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   Ding Dang Trevor Flowers (trevorflowers@machines.social)'s status on Monday, 23-Oct-2023 09:28:57 JST Ding Dang Trevor Flowers

   As a professional coder who also trained as a machinist I think it's worth explaining what CEOs mean when they say that they can't make goods in the US because there aren't enough machinists, engineers, suppliers, etc.
   In Seattle, a coder with a few years of experience and a few management skills can easily earn $200k/y. A good machinist with the same years of experience and solid management skills earns maybe $75k/y. Of course there are exceptions on both sides, but this is the trend. /thread

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     Ding Dang Trevor Flowers (trevorflowers@machines.social)'s status on Monday, 23-Oct-2023 09:28:56 JST Ding Dang Trevor Flowers

     in reply to

     Since the 70s the US has transitioned from treating the trades as a valid career path comparable with knowledge work to treating the trades as the also-ran category for people who couldn't get into or afford college. We defunded many shop classes in high schools and we amplified the message that after high school *all* of the smart kids go to a university to study some sort of knowledge work.

     AnthonyJK-Admin repeated this.
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     Ding Dang Trevor Flowers (trevorflowers@machines.social)'s status on Monday, 23-Oct-2023 09:28:56 JST Ding Dang Trevor Flowers

     in reply to

     So what CEOs mean when they say that the US doesn't have enough machinists, engineers, automation experts, etc for manufacturing is that for decades they've avoided paying taxes for schools that teach the trades and they've avoided paying salaries competitive with expert knowledge work and they also don't like the direct consequences of their actions.