The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z
In contrast to most people here, I have actually worked outside of an office chair, for a short period of time, in a factory and also do woodworking as a hobby. The reason fewer people want to learn the trades is because it sucks. It&#x27;s usually too hot or too cold, dirty (not just oil, I&#x27;m talking about spiders and bugs, nasty customer&#x27;s homes and so on), loud and dusty, it&#x27;s hard on your body (try standing for 8h straight without moving or holding a vibrating tool for hours), it&#x27;s less intellectually stimulating than STEM office jobs and the low barrier of entry, combined with a much lower margin than software makes for low wages.<p>I&#x27;m happy with my home office programming jobs, even though it is pointless and unfulfilling.<p>The US and European economies are increasingly becoming service economies and the middle class is eroded. People nowadays are too poor to pay for skilled domestic labor, only cheaply produced trinkets from overseas are still affordable. I think the only time, if ever, that production and building will become popular again is when China will finally cut us off und people realize that you can&#x27;t eat software, metaphorically speaking.