this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2026
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I worked construction and plant shutdowns when I was young. By the time I was in my mid twenties I had quit and went in to IT. The reason was simple. During my time in a union over ten of the old timers had died of cancer and other related illnesses. Only one of them was in their sixties. Over half were under forty. One of the best friends I will ever have died when he was fifty four. A month or so shy of when he was going to take early retirement.
When I was a student, I wasn't really motivated and didn't have any idea what to do with my life. But then I worked as a window cleaner during the summer holidays and that gave me a very clear idea about what I didn't want to do with my life.
Sort of related, in my last year and a half of HS I started a commercial electrician assistant program which was supposed to be like an accelerated apprenticeship path. I kind of liked it, and it legitimately the best pay available to a 17 year old at the time, but it was the master electrician I worked with who convinced me to quit and go get an EE degree instead. I distinctly remember the conversation where he asked me how old I thought he was, and I guessed he was close to 60, nearing retirement. He was 43, and he'd fallen off a ladder a year earlier, which was why I was doing all work over 8' for him way fucking beyond what your typical HS assistant would normally be doing. "Go to college" he told me. "I chose this instead of Mechanical Engineering and now I can't do the job anymore, with 20 years to retirement."
I work in the permitting side of the world and the only time I've ever seen a Master Electrician on a job site is when we specifically told them to be there for an inspection. Most of them essentially rent out their license.