Students have heard it: “Your grades are not really good enough for college.”
Young adults have heard it: “We can’t really give you 40 hours, but we will pay you 30 hours a
week at minimum wage.”
Early-career people have heard it, “We’re having another downsizing. Your job just got
eliminated so that the company executives can get a bigger bonus.”
These kinds of comments and others like them make great lessons for ten reasons why you
should be a plumber. Take a fresh look at the plumbing profession and you’ll see some surprising advantages.
1. Jobs are plentiful - Plumbing jobs cannot be outsourced to someone who works cheaply
in a call center in another country. These jobs must be done here by someone who
knows what they are doing. Our nation’s population continues to grow, and they need
housing. Those houses will need plumbing help from time to time. These jobs are not
going away.
2. Great pay and benefits - Plumbers can make the kind of pay that will enable them to have
a real life. They will be able to buy a car, get a nice place to live and enjoy themselves once in a while. The average salary for a journeyman plumber in the Washington, DC area is $58,500.
Plumbers who advance in their trade can make even more.
3. Get paid to learn the trade - While college students are piling up mountains of debt to
earn their degree, a plumber gets paid even in the apprenticeship stage. This fact sounds
nice, but in reality it is HUGE. College students can spend decades recovering the
expenses of a degree they might not even use. Meanwhile the plumber can actually save
money. Giving them a huge head start on their retirement fund.
4. Chance to get ahead - Plumbers also have a huge opportunity to advance in their trade. A master plumber can make additional money, or supervise others. A professional plumber with business skills and vision can even go into business for himself. The competition can be strong, but so are the rewards.
5. Regular change of scenery - Rather than being stuck in a cubicle day after day, a
plumber goes to different locations, encounters new problems and works with
different people almost every day. Plumbing has variety. Some plumbers work designing
large projects for buildings, enhance city water/sewage systems or design innovative
systems to solve new environmental challenges.
6. Make a difference for people - People who call a plumber usually are encountering a
desperate situation. They don’t know what to do next and if they do know what to do
next, they don’t want to do it. Plumbers arrive with the calm assurance that they know
what to do and will get it fixed. Plumbers are also able to resolve conditions that would
have serious health repercussions if not fixed. In addition, plumbers can provide needed services for non-profits that shelter the homeless, the poor and the physically challenged.
7. Job satisfaction - Another important reason to become a plumber is that there’s a certain
pride in knowing that you are good at what you do and are growing in your skills.
Regular training is offered to enable you to keep pace with new equipment and
procedures that are coming on-line. The plumber is also frequently able to help the
homeowner save thousands of dollars by correcting problems that would have been
disastrous if not fixed.
8. Working with your hands - Not everyone is made for sitting behind a desk. For people
who enjoy working with their hands, this job can be extraordinarily fulfilling. At the end of the day, the plumber has the satisfaction that his skilled labor has helped overcome a problem and
he has met some new people along the way.
9. A licensed trade - Many plumbing jobs come from the homeowner trying to do it himself and
botching it up completely. The real competition is from other licensed professionals. And
there’s plenty of work for everybody. In addition, challenging jobs exist for plumbers in
many industries including jobs as public works supervisors, project managers,
inspectors, hydraulic engineers and many others.
10. Safety - The plumber is not climbing scaffolding attached to the outside
of a building, clinging to a roof, or dealing with electricity. The job might be smelly and
dirty, but when done properly, a plumber’s job is one that can be done safely.
There you have it: ten reasons to be a plumber. Now start checking out the industry and a
satisfying career. Determine what training you will need and where to get it. Sign up today.