I started my career as a plumber (exterior - digging up water mains), and currently I am a corporate IT security engineer.
While the plumbing part was absolutely harder physically, the work was overall more enjoyable and much less stressful. I was outside a lot of the time, I got to play with heavy equipment, and most of the time there wasn’t much urgency to the tasks. I never stared at the ceiling at 2 am worrying what tomorrow would bring.
In corporate IT security? There are days I don’t leave my desk for 6-8 hours straight. I feel a constant need to be connected, and I’m always planning, strategizing and worrying about the next project.
Everyone talks about the sitting at the desk thing, which is an issue, but corporate life is also much more mentally taxing. And that crap adds up over 10-20 years.
I went the career firefighter route.
Pros: tons of time off, rewarding, never boring, great pay and benefits. Will actually be able to retire at 55.
Cons: pretty much guaranteed to get cancer and it’s not even the expected stuff from fires. The AFFF foam we used for years had PFAS – a carcinogen. Even better, it turns out even brand new, unused turnout gear is absolutely saturated in PFAS too.
Oh and stress, cumulative injuries, etc.
It’s like we made a bad deal with a devil.
Oh you want to be fireproof? Sure. Here’s the catch: cancer.
