These comparisons never work for me. There's literally no amount you could pay me that would make me willing to be a plumber or electrician, and I'm grateful every day that there are a subset of people out there who will do those jobs competently without completely bankrupting me.

I would much, much rather be a plumber or (especially) an electrician than something like a dentist. I'm really grateful there are competent people willing to become dentists, because I could never do that.

While I understand the hesitation to become a plumber, why would working as an electrician be so unpleasant?

There is inherently nothing wrong with those jobs; both give you adequate skills one needs to not only survive in a company, but also strike out on one's own. In addition, both are positions that will always and forever be needed for as long as women have long hair that clog drains and men build houses with electricity without killing themselves.

However, both jobs are stigmatized against by major corporations and government precisely because how necessary yet independent they are. People with money and power are constantly in need of more peons to help them maintain stability and so brazenly flaunt their fabulous wealth in front of us, alluring us with the hope that we too can become like them if only we'd go submit ourselves to their devices. Blinded by this hope and seeing only so many other young brilliant people doing the same, we find ourselves pursuing careers in finance, STEM, business, etc., oblivious to the fact we're playing right into the hands of the corporations.

Oh no doubt they'll treat us well, the people at the top are generally good kind folk, but the fabulous wealth, dazzling fame, etc., that they seeded into our imaginations will never materialize in our realities... and before you know it, you're 30+, married with children, and you've come to accept the fact you'll only ever live an (upper) middle class life and the only thing still meaningful in your life is watching your kids grow up and providing for them.

Well the thing is, not everyone can be fabulously wealthy and dazzlingly famous. What you're really talking about is a form of zero-sum social status. Think of how nearly everyone today is literate, whereas 150 years ago anyone who could read and write at our level belonged to the elite intelligentsia.

To which I say: fine! Why should we ever claim that a person has no right to call themselves successful unless they've managed to beat X% of other competitors in a zero-sum competition? The whole point of societies is positive-sum collaboration in the first place.

What's wrong with having a world-class standard of living (ie: upper-middle class First Worlder with social services available as back-up), a good relationship with your partner, a good job, and children? I personally could never stand the suburban white picket fence, but I don't get why being a reasonably successful professional with a family is failure.

First, I want to say I have an amazing amount of respect for the skilled plumbers, electricians, mechanics, etc. I had to use someone's service recently and I had to tell him ... "I have a PhD but I am in awe of the total mastery you have of your craft. My skill in my field cannot compare to yours." He told how he'd been doing the same thing for 35 years and had seen every possible situation under the sun for that job. He also told me that he has a lot of physical pain to get over in his line of work. Anyways ... hats off!

One problem with both occupations is lack of enforced regulation. My impression (but don't have any supporting data) is that these occupations have a number of immigrants who may not be legal working in them. I've also heard of "cash discounts", which might mean taxes are not being paid. As a straight and narrow guy, I would hate working in such a profession - it would be impossible to compete.

Risk of shock/electrocution (pity we don't have pictures of my electrician grandfather's blackened arms) and/or falls. Physical problems from extended time in awkward positions. Boiling hot or ice cold attics. Dead animals or worse in walls and crawlspaces. God knows what in the insulation you're elbow-deep in. Every small-business problem you've ever heard of, plus coordination with other contractors who lie to each other every bit as much as they do to their customers. And you can top it off with inspectors who don't actually have the first fucking clue what code is, or think it's both a minimum and a maximum (12 gauge on a 15-amp circuit? NOPE! That's not code, you've gotta use that little 14 gauge crap instead!).

I know a lot of people who don't want to be trash collectors, who also tend to make a fair chunk of change.

A job isn't just a job.

What's the average salary for a plumber 10 years into their career?

I'd imagine it's not that much different per hour than the average person who decided to become a banker 2 years into college.

To make an accurate comparison we would need to consider a number of facts I'd rather not take the time to compile. Such as:

% of people who drop out of college in year 3-4 # of people who never get a job in banking, but still have the student loans % of interns who wash out % of bankers who never make it past an entry level position

Then we take the small number of people who made it through the funnel and distribute all those 120hour work weeks over their annual compensation. We'll be generous and not also add the 'keeping up with the social circle' expenses that would be necessary as well.

Given all of those factors the averages are probably slightly higher for the bankers. Still not as much as you would think. Also not a deal I would seek out in general.

Personally I'd rather work 25 hour weeks for 50k than 50 hour weeks for 100k. Definitely not 100 hour weeks for 200k.