Nine months in trade school. Job guaranteed.

cnn.com ^ | 3/14/2012 | Parija Kavilanz

[RoosterRedux]

As millions of young Americans struggle to land jobs, students in manufacturing trade schools are sitting in a sweet spot. They're being hired even before they graduate.

Two weeks ago, students from the manufacturing program in Chicago's Wilbur Wright-Humboldt Park vocational college attended a local job fair.

"Five of our students were hired in just one day," said lead instructor Bryant Redd. The new hires are from a class of 41 students who are still four months away from completing a nine-month advanced certification program in computerized numerical control (CNC) machining. In the program, students go beyond basic machining with classes in computer design, machine shop technology and machine shop math.

Manufacturers in the Chicago area are busier than ever lately, and they're "begging" for more workers trained in advanced manufacturing skills like CNC machining, said Redd.

It's not just in Chicago. Factory work has picked up considerably nationwide, making skilled workers a valuable commodity, said Marc Smierciak, associate dean of instruction at the vocational college.

[ladyvet]

My son is finishing up electronics thru the local community college. It's an accelerated coarse in partnership with the local mines. He has a high paying job as soon as he's done.

[Jeff Vader]

yup, I’ve encouraged both of my sons to get in the garage and build stuff. As a result I can never find my tools when I need them but they both have the common skills that don’t seem to be that common anymore.

[wally_bert]

I should have went the trades route too looking back but I was bitten by the technology bug back in early 90s.

Tech jobs are dry in my area and I admit I don’t really love it any more. Fixing people’s stuff on the side has declined a lot too. Computers are near disposable items.

I fooled with package conveyors, winches, davits, hoists, and dumbwaiters among other things while in the Navy. It never dawned on me to look into elevator mechanics.

At one tech job, I supported trades people and one of them was a senoir elevator mechanic. He got me looking into it and could use him as a reference to get started in the trade. The economy blew out and so did that idea.

[TRY ONE]

I work part-time in Australia and “fitters’, boileys and electricians make $ 200-300K+ in mining!

[wally_bert]

I just went through the local tech college continuing ed short course stuff for electronics. I may go that route since there aren’t so many hoops to go through and I don’t need a ton of esoteric stuff again.

I’ve fixed computers and related for years and done some low level board part replacing here and there plus I tend to learn fast and get bored with slow paced conventional classrooms.

The other path is enrolling and doubling electronics and robotics (fair amount of overlap) certificate programs. I plan on doing the enrollment stuff this week and see what is what. Enrolling at the little tech college has a lot of hoops mainly to justify some useless jobs I guess.

[wally_bert]

Oz is sounding better and better.

[I cannot think of a name]

“As a result I can never find my tools when I need them but they both have the common skills that don’t seem to be that common anymore.”

As annoying as that can be, it could be MUCH worse. At least they won't move back home at 40 because they are unable to find work.

Just think of the poor parents that are more than a 100k in debt so that junior could spend four years at UCLA getting a degree in, “Queer Musicology.”

[Mrs. Don-o]

bttt

[Plumberman27]

I think that Santorum guy said something about not everyone should go to college. He is right, and a lot of the people there already do not belong there.

Once we have Obamma and all these college only "edjumacated peoples" who will people have fix their plumbing, heating electrical and carpentry.

I have been plumbing for 32 years and haven't picked up tool in 15 years but applied myself and directed my skills toward 3D drawing and fixing all the "college edjumacated peoples" mistakes. Their mistakes are so numerous that one has to wonder how they ever graduated as engineers and architects. Most of them belong designing stairwells and parking garages.

It is time American parents started explaining to kids that college is not for everyone and that a damm good living can be made by working with your head and your hands. As for what the wages are i would say 90 to 120 dollars an hour is what they are worth because one has to keep in mind that after 35 years of climbing ladders and jumping into ditches one body is shot.

[Hot Tabasco]

Also... I have to express BS detection in this cheerleader CNN article.

Here in Detroit, Project Hope is a training facility to teach young people manufacturing jobs such as welding, tool and die....etc.

I knew a guy who was a supervisor there for a brief period of time until my company hired him. He said the students had no discipline, no work ethic, no real desire to learn a trade and they showed up when they wanted.

The only reason they were tolerated was because of the state and federal grants the facility was being paid per student........

[Hot Tabasco]

Sorry, Project Hope = Focus Hope

[gortklattu]

How long does it take to train someone to operate one of those?
Depends on the size of the baseball bat the instructor uses ;^) - - seriously, I think the course is two years.

