Blue collar vs white collar. How to decide?

I'm on a how-to marathon.

I have been having a bit of a discussion in PM's with someone about career trade-offs, but I would be very interested in others' opinions.

I have what most people would consider a high-powered, white-collar job. I love what I do, but the job stress can be enormous. I was killing time in these forums, night before last, at 2:00 AM, because job stress was keeping me awake. So I have all the trimmings of "success," but I am honestly beginning to wonder, "Am I successful, or am I stupid?"

Before I started college, I worked in the office at this place that had a massive warehouse. In one part of that warehouse a group of women did the same task, at the same workstation, with the same stuff, every single day. They had no decisions to make, and nothing ever changed. It was a take-this-do-that type of job, and I once asked one of them how she could stand to work such an extremely boring, mindless job. She said, and I quote, "When that clock strikes five, honey, I'm done."

She knew exactly what she was doing with her life.

I know a lot of blue-collar people who have a perfectly fine house, adequate cars, and enough disposable income to enjoy their hobbies. They have family and friends and good times, but none of them talk about job satisfaction.

I love my job, but it is stressful, and I am beginning to wonder if it is worth it.

So which is better: an unfulfilling job with no lingering stress, or a fulfilling job that sometimes keeps you awake at night?

It depends on the person but I would rather have a "boring and mundane" 9-5 job where come Friday evening five-o'clock I can chill. (Drink beer, consume pot, play x-box, etc). As opposed to a highly stressful and nerve shattering job. For me it would not be about the money. I don't have to play a mortgage or make car payments and all the usual crap. Most of the people that I know work at breweries or construction, etc. It's not a definite answer but hey it's a start l.o.l.

Hmmm....

I've worked at both a blue collar job and a white collar career. I found both rewarding. But one was on the verge of being boring.

Blue Collar: Machine Operator in factory. I worked on several different machines. Mostly I enjoyed the learning experience. After working on a particular machine I got bored really fast. The department foreman saw this and would put me on a new machine to learn. By the time I left there I knew how all the machines worked. An the woman had it right, at 5:00p I was outta there.

White Collar: Software Engineer office environment. Very rewarding. After a stint in the Air Force as a cop, I went to school paid for by the G.I. Bill. I learned all about computers. This was back in the '70s. Through the years I learned more and more about computers and software until I was certified as a software engineer. The job was exciting, I was always learning something new.

The job paid very well and I mean very well. But the stress was there, it was always there. I did however get to travel the world. I went to places I could have never afforded as a blue collar worker. At age 53 I had my first heart attack. But I was also smoking a pack a day. I really enjoyed doing my job. I loved it in fact and continued until retirement.

Now that I'm retired I can reflect back and see that the blue collar job wasn't as rewarding but it was stress free. In at 8 out by 5.

White collar job, in at 7:30a who knows when I'll get off. Sometimes it wasn't until the next day. But I was paid well.

In reflection, I should have stayed in the Air Force. I would have been poor, but what I was doing was exciting and rewarding in more ways than all the other jobs I ever had.

But hindsight is 20/20.

I suppose technically I've done both, although they were a little less clear cut and my approach to my "white collar" brain-pan salary was little different than my "blue collar" drudge wages. Part of that, though, I think, was I absolutely detested my white collar jobs. I mean, when you have to pull over six times on your way to the job to vomit just because you are going to that place again, every single day you have to go there for weeks at a time, you sort of have to revisit your decision making paradigm.

So, I left and we lived off savings and the wife's paycheck for awhile. When the "next great American novel" thing didn't pan out, I went out looking for something I thought I might could stand that would let us get by and maybe have a little something extra to do what we wanted to. Things we didn't have time to do while I was doing the paper shuffle or sitting in brainless meetings day in and day out.

I don't know. Now that I'm done, looking back, I sort of feel like I missed out on some of the more important things during that time. But, maybe if I'd been working towards the cure for cancer or, you know, just actually helping somebody, I might feel differently now. I guess it just depends on what you want to look back on when you are done and say; "Yup. I did that."

Until that day, while our choices do define us, every day is a new one and we have to choose again and again and again just what we will do with it. In other words, just because you chose what you are doing now, doesn't mean you won't have to face the choice tomorrow to continue doing it or go do something else. And the day after. And the day after that. And the day after that...

I think it's always about work life balance. White collar jobs are great no doubt but it's not nice when you don't have enough time to unwind or party with family and friends or just spend some time alone. It also depends a lot on the person. For many job is the ultimate satisfaction, all the workaholics out there. You lose a significant part of your life on work being a workaholic.

Obviously the perfect solution is to have a white collar job and yet be able to have that time to do everything you want to do but that is simply too difficult, very very easy to say. One needs to be an outstanding manager to handle that.

