The Case for Trade School: Why the Jobs That Built America Will Outlast the Ones That Built the Internet

When I graduated high school, everyone told us we needed to learn to code. The future, they said, was in tech. Computers were the golden ticket, and if you didn’t want to live paycheck to paycheck, you needed to be sitting behind a screen.

Fast forward a decade, and now the computers are coding themselves.

AI has already written half the job descriptions that used to come with corner offices and startup stock options. Meanwhile, the folks fixing your tractor, tagging your calves, pumping your septic, or building your front porch aren’t getting replaced by ChatGPT anytime soon.

The Trades Are Tried and True

Here’s the thing: trade jobs don’t trend. They endure.

The very industries that built America — agriculture, construction, and manufacturing — are the ones holding it together today. While “the next big thing” in Silicon Valley changes every six months, the person out in the field hooking up irrigation, wiring the barn, or installing the grain bin sensor is still essential.

And the demand is real. A recent report by McKinsey & Company shows that U.S. manufacturing and construction face a hiring crunch for skilled workers, with wages in those sectors up more than 20 percent since early 2020. Another study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that America will need an additional 140,000 electricians, HVAC technicians, heavy equipment operators, welders, and construction laborers by 2030 just to keep up with infrastructure and technology buildouts.

CBS News, citing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and a Deloitte–Manufacturing Institute report, noted that roughly 400,000 skilled trade jobs are currently unfilled in the U.S.—a number projected to approach 2 million by 2033.

College Isn’t the Enemy, It’s Just Not the Only Path

Don’t get me wrong. A four-year degree isn’t bad. We need engineers, scientists, teachers, and doctors. Some universities, especially those with strong agriculture and technical programs, are doing tremendous work connecting classroom learning to real-world skills.

But we’ve got to stop treating college like the only ticket to success. For a lot of kids, trade school or an apprenticeship might be the smarter, faster, and far more affordable route to a good living.

Here’s the reality: the average college graduate walks away with about $28,000 in student debt, while many trade programs cost a fraction of that — often $10,000 or less. And trade programs usually take one to two years, which means you’re out in the world earning instead of owing.

Meanwhile, a growing number of students spend four, five, sometimes six years in college trying to “find themselves.” We’ve started calling them “professional students” — bright young adults who just haven’t quite decided what they want to do yet, but are racking up tuition bills like it’s a competitive sport. Nothing wrong with figuring life out, but at some point you have to clock in somewhere other than a coffee shop.

The truth is, while some kids are still studying, others are out there running their own welding businesses, building homes, or working as linemen making six figures. Some are learning the business of the family farm — managing cattle, repairing equipment, marketing products, and keeping operations alive for the next generation.

Different paths, same destination: a solid, honest living.

AI Might Be Smart, But It Can’t Swing a Hammer

Let’s be blunt. AI can generate code, analyze data, and maybe even design something clever — shoot, it can even be your girlfriend if you’re a real weirdo — but it’s not stepping into a service truck or crawling under a tractor in July. It can’t weld a bridge, birth a calf, or fix a leak in the middle of a thunderstorm.

The future isn’t tech versus trades. It’s tech and trades. The people who can weld, drive, fix, build, and grow will always be essential. And when they learn to use technology as a tool — including AI — they’ll be unstoppable.

Let’s Normalize the Next Generation of Builders

We need to start telling our kids that working with your hands is just as noble, intelligent, and worthy as working from a desk. Because it is.

America needs thinkers and doers. And in case we’ve forgotten, the ones who built our cities, fed our people, and powered our nation weren’t sitting behind keyboards. They were wearing hard hats, work gloves, and steel-toe boots.

Maybe it’s time we start telling kids, “Be proud to build something.”

Because when the servers crash or the drones can’t fly, it won’t be the programmers who rebuild the world — it will be the tradesmen, farmers, and craftsmen who never stopped.

At Catalyst Communications Network, we’ll keep cheering for the folks who build, fix, and feed America — the ones no algorithm can ever replace.

Alex Shewbirt (Head of Content)