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Obviously there is not a single best skilled trade to have but whats everyones opinion of what skilled trade I should look into. I have thought about getting into maybe an apprenticeship with a mechanic or maybe even a plumbing firm as my dad was a plumber which is always a bonus. I do have a part time job soon to be full time which will earn me around £14k a year possibly in a few years up to £25k if I progress on a management scheme. I want a trade which is preferably hands-on and something which will be useful in years to come. Just looking for some ideas, thanks in advance.

Plumbing, sparky, Insulation.

House building is a key part of the UKs future so anything to do with building would be good for the medium term.

Engineering of some sort would be a good idea as well. If you are up for some extra education.

Above all get qualified and be the best that you can be.

Cooking, In america, Skilled well trained cooks are always looked for.

Anything to do with house building and maintenance will continue to be important in the UK, because we're not going to radically change our method of building.

Plumbing, gas fitting, painting and decorating, sash window maintenance, and so on.

Thatching might be an interesting one if you like traditional architecture. It's not going to die out, because the listed building laws will maintain the amount of thatched roofs.

Some of the catering trades are beginning to make a comeback. Baking, patisserie, butchery and so on.

Business.

Business literally covers everything in one way or another which is a good thing and a bad thing. On another note I do have 2x A in applied business at A level.

TomJamesh wrote:
Business literally covers everything in one way or another which is a good thing and a bad thing. On another note I do have 2x A in applied business at A level.

But it's not a trade...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Cooking, In america, Skilled well trained cooks are always looked for.

Maybe it's different in America but I don't think the average cook makes much money.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Cooking, In america, Skilled well trained cooks are always looked for.

take it from someone who was a suez chef...

yes there is always work,

yes it always pays crap... if you make 20+$ an hour, its because you went to the best school for cooking ever, and work at the best restaurant ever.

good looking servers make more then cooks at good restaurants.

best trades, are trades that never go away,

sparky, welders, carpenters, metal/pipe workers,

CNC operators, heavy equipment operators,

other then that, get practical training in something IT related, or a worthwhile university/colledge degree in a practical feild. far too many people dont realize how awful a social sciences degree like poli-sci, philoshy, ect are for getting good paying careers.

Sparky or plumber.
You don't want anything in manufacturing, your job can be outsourced to another country.
Hard to do that with a building.
Personally, I'd go sparky, get certed in HVAC and see about working offshore on the rigs/windfarms.
Serious money to be made there.
I've got a few mates from the RAF doing that sort of work now.

Robot repairman.

Servicing our robot overlords.

I'll leave the meaning of "servicing" to your imagination.

Survivalist!

Any of the more skilled trades like pipefitter, mechanical service tech, plumber, electrician, or elevator [lift] mechanic or any of the sub-specialties in those trades.

My father, younger brother, and I are all pipefitters and we come from a family of plumbers, so naturally I am a little biased towards anything in the pipe trades. The best part of a trade is that no one can take your skills from you and there is almost always a demand for someone with the proper skills.

Anarchist, or course.

Cockmanship.

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
Any of the more skilled trades like pipefitter, mechanical service tech, plumber, electrician, or elevator [lift] mechanic or any of the sub-specialties in those trades.

My father, younger brother, and I are all pipefitters and we come from a family of plumbers, so naturally I am a little biased towards anything in the pipe trades. The best part of a trade is that no one can take your skills from you and there is almost always a demand for someone with the proper skills.

Wait what do you mean No one can take your skills from you? How can someone take someones skills?

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
Any of the more skilled trades like pipefitter, mechanical service tech, plumber, electrician, or elevator [lift] mechanic or any of the sub-specialties in those trades.

My father, younger brother, and I are all pipefitters and we come from a family of plumbers, so naturally I am a little biased towards anything in the pipe trades. The best part of a trade is that no one can take your skills from you and there is almost always a demand for someone with the proper skills.

