[masraum]

Originally Posted by AC78

I love working with my hands, DIY, working on my 911 etc and always regretted not studying a trade in my younger years.
I’m strongly considering training to be a bricklayer, which would complement a side business I have cleaning chimneys.
Appreciate any advice, particularly from masons.
I will likely return to an office job eventually but
Would love to have brickie in my skill set. Cheers

I think that being able to change directions 180º and having the balls to give it a shot is fantastic. If you want to give it a shot, do it.

Originally Posted by flatbutt

My son took a break from his career to do woodworking for a bit. He enjoyed and the break confirmed that his original choice of a career was the correct one for him.

Many years ago, I got laid off (early 2001 when the market crashed). The company that canned us (a ton of us) paid for and sent us to, not a head hunter, but a company that was supposed to help you fill out a resume, interview, we took personality tests to determine what we should be doing, etc....

The personality test thing was interesting. You'd get some scores that were ranked. The highest ranked item was supposed to be what you did for a living. The second ranked item (in my case, working with my hands (cars, carpentry, etc...) was the kind of thing that they said would be better as a hobby than a job.

Originally Posted by Crowbob

I think the allure of laying bricks for a living will wear off quickly. My dad was a bricklayer for 20 years. As a hobby it would be fun but as a day-in, day-out job it would get old.

I went to college instead of going into business with my dad. He was disappointed. From a corporate job to construction is quite the leap. Different worlds.

I've often heard that if you take something that you enjoy as a hobby and try to turn it into a job you can end up hating it and not even enjoying it as a hobby any more.