Whether they'd be willing or not is another matter. I know a few though, people that have very high levels of secondary education working trades or other simple jobs because it keeps their stress levels down.
Yeah thats probably true. There are a few I'd certainly consider picking up if not only so I could manage to do work myself as opposed to hiring someone else.
> working trades or other simple jobs because it keeps their stress levels down.
Yes! People take "simple jobs" like hauling trash or cleaning sewers or welding pipes because it's stress free! Unlike those high-stress jobs at Facebook where you take the free party bus to the office, get free food, drink, gym, yoga, and massages, and even have internal message boards where you're encouraged to post about how horrible you're being treated. So stressful! I bet all of those 10xers at the FAANGS wish they could be maintenance workers.
I work for a tech company and I get no free food, no free drinks, we have gym membership partnership that basically is the retail cost of any generic gym membership (so it offers no real benefit), no free yoga, and no free massages.
No, more like a psychologist that decided to work metal for an antique car restorer, a history teacher that went to work in a store and many more examples like that.
You're cherry picking examples to suit your narrative.
For every person working at a FAANG you can probably find 1,000 working in a place with the same shitty working conditions most people are subjected to.
As a counter example cops can make $200k a year doing detail work (standing around) and retire with a pension after 20 years. There are similar situations (with lesser pay) for a lot of city and state level civil service.
There are shit jobs that will wear you down in every field. They're the jobs most people are working.
it would be interesting to see the ambition and execution discipline of a young person who made in to, and through, Stanford applied to a traditional trade. If i may use a dirty word, "disruptive" comes to mind.
There's plenty of guys that go into the trades (thinking more like welding, machining, diesel repair) that quickly start running their own truck or shop, work for themselves, maybe hire a few employees and make bank. That's what it would likely look like I imagine.
I know a guy who dropped out of HS and did this as an HVAC guy. He bought a house on a lake, a second home at the beach, and built a special garage to house his car collection. After an ugly divorce that cost him almost everything he has rebuilt (but not quite to where he was before). It takes a lot of work but it can be done. As others have observed, it's unfortunately regarded as a low-status option on the coasts
Would you be equally confused if it was phrased the other way?
"How many trade workers are even capable of going to Stanford?"
People like to talk about "grit" in white collar circles. If you want to see real "grit" go talk to the blue collar people who do shitty jobs at the expense of their personal health so their kids can have a better life.
The working class has an understanding of self sacrifice that is largely absent from more well-off groups.
