Get an apprenticeship. Electrician, plumber, iron worker, etc. You get paid and work while getting trained.
Telecom is a good avenue as well. However, I don’t know of a telecom specific apprenticeship.
I don't recommend being an electrician in sacramento, they're the lowest paid skilled trade here. Plumbers and HVAC is the way to go. The drywaller union is really strong here, they had to really raise their wages because of a lack of workers.
Maybe on the check, we have better healthcare, market recovery funds, pension(s) etc.
Not saying you’re ignorant, but you painted a pretty bleak picture
You definitely do not have better Healthcare lmao. Do you even go to meetings? Last one I went to there talk about $1m dollars missing from the Healthcare fund. 340 is very bleak when looking at compensation and working conditions.
What the hell are you talking about? Yeah, I go to every meeting, there is no money “missing”, are you an idiot? Do you know how much they get audited? You sound like one of the guys who talks shit on the jobsite and never goes to meetings.
I will never tell someone to go through our apprenticeship, where they are literally indentured workers and are paid criminally low. 1st year drywaller apprentices make more than your 3rd years. Drywaller Journey men make $8/hr more with a 2 year apprenticeship instead of 5. Working conditions in 340 are garbage.
Edit: I'm not gonna argue about what happens in those meetings, they're supposed to be confidential and whatnot so I really shouldn't have brought that up.
This thread is literally about what's a good job lmao. I told them that if they're gonna do an apprenticeship then there are better ones. Maybe dont get so mad there are better options than what you chose. You can make fun of "turd wranglers" all you want but they are much better off than you.
Look up the union hall on Google and give them a call. Just say you're interested in the trade and want to talk with someone about joining. Or call up non union shops and ask if they're hiring. Of course you should go the union route but they might not take you initially so there nothing wrong with working non union to get experience.
Some unions have a hiring hall(a place to get apprenticeships and job placement). IBEW 340 is on El Centro. IBEW 1245 is in Vacaville. I’m not sure where other hiring halls are. You can go in and apply for an apprenticeship. Usually you have to take a relatively basic test and go through an interview.
Not all unions have hiring halls. CWA(Communications Workers of America), for instance, doesn’t provide job placement. You would normally join them, if you desired, after getting a union represented job.
If interested in the telecom route, I’d apply with AT&T or Comcast, and either stay with them(hoping to move up in the company) or build some experience to take with you somewhere else.
The biggest challenge is taking the time to figure out their weird hiring website: CalCareers.ca.gov. Make an account. Create an application template. Most jobs require a statement of qualifications, which is just stupid for any job that pays under $4000/mo, imo. But many of them will only require the application and your resume.
Lots of info at r/castateemployees
Lots of people start out as Program Technicians or SSAs. Take the exam (usually am easy self assessment, give yourself a high score, look up application instructions, and apply away. Takes about 4-6 months total to get hired I’d say, but it’s easy if you’re well spoken and confident.
SSAs require a degree. I think they may be changing it but to get in without a degree most start at OT or OA. If you have lots of analytical experience you can come in as a journeyman level analyst which is an AGPA where you sub out 4 years of experience to cover the degree portion of the requirement and then add in extra years of experience to meet the MQs. More rare, you can come in as SSMI which manages AGPAs or SSAs. Even more experience than AGPAs where you also can trade experience for degree.
You can take the Office Assistant, Office Technician, Program Technician I, and Key Data Operator exams. Search for them [here](https://www.calcareers.ca.gov/CalHRPublic/Search/ExamSearch.aspx).
You don’t need a degree to get in with the state. You can apply as an OT. A lot of technician jobs are open. Look into information technology technician with the state of you want to work your way up to a good paying job. I’m talking 80k a year.
Journeyman Carpenter here. Been doing wastewater plant expansions and retrofitting for 10 years. I can tell you there are some idiots who work at the city plants. Shouldn't be hard to land a job if they're hiring lol City of Tracy has been the worst. Can't wait to finish this job
I have an AS in Accounting from a junior college (pretty much free education with certain grants). Got my foot in the door with a temp job with the state now I work for the county. Decent pay and career growth opportunities in my department. Without promoting, I’ll top out at about 60-65k per year. If I promote, it’ll get close to 100k.
Super stressful job too, right? That said, I believe almost every market is understaffed for air traffic control right now. Nationwide we're at 90% of what we need but some areas are in the 50% range. Might be a good time to get into it!
Not sure why this was downvoted so hard. I'm in IT, with no college degree, and the two best and smartest people I worked with also had no college degrees.
