Advice 28 years old thinking about trade but worried about body.
I have analysis paralysis when it comes to finding a job and I’m 28 years old thinking about trade. My issue is I have some lower back issues from a previous injury but I’m very educated on lifting and I do some martial arts so I can manage the pain a lot. I’m thinking of just choosing something instead of constantly wondering and just wanted to ask if there are any trades that I should look for that pretty good in pay and won’t wreck my body super hard ? The only other interest I have is I guess physical therapy kinda stuff but I’ve been an aid and don’t want to go to school and be in debt…. At the same time I will take almost anything else as long as I can do my martial arts afterwards and have somewhat of a social life…rn I’m going through a lot as well. I do Medicaid transportation and my father that helped me and the house is no longer able to function properly due to brain damage. As of now my pay goes to the family (we haven’t spoke about finances yet I’m just helping out extra when I don’t need too techincally) but I can’t see my life as just a driver especially in the future I don’t see this job going anywhere….
Jobadvisor
Trades That Earn Well and Are Gentle on the Lower Back
1. Instrumentation & Control / Calibration Technician
- What you do: You inspect, test, and calibrate sensors, valves, and automated control systems in industrial facilities, power plants, water treatment plants, or pharmaceutical facilities.
- Physical demand: Low. It involves precision work—using meters, laptops, and hand tools to tune micro-electronics and pneumatic controls. Minimal heavy lifting, very little bending under awkward loads.
- Why it fits: It’s almost purely technical and pays extremely well.
- Entry: A 1- to 2-year associate degree or technical certification at a local community college (very cheap, minimal to no debt).
2. CNC Machinist / NDT Inspector (Non-Destructive Testing)
- What you do:
- CNC Machinist: Program, set up, and operate computer-controlled machines to cut metal parts.
- NDT Inspector: Use ultrasound, X-rays, and eddy currents to inspect welds and structural components on bridges, pipelines, or aircraft without damaging them.
- Physical demand: Low-to-Moderate. You are standing and using hoisting equipment for heavy stock, but you aren't manually hauling 80-pound bags or twisting under heavy loads.
- Why it fits: NDT inspectors in particular travel, work with diagnostic tools, and make solid money while acting as quality-control specialists rather than manual laborers.
3. Low-Voltage Electrical Technician / Telecommunications
- What you do: Install and service fire alarms, security systems, fiber optics, network cabling, and building automation systems.
- Physical demand: Moderate. Unlike high-voltage commercial electricians who bend heavy conduit and pull massive copper wire, low-voltage tech involves light wiring, panel terminations, and programming.
- Why it fits: It skips the back-breaking heavy pulls of traditional commercial electrical work while paying a solid wage.
4. Commercial / Industrial HVAC Controls Specialist
- What you do: Focus on the building automation side of HVAC—programming thermostats, sensors, and electronic dampers rather than hauling 300 lb compressors onto residential rooftops.
- Physical demand: Moderate. Diagnostic and laptop-driven rather than raw installation work.
Trades to AVOID with Lower Back Issues
- Plumbing / Pipefitting: Constant bending, twisting under sinks, working in crawl spaces, and hauling heavy cast iron/pipe.
- Drywall / Roofing / Framing: Brutal repetitive compression loads on the lumbar spine.
- Auto Mechanics: Bending forward over engine bays for 8 hours a day creates intense torque on the lower back.
How to Break the "Analysis Paralysis" (Step-by-Step)
- Leverage your driver job: You are driving all day. Start listening to trade podcasts or YouTube videos covering Instrumentation, Low-Voltage Electrical, or Industrial Automation to see what sparks interest.
- Look up local Community Colleges or Trade Unions: Search for short-term evening certificate programs (e.g., 6–12 months for Low-Voltage, Mechatronics, or CNC Machining). Night school allows you to keep earning while transitioning.
- Set boundaries on family finances: Supporting your family during a crisis is honorable, but long-term care for brain injury requires official resources (Medicaid waiver programs, disability benefits, social services). Put a cap on what you personally subsidize so you have cash to invest in your career transition.
Interviewer didn't show up to a PHYSICAL interview
...In his OWN LOBBY.
There's a lot of posts already about interviewers not showing up to their virtual or screening calls. I've had that before. This one was new for me. This HR guy and I were like best friends during the screening call. He secured a 4:30 interview with me very quickly, I got the confirmation and headed to the Hyatt Regency lobby as requested. Spoke to the concierge, who told me to have a seat, and I sat and waited. I was 15 minutes early, dressed well, and waited patiently for 4:30. Comes and passes, I wait until 4:55. The concierge who told me to sit was gone, so I left and sent an e-mail offering [the HR guy] some grace and a chance to reschedule. Nothing.
Yesterday, which is about 5 or 6 days later, I get an automated rejection e-mail from the company.
F*** you Hyatt Regency, I'm gonna tell everyone I know to stay at the Sofitel instead
Jobadvisor
That's infuriating, and the automated rejection after the no-show is the worst part. You did everything right: early, dressed well, patient, and you gave them a gracious out to reschedule. Nothing about it reflects on you.
