Best Jobs for Climbers

I'm going to vote for Carpenter. I can work ANYWHERE in the country in a cabinet shop, as a framer, or as a re-modeler. As long as the county I go to follows the BRC or IRC, I know the requirements to build in that county. 90% of the counties in the US use those standards, and the ones that don't use less stringent standards.

I want to go to Smith Rock for a month, and I only have $400 in the account? Pick up and leave, walk on to a job site and get a job. Work my ass off for a week, climb the other 3. It isn't uncommon for the super good craftsmen to travel across the country and live in their own dirtbag mobile.

Armed with a handful of tools, and a long list of references you can work anywhere as a carpenter. And if you're honest with the GC or builder, you can work as much or as little as you want.

Warrior wrote:I must be in the wrong business.... Travis is onto something imo...

It would seem like those people are super high up. I'm sure you could find someone making 6 figures at your local wal-mart. Doesn't mean everyone else is.

Warrior wrote: ...collected $221,000 in overtime last year, raising his total salary to $363,000... A paramedic-firefighter...made $191,000 in overtime, taking his pay to $337,204, while three battalion chiefs made $113,000 to $124,000 each in overtime, boosting their pay to $316,000 to $332,000 each...

I bet all of these people have over 15 years in their field and at least a 4 year science degree. Probably a 6 year degree.

Choosing a job based off of pay and time off isn't very smart. The most important factor is that you don't hate it. If the job actually brings you pleasure, even better. About 1/2 the people I know who became nurses either quit or hate it. Pay, time off, etc. should factor into your choice but making those top priority can be a recipe for finding a new career within a year or two.

Nursing is a trendy career choice for climbers right now. If you don't have the capacity for compassion for humans in general, the ability to handle sustained stress and responsibility, and a willingness to do truly gross things daily then I would steer clear of Nursing. Physical Therapist, Occupational Therapist, X-ray technician, Paramedic, and numerous others are all good health care field choices too and are all quite different. X-ray tech is a pretty sweet gig, pays well, and you can work nursing hours.

Eliot Augusto wrote:I'm going to vote for Carpenter. I can work ANYWHERE in the country in a cabinet shop, as a framer, or as a re-modeler. As long as the county I go to follows the BRC or IRC, I know the requirements to build in that county. 90% of the counties in the US use those standards, and the ones that don't use less stringent standards. I want to go to Smith Rock for a month, and I only have $400 in the account? Pick up and leave, walk on to a job site and get a job. Work my ass off for a week, climb the other 3. It isn't uncommon for the super good craftsmen to travel across the country and live in their own dirtbag mobile. Armed with a handful of tools, and a long list of references you can work anywhere as a carpenter. And if you're honest with the GC or builder, you can work as much or as little as you want. It would seem like those people are super high up. I'm sure you could find someone making 6 figures at your local wal-mart. Doesn't mean everyone else is.

That is true to a point. Working that week for good wages is the easy part, tracking down the GC for the actual check is another.

I do appreciate setting my own schedule as a GC/carpenter/// and it is a good career for climbing it also is shit pay starting out and the work can suck until you reach the top of the totem pole.

OK: the FIRE CHIEFS made that much cash, but a grunt on an engine won't come close to that. I've worked with firefighter/medics in CO, TN and DC and in DC the pay rate was by far the highest. From the Washington Post (2011)

"The starting salary for a D.C. firefighter is $44,302, and the base salary for a firefighter with 20 years of experience is $65,568, Smith said. Sergeants, lieutenants and captains are among those represented by the union. The membership’s average salary, not including overtime, is a little more than $67,000, Smith said."

The pay isn't bad, but with cost of living in areas where you earn that much, it's not great. I worked with several RNs in the trauma center (BSNs, 4 year degree nurses) that made over 80K w/ their OT.

One of the reasons I became a nurse was the schedule, but fortunately I love the work. Having said that, there are definitely some job realities that need to be considered before going into the field. I will say this, though: I know RNs whose jobs are to do things like test our computer user interface, and they work from home. And there's stuff like case management. An "RN" can do all kinds of things in practice. There are gobs of specialties, and not all deal with "gross" stuff or have the same stressors.

I work 3 nights in a row, 7p-7a, every week. Some work set schedules like Sun-Mon-Tue every week, but I typically rotate Tue-Thu and Thu-Sat. A lot of hospital jobs require at least 4 weekend shifts per month, either both days every other week or one day every week. Picking up overtime shifts is easy, but I rarely do it.

If you work nights, you can potentially get outside for 3 long days and 2 shorter days a week. Working nights also typically pays better. Here the night shift differential is significant.

