One that pays me a decent wage and doesn't go 13 years without a cost-of-living increase. My income has been effectively as stagnant as the federal minimum wage, you can hope for (some years) a 2-3% merit-based increase and that is it which usually a good chunk of gets eaten up by just insurance cost increases.

Like - I sit up at night worrying about "what about when I need a new car, we need a new roof, the well pump fails, we need a new well drilled" because my savings rate shrinks each year as my dollar goes less far and my annual pay increase barely covers insurance increases. Or I passed my General exam for my amateur radio license Saturday and I'm like "ok, cool, maybe in 5-10 years I can afford to get into HF radio".

And they're nuking our pension contributions and instead upping the 401k match instead, the 401k match I already can't get all of because paying bills that keep going up, while pay stays relatively stagnant, is a little more important than throwing 7% at my 401k for that match for use 30-40 years from now.

My wife, as a public school teacher, has had more (dollars) raises in the past year than I have in 6-7 years.

Go learn a trade my dude. Welding, electrical, masonry, you name it, they all are better pay than what you're getting now. There are plenty of decent blue collar jobs in Indiana. By the time you get into a few years of experience, as a journeyman or what have you, you'll be making double what you are now, depending on OT.

If you like the work and are still at it ~5-8 years from now you can move into management, start a small company and bid and run your own jobs. Sky's the limit.

Trades have a huge barrier to entry too. You either go pay tens of thousands of dollars to the degree-mill equivalent of a trade school, or you hope exactly no one is trying to join a trade in your area and get lucky and get an apprenticeship.

You can readily find thread after thread on Reddit with statements like

>That said, my local just brought in 16 new first years. That's the largest class we've started in a while. There were some 200 applicants. So we only took the top 8% give or take. So more than 90% of the guys that applied didn't get in. So I think its fair to say its hard.

Or telling people to join Jobcorp (ages 16-24), or to join the military to learn a trade.

This depends on the market and the trade. Not all are equally competitive. Might have to investigate your area but look into plumbing, HVAC, carpentry and others. If you don't care about the nature of the work, go with the most promising prospect. If you do, then explore them, watch youtube accounts of the job, etc. Personally I think the downside is longer hours (typically) and often shift-work.

Since you're asking on HN I expect you're not averse to programming either. Can be competitive at Junior level. Take a free course at freecodecamp or whatever, will give you some idea whether it's worth pursuing. People will often say "contribute to open source" but without a frame of reference you'll just feel lost, so either take a course or start your own project first.

There are some other high-turnover gigs like corrections. I don't know if I'd recommend this, but it wouldn't take you long to get in. Expect overcrowding, violence, and stress.

There's literally 20 jobs open on Indeed right now in Indy for electricians helpers, which is basically the step to apprenticeship. Same for other trades. You don't need a school, just go do it. It's hard work but you can go out and get a job today that will lead you there. You might need a GED but it's literally just a test, go take it.

I'm seeing starting pay ranges bottoming out at $11 an hour to $14 an hour, which is as much as an $8 an hour pay cut, also less than fast food is currently paying with zip codes 30~ miles away. The one that lists $11 an hour as the low end requests 5 years of experience.

It doesn't sound like you're looking for answers, it sounds like you just are frustrated and want to vent. That's cool, but it's a different problem than "how do you start a new career with minimal qualifications". You're going to have to sacrifice something if you want to switch careers. As a 38 year old myself I feel your pain, but I've often thought about going back to manual labor to get into the trades. I used to stock shelves and bake pies and it was pretty satisfying work.

I'm looking for answers, I'm not looking for some arm-chair expert that assumes a person asking a question has done zero research and wants to throw out an answer an article or guidance counselor told them about years ago.

You just told me to take a 90 minute commute, at an $8 an hour pay cut, to go into a "kinda" apprenticeship that is asking for 5 years of experience in the job posting.

> I've often thought about going back to manual labor to get into the trades

Easy to pontificate what you don't do. I think a substantial wage cut in the interim is a serious concern and sussing out all the options is not tantamount to "making excuses".

I second this idea, if money is the main motivator. Technical colleges are cheaper than universities, and can be completed faster. They will still likely require a GED, though, prior to graduation if not prior to entry.