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the trades—any trade—wouldn’t be personally fulfilling. Perhaps
their aspirations lie in music or in writing or in teaching rather than
in electrical work or solar power or manufacturing. Every person
should find their own path, and if you decide the trades don’t excite
you, there is nothing wrong with that decision.
However, it’s also important to understand that this myth—that the
skilled trades don’t offer opportunities for professional or personal
fulfillment—can only be true on a subjective basis. While there are
definitely people who wouldn’t find fulfillment in the trades, there
are also many millions of people who find that fulfillment every
single day. The people who work in the skilled trades genuinely
enjoy the work. They enjoy the challenge. They enjoy doing some-
thing that is important, whether it involves meeting the energy
needs of their community or manufacturing an in-demand product.
They enjoy, often, working with teams of like-minded people to
accomplish a shared goal. For many of these people, the skilled
trades may just be a dream job.
Furthermore, many in the skilled trades find that their fulfillment
comes not just from the work itself but from the career momentum
they can build up for themselves. Most jobs in the trades offer
huge opportunities for growth and advancement. As workers gain
experience, expertise, confidence, and proficiency in the skills their
careers are built around, they make opportunities for themselves to
“move up the ladder” of their companies or industries. Electricians,
for instance, can start out as apprentices, advance to the jour-
neyman level, and eventually earn master electrician status. This
tiered credentialing is tied to higher-level job prospects and bigger
salaries and can open up doors to management roles or even
entrepreneurship.
These types of clear advancement pathways are a common fixture
of the skilled trades and are a perfect example of how hard work
and experience can net significant rewards for one’s future.