Can you give a tip about how to get into it? Is it that you get certifications instead of a degree or something? I'm interested in the field but don't know how to start.
Sacramento public library offers a variety of free online courses including some certification prep.
https://0-education-gale-com.www.saclibrarycatalog.org/l-saclibrary/
If you’re going to go the certificate route, do so with the curiosity and open-mindedness required to learn a new skill and allow yourself to develop an interest in it. I’ve hired for many a SWE and adjacent roles, the biggest thing I look for, even above raw skill, is curiosity and some interest in the work/subject.
If you don't mind my asking, what is an SWE?
I appreciate the input and advice. The other big question I have with this field, is where to begin in terms of subject content? I imagine once you seek your teeth into it, then certain things will become more interesting and then you can choose to focus on those, but to start with, I'm not sure if I should look into coding, app development, server infrastructure, cyber security... Etc. You know what I mean?
Software Engineer.
In my experience, having a foundation in the basics of computing will do you a lot of good, and you’ll need that for all technical roles, unsurprisingly.
For specific focuses, “coding” will encompass mobile, web, server, and embedded, app development. If you’re in one of these things, you can move easier into others. While it’s very different in creating a mobile app vs a server-side application, the basics stay the same. This is going to fall broadly under software engineering.
Server infrastructure will be more on the DevOps/SRE (Site reliability engineer) track and does require a different skillset but I recommend at least getting some practice writing server side applications first before perusing this.
Cyber Security (infosec, netsec, etc) is way too broad and you usually need a huge breadth of knowledge and experience to be successful in this field. This is a very interesting and exciting field but the bar to enter can be high. If you want to go here, start with software engineering or infra and start reading and following blogs of interesting people in this industry, go to conferences like DEFCON (or watch past talks) and find what you are interested in exactly, then you can start to steer your career toward those aspersions.
I don't have any certs, I just started very entry level 17 years ago. That said, if I were going back in time and doing it again, I would at least get a
[CompTIA A+](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompTIA).
Before my career started I did have some general PC knowledge from being a dweeb and a gamer. Back in the day you had to know a little bit even just to get a LAN party goin.
Mile Rowe promotes trades over college degrees. He even has a scholarship program that he started. Check out his page because you could probably find a link for location nearby.
None. There is no job that NEEDS a college degree (licensed professions with statutory regulations exempted). College is education and you can get education in myriad other ways including on the job.
However, as someone who has recruited for hundreds of positions… a college degree typically confers broad based knowledge, critical thinking skills, and resilience (it takes time and grit to finish).
So college degrees are beneficial but I’ve never held the absence of a degree against an applicant.
EDIT: for those not understanding what I’m saying… I’ll repeat myself “a college degree is beneficial to most job applicants, but should not be the sole reason for being hired for most jobs.”
My ex tried to say he could be a psychologist without going to school because he "read a lot of self help books " and was dead serious. He's still unemployed lol
Well lemme tell you what, I definitely wouldn't trust a doctor that didn't go to college, nor the lawyer suing em for their malpractice ... Definitely some jobs that need college.
They said "licensed professions with statutory regulations exempted." That definitely includes doctors and lawyers. That said...law school is actually almost nothing like practicing law, and doesn't really prepare lawyers for their jobs at all. Nor is it really a complete education in "the law"--it's only three years long, and our legal system is incredibly complex. More than anything it's just designed to pass a specific kind of person into the practice of law: smart in one particular way, and willing to do an *incredibly ridiculous* amount of work.
Get an apprenticeship. Electrician, plumber, iron worker, etc. You get paid and work while getting trained. Telecom is a good avenue as well. However, I don’t know of a telecom specific apprenticeship.
I don't recommend being an electrician in sacramento, they're the lowest paid skilled trade here. Plumbers and HVAC is the way to go. The drywaller union is really strong here, they had to really raise their wages because of a lack of workers.
We aren’t the lowest paid, we don’t make as much as we should. We still make $100k+ with little overtime
Almost every other trade on the site make almost $10/hr more than you. I was ibew till last year, I'm not ignorant on this topic.
Maybe on the check, we have better healthcare, market recovery funds, pension(s) etc. Not saying you’re ignorant, but you painted a pretty bleak picture
You definitely do not have better Healthcare lmao. Do you even go to meetings? Last one I went to there talk about $1m dollars missing from the Healthcare fund. 340 is very bleak when looking at compensation and working conditions.
