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Have you ever considered quitting your tech job to switch to a more rugged occupation?

If you’re a fan of the 1999 film, Office Space, (like me!) you may have at one point considered quitting a relatively dull office job — especially if you suffer under the tyranny of constant TPS reports — to pursue a more physical, hands-on profession where you get to play with power tools.

Spoiler alert: At the end of the movie, the protagonist, Peter Gibbons, revels in his new life as a construction worker, “Making bucks, getting exercise, working outside.”

Office Space movie still
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Credit: Twentieth Century Fox

While the protagonist finds a more and more satisfying career in the trades, that won’t be the case for everyone. As they say, the grass might be greener on the other side.

A recent Pew Research study has revealed blue-collar workers are less satisfied at work than their white-collar counterparts.

Blue-collar worker job sentiment vs. other workers

Compared to other workers, blue-collar workers — defined as those who do physical or manual labor in industries such as construction, mining, or manufacturing — are LESS LIKELY to:

  • Be satisfied with their jobs
  • View their work as a career vs. a job to help them get by
  • Feel respected for the work they do
  • Be satisfied with job flexibility or benefits

Have you ever considered blue-collar work?

Even with this new job satisfaction data in mind, there is still the notion that getting a job in the trades can be a good career choice, and a more gratifying way to earn money.

Have you ever considered making the switch?

Office Space quote

26 Spice ups
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As a lover of the great outdoors, I’ve toyed with the idea here or there, but I think in the particular case of Peter Gibbons, I always come back to the fact that I truly appreciate the climate control afforded by being indoors.

18 Spice ups
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Actually my path was the opposite. I started to go into Computer Science in the early 80’s. Decided that - nope - working in an office all day was not for me. Worked in skilled blue collar jobs for years. Got injured in '95 and spent a few years getting my body put back together. Worked my way though college for 6 years and graduated dept free. Been in the IT trades ever since.

17 Spice ups
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I’d love to be able to work with my hands, outdoors, etc, but I doubt I could match my current salary and benefits. Except very dangerous work like Oil Rig, high bridge work etc.

I still wanna be an astronaut.

12 Spice ups
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I’ve heard that goat farming is all the rage.

11 Spice ups
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I left a previous IT data job about 2010, and decided to just freelance. I grew up in a family of builders, so wasn’t really surprised when most of the calls I got were for carpentry/painting jobs and not data or seo work (less than 1 in 10 calls for IT work). So I mostly painted houses for a decade before the pandemic hit and I took another desk job here. I did actually pay myself better for less hours (although most of that went to cover missing bennies), and loved having my schedule completely under my own control. I feel real old now, and wouldn’t go back to that kind of physical work, especially working solely by myself, but I do definitely miss the freedom of schedule and the outdoors and the constantly changing work environments. If I had to do it again I’d probably build a shop and refinish antiques/furniture or something and try my damndest to just stay off of ladders.

13 Spice ups
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I have considered doing construction. However, I would need to apprentice with someone to refine my abilities before I would consider myself capable of having my own business. I have been remodeling our house for years, so I do have some experience. I have done building estimating and prints for a few decades alongside my IT work, so I am very comfortable discussing design with homeowners and have a very good working knowledge of construction techniques.

I do like working inside in the winter though. I have a pretty specific end of day and set hours each week. My current schedule is flexible when I need it to be. I would rather be happy with where I’m at than spend a lot of time wondering how I would do with something else.

So, yes, I have considered making a switch. However, I do not dwell on it, which I feel would make me miserable.

9 Spice ups
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It can actually be pretty lucrative. We’ve hired some goats to clear out ivy, entertain kids at a birthday party for a mobile petting zoo (baby goats), and we even visited them at the farm for team events before. They have earned a lot from us.

10 Spice ups
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I work for a manufacturing company.
There have been times I’ve entertained working on the shop floor, but not as a career change, more as a change of pace.

And some days I think about being a medicinal leech farmer.

7 Spice ups
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At this point in my life, probably not.

Earlier I did work as a carpenter (local government) and park caretaker (local government).