The "two year ADN" is a lie. It realistically takes 1-2 years of prerequisite classes to start most clinical programs. My clinical program was 5 semesters. That's typically a total of at least 8 semesters. You might as well go for the 4 year BSN. I had to sign something saying I'd have my BSN within 6 years of hire. The ADN is typically much cheaper, and many hospitals will reimburse the cost of upgrading to the BSN once you're hired.

They start people here with 4-5 weeks PTO. It goes to 5-6 weeks at 2 years, and 6-7 weeks at 5 years. You can finagle working the start of one week, taking the next week off, and working the end of the week after that to get 2 weeks off using one week of PTO.

As far as lifestyle goes, we bought a house in the mountains of NC for about 100k, and the mortgage payment is about $500 a month. My house backs up to this. The house is 1100 square feet with an 1100 square foot partially finished basement. I pay all the bills. At the end of every month, after absolutely all our bills and my commuting gas, insurance, 8% into savings, and $600 a month for food, I have about $1300 left over as my play money. My wife takes the money she makes from her art (buy something or attend a workshop!) and does whatever she wants with it. I spend most of mine on climbing and skiing. We don't live in luxury, but there is nothing that I want that I don't have or can't get.

Brian Abram wrote: and $600 a month for food,

Damn, do you eat stakes every night?

20 kN wrote: Damn, do you eat stakes every night?

Not really that much 2 people 30 days 10$ a day. If you ate out once a day you could hit that for 2 people easy.

20 kN wrote: Damn, do you eat stakes every night?

Yeah, when I first started paying attention to how much it really costs to shop at Earthfare or at least buy higher quality stuff at our closest grocery store, and eat out a few times a month, it felt sucky. But it's worth it to us. One nice meal at the nice place near us a month is about $80 with tip if we get wine. But we'll go there once a month instead of the local pizza/brewery once a week, and so we can sort of rationalize it. Date night!

Ben Glanton wrote:Not that they don't deserve it but I have a hard time believing a firefighter/paramedic is making $120k, no matter where it is. Those are both 30k (on average) jobs in the Southeast.

My previous career was search and rescue in the military. I know a lot of guys who had an easy transition into fire being that they were paramedics and had many other useful skill sets. 80-120k sounds pretty reasonable from what they have said varying by city. No one goes for straight paramedic jobs on the other hand as those pay pretty poorly. Keep in mind that getting a job as a firefighter in many areas is pretty competitive and sometimes involves spending years on a waitlist even if you are competitive.

sarcasm wrote:I think the maritime industry shouldn't be overlooked, if you are more of a blue collar type. Typically you get equal time off/equal time on. When you are at sea all expenses are paid for, you make good money and if you're lucky (like me) you can find a place onboard where you can put your hangboard. It's not ideal, but for someone like me, it's provided steady employment, a decent wage, and lots of time off.

My uncle was an engineer on Columbia river tugboats. 2 weeks on, 2 off. He was a fisherman, so our family got to enjoy salmon, steelhead and sturgeon pretty often.

Old lady H wrote: My uncle was an engineer on Columbia river tugboats. 2 weeks on, 2 off. He was a fisherman, so our family got to enjoy salmon, steelhead and sturgeon pretty often.

Nice, my brother in law works on the Columbia river. I still work oceans in Alaska, but maybe someday....
Until then I'll continue flying south to climb!

Im going for the planned approach. Call it trust fund babying myself. After 12 years of busting my ass as a project manager in the construction industry, I will have saved enough to dirtbag living a minimalist lifestyle in my sprinter van indefinitely off a very modest return on my investments. Sure, I wont be in my physical prime at 33 but I dont want anyone to answer to or any deadline on whatever adventure I plan to have. The goal upon "retirement" is to maintain my current net worth so that I am not squandering my savings and crawling back to the man when my funds run out. Be smart with your money, save it. It doesnt bring you happiness but it can bring you freedom and that's the next best thing!

My suggestion for choosing a job/career is to figure out what your interests, skills, and/or talents are and then think about how you can fit them to a job that's compatible with your climbing goals.

mediocre wrote:Nursing is 2 years of schooling after taking the schooling to get into the program. Don't kid yourself, there are very few truly two year degrees anymore. Nursing is sweet but it's usually feast or famine, you get a week off every month, but after a 12 hour night shift your bed is the best thing you've seen in a while. Also, per diem pays more but no benefits. It also depends on the facility and floor where you work.

