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Need new career to make decent $$$....making websites perhaps?


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Okay folks. Hope I don't get negged for asking, but anyhow....

Im 42, and have had some crappy jobs in the service industry, and manufacturing industry. I would like a new career. Preferably making websites or otherwise being a computer whiz. Or HVAC or welding; I just need to make a lot of money. Nothing else in life is more important than money.

Where could someone like me train for a new career in such a field without having to go to school for another million years and without spending a fortune? I am not getting any younger. I am willing to move to any area of the world in which to pursue such a career. I lived in Austin for years, but for now I live up north.

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I've been building websites for 20+ years and frankly it sucks. No one wants to pay for them, and there's always somebody that will do it cheaper.

There's several coding bootcamps around. Learn something like javascript along with vue/react/angular/whatever is new and shiny and you shouldn't have much of a problem getting a job making $40k to start and be at $100k in a few years if you work your ass off. 

For my two boys that aren't academically inclined I'm going to start teaching them to code so they don't necessarily have to go to college.

If they don't want to code the other thing I'm going to push them to is HVAC or electric. There are 6 month trade schools that will teach you want you need to know. Go work somewhere for a while and learn stuff, then branch out get your own truck, then more trucks and more people. Some of the richest people I know own electric or HVAC shops.

 

 

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HVAC, electrical, plumbing, welding all seem to pay well.  And in some of these cases, the average age of the workers are in their 50s.  After you learn how to do it, buy out a current small business owner.   Or just pull in some bank as a worker and not worry about owning a business.  Nothing wrong with that.

One plus that you have is that people will see you as someone who must have 20 years of experience even if you have 1. They will hire you over the 30 yr old guy who actually has 10 years of experience.

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1 hour ago, blacklab said:

If they don't want to code the other thing I'm going to push them to is HVAC or electric. There are 6 month trade schools that will teach you want you need to know. Go work somewhere for a while and learn stuff, then branch out get your own truck, then more trucks and more people. Some of the richest people I know own electric or HVAC shops.

 

 

This is the route I would go.  Go learn HVAC and open your own business.  

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1 hour ago, blacklab said:

I've been building websites for 20+ years and frankly it sucks. No one wants to pay for them, and there's always somebody that will do it cheaper.

There's several coding bootcamps around. Learn something like javascript along with vue/react/angular/whatever is new and shiny and you shouldn't have much of a problem getting a job making $40k to start and be at $100k in a few years if you work your ass off. 

For my two boys that aren't academically inclined I'm going to start teaching them to code so they don't necessarily have to go to college.

If they don't want to code the other thing I'm going to push them to is HVAC or electric. There are 6 month trade schools that will teach you want you need to know. Go work somewhere for a while and learn stuff, then branch out get your own truck, then more trucks and more people. Some of the richest people I know own electric or HVAC shops.

 

 

I know several guys in various cities who started working in the plants right out of high-school, but eventually got their HVAC training on the side and worked off-days, nights and weekends in HVAC until that side hustle forced them to quit their good refinery jobs b/c they were too busy with HVAC.  Every hour they clocked at the refinery was really a pay cut after a while.

All of those guys now own very successful companies running numerous crews and have incredible free cash flow due to annual maintenance / service contracts on residences and small businesses.  By any measure they are all multi-millionaires now and none have a college education.

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35 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Actually, my firm has been looking to hire someone like you. Old, not particularly motivated, no real skills, but wants a bunch of money. We don't even need to do an interview. When can you start? 

I am so much more qualified for this than the OP or anybody else you know.

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10 minutes ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

We have 8 HVAC’s for sale right now. They are great cash flowing businesses. Get your license and learn the trade.
Access some cash and buy one.

I'll take all 8. Please contact my employee, Wyatt Mann, to arrange payment and delivery. 

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We have 8 HVAC’s for sale right now. They are great cash flowing businesses. Get your license and learn the trade.
Access some cash and buy one.

You mean hvac companies? I’ll buy them but I won’t go into any attics, or outside during the summer.
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If you are interested in E&I or electrical, you can go to the local IBEW union hall and get all the information for the apprenticeship program. The program allows you to work for a contractor during the day as an apprentice and go to school at night. They train you to be an electrician while you maintain steady income during the day. There is an aptitude test that you have to pass plus a board interview for the program, but based on my experience they let just about anyone in. ymmv.