Look up CNC training on your search engine. There are varying levels of proficiency, of course.

[Hot Tabasco]

How long does it take to train someone to operate one of those?

There's much more to running a CNC then this stupid article implies. You have to be able to read and understand engineering blueprints too....All of the above is usually contained in an approved Tool and Die apprenticeship. To qualify for a UAW Journeymans card, you have to have served in a qualified journeyman's program which is a minimum of 4 years work experience and schooling. I say 4 years but it's actually hours based - 8000 hours (or provide letters of employment substantiating 8 years working in the trade). With overtime, many guys can get their card in around 3 years as long as they've also taken all the applicable classes.

[I cannot think of a name]

Well, after finding the following list, I take back everything I have said. Obviously we have no need for people that can fix things. What will propel us into a leadership role in the 21st century is people that have skills in these crucial subjects:

1. “The Phallus”

Occidental College. A seminar in critical theory and social justice, this class examines Sigmund Freud, phallologocentrism and the lesbian phallus.

2. “Queer Musicology”

UCLA. This course welcomes students from all disciplines to study what it calls an “unruly discourse” on the subject, understood through the works of Cole Porter, Pussy Tourette and John Cage.

3. “Taking Marx Seriously”

Amherst College. This advanced seminar for 15 students examines whether Karl Marx still matters despite the countless interpretations and applications of his ideas, or whether the world has entered a post-Marxist era.

4. “Adultery Novel”

University of Pennsylvania. Falling in the newly named “gender, culture and society” major, this course examines novels and films of adultery such as “Madame Bovary” and “The Graduate” through Marxist, Freudian and feminist lenses.

5. “Blackness”

Occidental College. Critical race theory and the idea of “post-blackness” are among the topics covered in this seminar course examining racial identity. A course on whiteness is a prerequisite.

6. “Border Crossings, Borderlands: Transnational Feminist Perspectives on Immigration”

University of Washington. This women studies department offering takes a new look at recent immigration debates in the U.S., integrating questions of race and gender while also looking at the role of the war on terror.

7. “Whiteness: The Other Side of Racism”

Mount Holyoke College. The educational studies department offers this first-year, writing-intensive seminar asking whether whiteness is “an identity, an ideology, a racialized social system,” and how it relates to racism.

8. “Native American Feminisms”

University of Michigan. The women’s studies and American culture departments offer this course on contemporary Native American feminism, including its development and its relation to struggles for land.

9. “’Mail Order Brides?’ Understanding the Philippines in Southeast Asian Context”

Johns Hopkins University. This history course — cross-listed with anthropology, political science and studies of women, gender and sexuality — is limited to 35 students and asks for an anthropology course as a prerequisite.

10. “Cyberfeminism”

Cornell University. Cornell’s art history department offers this seminar looking at art produced under the influence of feminism, post-feminism and the Internet.

11. “American Dreams/American Realities”

Duke University. Part of Duke’s Hart Leadership Program that prepares students for public service, this history course looks at American myths, from “city on the hill” to “foreign devil,” in shaping American history.

12. “Nonviolent Responses to Terrorism”

Swarthmore College. Swarthmore’s “peace and conflict studies” program offers this course that “will deconstruct ‘terrorism’ “ and “study the dynamics of cultural marginalization” while seeking alternatives to violence.

[Chode]

good for you!

electronics anymore is more of a troubleshooting position that will require basic electronics theory/classes with electronic testing equipment, with FRU's "field replaceable units" as the normal repair part of the position and problems are usually fairly easy to trace, unless you are talking about trouble shooting/repairing boards that is

robotics, unless you are coding them, will require classes again in electronics using testing equipment and pneumatics theory/class again mostly with FRU's as the normal repair function

CNC on the other hand, unless using CAD and writing programs, will be more involved and cover all aspects of machining technology as you will need to learn at minimum, metals/speed&feeds and cutting/turning/milling/drilling/grinding/EDM/ECM machining theory to be able to set up, run and tear down jobs

best of luck

[mountn man]

I was doing some reading of the American Welding Society. It seems skilled labor in Michigan, especially west Michigan, is in short supply.

When the down turn hit, Michigan was hit fast and hard. After 2-3 years, people started leaving for other areas. Today, as some jobs have picked up, the people who would have been there to fill them are no longer there.

