From Laptop to Shovel and Back Again

I left my Tech Job for the Trades - It was Awful, and I went back to Tech after a Couple Months

You see takes like the one above constantly, all over social media. Especially in the more Christian/right wing spaces. People telling young men to pack up, get a trades job! It’s great, they say!

Now, I will say that for many young men who are doing nothing with their lives, getting ANY job would be good. And trades are probably better than working as a cashier or whatever. But I took this advice, and it didn’t necessarily work out like I had planned. Here’s my story on it.

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Tech Sales Nightmare

I worked in tech sales right out of college, at a relatively small startup that was hiring fresh college grads. I was about the 40th employee. I got unlucky with this place, as it had a real callbank-esque model of sales where the goal was to make like 100+ calls a day and just be aggressive as fuck until someone actually bought what we were selling. Even though MOST of the customers didn’t actually need it.

It was brutal, and while I did make money and learn a lot of social skills and such, my soul got crushed over time. I started developing worse and worse chronic pain - TMJ, sciatica, carpal tunnel, etc etc. Had to go on FMLA leave multiple times. Spent well over $10,000 on fruitless doctor visits, and got on a rotating cocktail of various meds that were supposed to help, and didn’t.

Eventually I left my first terrible job for an earlier startup, where I was the head of sales and marketing, and also first employee. It was better at first, I got to do a lot more creative and aligned work. I interviewed potential clients, helped find product market fit, created branding, set up processes and scripts, helped with fundraising, etc. Those were good times.

But as the product got built, we pushed more and more into the same repeated aggressive sales tactics as my last company. Over time I started disagreeing with the sales model, wanting to do more relationship based selling. I made strong arguments, explained that we were already passed our goals, and generally tried to be reasonably.

Despite my efforts, I got forced out two weeks before my equity would've vested, despite tripling all the sales goals set in my original contract. Go figure. (don't work for tech startups folks! they suck.)

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Shifting to the Trades

So, after those two experiences and with a decent bit of cash saved up, I decided screw it. I was going to get out of tech, leave the laptop class, and learn about becoming an electrician. I read some books, networked with local folks, and eventually got a job as an electrician/plumber helper, making about $18/hr right off the bat.

It started off pretty okay. I mostly starting gophering stuff for the plumber and/or electrician I worked for, as I got the ropes. Got to install a few ceiling fans, outlets, and learned a lot.

Then we got to some bigger jobs.

I ended up having to dig trenches to lay pipe for 6 hours straight in the sun, in 95 degree heat, multiple days in a row. I worked on a house renovation for a week where I spent all day in a crawlspace, on my knees or belly, constantly sucking in dust, wearing a tight ass mask, getting cobwebs all over me constantly.

The newness of my relationship with the electrician wore off, and I realized he was an incredibly bitter and cynical old man who had wasted his life in the trades, and constantly told me I should get out of the job if I had any other prospects whatsoever.

Every other contractor or tradesmen I met doing this job was invariably an older man with tons of health issues, who was also extremely bitter about the way his life had gone. Many of them were missing teeth, or had horrible coughs from smoking for decades.

After close to two months of this increasingly worsening situation, I got offered a job from an old friend at a big corporate company, another shiny laptop class job. My principles and ego said to refuse it and stick to the trade job, but I caved. I'm so glad I did.

My current job is incredibly easy, while not always simple. I get paid a decent wage for relatively honest work, and I enjoy the people I work with. Plus I get to work in a beautiful office, WFH a couple of days a week, and have an awesome career trajectory ahead of me.

Moral of the story is - quitting your tech job to work in the trades is majorly glamorized. Unless you get lucky enough to work with genuinely good men, AND you really like your job, you'll probably get into a situation like I did. I will say that the experience made me far more grateful for the privileges I enjoy as a member of the laptop class, though. So if you want to build some character, there are worse ways to do it.