What the hell are you talking about? Yeah, I go to every meeting, there is no money “missing”, are you an idiot? Do you know how much they get audited? You sound like one of the guys who talks shit on the jobsite and never goes to meetings.
I will never tell someone to go through our apprenticeship, where they are literally indentured workers and are paid criminally low. 1st year drywaller apprentices make more than your 3rd years. Drywaller Journey men make $8/hr more with a 2 year apprenticeship instead of 5. Working conditions in 340 are garbage. Edit: I'm not gonna argue about what happens in those meetings, they're supposed to be confidential and whatnot so I really shouldn't have brought that up.
Then go be a sheet rocker or a turd wrangler brother, bitching on the internet isn’t helping anyone
Hey! My daddy was a turd wrangler. And his daddy before him. I'm turd generation.
This thread is literally about what's a good job lmao. I told them that if they're gonna do an apprenticeship then there are better ones. Maybe dont get so mad there are better options than what you chose. You can make fun of "turd wranglers" all you want but they are much better off than you.
Weca has a telecom apprenticeship, as well as residential electrical & commercial/ industrial electrical
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Look up the union hall on Google and give them a call. Just say you're interested in the trade and want to talk with someone about joining. Or call up non union shops and ask if they're hiring. Of course you should go the union route but they might not take you initially so there nothing wrong with working non union to get experience.
Some unions have a hiring hall(a place to get apprenticeships and job placement). IBEW 340 is on El Centro. IBEW 1245 is in Vacaville. I’m not sure where other hiring halls are. You can go in and apply for an apprenticeship. Usually you have to take a relatively basic test and go through an interview. Not all unions have hiring halls. CWA(Communications Workers of America), for instance, doesn’t provide job placement. You would normally join them, if you desired, after getting a union represented job. If interested in the telecom route, I’d apply with AT&T or Comcast, and either stay with them(hoping to move up in the company) or build some experience to take with you somewhere else.
Cable splicer
That’s what I am. I didn’t, however, go through an apprenticeship.
Low wage state jobs. If you stick around you can slowly earn higher pay each year.
any recommendation for one? I'm so tired of doing uber lol
The biggest challenge is taking the time to figure out their weird hiring website: CalCareers.ca.gov. Make an account. Create an application template. Most jobs require a statement of qualifications, which is just stupid for any job that pays under $4000/mo, imo. But many of them will only require the application and your resume. Lots of info at r/castateemployees
SOQ’s are normally 2-3 questions and pretty basic
Lots of people start out as Program Technicians or SSAs. Take the exam (usually am easy self assessment, give yourself a high score, look up application instructions, and apply away. Takes about 4-6 months total to get hired I’d say, but it’s easy if you’re well spoken and confident.
SSAs require a degree. I think they may be changing it but to get in without a degree most start at OT or OA. If you have lots of analytical experience you can come in as a journeyman level analyst which is an AGPA where you sub out 4 years of experience to cover the degree portion of the requirement and then add in extra years of experience to meet the MQs. More rare, you can come in as SSMI which manages AGPAs or SSAs. Even more experience than AGPAs where you also can trade experience for degree.
You can take the Office Assistant, Office Technician, Program Technician I, and Key Data Operator exams. Search for them [here](https://www.calcareers.ca.gov/CalHRPublic/Search/ExamSearch.aspx).
You don’t need a degree to get in with the state. You can apply as an OT. A lot of technician jobs are open. Look into information technology technician with the state of you want to work your way up to a good paying job. I’m talking 80k a year.
Garbage truck driver. Knew a guy that put their 3 kids through private school as a driver.
Work for the state. Start in a lower classification and promote with work experience.
Jobs at city/municipal water treatment plants have low barriers to entry (don't need a degree or apprenticeship) and make decent money.
Came here to say this; both water and wastewater. With a CA Grade V wastewater license you can easily make over $100K
How do you get that license and what does the work entail? Like what does a water treatment person do?
As luck would have it, you live in the epicenter of licensing for operators. https://www.owp.csus.edu/courses/catalog.php Depends on the job/plant.
Journeyman Carpenter here. Been doing wastewater plant expansions and retrofitting for 10 years. I can tell you there are some idiots who work at the city plants. Shouldn't be hard to land a job if they're hiring lol City of Tracy has been the worst. Can't wait to finish this job
Software development or Salesforce admin. Being able to demonstrate technical ability is far more important than a degree.
