What jobs are good for acquiring useful skills?

[bostonimproper]

One of the things I feel like I’m missing in my job and life is a feeling of self-improvement, learning, and meaningful skill acquisition. Particularly things that could be useful to me in “real life.”

In my idle musings, I think it might be nice post-FIRE to use jobs as a means for acquiring training and skill-building. Ideally:
-something tangible with my hands to counteract a decade of sitting in front of a computer all day
-wouldn’t expose me to environmental hazards
-wouldn’t require me to drive, which limits a lot of trades
-limited up front $ investment to pursue, e.g no med school

Pay wouldn’t really matter because of the financial cushion.

Has anyone else pursued apprenticeships or other work for the purpose of skill-building? Any recommendations on vocations that may fit the bill?

[mountainFrugal]

I think that acquiring some of the basic skills first would put you in a better position to earn money on the job. Chicken and egg problem. Youtube has most of this, but if you want to dabble first to see if you like it, then ...

Off the top of my head quick google for Boston and various hands on skills:
https://www.nbss.edu/ This place looks pretty cool for many skills.
https://www.mass.gov/service-details/sh ... chen-space For learning to cook and maybe getting paid for making specialty items as part of someone's small business.
https://www.massbike.org/ Bicycle repair classes?
https://www.bostonmakers.org/ Maker space with many shared tools.

[AxelHeyst]

In between jobs, a friend of mine did handyman (/person) work on taskrabbit or similar apps. He'd just look up stuff he didn't know how to do, and be honest when he was out of his depth. He learned a lot of random fixing stuff skills that way.

[guitarplayer]

I work providing holistic care for adults with learning disabilities. The work is within the framework of, lets call it, Steiner education. There is lots of pressure from mainstream to turn such places into hospital-like-institutions (Covid also is a bit of spanner in the wheel of communal living promoted here), but all in all I have found the experience excellent in honing a very wide range of skills, from cooking, woodworking, bike maintenance, arts, crafts, candle making, singing, music making, obviously caring for other people. Hardly feels like work, really. The place is based in a nature-rich setting and it is an option to learn about foraging etc which I do.

[jennypenny]

Most CSAs have a work requirement and usually welcome as much help as members are willing to provide. It's not a huge investment, you get food in return, and you can learn a lot about gardening if you put the time in.

[Ego]

I believe the best way to go about useful skill acquisition is to determine the skills that you want to acquire, figure out who gets paid to learn them and then figure out how to get that job.

A while ago I became an EMT with the idea that I would learn about emergency medicine. I certainly could have continued as a hospital based EMT and just stuck my nose in any situations I found interesting. For me cost/benefit was not worth it.

If you don't know which skills would be useful you could sign on with a temp agency and experience a wide variety of professions. Then focus in on those that would allow you to become skilled.

[WFJ]

I believe you are asking about "Real options" of different professions. It would depend on what you define as "useful", useful for future employment (data analysis, programming, healthcare) or useful for life (personal health, diet, building, fixing, maintaining systems).

I always ticked off as many cost-free designations at megacorps (20+) and rarely got much benefit from them beyond a few trips and obligatory raises for added designations.

I'd drive to a Lowe's/Home Depot and find out when they have tutorials on how to fix stuff and see what interests you.

[theanimal]

In regards to medical training, volunteering as a firefighter can be a good way to get skills if your area has such programs. Often times one benefit is that they fund any medical training (such as EMT) as well as any fire related training.

[bostonimproper]

Thanks all. Appreciate all the feedback and ideas.

@WFJ to clarify, “useful” here means useful for life.

[Married2aSwabian]

I think you have to know where your passions lie or may lie.

Not for everyone, but jobs that have paid me dividends include:

Working in a one man kitchen making deep dish pizzas for a family owned restaurant at 17-18: being able to crank out a good pizza and hustle in a kitchen are invaluable skills.

Work in a foreign country to learn the language and culture. Not for everyone or so easy to set up, but can pay huge lifelong dividends. If you were semi ERE you could do WWOOFing, Peace Core or similar I guess. Teaching ESL in a foreign country is also a good one. Going to live and work in Germany is the single best thing I’ve done / opportunity I am most grateful for to date.

If you’re interested in acquiring handyman skills, but not sure or don’t want to commit $ to tools, Habitat for Humanity is a great way to learn and find out. I’ve been a hobby woodworker for most of my life and still learned a lot on Habitat project some years ago.

In HS, i also worked in a bakery - clean up job! Now, I’m here to tell you this was the least glamorous job I’ve ever had … and there’ve been many! … but you wanna talk about learning about frugality? Man, if you run a bakery, you figure out a way to use / reuse everything and keep costs down … including pay for clean up boys! Kinda makes you not want to eat anything from a bakery again, come to think of it.

[shaz]

Working on a horse farm taught me lots of useful skills including fence repair, knot tying, hay bale stacking, composting, tractor driving, leather care and basic leatherwork, and of course handling horses.

Working for a newspaper taught me to respect deadlines and proofread accurately.

Spending a summer building bike wheels taught me ... how to build and true bike wheels.

When I was a guide at a camp for blind people I learned how to rappel off a cliff while blindfolded, shoot a handgun, play golf, pour water from a pitcher into a glass with my eyes closed, read Braille, retrieve a canoe from the bottom of a river, be comfortable having a stranger hold my arm, and give very clear verbal instructions.

I regret never having spent time as a whitewater raft or kayak guide because I would like to be better at reading a river.

[guitarplayer]

Yeah one way to look at it is that it is all "real life". Reading the OP again, I feel it is about counterbalancing the current main focus. I initiated a thread about balance in lifestyle questions but it went a bit damp squid.

@bostonimproper, funnily enough, I am now acquiring the type of skills you have been using in your decade of computer work and definitely think of them as useful in real life!

You can also read the ERE book again, it's full of suggestions.

[7Wannabe5]

Since you are interested in starting a family, you might consider working with very young children. I worked in baby nurseries starting at age 12 (almost certainly illegal these days ) and it helped me in being very relaxed with my own children. OTOH, it also put me off ever putting my own kids in a nursery.

[WFJ]

Thanks all. Appreciate all the feedback and ideas.

@WFJ to clarify, “useful” here means useful for life.

Obtain CPR license, see where it leads you. I've picked up many odd jobs (lifeguard, coach) with getting CPR. Most of the time the reason the local Y or community center is offering these certifications is they need to hire people with that skill, no interview process and flexible hours.

[Roark]

I just get jobs for 1-2 years and then move to something new. Try being an arborist, entry level carpenter, electrician and maybe drainage for about a year each. Do some concrete, roofing, tiling and painting work for a shorter time because they're tiring and you get the skill pretty quick. Most of these things pay cash. I do recommend being a butcher for a while if you plan to hunt or raise a certain number of livestock for your food. Planting fruit trees and berry bushes as well as gardening can just be done on your own and with youtube. Learning to hunt is the one where you really need to find a good friend.