Later I got a Engineering degree and worked as project engineer for a general contractor in the state. I got “spoken to” several times since I was not part of the union, and I was trying to assist the guys on my project.

7 Spice ups
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I don’t know if wrestling counts as blue-collar, but this reminds me of what @Jeff-Grettler-Spiceworks did before coming to Spiceworks:

7 Spice ups
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I thought about it a lot early in my IT career. But not that I’ve been pretty established I’m less likely to change to blue-collar work. The only reason I would if I could control 100% of my schedule and not be held to any deadlines for my work. I know I could paint houses the rest of my life because I have the skills to do so but that type of work definitely will take a toll on me physically.

6 Spice ups
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I hope that is a Typo and you are not paying the goats cash

5 Spice ups
15

Not physical work. As I am a long distance/marathon runner so my body is a string-bean up top :slight_smile: Also, not sure I would be good at it.

If i could, i would go into the Historical field. I study Pacific War as a hobby (have now for 25 years). So researching, discussing with other historians, lookin up tons of documents in libraries, and some field work with war sites, would be my dream job.

4 Spice ups
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Well - Completed an Apprenticeship - in Metal Trades ( Railways/Mines) - then into IT.
BUT - have been very lucky to stay for many years in the same area - going to Work sites interacting with Blue Collar workers.
Managed to combine both sides, and able to get “hands on” enough" to satisfy enough the mechanical side ( Lathes, 3D Printing, Welding etc - ) - and match that with System enhancements, Business process and changes as well as on site support as required with new installs, upgrades etc - actually getting great feedback when it goes well, or when some things need improvements :slightly_smiling_face:
I say I have the best of both worlds !

4 Spice ups
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Interesting, most of my career has been in offices, but one of the best contracts I had was for a Transport company, that utilised ocean going tugs to transport equipment up and down the Western Australian coast. I got a compbination of working in a high rise office and going on board the tugs and vessels.
I also worked for a company specialising in scaffolding and rope access work for Mining comapnies. When I looked at the money the guys on the tools were getting, I considered going back to learn how to be a scaffy. However I then noticed that there were not many mature scaffolders.
I had the option before I started IT to go and work on a dairy farm as that was our family business, but i half jokingly said that I didn’t like the hours, especially in winter. Up before the dawn and having to go out at night to change irrigation and check on calving cows. 7 days a week with very little downtime. People see farmers and think they have it easy, but look at a farmer’s face and hands, and tell me if it looks like they have an easy life :frowning:

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Your experience is not all that unlike my own. My father ran his own interior design and architecture business for years. I had planned to go through trade school to learn carpentry, but found that difficult since I went to a college prep high school. There the college counselor was at a complete loss as to how to help me make that happen. They just were not prepared for anything but transitioning students to college. So, needing a job out of high school I got a part time job as a clerk and started learning everything I could about furniture refinishing and furniture conservation. I wanted to go to college to get a degree in furniture conservation, but that didn’t pan out. So, as I pursued furniture work on my own, computers and LANs were just getting going. My place of work needed someone who could teach others how to use a computer. I had learned how to use a computer because my dad had a couple in his office. It wasn’t an overnight decision to become ensconced in an IT career; I just kind of fell into it and haven’t looked back. For twenty years I continued to work on furniture repairs, refinishing, and conservation, but when I bought my first house I started renovating that instead. By the time I finished that I couldn’t do that kind of labor anymore. Health issues started to get in the way. I am OK with sticking to technology work, as long as I no longer have to carry 70lb monitors up a flight of stairs anymore, or climb ladders to pull cable.

4 Spice ups
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Come on now, you miss those 20" Sony Trinitron monitors with the 2 lines going across the screen :smiley:

10 Spice ups
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Did my degree in theatre (backstage), and always assumed I’d fall back into that if IT didn’t work out.

After 10 years though, I don’t know. I’ve considered a career change before, but that’s usually around the time I job-hop into another IT role.

3 Spice ups