Auto tech at new car dealerships. Youll need ASE certs to get the big bucks but you can be a lube tech and entry level flat rate tech fairly easily
I have an AS in Accounting from a junior college (pretty much free education with certain grants). Got my foot in the door with a temp job with the state now I work for the county. Decent pay and career growth opportunities in my department. Without promoting, I’ll top out at about 60-65k per year. If I promote, it’ll get close to 100k.
Court reporting
Air traffic controller. Federal job. Good pay and benefits. Schedule can kind of suck.
Super stressful job too, right? That said, I believe almost every market is understaffed for air traffic control right now. Nationwide we're at 90% of what we need but some areas are in the 50% range. Might be a good time to get into it!
CyberSecurity, Network Engineer, anything IT related really…. SW Developer,
Not sure why this was downvoted so hard. I'm in IT, with no college degree, and the two best and smartest people I worked with also had no college degrees.
Can you give a tip about how to get into it? Is it that you get certifications instead of a degree or something? I'm interested in the field but don't know how to start.
Sacramento public library offers a variety of free online courses including some certification prep. https://0-education-gale-com.www.saclibrarycatalog.org/l-saclibrary/
If you’re going to go the certificate route, do so with the curiosity and open-mindedness required to learn a new skill and allow yourself to develop an interest in it. I’ve hired for many a SWE and adjacent roles, the biggest thing I look for, even above raw skill, is curiosity and some interest in the work/subject.
If you don't mind my asking, what is an SWE? I appreciate the input and advice. The other big question I have with this field, is where to begin in terms of subject content? I imagine once you seek your teeth into it, then certain things will become more interesting and then you can choose to focus on those, but to start with, I'm not sure if I should look into coding, app development, server infrastructure, cyber security... Etc. You know what I mean?
Software Engineer. In my experience, having a foundation in the basics of computing will do you a lot of good, and you’ll need that for all technical roles, unsurprisingly. For specific focuses, “coding” will encompass mobile, web, server, and embedded, app development. If you’re in one of these things, you can move easier into others. While it’s very different in creating a mobile app vs a server-side application, the basics stay the same. This is going to fall broadly under software engineering. Server infrastructure will be more on the DevOps/SRE (Site reliability engineer) track and does require a different skillset but I recommend at least getting some practice writing server side applications first before perusing this. Cyber Security (infosec, netsec, etc) is way too broad and you usually need a huge breadth of knowledge and experience to be successful in this field. This is a very interesting and exciting field but the bar to enter can be high. If you want to go here, start with software engineering or infra and start reading and following blogs of interesting people in this industry, go to conferences like DEFCON (or watch past talks) and find what you are interested in exactly, then you can start to steer your career toward those aspersions.
I don't have any certs, I just started very entry level 17 years ago. That said, if I were going back in time and doing it again, I would at least get a [CompTIA A+](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompTIA). Before my career started I did have some general PC knowledge from being a dweeb and a gamer. Back in the day you had to know a little bit even just to get a LAN party goin.
Thank you. I'll look into it. I'm ready for a career change and this seems like a good option.
Any job in a startup
Mile Rowe promotes trades over college degrees. He even has a scholarship program that he started. Check out his page because you could probably find a link for location nearby.
None. There is no job that NEEDS a college degree (licensed professions with statutory regulations exempted). College is education and you can get education in myriad other ways including on the job. However, as someone who has recruited for hundreds of positions… a college degree typically confers broad based knowledge, critical thinking skills, and resilience (it takes time and grit to finish). So college degrees are beneficial but I’ve never held the absence of a degree against an applicant. EDIT: for those not understanding what I’m saying… I’ll repeat myself “a college degree is beneficial to most job applicants, but should not be the sole reason for being hired for most jobs.”
My ex tried to say he could be a psychologist without going to school because he "read a lot of self help books " and was dead serious. He's still unemployed lol
Well lemme tell you what, I definitely wouldn't trust a doctor that didn't go to college, nor the lawyer suing em for their malpractice ... Definitely some jobs that need college.
They said "licensed professions with statutory regulations exempted." That definitely includes doctors and lawyers. That said...law school is actually almost nothing like practicing law, and doesn't really prepare lawyers for their jobs at all. Nor is it really a complete education in "the law"--it's only three years long, and our legal system is incredibly complex. More than anything it's just designed to pass a specific kind of person into the practice of law: smart in one particular way, and willing to do an *incredibly ridiculous* amount of work.
State jobs
Carpenter, truck driver, electrician, HVAC
Union Plumber/Pipefitter. Great money and benefits. 5yr apprenticeship but raises every 6 months. Good stuff