Wait what do you mean No one can take your skills from you? How can someone take someones skills?

It is more of a figure of speech. Think of it like this the Ben Franklin quote,

"He that hath a trade hath an estate; he that hath a calling hath an office of profit and honor."

Knowledge (like that gained from a liberal arts education) is perfectly fine, but the having a working knowledge in a trade skill is something that can always stay with you and provide for you and your family. For instance, when I graduated my 5-year apprenticeship, I had the real world skills and knowledge to perform my job and provide for my family and I was immediately ready to enter the workforce (I was actually already in because of my apprenticeship). Someone like my wife, who graduated with a degree in English, cannot say the same thing; she gained skills and knowledge that can be useful in a career, but not an actual career.

And again, it seems like dakka likes to bash those who go to college.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
And again, it seems like dakka likes to bash those who go to college.

How is anything I wrote "bashing college?"

There is nothing inheirantly wrong with a college education. The problem is the myth that students are told in school that college is the only way to be successful in life which in turn has devalued most degrees. That is troubling in a time when skilled tradesmen are getting older and retiring with not enough younger tradesmen to replace them.

College education is essential in the world; for teachers like my wife, doctors like my cousin, and engineers like my coworkers. Trade skills are equally as important, just different, in the world and I'm sorry that you see acknowledgment of that as "bashing college."

Sorry, Alot on Dakka like to Bash people who go to college for anything other then what they consider "Good Degrees" and I thought that is what you where doing.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Sorry, Alot on Dakka like to Bash people who go to college for anything other then what they consider "Good Degrees" and I thought that is what you where doing.

Just do what you love doing... and feth anyone else who objects.

If you're able to succeed in a field that you love, money won't be that important.

If you every find yourself not able to wake up with desire and go to work... it's time for you to recalibrate. Life is too short.

I'm in college currently for Welding. I have a blast doing it. Play with fire, metal, molten metal. I love it

Prostitution.

The first and last occupation.

Im not sure "Lying on your back" Is that hard of a skill

 conker249 wrote:
I'm in college currently for Welding. I have a blast doing it. Play with fire, metal, molten metal. I love it

I get the chance to mess around with Plasma cutters and acetylene torches at work, and it's a lot of fun. I mainly just cut up scrap metal, but I'd like to actually do some welding eventually. The flying bits of molten metal in your face aren't a lot of fun, but if we actually had enough funding to buy some nice safety equipment, it would be more enjoyable.

I think electrical installation/HVAC/Plumbing is a winning three. You cannot build a house, or a skyscraper, or a country without these things, and there will always be work to be done, always more opportunities to show your talents and work ethics.

if you really don't want to do manual labor, there will always be a need for lawyers. Even bad lawyers and small-time lawyers fit their own niche in society.

Speaking Chinese has helped me not only greatly in mainland China, but i can get work pretty much anywhere with Chinese people, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore etc... let alone the west.

I'd also throw in long haul truck driver. It's hard on your stamina and you spend a lot of time away from home (also not sure how much of that there is in the UK), but you get paid pretty well and all you need is to not be a terrible driver... Or drunk. Definitely don't be drunk you can go to jail for DUI while trucking

Here's a left field one that will never get replaced by Robots and is an increasingly well paying Job,

Personal Trainer.

I can imagine it's a great lifestyle as you're keeping fit and healthy, you get to help people achieve goals that really mean something to them. As stupid as it sounds i bet it really is a truly fulfilling job. Also alot of your clients would be super rich once you got established and i'm sure there'd be perks.

Electricians, plasterers, welders are always going to be in demand.
NDT, although a fairly specialised field, is also a good one to get into if you can pass the required coursework and can stand being away from home on projects for extended periods.
Plenty of work there, though. I know I'm away far too much because there simply aren't enough people qualified to do my job.

If I could do it over again, I would either go into plumbing, or I'd have doubled down on 3D modelling, something I only dabbled in.