To conclude it depends on the person. What does he/she want? Do they want the balance with enough money to pay the bills and a little more or do you want a lot of money and work satisfaction over having more time with family and friends? I personally would prefer the latter.

You see these people on TV who gave up their high-paying, stressful jobs for something more "down to earth" with much lower pay, and they claim they are much happier. But are they?

When I was working my little job before college, one of the women I mentioned in my original post needed to get her car repaired and the estimate was over $500. She was practically devastated. $500 was like an impossible amount of money to her, and she was certainly stressed about that!

So maybe there is always going to be high stress. It just depends on how you want it delivered.

littlecordelera said:

I know a lot of blue-collar people who have a perfectly fine house, adequate cars, and enough disposable income to enjoy their hobbies. They have family and friends and good times, but none of them talk about job satisfaction.

I love my job, but it is stressful, and I am beginning to wonder if it is worth it.

So which is better: an unfulfilling job with no lingering stress, or a fulfilling job that sometimes keeps you awake at night?

Click to expand...

I think you're putting too narrow a definition on "Blue Collar" jobs.

Before joining the Air Force I had two jobs, both "blue collar" although your scenario only accounts for one.

Immediately before enlisting, I worked a Union job in a lumber mill as "unskilled labor" -- mostly "pulling green chain" -- sorting rough-cut, green lumber. It was a "nine-to-five" relatively no-stress job. I hated that job, and still hate union rules.

My first job was for the USDA Forest Service. I washed trucks for six months or so, 16 hours a week, until I turned 18. Then I moved up to "Slash Crew" and went out into the woods with an axe and piled up trash wood so it could be burned the next winter. Slash Crew was also the "fire suppression crew" so a portion of the time was spent learning to dig fire lines and various means of extinguishing a fire, with and without water.

The last month and a half of that job was one of the worst fire seasons in years. I worked at least one 36 hour shift with eight hours off until I was back for a week of 12 hour shifts.

For the entire nine months working for the forest service, I don't think there were more than a half dozen days that were the same as any other. I get very nostalgic for that job.

The point is that "Blue Collar" jobs can be just as fulfilling, stressful, boring, repetitive, etc, as "White Collar" jobs. "Blue Collar" tends to be more dangerous than "white collar" but that, too, is an over-generalization.

I think a better division for your question would be "Salaried or hourly?" I've worked both and prefer hourly -- as long as over-time is an option. Salaried tends to get abused by management because you're paid the same whether you work six hours or sixteen hours.

littlecordelera said:

I have what most people would consider a high-powered, white-collar job. I love what I do, but the job stress can be enormous. I was killing time in these forums, night before last, at 2:00 AM, because job stress was keeping me awake.

Click to expand...

I hear that. I have that same difficulty getting to sleep at sensible hours, for similar reasons. But...

Before I started college, I worked in the office at this place that had a massive warehouse. In one part of that warehouse a group of women did the same task, at the same workstation, with the same stuff, every single day. They had no decisions to make, and nothing ever changed. It was a take-this-do-that type of job, and I once asked one of them how she could stand to work such an extremely boring, mindless job. She said, and I quote, "When that clock strikes five, honey, I'm done."

Click to expand...

Jobs like that can be done by robots, and increasingly that's what's happening. That doesn't necessarily mean a decline in human jobs - as the article notes, some of these companies are actually increasing their staff, because automation has allowed their businesses to expand. But the human jobs that remain may not be what you're after; some of them are effectively white-collar decision-making positions, and some are really crappy. Google "Amazon picker" and you'll find dozens like that.

I'm not saying you can't find the sort of blue-collar job you're thinking of, but if you do go this way, do research on the industry you're looking at and where it's headed.

Weird Harold said:

I think you're putting too narrow a definition on "Blue Collar" jobs.

Click to expand...

I was trying to avoid putting any definition on it, for the very reasons you mention. Generalization of the terms was intended, and as part of that generalization, at least in my experience, blue-collar workers don't usually speak of their jobs as being fulfilling.

Or do they? Does a factory worker or a receptionist or a bricklayer or an electrician find his job fulfilling? I suppose they could, but is that the norm?

littlecordelera said:

I was trying to avoid putting any definition on it, for the very reasons you mention. Generalization of the terms was intended, and as part of that generalization, at least in my experience, blue-collar workers don't usually speak of their jobs as being fulfilling.

Or do they? Does a factory worker or a receptionist or a bricklayer or an electrician find his job fulfilling? I suppose they could, but is that the norm?

Click to expand...

Factory workers -- especially assembly-line workers -- are less likely to find their job fulfilling than a bricklayer, plumber, or electrician. The key is probably variety for most people. Some people don't deal well with variety and the highly structured nature of assembly-line work is what they need to be happy. Others need variety to ward off boredom and provide an ever-changing challenge.

