Bloomberg To HS Grads: Be a Plumber 368
An anonymous reader writes "This being college graduation season, the insights provided by commencement speakers should be familiar by now: find work in a field you're passionate about, don't underestimate your own abilities, aim high, learn to communicate and collaborate with others, give something back to your community. Billionaire Mike Bloomberg, whose current job is Mayor of New York City, evidently decided to break the mold by advising less academically adept youngsters to consider a career in plumbing. High wages, constant demand, no offshore competition. 'Compare a plumber to going to Harvard College — being a plumber, actually for the average person, probably would be a better deal'. Ouch! And hey, like a lawyer, a plumber can always dabble in politics."
Nothing wrong with the Trades (Score:4, Informative)
There is nothing wrong with becoming a Tradesman. Plumber, Electrician, Welder or Mechanic, etc
Just as we need Engineers, Nurses and Lawyers (I can't believe I'm including Lawyers!), we need the folks that keep our machines running. Just as not everyone has the money, or the aptitude to become a Doctor, I know many people who do not have the abilities to become a carpenter or metal worker.
I don't much care for the way some look down on the tradesmen that keep things running. Where I live there is a shortage of plumbers and electricians. Out west there is a shortage of carpenters. As a resul the ones that do exist command high wages, and are busy with lots of work. All this without the debilitating school loans that many University Graduates have.
From my perspective, it sounds like good advice
Bloomberg is simply being honest. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Also (Score:5, Informative)
The primary thing that worked for Bloomberg is making billions of dollars on Wall Street. (For example, he was laid off from his first job at Solomon Brothers with a $10 million severance package for starters.) With that money he's been able to bend and break a lot of the rules about becoming and staying NYC mayor -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bloomberg
The trouble with being a plumber (Score:4, Informative)
The trouble with being a plumber is that most of the work is in building and remodeling. With housing construction way down, most of the people in the building trades are hurting. It's great during a building boom, though.
A related trade is HVAC - heating, ventilating, and air conditioning. There's more electronics and control involved than in plumbing.
Re:Also (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Not actually a bad idea. (Score:4, Informative)
College is not trade school. You learn theory, not practice. And theory stay useful for a very very long time. And when it starts getting useless, it is because there is a new theory, but generally the new theory build on top of the old one, so you get a significant headstart.
When you start working, you start learning skills and little time building in-depth knowledge. Understanding the theory being the skills can help keeping up with technology better or adapt better.
Now, that does not mean I do not agree with you. It is difficult to find a benefit that would offset 4 years of experience and 75K in debt in the IT sector. That said, the deal is not the same everywhere in the world. In Europe, you can get college for free or something like $500 a year.
Re:Also (Score:4, Informative)
As an electrician I would highly suggest becoming a plumber. No matter what the real problem with any building or equipment the first guy called is an electrician and no amount of argument will ever convince the client that water in the breaker panel is NOT the electrician's fault or that the only way to stop the breaker from tripping is to unplug one of the 12 computers on one circuit.