Originally, I never intended to go to college after high school. I got my GED, and went from working part time at a furniture shop to full time. We made classic inspired case pieces, tables, chairs etc. We used machines but all finished surfaces were hand detailed using a hand plane, chisel, rasp or scraper.
I have never enjoyed a job more.
Even after entering the tech field, I have held part time jobs (not sure if they qualify as blue collar but certainly not office jobs). One as a barista and one as a personal trainer. Again, I have enjoyed those jobs more than anything else I have done.
Feedback is immediate: a smile on someone's face, a beautiful curve in a hand carved detail, high-fives after group fitness class. Or, negatively: "this tastes weird/I didn't order this", a chip or crack or blemish in the finish, grimacing in pain.
Most of what I do, no one ever appreciates or even looks at. It will never be seen, even my superiors only care about the end result. I could write it in brainfuck and PHP4 and they would never even know. If the kitchen is dirty, it's noticeable to everyone. If the project is dirty, from technical debt, only I see that.
If I say "We need a new espresso machine because this one is broken and that's the second time this month" Everyone understands and if I say that I actually fixed it myself to get it to limp along for another month then that's going above and beyond.
If I say "We need a new backend because ours was written by someone who hasn't worked here in 5 years and it takes us 4 hours to deploy" then everyone wonders what's wrong with me and why can't I just make it work. And If I say I added some shims and interfaces to allow us to gradually change it instead of replacing it wholesale, that's wasting time.
I have never enjoyed a job more.
Even after entering the tech field, I have held part time jobs (not sure if they qualify as blue collar but certainly not office jobs). One as a barista and one as a personal trainer. Again, I have enjoyed those jobs more than anything else I have done.
Feedback is immediate: a smile on someone's face, a beautiful curve in a hand carved detail, high-fives after group fitness class. Or, negatively: "this tastes weird/I didn't order this", a chip or crack or blemish in the finish, grimacing in pain.
Most of what I do, no one ever appreciates or even looks at. It will never be seen, even my superiors only care about the end result. I could write it in brainfuck and PHP4 and they would never even know. If the kitchen is dirty, it's noticeable to everyone. If the project is dirty, from technical debt, only I see that.
If I say "We need a new espresso machine because this one is broken and that's the second time this month" Everyone understands and if I say that I actually fixed it myself to get it to limp along for another month then that's going above and beyond.
If I say "We need a new backend because ours was written by someone who hasn't worked here in 5 years and it takes us 4 hours to deploy" then everyone wonders what's wrong with me and why can't I just make it work. And If I say I added some shims and interfaces to allow us to gradually change it instead of replacing it wholesale, that's wasting time.