rewarding, never boring, great pay and benefits. Will actually be able to retire at 55.

Cons: pretty much guaranteed to get cancer and it's not even the expected stuff from fires. The AFFF foam we used for years had PFAS -- a carcinogen. Even better, it turns out even brand new, unused turnout gear is absolutely saturated in PFAS too.

Oh and stress, cumulative injuries, etc.

[-] Evilsmiley 24 points 9 months ago

It's like we made a bad deal with a devil.

Oh you want to be fireproof? Sure. Here's the catch: cancer.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Look it' s better than the old asbestos gear

[-] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

I'm interested in STEM (I very much have an engineers brain) but I'd like to avoid the office lifestyle and constant stress that you mentioned. Do you have any recommendations about what I shoukd look into?

[-] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

I work in municipal development and our civil engineers get to do a fair amount of site inspections.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

As an engineer, you’re gonna be stressed a lot. But you have a wide range of what kind of stress you get and how much time you spend in an office. I’m industrial and I spend some days on my feet building shit, some days sitting in front of a spreadsheet until my soul hurts, and most days doing a bit of this and a bit of that with good balance of sitting and standing.

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[-] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The thing I dislike about working an office job is that you will likely work for a corporation, so you get stuck in endless meetings about trying to meet unrealistic growth targets and that is absolutely draining.

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[-] [email protected] 66 points 9 months ago

Excuse you! I stare at SQL all day tyvm!...

[-] wander1236 28 points 9 months ago

And SQL data is stored in tables so it's basically just Excel

[-] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago

Nooo it's different!

How often I end up pasting stuff into excel to help me organize data and figure out how I want it to look before writing a query is irrelevant!

[-] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago

SQL is just Excel with Friends.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

And pivot tables connecting to a server database are basically SQL for idiots.

[-] [email protected] 60 points 9 months ago

This is complete nonsense.

They can also train to shoot brown people.

[-] [email protected] 27 points 9 months ago

Military, police, or drug dealer?

[-] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

is there a mix of all three? that's what I'd choose

[-] [email protected] 22 points 9 months ago

CIA

[-] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago

CIA

[-] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

border patrol

[-] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Drug dealing MP?

[-] Addition 8 points 9 months ago

Everything I hear from Vets is that they also inhale lots of toxic fumes.

[-] [email protected] 32 points 9 months ago

Heavy industry onsite engineer: I play both sides so I always come out on top!

[-] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

*on the bottom

[-] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago

and? which one's better?

[-] [email protected] 27 points 9 months ago

Most of the time the 8 hour desk job pays more unfortunately. Unless you’re in a good steel workers union that is.

[-] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago

Statistically speaking, if you sit for 8h a day, you’re 50% more likely do die of everything. Sitting, staring at a screen is death, just a slow one.

[-] wander1236 22 points 9 months ago

I think toxic fumes might be worse

[-] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

If your workplace has good safety standards it's not as much of a problem these days, I'd rather wear a respirator at my job working with fumes and dust than sit at a desk all day and fuck my back and eyes up. Though I'm fucking my back up too probably, but if you don't overwork yourself and use proper techniques even manual labor doesn't have to be so bad for your body.

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[-] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Idk plumbers, electricians, contractors, etc make a lot around here. I'm sure they usually have business overhead that factors into their hourly rates (like $100+ an hour here in Seattle). Or if they work independently, they'd still need to pay taxes, insurance, health insurance, licensing, etc., but assuming they make $60/hr after all that, that's pretty good.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

I'm a contractor. I work in hospitals where it rains money. They charge $120 an hour for my services. By the time all the hands get in the pot, I get very close to $100 less per hour.

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[-] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago

For your health? Desk. I mean have you seen how some people look just into their 40s after spending a lifetime on a manual labor job?

For pay? Probably desk for the most part

For your mental health? Neither, gotta cut connections and live off the land

[-] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago

honestly that last part is kinda capitalist propaganda, the real solution is to unionize.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

What do you mean by cutting off connections? To escape this hellhole we need connections more than ever, some people can manage to survive on their own off the land but humanity works better together. Our economies and societal structures are enforced by parasites but there are many people that want to build positive things.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

I know electricians in their 60's that are insanely fit. Like run up and down flights of stairs all day no issue fit. They take care of themselves and always have, and never stopped moving. I think manual labour with a proper diet and sleep schedule is one of the best things you can do for your body.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

It's also because a lot of blue-collar guys are heavy smokers and drinkers, which ages people fast. It's not so much the work as it is the lifestyle. The work can cause injuries as well, but being injured isn't the same thing as looking older than your years.

[-] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago

whichever has a union, so likely the manual labour.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

Desk.

I get to see my kids.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

Fresh air, free exercise, good union... Join us.

[-] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago

With inflation, you can do both!

[-] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago

Be an industrial engineer you can do both

[-] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago

Work from home has made the staring at Excel thing much nicer than it was in the past. I'm in an IT role with no on call duties and I can wander around my house while on Zoom calls and no one notices. I can stream videos or podcasts on my home PC while doing my job. I consider myself pretty lucky.

[-] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

sometimes you can do both at the same time, its more of a spectrum you see

addendum:

aw fuck i didnt see the title at first, sorry about that op.. i had, at one place: abbrasive dust in some parts of the plant, corrosive fumes at others, a carcinogenic dust workstation with improper handling by one coworker, two lasers in another room... on some level it was nice to see all that i guess. but in retrospect i should have asked for home office instead of becoming the their girl for any job under the sun to keep shit running smoothly.... how was your experience so far?

[-] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

I smelled soil for hydrocarbons, so meh?

[-] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago

Children crave †̸̺̓h̶͇͌ê̴͍͂ ̴̜̐£̴͖̍µ̴͕́m̸̪̿ê̵͇̋§̴͑͜

[-] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

I'd rather excel and muscle degredation, but the trades is significantly easier to get into with less investment, well, monetary investment anyways, like the meme points out, you're often trading the gradual health of your body for that money

[-] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

Chefs can do both!!! chuckles... I'm in danger