A company that lets an interviewer skip a scheduled in-person meeting, ignores a polite follow-up, and then sends a form rejection to someone it stood up has an HR process that runs on autopilot. That's usually a sign of how they'll treat employees too, so in a strange way you may have dodged something. It's also probably a screw-up by one person or a broken scheduling system rather than anything to do with the hotel. The concierge did what they could, though I get the urge to blame someone.
If you want to do something with it, one more short email to the recruiter or a general HR address is fair: "I attended the 4:30 interview on [date] and no one met me. I'd still welcome a conversation if the role is open." Sometimes that gets a response, and if it doesn't, you've lost nothing.
Is this something that happened to you, or were you sharing it as a "the job market is a mess" moment? If it was you, I'm happy to help draft that email or talk through how it's affecting your search.
Saw the waitress twice. Chased down the manager to get a box and pay the bill.
Family of 4, nice Italian restaurant. Got seated with menus, and didn't get acknowledged by anyone until our waitress showed up 20 minutes later. We were ready so put in our full order. Food arrived and waitress asked if we needed anything and offered parmesan. We said yes, but it never came. Drinks were empty but never approached for refills. Meal was done, waitress never came around. Sat 20 minutes and then walked to find help getting a box and the bill ($155). We boxed our leftovers, paid on the device with the manager. Zero tip. Never saw the waitress during the entire checkout process. I typically tip 20%, but was at 15% with no checkins, 10% when I had to find my own boxes and a manager. Zero when she never showed up at all in the end. My wife had a problem with my Zero tip. This was my first zero tip in a VERY long time. Day after and I still feel completely fine with it. Coming here for validation 😀.
Jobadvisor
Your frustration is legitimate. Twenty minutes to be acknowledged, missed parmesan, empty drinks, and no check-in at all is a real service failure, and you're not a bad person for reacting to it. A tip is meant to reflect service, and you got very little.
That said, since you asked for validation and not just agreement, here's the other side, which is probably where your wife is coming from:
- You don't know whose fault it was. A 20-minute wait to be greeted often points to understaffing or a badly overloaded section, which is management's problem more than hers. She may have been drowning, or she may have been ignoring you, and you can't tell from your seat.
- Zero is a strong signal, but a confusing one. In the US, servers are often paid a sub-minimum base wage, and many tip out to hosts, bussers, or bartenders, so a zero can leave her out of pocket for the shift. A low tip, say 5-10%, would still get the message across.
- The manager is the better target. You already had a conversation with them. Telling them plainly what went wrong is more likely to change anything than a missing tip, which she may just chalk up to a cheap table.
So a zero tip was defensible given what you experienced, but I'd say a small tip plus feedback to the manager would have been a bit fairer and just as clear. Your wife's discomfort isn't unreasonable either. It's more a difference in how much benefit of the doubt to give than one of you being right and the other wrong.
If you feel fine about it the next day, that counts for something, and I wouldn't lose sleep over it. I'd just consider whether a small tip would have felt better in hindsight.
I had an interview for crumbl this morning and it was HORRID.
Last week I applied online, got an email the next day saying they weren’t actually hiring, then the day after I received an email saying an opening just became available. I was then asked to “thoughtfully” answer 14 questions via email and send my resume again (for the second time at this point). Everything was fine and the person I was emailing seemed kind until today.
First of all the interview was over Google meet and it seemed like he was in his house (not important lol) and this dude is wearing a wrinkled grey sleep shirt. We then wait for the store manager to join the call and she’s completely muted, walking around and working throughout the call?
Now onto the interview (sorry) he asks me about myself and I do my usual spiel and he very loudly and rudely says “that’s it?” And that’s pretty much how the whole thing went, he would chime in with mean quips while I talked about my experience with baking (I went to pastry school) at the end I asked if he had any worries about my ability to perform any tasks I may be assigned and he brought up the fact that I’ve only worked seasonal jobs and wanted someone long term, he then did not let me answer to defend myself, and says “where is the longest you have worked??” In a really awful tone and basically ends the interview.
I really don’t understand why he was such a dick and I don’t know why he was so surprised with my previous jobs if I sent him my resume twice, I would assume he looked at it before scheduling the interview. I feel like I might be being a little sensitive but I almost cried after lol he was just so mean and I wish he let me say I was actually looking for a more long term job. :(
Jobadvisor
You're not being too sensitive. Almost crying after that makes sense, because being cut off and mocked while you're trying to answer honestly feels awful, especially when you were prepared and put in real effort (14 written questions and two resume submissions is a lot for a cookie shop).
Most of what went wrong was on their side. Interrupting you, sneering quips, and cutting you off mid-answer on the exact concern he raised isn't a tough interview, it's a poorly run one. And you're right that he had your resume twice. If seasonal work was a dealbreaker, he could have said so before scheduling. Add the "we're not hiring / now we are" back-and-forth, the muted manager wandering around during the call, and the general disorganization, and this looks like a place that doesn't respect candidates' time. How they treat you in an interview is usually the best behavior you'll see from them.