True...RN takes 2 years if you already have degree. Medic takes 18 months. I know lots and lots of nurses and i don't know one thats famine or unsteady work. Again, it may not be the case outside of california but here its feast. My GF is per diem in San Fran and sets her own schedule so she can match mine which is two days on and four days off. I rarely use PTO because i can simply trade shifts with other coworkers. If i take off/trade 4 days of work i get 18 days off in a row. She works 10-12 days a month and although has to pay for medical ins. its still a better deal. Theres really no down side. Some nurses have to see gross things others work in administration, NPs can see patients, Rx meds and write treatments under the supervision of an MD. If i didn't have a great career id do nursing probably.

The truth is Firefighters and nurses simply get paid much more in california. Cost of living here is more but the offset in salary more than makes up for it. Salaries are public information and you can look them up easily. I think the OP asked about BEST JOB...Not how difficult it is to get or if you need to sign a nursing contract.

Travis: The bullshit to pay ratio is low. Trust me. Plus you get paid to stay in shape.

Winston: Depending on the department Chiefs will make more in salary but "typically" less in overtime. Ultimately making less than us "grunts" if one is willing to work OT. Highest paid fire dept employee i know of, last year was a Non medic firefighter at $257k. The "grunts" make those numbers routinely... if you're willing to work the OT.
"The [Nurse] pay isn't bad, but with cost of living in areas where you earn that much." Is that something you've HEARD? If you choose to live in the most expensive areas the gap narrows but its far from the case. Where do you live?

Gription: Said Firefigther has no college degree. These large incomes are from overtime. And consider to make that much money one has to be at work A LOT! Said firefighter worked approximately 240, 24 hour shifts. Thats 2/3 of a year being away from your family and loved ones so its a sacrifice.

Wildland firefighting isn't bad. It dos limit your crags due to the months you can climb in. Work 6 months a year. Make 40ish k and have the other 6 mix complelty off

SRB, you're deffinetly right about the wages of CA nurses. Wages in any unionized state is higher. These dream schedules of nurses working full time only applies to nursing involved in patient care and sometimes management. I've only seen one hospital where a floor manager was able to work 3 12's. Although it may be a majority, the blanket statement of nurses making their own schedule is false. ( I'm not directing that specifically at you, I know you're using your GF as an example), but keep in mind PRN also doesn't guarantee you any more work the rest mandatory minimum. It may be easy to pick up shifts but that's because a lot o hospitals are chronically understaffed, and there's usually a reason for low staff retention.
And it's not necessarily only 2 years if you already have a degree. It depends on what classes you took, when you took them, and what program you want to get into.
I've done the 9-5 thing, I've done the work a week play a week, and now I'm doing the nurses "pick your own schedule" thing. I actually climb stronger when I can get into a gym regularly, or just out for an hour or two after work consistently. Hence my statement about it pending on what you're looking for. I usually get at least a week off every month, so I'm able to take a week long trip and maybe one or 2 shorter outings, but I don't get the consistent conditioning that helps me to climb harder.

Number one thing is make sure you enjoy whatever you do. You are going to be spending like 40 hours a week doing it so it doesn't really matter when or where you are working, if you hate it you will hate your life.

You aren't going to be climbing 40 hours a week unless you are part of the 0.001% of the population.

When I was in my 20's, restaurant work was great for climbing.
I would work 4 day weeks with a few doubles, almost always had weekdays off. On days where I only worked evenings I would be out climbing or skiing all day, then show up a bit worn out to work at night. I got discounts on meals when I worked, and could get shifts covered fairly easily if a last minute trip came up. Restaurant work gets old after a few years, but it worked great in my 20's.

I worked landscape construction for a few years, I was basically being payed to train. Never been stronger, but I was almost always too beat to climb when I had time off. I did my strongest onsights then.

Living with climbing nearby is key, it doesn't matter what your job is when the climbing is a 4 hour drive away...

SRB: I'm in TN at the moment, in my last semester of a 16 month accelerated BSN (less than 2 years, IF you've got the previous degree and prereqs). One of the reasons I'm getting my RN is for the lifestyle. I've been a hospital based EMT (in emergency departments) for the last 5 years and worked my three shifts back to back and had my four days off. The most I ever made hourly was $17 (in DC) and our medics didn't make much more. Also, to ride on an engine you had to be a firefighter/medic (2 licenses). Did it say what the non-medic employee making $275k was? Was this person in administration?

Also, back to the original point, how much OT did this person work and how many pitches did they get in while working all that OT?

And no, thats not something I've "heard", it's something I've been lucky enough to experience first-hand, living in downtown DC, with unionized nurses.