Artisans are essentially self-employed blue-collar workers -- I think any blue collar job that produces tangible results, such as construction, machinist, painter, potter is more likely to provide satisfaction than a white-collar job shuffling computer bits from one database to another.

What about occultism, that produces neither blue nor white collar jobs, but blows it all to the corner and makes money from nowhere while retaining its integrity?

Admittedly, it's limited. But within that time you do what you want.

I follow Hendrix. He knew.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyp6VXr_aqM

I'm sure Hendrix would say "Oh why do we have to play this old Hey Joe stuff man, it's crap!"

bigmane said:

What about occultism,

Click to expand...

No, no, no. That will never do. I hate black lipstick.

Well money is important but it is not everything. A white collar job will make you happy in many ways like the job fame, recognition, the money to buy things you really want to get without worrying but that doesn't guarantee you happiness. Different things make different people happy. It's about finding what makes you happy more.

So be it white collar job or blue collar there are always two sides to the coin.

I've really enjoyed reading people's perspectives on this.

reloadeddd said:

Well money is important but it is not everything. A white collar job will make you happy in many ways like the job fame, recognition, the money to buy things you really want to get without worrying but that doesn't guarantee you happiness. Different things make different people happy. It's about finding what makes you happy more.

So be it white collar job or blue collar there are always two sides to the coin.

Click to expand...

And that points to what is strange about me even asking the question.

I am happy. I have a good marriage, a good circle of friends, we live comfortably, I love my job, I have a healthy self-esteem. Sometimes, I feel like I have the world by the balls.

But I can't help but wonder what life would be like without the high level of job stress.

Is it possible to live carefree without becoming a Buddhist monk?

Maybe you just want more. You want to be happy always even though you are most of the time. You are blessed with so many things that most people don't have.

I think if you maybe manage your work even better than you already are then you will be fine.

Maybe you want to try some new activities?

littlecordelera said:

And that points to what is strange about me even asking the question.

I am happy. I have a good marriage, a good circle of friends, we live comfortably, I love my job, I have a healthy self-esteem. Sometimes, I feel like I have the world by the balls.

But I can't help but wonder what life would be like without the high level of job stress.

Is it possible to live carefree without becoming a Buddhist monk?

Click to expand...

reloadeddd said:

Maybe you just want more. You want to be happy always even though you are most of the time.

Click to expand...

Ok, look. If you're going to come to my thread and remind me of my less-than-attractive personality traits, I'll have you thrown out!

Completely misinterpreted to be honest. I didn't mean it that way at all. Sorry if you felt so. *sigh*

littlecordelera said:

Ok, look. If you're going to come to my thread and remind me of my less-than-attractive personality traits, I'll have you thrown out!

Click to expand...

reloadeddd said:

Completely misinterpreted to be honest. I didn't mean it that way at all. Sorry if you felt so. *sigh*

Click to expand...

I was making a joke.

Your point was spot on. I am trying to he happy all the time, and that's not possible. Reading your post was a realization for me.

Forgive me. Sometimes my sense of humor is difficult to see.

Oops! This is why I need to get more sleep haha. Silly me..I didn't realize it was a joke and thought you actually meant it.

littlecordelera said:

I was making a joke.

Your point was spot on. I am trying to he happy all the time, and that's not possible. Reading your post was a realization for me.

Forgive me. Sometimes my sense of humor is difficult to see.

Click to expand...

The core of this problem is in the "flow model"

Notice the zone in the middle where challenges and abilities match.

Move outside that, and you are either stressed or bored.

I really enjoy learning new things and developing equipment and procedures. And I am really bad at repetitive tasks. Third time around I start experimenting...

reloadeddd said:

Oops! This is why I need to get more sleep haha. Silly me..I didn't realize it was a joke and thought you actually meant it.

Click to expand...

I said I had "less-than-attractive personality traits."

Me? With less-than-attractive personality traits?

LOL!!!

I swear! Sometimes I kill myself!

Cumference said:

The core of this problem is in the "flow model"

Notice the zone in the middle where challenges and abilities match.

Move outside that, and you are either stressed or bored.

Click to expand...

Oh, yes. The ole flow model diagram, where Bubble 1 points to either Bubble 2 or 3 but never directly to Bubble 4.

It's a good thing.

I'm sure people who know you well or close to you would completely disagree to you having "less-than-attractive personality traits".

Don't be so hard on yourself.

littlecordelera said:

I said I had "less-than-attractive personality traits."

Me? With less-than-attractive personality traits?

LOL!!!

I swear! Sometimes I kill myself!

Click to expand...