What jobs need climbers?

Calebwrote:

Tree work is my current career and it’s a fair living.  

Care to share more about the pros and cons?

Some of the cons:

The work is dirty, dusty, loud and tiring.  It risks sudden injury, but also over use and long term exposure.  Your hearing deteriorates, your skin bakes, your lungs and sinuses take in too much.  It’s dangerous in a way that can end or permanently change your life.

Your clientelle can be very entitled.  Tree work is typically for people that have something resembling an emergency, or for people with enough discretionary income to make their property look nice.  Most of those people are very nice, but plenty think they own you because they’re paying.  Or just don’t see you as more than a meat suit with a chainsaw.  

The work is not consistent in rural areas.  Tree workers in small towns often work seasonally or part time.  If you want to make money consistently, it takes large institutions (like utility companies, municipalities and universities) or a dense population.  

It’s not a job that confronts social problems.  If you have idealistic goals for your career, cutting trees probably won’t get you there.  It doesn’t enrich the next generation, save people from disease, feed a community or rectify social injustice.

Half the job is moving material.  Picking up sticks and logs and moving them off site is the bedrock of the profession.  We all do it.  A lot.  And it’s a slog.

Some pros:

It’s fun!  You spend a lot of time scrambling around on giant plants.  You use sophisticated and powerful machines.  You solve 3d puzzles at a large scale.  There’s all kinds of interesting gear and rope tricks.

You’ll get pretty fit.  It’s amazing how many tree workers live off of cheap beer, cigarettes and Burger King but still have a six pack and a grip of steel.  The work is full body exercise.

No neck ties, cubicles or TPS reports.  Your office is an F750 and a shady back yard.  You live a major portion of your life outside and it feels good.

Great views, lots of time to think and a new job most days.  

Cool people.  Tree workers can handle risk and know how to get shit done.  They have interesting stories.  They’re good at being themselves.  They’re usually easy to talk to and have clever, versatile minds.  And they know how to work as a team.  

The clients are often cool too.  They appreciate trees and lots of other stuff as well.  They didn’t call you to fulfill an Amazon order.  They understand your personality affects the work you do and they consider that.

The work stays at work.  We park the trucks and we’re done until we punch back in.  No weekend Slack messages or other office creep.

And the money ain’t bad.  Most tree workers don’t make Seattle wages, but it’s a skilled trade that most people won’t or can’t do.  If you’re a good worker, you’re wanted.  Making rent or groceries shouldn’t be a problem.  It’s almost always a local job, so the business has an interest in you being housed and healthy.  Employers need people who won’t break the machines, piss off clients, or create insurance claims.  Competency is rewarded.

Architects!    

You will not like my opinion on architects. 

Here's an arborist I saw the other day in Thailand. Climbing the tree barefoot and hacking limbs off with a machete as he goes. King.

Dishwasher

Maid

Janitorial Services

Busboy

Grill cook

Checker at 7-11.

Standard mountain town dirtbag jobs.

Laugh all you want; those are hard jobs to get in Yosemite, Boulder or Bishop once winter comes lol.

Mark Starrwrote:

Here's an arborist I saw the other day in Thailand. Climbing the tree barefoot and hacking limbs off with a machete as he goes. King.

Being a former arborist, this both horrifies me and impresses me! That's awesome

David Lwrote:

High voltage linesmen? Gotta be up high with a bunch of specialized gear, good body awareness, and your wits about you.

This is what I do, work on 200ft+ transmission lines. Not a whole lot of rope work, but get to work pretty high up and is always fun when you gotta climb the towers 

Kevinmurraywrote:

You will not like my opinion on architects. 

T1.  You can do better.  

i would say that almost no job actually NEEDS climbing experience, except obviously guiding.

Another tree guy here.

Some of the biggest cons for me-  In the spring when conditions for rock climbing are prime, I'm usually working 6 days a week to keep on top of things, so there is very little time for the rocks. The other big issue is that if you really hurt yourself, you can be out of work for a while during the recovery. Also the normal tendon issues that rock climbers experience take for-freakin'-ever to heal because you're not able to give them the rest that they need because of your day job. 

The pay is good, I do like the seasonality of my work, and I love the actual work that I do (been doing it for 26 years now). 

Job that you DON’T need any climbing experience for:

Writing and directing a Hollywood film about climbing. 

Edgewrote:

Job that you DON’T need any climbing experience for:

Mountain Project keyboard warrior

Edgewrote:

Job that you DON’T need any climbing experience for:

monkey wrenching 

grug gwrote:

Mountain Project keyboard warrior

Is that why you're here?    

grug gwrote:

Mountain Project keyboard warrior

What’s the starting salary?

Calebwrote:

What’s the starting salary?

It's paid in tears generated. :)