Society has a bias against trade workers, also known as blue collar workers.
Being a banker, marketing account manager or graphic designer is a good job, a worthy job, a better job than mechanic, plumber, welder or concrete worker, so says society.
Or is it?
Why do so many people share this point of view, that working behind a computer screen is admirable, “smart” work, but working underneath a diesel truck is lowly work, only fit for the drop outs. YOU HAVE TO GO TO COLLEGE! most parents scream.
But do you? Is college for everyone? Is white collar work for everyone? (no).
Part of the problem is in how it’s labeled: we call the work we do online or on paper knowledge work. It seems to imply that you need to be more intelligent to do it.
And what about those who do not partake in knowledge work, but rather trade work, or blue collar work? Are they not intelligent? Of course they are.
But intelligence comes in many forms. And what you choose for work – and what makes you happy – isn’t anyone else’s concern.
The only thing that actually matters? Whether you feel fulfilled by it and are good at it.
Blue collar or white collar, it doesn’t matter.
If you can earn the money you need to live comfortably and feel satisfied by your 40-hour work week, then you’re doing it right. If you feel good about the work you do – even if its with your hands and not a keyboard – then own it.
Love it.
Be proud of it.
You may not earn 6-figure bonuses working as an electrician, like you might working as a commodities trader on Wall Street. Money doesn’t trickle down the same way, and incentive structures vary widely by industry.
But white collar work is often soul-sucking, with little to show for one’s efforts.
At the end of the day, what does a loan officer have to show for their work? 10 or 20 years later, can they point to anything they’ve done or created? It’s up for debate. If you love being a loan officer – terrific! But it’s okay if you don’t want to do that kind of work, too.
Same goes with many jobs. Staring at a computer screen taking Zoom meetings all day? It’s not quite the glamorous lifestyle “knowledge work” purports to be.
If you’re interested in becoming a carpenter, auto mechanic, electrician or plumber, or you’re good at laying concrete, brick or drywall, then run with it. Love the work. Be great at it. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s a bad job. And, at the end of each workday, you can point to real, physical, tangible things you’ve built or repaired.
The water wasn’t running before, and now it is. The A/C was broken but now it’s humming along. Because YOU did that. Because YOU went to work with your hands.
A job is a job. Do what you enjoy. Do what fits your skillset and gives you a sense of accomplishment. Dirty fingernails or clean, it doesn’t matter. If working with your hands makes you happier than working behind a computer screen, then do it and don’t look back.
Recommended Reading
A Great Book on this Topic: Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work
Shop Class as Soulcraft is written by a former Philsophy major who worked at a big DC thinktank and felt…unhappy and unfulfilled. He returned to his roots, starting a motorcycle repair shop. In his book, he defends the value of blue collar work and how “human” it is.
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well. ‘ – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.