I have relatives on the west side of Michigan, who whine and complain about how bad things are. They are all unskilled labor. I tell them to go out and learn a skill. They don't understand that when you're unskilled, you have to compete with all the other unskilled laborers for the limited jobs. But a skilled laborer does not have to compete against unskilled labor for a skilled labor job. But also, that even when skilled labor jobs are in short supply, skilled labor can ALWAYS do what the unskilled labor does, thereby creating more competition for the unskilled. Plus, skilled labor in general, has better learning ability and aptitude and work ethic or practices than unskilled.

If somebody is unskilled, there is generally a reason for that. Such as lack of motivation or lack of aptitude. If a person doesn't have the motivation to improve their own life, why would an employer ever think they'll have the motivation to work well. Likewise aptitude. If a person shows a lack of aptitude to become skilled, who will an employer want to hire, someone with or without a skillful aptitude?

I have always told my cousins, that while they were complaining about no work in there area, I could go there and have a job within a few weeks. And probably at better pay.

7 years ago, things were slow in my trade. I went to Manpower, in my area, looking for a welding job, because before I got into the trades I was a welder in factories, and I needed the work.

Put my resume in to Manpower, and had 2 calls for interviews before I got home (a half hour later).

Went to ONE interview. I was hired strictly from my resume and my interview with the shop foreman. He didn't even ask to see one of my welds.

I started on a Monday. The "main guy" who was traing me went on vacation on Wednesday. The foreman was worried that I'd have problems while the other guy was away. Thursday morning the foreman was amazed that I was matching the production of his "main guy" who had been there 13 years. Thursday and Friday the foreman was talking about the home office in Sweden, and sending me to Sweden and learning to be a field troubleshooter. Friday, at the end of the day, he wanted to know if I liked it there, and if I wanted to stay. He wanted to buy my 3 month Manpower contract out, which would have made me a direct employee of the company, with an immediate $2 an hour raise, with reviews after 3, 6 and 12 months, and potentials of up to another $10 an hour after the year.

I got a call that Saturday for a pipefitting job, and left the shop.

The point being, there are jobs out there, for welders, machinists, CNC operators, electricians. Skilled labor. It might not be close by. But for the motivated, the work is out there.

Speaking of work not close by. My current job is about 120 miles round trip, working 10 hours a day.

Back to one of my "unskilled" relatives. I've got a cousin who is 4 months older than me (I'm 49), and she has never had a real job, just babysitting kids. Her middle child graduated HS last year and is going to the local community college to become a social worker. My cousin is on welfare, and was telling me she could have gotten more $$ if her daughter, who is going to school "full time" would also be working x amount of hours also.

My cousin complained that her daughter was going to school "full time" and therefore couldn't work. I explained to my cousin, that I went to school "full time" and also worked 30-40 hours a week and 50-60 during breaks. And that all my buddies that I went to school with, were also "full time" and worked jobs.

The point being, that there is OFTEN (not always) a certain mentality that goes along with being unskilled labor. At least my cousins daughter has SOME motivation to become skilled at something.

We'll see what the future holds though. I just met her first real boyfriend at Thanksgiving. He's cut from the same mold as my cousins, and currently without a job. (As there are NO JOBS there). They had been dating about a month, when I met her boyfriend, at Thanksgiving. About Christmas I found out she was pregnant.

I'm figuring if going to school "full time" and working are too hard, then being pregnant and going to school are going to be even harder. Forget school when the baby arrives.

Oh...and Daddy still doesn't have a job.

In the wise and prophetic words of the great sage John Wayne:
Lifes Hard...
Its even harder when you're stupid.

[DManA]

How much of that is necessary and how much is it keeping competition thin? (Not being argumentative, I’m sure you know much more about this than I do).

[DManA]

How much of that is necessary and how much is it keeping competition thin? (Not being argumentative, I’m sure you know much more about this than I do).

[mountn man]

I've got relatives in western Michigan, who are all unskilled.

I've got a cousin who has a son, who went to the local community college to learn welding. When I'd be up there, my relatives would all tell me how ----- was going to school to learn welding, just like me.

Oh, we tried to talk "shop", but something never seemed quite right.

Today, he has no job. It seems he has back problems, that prevent him from working, though a doctor hasn't confirmed that.

From my other cousins, it seems that ----- only went to school for welding, for some unemployment or welfare training, to keep the checks coming.

[bikerman]

Takes 3 weeks to train for professional truck driving and some trucking outfits will pay to learn. Worked for me. Good money can be made.