Carpentry - Where To Start For Beginner Looking For Steady Income

[MasonL]

So I'm 25(M), and grown tired of my corporate/work from home existence writing from a bubble. I want to start something that I'm engaged with, working with my hands, with a team of others, feeling like I'm breaking a sweat, so I'm considering jumping into carpentry/home remodeling as a way of not only learning a new skill, but one that can give me a source of income wherever I go, along with the ability to do a lot of my own projects for myself.

But what is the best way to get this ball rolling while still bringing in a decent check in the meantime? The biggest leap with this is giving up my salary, benefits, PTO, etc. I'm unmarried, no kids, so I don't have a ton of obligations but I'd still like to be comfortable enough with what I'm making. Is this an impossible needle to thread, at least right now? I'm thinking of calling up a list of construction companies in my area and seeing what they'd pay for working on a framing crew or something like that, but let me know if there's any other good ideas. Thanks ya'll!

[Laura33]

Do you have any experience with building or woodworking or home projects?  I.e., do you know based on past experience that this is something you will enjoy?  Or does it just sound like a good idea based on your dissatisfaction with your current job?

IMO, if you have no experience in the area, it's best to hedge your bets and not jump in feet-first.  First, without experience, you're unlikely to get hired for more than minimum-wage scutwork (think:  guys standing around Home Depot early in the AM).  And those kinds of jobs aren't going to give you a ton of opportunity to earn skills -- not to mention a reliable-enough income to pay your bills. 

Do you have friends who are doing home remodeling?  Have you volunteered for Habitat for Humanity?  Those strike me as the best ways to learn some basic skills in your spare time -- not to mention figuring out if you like it.  Or if you are thinking of something more specialized like carpentry, can you take a woodworking class or two at a local CC or woodworking club? 

Start doing those things during your nights and weekends.  Once you have skills and have a better sense of what you are good at/enjoy, then you can start seriously job-hunting.

[MasonL]

Yeah, that makes sense with most starter jobs not being sufficient for pay or learning. My experience is basically helping out my neighbor on a couple smaller projects over the years. Thanks for the suggestions; Habitat for Humanity is actually a great one. I will look for the best opportunity to get all my grounding skills hammered out first and really gauge if it's something I'd like to test the deep end with.

[Sibley]

One option I can think of is going the union route. Get into the apprentice program and they'll teach you. Don't know if its available in your area.

Regardless of your approach, I recommend two things:
--learn business management/accounting. At least get a good understanding of the basics. This will help you long term in big and small ways.
--remember that when you're in the service trades, reputation is everything. Are you competent, are you fair, and do you treat people decently?

Women are often the decision makers, either because it's their house or they're the ones with the time/interest/whatever. You be a decent person who treats women like people, is not a creep, etc and not only will that woman call you back, but she will recommend you to her friends. Women get a lot of crap from tradesmen and salesmen who are condescending or dismissing, and we really appreciate the ones who don't do that. I know tradepeople who make a very good living in large part because his female customers recommend him. I know tradespeople who struggle because they have alienated the women. And it's very hard to fake being a decent guy, so you might be able to fake it for a while but if that's not who you actually are, you will slip up. Do the work on yourself if you need to. Hint: if you at all think Andrew Tate has good points, then you have some work to do. Because if you get to the point where you treat women decently by default, most likely treating black people and gay people decently goes with the package.