I worked in manufacturing all of my working life. I taught myself everything I know from welding to electrical work with the help of coworkers who had been in the business for years. You could say that I am a jack of all trades but a master of none. I can't help but believe that my working in manufacturing jobs have helped me to learn what I know.

My older brother, age 60, retired from UPS and has a Master's degree. He can't do diddly squat when it comes to basic home or auto maintenance. But then again, he can afford to pay someone to do those things.

In contrast, my oldest son, age 26, will take his test for his journeyman's electrical license in April, a year ahead of schedule. He was an honor's student in school and was highly recruited by the armed services because of his high test score on a test in high school. But he was always intersted in working with his hands and always watched me do work. So he decided to become an electrician and he loves it! Plus he is turning out to be a dang good carpenter!

Most jobs I worked at are now gone either due to outsourcing or bad management. Most people I work with also suffer from bad backs and other ailments releated to manual labor in a manufacturing environment plus have no retirement! So what is the incentive to go to work in a job like that?

 

"Most people I work with also suffer from bad backs and other ailments releated to manual labor in a manufacturing environment plus have no retirement! So what is the incentive to go to work in a job like that?"

None. Be skilled labor and find jobs that offer portable benefits. If possible, work for the government.

"In contrast, my oldest son, age 26, will take his test for his journeyman's electrical license in April, a year ahead of schedule. He was an honor's student in school and was highly recruited by the armed services because of his high test score on a test in high school."

Good for him!
BTW there are lots of hands-on jobs in the Air Force (aircraft maintenance fields especially) that are fun, challenging, and (unlike being an electrician in the civilian world) offer great benefits and full retirement after 20 years. If the electrician gig becomes a hassle due to the economy, he isn't too old to enlist. Any gearhead who wants a career instead of being a wage slave ought to look into the AF or the Coast Guard. I did the factory maintenance thing before I enlisted and liked it, but careers doing fun gearhead/techy/electronic work beat the poo out of a string of jobs.

Being TOTALLY insulated from the economy is a huge plus.

 

As a 24 year old engineer with 3 years experience I must say I've been considering the air force more and more. I just am afraid I might go thinking of working as an engineer and then end up becoming a low level grunt of some sort. I am close to talking to recruiters but I know they tend to BS a bit.

Any helpful insite?

 

"Any helpful insite?"

Since you have a degree, inquire about becoming an officer. Ignore the recruiters except as tools to meet officers in the fields you may be interested in. There are plenty of officers with foo degrees, but engineers will always be in demand. It would be worth your time and effort to travel to your nearest Air Force base and inquire. Officers are usually quite happy to discuss how they were commissioned and how they view their AF experience.

The enlisted folks generally do the hands-on maintenance work, but officers with the right skills can get into program management (=work on designing and refining lots of cool systems).

BTW, ignore the recent restructuring where many junior officers were offered a career switch to the Army to stay in service due to budget cuts. That doesn't affect new accessions in important career fields. Engineers /= MBAs!

Tip:
Do whatever you need to do to lock into a weapons system that will be around longer than your whole career and offer civilian contract potential afterwards. Airlifters and tankers have
program lives of many decades. If I were joining now I'd be hunting a C-17 slot or positioning myself to work tankers. When the new tankers come online that will be a great place to build units and programs from the ground up! Depot and similar jobs are great career builders.

The AF is generally a great bunch of people. Like any large organization, there are always a few sphincters, but leaving them behind is as easy as putting in for orders to someplace new.

 

Manufacturing jobs around here have really gone down the toilet.

I worked 3 different injection molding jobs straight out of high school. After a months "probation time" you would be bumped to 13 bucks an hour, great money for a kid right out of high school. But after 6 months of working solid 10-12 hour days my body was physically beat, all I did was work and sleep. After I started talking more with some of the old timers I found out the job really sucked. After the plant shut down most of the guys who'd been there 20+ years were simply out of luck.

I've also worked my share of BS warehouse jobs. I picked, packed, and loaded parts all days. The "Boys Club" was common, mostly made up of second or third generation jackasses who had their job and everything else in life handed to them. After working 2 years without a sick day I was fired when I caught the flu and couldn't work for 2 days. Myself and the rest of the grunts worked for half as much pay as a boys club member, yet we also turned out 2 or 3 times the production numbers.

I worked 11 different jobs/positions before I found out the modern manufacturing field is full of crap. Nothing against anyone here, but every job I worked the population was made up of geezers who were a couple years from retirement. They had seniority so they basically stood around and did nothing, well they bitched at us younger guys. The company constantly held meetings during our break, they frantically tried to figure out why our numbers were always down. Instead of saying something to the worthless seniors they'd yell at us young guys.

Both of my Grandpas retired from Alcoa. I'm always catching crap from both of them about how I don't know what a hard days work is. From what I've heard they do the same thing over there, the boys club makes insane wages well doing next to nothing all day. And people wonder why all our jobs are going over seas, our aging American workers do less while demanding more. I believe unions are a god sent for some reasons, yet their killing our country in the process. Keep demanding hiring pay for less work, while filing more insurance claims, and then stand around like an idiot wondering why your job was outsourced. Companies can get the same grunt labor I did for years over seas for next to nothing. Soon the day will come when people realize being an American isn't a special pass to stand around and do nothing, hopefully it'll come before its to late.

It didn't take me long to figure out the manufacturing field isn't for me. I'm using to money I made through all those hard hours to put myself through college; I'm in my second semester of my computer science/IT degree. If technology continues on its current path someday I may be working on the robots who've replaced all the humans in the manufacturing field.

Like I've said before I have absolutely nothing against any of my FTE brothers in this field. I see it as one of Americas last true industries. Its on the chopping block like all the others that went before it. Hopefully people will see the error of their ways before its to late. I do not want to see "Made In America" die, it's something we all should be proud of.

 

I've spent the last 24 years with the same company building oilwell drills and while there have been some lean times during my career there has always been a steady paycheck. I started breaking down stators on grave shift and am now the day shift production supervisor.

Are there cliques and "boys clubs"? Yeah, I guess there are but they're easy to spot and they get little or no respect from the work force. I'm proud to say that I earned my spot with the company and am not sneered at or made fun of by my coworkers nor am I referred to as a "cheese eater" like the guys like to call some of the "boys club" members.

Why did I take the path that I took? I didn't want to go to college. I wanted to go to work and make money with the skills that I had. I took machine shop in high school and two years of junior college and then I went to work. I now have an education that you can't get in a college, earned on the shop floor in a high load production enviroment. I have engineers with fancy college degrees that come to me every day for advice for which I am handsomely rewarded.

While not for everyone, manufacturing jobs aren't completely the pits.