How are you making money?

James Wolffwrote:

Do you mean in the sense that most sustainable psych careers are masters level or above? It is definitely not due to demand, though I can appreciate that the road to some specialties is longer/more expensive than others. 

I think the other neat thing about the fields you mentioned is the opportunity for travel contracts. Not remote, but allows you to rotate to different areas. Difficulty may vary depending on specialty, but I know some PT's, OT's, and respiratory therapist's that have enjoyed the benefits of travel contracts as a means to access more climbing opportunities. Point being, a lot of healthcare jobs will be good launching points for this lifestyle. 

Yes they generally require more schooling and are more competitive to get into

What do yall do for work to fund your climbing?

Architect

Does your job let you get out very often?

Three days a week, not including vacations or unpaid leave.  

How often can you afford to go on a climbing trip?

Two to three times a year, one to two weeks at a time.  

Yurywrote:

Quite a few people on this forum work as Registered Nurses with good enough money and typically 4 x 12 hours shifts per week that allow at least 3 days off every week.

correction, RN's work 3 x 12 hour shifts/week = 4 days off every week = 208 days off a year.

I've been a Nurse for a minute and absolutely love it! 

What do yall do for work to fund your climbing?

working 156 days a year

Does your job let you get out very often?

lets me get out 208 days a year if I wanted (realistically I get out 100 ish days a year)

How often can you afford to go on a climbing trip?

Monthly if I wanted:  my last job, I worked 6 on, 8 off - which meant I had two 8-day vacations a month.

didn't even need to take PTO if I wanted to go on a climbing trip.

As a software developer, I can recommend my career path to climbers. 

The current software "crash" is all hype - the big companies are doing layoffs, but that is par for the course for many big companies. It's a bit harder to get hired at the moment than it was a year or so ago, but that just makes it on par with many other fields. The medium sized company where I work was on a hiring tear for a while, and is now happily staffed but always looking for experienced, competent developers. We do boring, behind the scenes work that makes society run ever so slightly more efficiently, like most software companies. I get paid decently, but not extravagantly. It's a solid industry that is likely to continue growing in the future.

The climbing potential is good. I usually have one meeting per day in the morning. Then I can hammer out my work, and as long as I'm delivering code that works on time and answer slack messages promptly, no one really cares what I'm doing. Read: plenty of punching out early to go to the crag. Plus I can work remotely - with starlink and a van, that means the best crags can be my back yard year round if I want. I get about 3 weeks vacation per year, but realistically, I could quit and be unemployed for months or maybe years and my company would hire me back immediately - because they know I deliver code that works on time and answer my slack messages. When I've told my managers that I was working from a van in the woods or in a foreign country to go climbing, their response was "That's awesome, send me pictures! I can't travel anymore because I have kids."

As for fears about AI - I'm unconcerned. A narrow-focus ai like ChatGPT can only function in a small context, and is often wrong. I could certainly see the industry increasingly leaning on AI as a useful tool - but the idea that the whole industry will collapse seems unlikely. Actual general AI could certainly put me out of a job - but it is quite hilarious that everyone is discussing AI taking software jobs like they are in particular danger. The creation of a general AI will likely be a paradigm shift in all of human society, causing rapid changes in the social and political order that can't possibly be foreseen. If I'm out of a job, so are all the other engineers, accountants, lawyers,  journalists, copywriters, salespeople, inventory managers, business analysts, digital artists, marketers, etc, etc, etc. If your job can be done by staring at a screen, general AI would wipe that job out. And most all other jobs would be not far behind.

Stunt cock in the High Desert

Check out the concept of career capital.  It’s introduced in the book “so good they can’t ignore you”.  The idea is you get so good at something you can dictate your own hours (and go climbing when it’s sunny and work when it’s rainy). I added the part in parenthesis 

Spopepro O.wrote:

But fr... we need teachers. Badly. Please consider if you're at least marginally interested.

Nothing better for the education of kids than a bunch of marginally interested teachers! 

TJ Bindseilwrote:

Check out the concept of career capital.  It’s introduced in the book “so good they can’t ignore you”.  The idea is you get so good at something you can dictate your own hours (and go climbing when it’s sunny and work when it’s rainy). I added the part in parenthesis 

I take it you are in some way associated with the sales of this book.  

P W wrote:

Best advice yet. "Do what you love and you'll never work a day the rest of your life." Also, "Be careful what you're good at." I think both apply. 

Kid is fresh outage HS and likely does not care about the impact of AI on future markets. Nor is he an RN. So I would reccomend what worked for me. Walk into the local rock shoe resole shop, look the owner in the eye, give him a firm handshake, and tell him you're prepared to work when conditions permit.

Better yet, tell him you'll collect the customers' return shipping payments. Then keep it. You'll be RICH in no time!

Andrew Ricewrote:

Nothing better for the education of kids than a bunch of marginally interested teachers! 

You should see who we are putting in classrooms right now…

P W wrote:

look the owner in the eye, give him a firm handshake, and tell him you're prepared to work when conditions permit.

Is that what they called it back then?

abandon moderation wrote:

...

Anyhow on the topic of a good way to make money for the OP: get a job that requires high skill and physically complex labor. Something like a Lineman; the pay is great right now, you can still find good union jobs with it in California (aka the climbing capitol of the USA). It's also the type of job that's going to be resilient to AI and automation. Or if you like tech, I hear there's openings in the AI safety field...

This (lineman) is what i would recommend to folks who aren't interested in the college path.  you can make a shit-ton of money doing interesting/fun work.  there is a ginormous need for them for the forseeable future.

Spopepro O.wrote:

You should see who we are putting in classrooms right now…

Oh, believe me, I have. 

Maritime work crewing a commercial vessel. You work a rotational schedule, say of 4 months on/4 off or similar. And, you get paid well and have no expenses for the duration of the contract. Can attend a maritime academy and start off as a third mate/third engineer, or get some basic credentials and courses and start off as an OS.

Not how I make money but it’s a great option for money, career stability/growth, and time off.  

I work at a psychiatric facility for adolescent boys. I get to take them climbing every week :)

Trust fund

Field archeologist. Making $21/hr + per diem and mileage reimbursement, and work is on a project-to-project basis so taking PTO is no issue. Plenty of work whenever I want it, which is nice! 

Will Murdockwrote:

Field archeologist. Making $21/hr + per diem and mileage reimbursement, and work is on a project-to-project basis so taking PTO is no issue. Plenty of work whenever I want it, which is nice! 

Dr. Jones?

I got very friggen lucky out of college. Wound up in Colo Springs, 1 mile away from GoG. Climbed there every friggen day after work. (3:30)  and created the best friends and partners, and life experiences. Had groomed a new partner, and like we rocked up and down sheepsnose and turkey. fug best pard yet (Tom).