A common piece of life advice I see is "work in trades" instead of going to college, and while I think there is certainly some value in exploring alternative paths rather than going into debt for a dime-a-dozen degree, I do wonder how the advice of working in trades proliferated. It is career advice that sounds good on paper, but is also not as cut-and-dry as the comments would have you believe.
I'm sure it started from hearing random folks who supposedly work in trades are making great money, but the concept of working in trades becoming pushed more and more by the redpill community seems a bit suspicious to me. When did the sentiment of working in trades start to become more common? Was there a particular person or organization who made it more popular?
I think it is important to understand the origins of "popular" sentiments in order to truly determine whether there is an ulterior motive. For example, the common idea of "there aren't enough people in STEM" isn't really true, it's just a claim made by industries to pressure Congress into allowing them to import more cheap labor.
Could there potentially be a larger interest pushing the idea of working in trades as being a lucrative career path? Perhaps it is far-fetched to assume that there are greater forces at play who have an interest in convincing people to work in trades, but trades play a crucial role in maintaining a functional society, and without these people, the current status quo would fall apart. Glorifying trades would upset the status quo of "intellectualism," but appealing to male pride and honor and appealing to the men who see the futility of modern society is a viable means of ensuring that men remain working for a system that thinks lesser of them.
I'm not saying that working in trades is bad or that going to college is better. Working in trades is very admirable, but it is also important to be mindful that there is no surefire pathway to wealth or a fulfilling life. Neither STEM or trades may be the gateway to success that is pushed on the internet, and it is important to consider the path you take based on the circumstances you have been given.
I've often adjusted that type of advice to something more like "find something someone is willing to pay for," but I do like to consider trades too because it's forgotten or looked down on in the land of everyone go to college. If you're throwing money at college, make damn sure it's not in some wasted shit like an English degree. I told a friend's kid if he insisted to going to college even with no idea of what he wanted to do, at the very least just get a business degree, because he's going to work for a business and it checks a box for those that require it.
I'm much more anti big university and anti student loans than I am no college at all. I saved a shit ton of money on my degree because I had an unlimited free tuition scholarship to a community college so I took every single thing I could there and transferred it. The university advisors hated it, but I was following the rules and as long as you check all the boxes to get the degree they can't do shit about it. Even if I hadn't had the scholarship the money savings would be immense. I worked full time and paid the tuition myself. It was a six year grind. Lived with my parents a lot of that time, so the choices were to go to the college in town or not go at all. There was no going off to the "college experience" where I drank my liver out. I was way too damn busy anyway.
What did it get though? Well I got an engineering degree that was paid for the day it was awarded to me. That's really what I think the end goal should be. If you aren't going to one of a few specialized things like doctor or lawyer where you need an advanced degree and are all but guaranteed a big payday, don't even consider anything other than the goal of a paid off paper with whatever degree or qualification the day you are doing. Can't do that? Go slower. There was zero chance of me drowning in debt from my degree and can't get hired because, well, I didn't owe anything for it. I bought a house at age 25 instead. That small cheap house turned into a check to me for a bit over $60k 6 years later when I sold it and bought something else. The degree bought me a foot in a door. I don't really use it that much. I think that's common though.