Agree with your points about public institutions and NGOs. Where I live, having NGO projects on your CV could even work
against you (in case you were looking for a government job, down the line).
> floor tiling, plumbing, roofing, ... All honest work, good pay, visible results, and zero bullshit
I'm not sure. First, you need to be good at it. "Leaving tech" does not necessarily imply "good at trades". Second, you need to be very flexible in the quality vs. delivery time tradeoff (and personally I find that really difficult). Third, I'm not keen on talking with clients directly. Fourth, even if there's a general contractor, representatives of the different trades always blame each other, when things go wrong, or the schedule slips.
> floor tiling, plumbing, roofing, ... All honest work, good pay, visible results, and zero bullshit
I'm not sure. First, you need to be good at it. "Leaving tech" does not necessarily imply "good at trades". Second, you need to be very flexible in the quality vs. delivery time tradeoff (and personally I find that really difficult). Third, I'm not keen on talking with clients directly. Fourth, even if there's a general contractor, representatives of the different trades always blame each other, when things go wrong, or the schedule slips.