Ask HN: Which Manual Work to Pivot To? Between AI and reading “Let My People go Surfing” by Yvon Chouinard I’m starting disliking working for a multi trillion dollar company but I still need to pay the bills Do things like manufacturing outdoor gear or working as a guide make a decent living income in the US? Do I need to improve my welding? Start a mowing company? Who has moved to real world jobs? |
Patagonia, REI, the Sierra Club, the Nature Conservancy, etc. all still need some digital expertise, whether for their storefront or internal operations. They will quite often recruit for dev or tech positions. Most of those aren't remote, but if you're near one of those areas (REI corporate is mostly near Seattle, Patagonia in Ventura), it might be worth considering? They mostly do not manufacture in the US either, but outsource that to various lower-cost countries. I think Outdoor Research is one of the limited exceptions who do some manufacturing domestically.
I don't think outdoor guides make much money. Many of my friends were kayaking/climbing/backpacking guides and it's kinda a thing you do in your 20s while you can live frugally and without major expenses or kids. They'd usually live in tents, company barracks, or their vans. It's also largely a seasonal job and you'd have to find your own way in the off seasons. A similar but slightly more stable job is working an interpretive ranger position for the Parks Service or a state park, but a lot of those are entry-level or seasonal too. People who want to stick around long term in those fields usually have to move into management/admin of some sort.
If you want to be outside a lot, the trades (construction) or project management (renewables development and planning, like for commercial wind or solar) or transportation (for states & municipalities) would all typically be more stable than outdoor recreation.
If you're willing to get more specialized education, you can also go the environmental consultancy route (with a bio/wildlife/GIS/etc. educational background), the kind of firm that other agencies and companies will outsource work to to evaluate environmental impacts, conduct endangered species analyses, or help with city planning and the like.
I got real estate license as it seems to combine my love for exploring new areas, meeting people, and freedom to set your own schedule. But I could not go full-time into it as I have kids and didn't want to be away showing homes on weekends or in the evenings.
Other times I tried to do part-time portrait photoshoots as you get to be outside. But again as a father, I didn't think it was worth it. But you can make decent income with just outdoors family portraits.
I feel a little sad about not pursuing these a bit more. But I am taking my kids outside as much as possible, getting them into photo- & video-graphy, and just having fun. This seems to make me not only happy but also more motivated at the work. Perhaps, you can pursue some outdoors hobbies before making any big moves.
Most of the men in my dad's family were plasterers. Fifty is about the real limit.
Blue collar work wears out the body. Are you going to be welding at 50? Working as a guide at 60? Tile workers in my family all stopped in their 40s because they could no longer do it.
I could quit my programming job and live on a lot less, as I have savings and already own most of the stuff I need, but health insurance is a problem. (And I like having money).
Then figure out which job would make you the happiest on a day to day basis.
Then write a plan that would allow you to make that income doing the job that you actually want to do.
1. Airlines were almost fully automated. Nobody is losing their jobs or getting a pay cut to any new tech.
2. She had a lot of books that she never had the time to read, and rarely even had the time to sit down quietly.
3. There's some value in becoming a safety and health officer to people in an enclosed space 15000 feet in the sky. Yet it's not stressful unlike driving an ambulance or dealing with tech debt.
- handyman (you need to be near an affluent area) (the person I know doing this was a graphic designer for 30 years. He’s making more and much happier now)
- welding exhausts / racing exhausts. Needs a decent size shop.
- machinist.
- fly fishing guide / instructor. (Need to be located near appropriate waters very hit or miss).
- shoe making (maybe? Look up custom shoe making … there seems to be some great success stories recently )
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I helped a friend who was forced out of corporate america at 60 pivot to handyman work (build his brand, digital and irl marketing in his market), he’s charging $100/hr for basic work and getting ready to raise rates because he’s too busy at that price.
Happier and having more fun than working as an engineer at an auto supplier who designed parts for a major legacy automaker.
I tell them I make roughly $100/hour, which is an exaggeration but not really. They think I rob banks or something. To them, if you were that successful, you wouldn't be playing games... which might be true, but if you can sit at a computer 35 hours a week and work from home 3 days/week, you have time for stuff too.
Yes, my point is that every job has its own problems.
And everybody who’s dissatisfied thinks they’d prefer the situation somebody else has — and tend to overlook the problems that come with it.
“I hate solving a billionaire’s problems at a computer, I’d rather work with my hands.” Vs. “I hate how much my hands hurt, I’d love to just work at a computer.”
> Primarily that almost everyone that works in such unnatural conditions ends up a slave to the system, mentally ill, and severe drug abuse
It’s lucky that nobody who’s ever worked a blue collar job has gotten into trouble with drugs.
Flipping burgers for a company you don't care about is very different to marshaling your mind into doing work that requires you to care about a company you don't care about.
That said, flipping burgers for a company you don't care about also sucks for many other reasons that should not be downplayed. Chiefly, the lack of cash makes it hard-to-impossible to even attempt to find your fulfillment in activities outside of work.
My recommendation would be to do what I've done and to find a small company staffed by engineers who aren't sycophants. Look for meaningful benefits (e.g. more PTO, an office in a nice location, four-day week) and try your very best to relax: it's just a job. (Then take up yoga /s).