Came here to say this. Growing up in the Midwest I saw this all the time. The kids of plumbers that owned a plumbing business lived in a very nice part of town, the kids of plumbers going still went to job sites in an OK part of town.

This also applies to self-employed tradespeople who have good reputations in their area.

100%. Worth their weight in gold, in both financial and productivity measures.

> You're selling your health and body as a tradesman. If you can make the transition to running a trades business, then you're selling your brainpower more than your body.

Selling your brainpower meaning managing the people who will sell their health and body as tradesmen. A minor racket.

> managing the people who will sell their health and body as tradesmen. A minor racket.

A racket? He just became a 'wealth creator'! How dare you compare a visionary entrepreneur to a pimp!

I am once again unable to tell whether this is genuine or sarcastic capitalist bootlicking. This website has destroyed my brain.

I'd explain why I think it's definitely one way more than the other but the ambiguity makes it much better.

>> the ambiguity makes it much better.

What ambiguity? A pimp IS an entrepreneur! And in many cases here the investors are pimps - selling teams of people with questionable output to the public via IPO!

Why not both

The beauty of the ambiguity is that you know there's someone on this web site that is 100% serious and believes that all labour is capitalist exploitation.

Then there is also someone that is 100% sarcastic and that if you look at society closely, that exchange is probably one of the least exploitative in present day society. I mean we take the healthiest demographic on the planet, force them to be sedentary for 8+ hours per day, submitting themselves constantly to eye strain, and we make them pay for it. Now that's a racket.

See, I read the sarcastic position and the genuine position in reverse to the way you did. Goddammit.

only true capitalist bootlicking is allowed here.

If you don't like the current breed of disaster capitalism, and the fact that most of your productive output belongs to someone else, you have failed in life and must be a jealous socialist.

If you are successfull and wealthy, you are even worse - Champaign socialist.

If you are actually Schumpeterian, tou are still gonna be called a socialist because they are economically illiterate.

those people are free to work as independent tradesman, many do.

As with all businesses, there are good and bad people. Personally, I think it's easy to be good: 1) keep learning and using the best materials 2) pay a little more than a persons worth.

Essential Craftsman is a great watch - highly recommended.

Definitely don’t want to cheapen the toll that trade work takes on the body, but do want to note that we all do sell our bodies and health one way or another. Heart disease is one of the main killers of Americans and all the office workers sitting in chairs for ~8 hours a day aren’t doing ourselves any favors there…

I mean, yeah, on balance I’d rather be an API plumber than an actual physical plumber — code smells are less nauseating than poop smells — but there are advantages to jobs that keep you moving around.

Not to mention RSI, eye problems, and other issues from performance-enhancing drugs lots of tech workers take to stay focused

Is that a thing? I don't think taking "performance enhancing drugs" is safe or allowed in my country, and I would definitely report coworkers to HR if I would find out they did. It's not fair to compete against someone like that.

It's absolutely a thing. Rampant in SV from what I hear. Many people get them prescribed (Adderall, Ritalin) for ADD, but it seems like 20-40% of programmers have diagnosed ADD. Others buy from friends who get it prescribed, or on the black market, and they probably don't talk about it at work.

I don't think most employers would fire an employee for taking drugs to improve their performance.

Regardless of safety (and I say this as someone who used to take prescription Adderrall myself) there are negative side effects, and long-term effects.

SV is not representative of tech workers

Adderall prescriptions are easy to get, at least in the US. Good luck reporting that to HR.

Coffeine is the most used one. It is absolutely performance enhancing and really addictive.

Also couldnt help but laugh at you reporting people to HR. That is cute.

Code smells are way more nauseating because they're nearly entirely opinion based, whereas an actual odor can be solved to everyone's satisfaction by clearing a clogged main.

If you were watching that channel, you'd know that he takes great pride in doing the work himself. In his latest series, he's building a garage/workshop for his son almost entirely by himself, just to show what can be done. He's amazing.