If you want to work as a general mechanic at some refinery or mill, you have to go to school first and have your cert before they will even talk to you. My mill requires multi craft mechanics so you would have to be able to weld in addition to electrical and instrumentation (for instance). We are actually hiring now for mechanics, but it sounds like you don’t have the experience/training. I think they top out somewhere around $40/hour. Any questions, let me know.

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 One of my coworkers has a son who is going to a trade school to be an electrician. After that he’s hoping to get into another trade school that will teach him to be a lineman.   Like telephone pole stuff, not like Omenihu and Shackleford type stuff.  Anyway, he said the linemen get paid a shitload of money.  But they’re on the road a lot. 

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2 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Actually, my firm has been looking to hire someone like you. Old, not particularly motivated, no real skills, but wants a bunch of money. We don't even need to do an interview. When can you start? 

Have you finished with the Doomsday Device?

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5 hours ago, Wyatt Mann said:

Okay folks. Hope I don't get negged for asking, but anyhow....

Im 42, and have had some crappy jobs in the service industry, and manufacturing industry. I would like a new career. Preferably making websites or otherwise being a computer whiz. Or HVAC or welding; I just need to make a lot of money. Nothing else in life is more important than money.

Where could someone like me train for a new career in such a field without having to go to school for another million years and without spending a fortune? I am not getting any younger. I am willing to move to any area of the world in which to pursue such a career. I lived in Austin for years, but for now I live up north.

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6 minute abs
I've come up with something that will put both of you out of business but I'm not giving up the secret just yet.

Blacklab: check in to A&P school, which is an airplane mechanic. There is a shortage right now. The local school (friends with the prof) has a 100% placement. (Per him) They start at around 35-40k and can work up to 80 to a 100. It's not turning wrenches 40 hours a day either from what I'm told for that salary.
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You mentioned computer related.  Websites would suck, but if you have that kind of mindset, what about some kind of networking certification?  A CCNA is nice to have, and it can get you to some decent money in short order...but it would be some work.  Serious work in order to get it.  There are certification boot camps for this (or Palo Alto, Juniper, Meraki, etc) but boot camps only get you so far.  It's a job that the education never stops.

 

 

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42 minutes ago, Your Mom said:

 One of my coworkers has a son who is going to a trade school to be an electrician. After that he’s hoping to get into another trade school that will teach him to be a lineman.   Like telephone pole stuff, not like Omenihu and Shackleford type stuff.  Anyway, he said the linemen get paid a shitload of money.  But they’re on the road a lot. 

I have some clients that are linemen right out of TSTC and they travel a shit ton during hurricane season, but I'd guess a solid $55K first year out.

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 One of my coworkers has a son who is going to a trade school to be an electrician. After that he’s hoping to get into another trade school that will teach him to be a lineman.   Like telephone pole stuff, not like Omenihu and Shackleford type stuff.  Anyway, he said the linemen get paid a shitload of money.  But they’re on the road a lot. 


I am a lineman for the county and I drive the main road.

Searching in the sun for another overload.

I hear you singing in the wire, I can hear you through the whine.

And the Wichita Lineman is still on the line.
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Cell tower repairman. Wife’s cousin in the Bay Area started in this job at 19. He started at $25/hr + $300 for every tower you climb. He was making over $120K within 2 years. About 5 years later, he started a company that did this as a contractor instead of working directly for a cell company. He’s 33 now and owns a house in SF and in Kona.

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3 hours ago, EE2B said:


You guys hiring process control engineers? lol

Currently offering incentive packages to salaried employees to try and get folks to retire, so...

Edit: I don't think our plant requires any kind of certs for general mechanics, but all E&I, Maintenance, and Operations have to go through the apprenticeship program that includes classroom and lab instruction (all paid). Honestly operations is the way to go if you can do shift work and don't have any ambitions to start your own company or something like that later on. I'm not on the coast and am on track to pull around 130k this year, however I plan on cutting back on OT when the baby comes.

Edited by NotActuallyALonghorn
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