11/24/2025
Looking for a profession to get into that will bring high income and less debt? Try a trade1
This popped up in my newsfeed this morning, and made me smile, albeit, ruefully. Does it make me look prescient? Like a man with his fingers on the pulse of change?
Before you answer, consider this. Back in 2005, Nvidia was trading for $.28 a share. Today, the company is worth $5 trillion. If I had a crystal ball, you may rest assured Iโd have invested every spare nickel I had in this stock, 20 years ago. But of course, 20 years ago, Nvidia was just another unpronounceable Silicon Valley company that needed to buy a vowel, and I was just another guy crawling through sewers on Discovery. I didnโt know then what I know now โ I only knew what I learned from Dirty Jobs โ namely, that the skills gap was wide, and getting wider, that โCollege for Allโ was a canard, that taking shop class out of high school was a monumentally foolish thing to do, that skilled tradespeople were retiring a LOT faster that they were being replaced, and that ultimately, things were going to have to get a lot worse before the grown-ups in the room started paying attention. And, while I had no idea who Jensen Huang was, I did believe that โ when the time came - the CEOโs of our most valuable companies would play a huge roll in reinvigorating the skilled trades.
Well, the time has come. Smart people have done the math and concluded that we have a very serious problem thatโs going to affect the entire country. Obviously, I think Jensen is right, and I couldnโt be happier for the plumbers and electricians who will certainly become millionaires. (I just met a few myself, at a Data Center in Texas. Thirty years old and $240K a year. With no college debt...) But of course, their success is being fueled, in large part, by their collective scarcity, and thatโs nothing less than a matter of national security - especially in the world of ship-building. The Secretary of the Navy, John Phelan, hits the nail squarely on the head. https://bit.ly/4qW4poi From the article:
โFor the last decade, weโve taught people how to code,โ he noted. โFor the next decade, teaching people how to use their hands will be the most relevant skill needed in the workplace.โ
Just to replace the pipefitters, welders, ship fitters, and structural fabricators needed to repair current ships and construct the new ones needed, Phelan noted, requires one-quarter of a million newly trained American workers.
โWe need your help to restore the idea that working in the trades is not just honorable, itโs indispensable,โ Phelan told the audience. โBecause when we talk about national security, weโre really talking about economic security, industrial security, and the dignity of work.โ
Needless to say, the Secretary and I are in violent agreement. Toward that end, Iโm on a plane, again, headed to The Pentagon, where Iโll meet with several members of the cabinet to discuss the possible ways that mikeroweWORKS can assist with a broad-based effort to reinvigorate the skilled trades. I have no idea what will come of it, because I really donโt have a crystal ball. But then again, I donโt need one to know that the Feds will have a massive roll to play in what comes next, along with every CEO of every major US corporation. And I for one, will be very curious to see who among them will step up in a meaningful way.
After all, it's only a matter of national security...