I'd also gently say his concern isn't unreasonable in itself. Employers do worry about seasonal-only histories, and it's a question you'll likely hear again. But the fair way to ask it is to let you answer, and you never got that chance. For next time, it may help to address it up front, with a line like "I've done seasonal work while building my baking skills, and now I'm looking for something long-term." Pastry school plus that framing is a solid story, and it isn't a flaw.
If they do offer you the job, that interview is a pretty good preview of working for that manager. Whatever happens, the way it went says far more about him than about you.
Do you want to work through how you'd answer the long-term question, so you're ready for the next interview?
Why are American automotive companies refusing to train young American engineers, preferring H-1B visa holders instead?
Just a rant. Recently, I interviewed for 'entry-level' jobs with a couple of the big automotive companies, and they rejected me because I didn’t meet all of their skill requirements. Mind you, their requirements were far more complex than what should be expected for an entry-level position, and pretty much impossible to obtain straight out of school or an internship. A friend at one of those companies later informed me that they ended up hiring an H-1B worker who is apparently overqualified (4 years of work experience) for the position. It feels like these companies are profiting off Americans while refusing to hire them and instead sponsor H-1B visas or completely offshore jobs. They claim that the yearly H-1B lottery cap for new STEM H1Bs is 'just 65000' visas, but I don’t think we even have that many new STEM job openings every year. Do you see this trend in other industries?
Jobadvisor
I'm sorry, that sounds frustrating, especially after getting through interviews and then hearing about the hire secondhand. Some of what you're describing is real, and some of it is more complicated than the "refusing to train Americans" framing suggests.
What's real
- "Entry-level" is often a lie. Across industries, postings labeled entry-level routinely ask for 2-4 years of experience or a long list of specific tools. This is well documented and hits American and foreign grads alike. Companies post wish lists, then hire whoever comes closest.
- Some firms do use H-1B in ways that undercut the intent. The worst cases are IT outsourcing/staffing firms (Infosys, TCS, Cognizant and similar), which have historically taken a large share of H-1B approvals and have been the subject of lawsuits and DOJ settlements over discriminatory hiring. Automotive OEMs themselves are generally not heavy H-1B users compared to tech, consulting, or outsourcing firms, but suppliers and contractors they work with can be.
- Offshoring is real and probably a bigger factor than H-1B. Engineering centers in India, Mexico, and Eastern Europe have grown a lot, and a cheaper, experienced hire abroad competes with a junior hire at home.
What's more complicated
- The 65,000 figure isn't the whole picture. It's the regular cap, but there's an additional 20,000 for people with US master's degrees, and cap-exempt employers (universities, some research institutions) don't count against it. Beyond that, there are many more H-1B workers in the country at any time since visas last up to six years. You're right to be skeptical of "just 65,000," though the number isn't the main issue.
- One anecdote doesn't tell you the pattern. A friend saying the hire had 4 years of experience could mean the role was quietly upleveled, an internal candidate fell through, or the company simply found someone stronger. It could also be what you suspect. You can't tell from one case. H-1B hires also have to be paid the prevailing wage, and they cost the company legal fees and lottery risk, so companies typically don't sponsor when an equally good local candidate is available. That said, the prevailing wage rules are weak enough that undercutting does happen in some cases.
- Auto is in a rough stretch. Many OEMs have been cutting costs and slowing hiring because of the EV transition, tariffs, and margin pressure. When they hire, they want people who can contribute immediately, which pushes them toward experienced candidates of every nationality, and junior pipelines get squeezed first.
Other industries
Yes, the pattern of inflated "entry-level" requirements shows up almost everywhere: software, data, finance, consulting, and even nursing and skilled trades in some regions. H-1B concentration is highest in tech and IT services. Manufacturing and automotive are much lower, so if it's happening at the companies you interviewed with, it may be more about experience inflation and cost-cutting than visas.
Practical things that might help
- Co-ops, and internships at suppliers (Tier 1/Tier 2) and smaller companies, are often easier to get into than OEM entry-level roles, and they build exactly the experience these postings ask for.
- Apply even when you meet only about 60% of the listed requirements, since those lists are wish lists. Rejections for missing a few skills are often a sign the posting was aspirational rather than a verdict on you.
- Ask interviewers or recruiters what the real day-one skills are, and reach out to the hiring manager directly when you can.
- If you suspect discrimination in a specific hiring case, the DOJ Civil Rights Division's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section takes complaints about preferring visa workers over qualified US workers.
If the policy side interests you, there's a real debate: some economists argue H-1B fills genuine skill gaps and boosts innovation, while critics argue it suppresses wages for entry-level workers. Both sides have evidence, and reforms like wage-based selection have been proposed to address the worst abuses.
What kind of engineering roles were you going for? Powertrain, EV, software-defined vehicle work? I could suggest which skills tend to open doors in each.