So you want to be a plumber?

The skilled trades have become hot of late. That has many young people dropping plans to attend college. Meanwhile, some desk-bound professionals are said to gaze longingly at nearby construction sites. They daydream about trading spreadsheets for tool belts. They imagine becoming plumbers, electricians or carpenters -- welders, riggers or crane operators. The list of hands-on jobs that require real training is long. Why the change of hearts? Three reasons: 1. Artificial intelligence will soon do the thinking required for many of these office occupations. 2. The realization that electricians and plumbers often make more money than a claims processor -- sometimes a lot more. 3. Four-year college can cost mountains of money, whereas a skilled trade can be learned in half that time, during which a student can make money as an apprentice. But before you replace your briefcase with safety glasses or loafers with waterproof boots, consider what these hands-on jobs entail. Toward that end, I interviewed a master plumber who also happens to be my husband, Craig. The work can be grueling. At times, Craig says, he's had to carry 150-pound water heaters on his back up several flights. He's done plumbing jobs in unheated new construction when temperatures cratered into the single digits. And some work is quite unpleasant. Craig recalls being summoned to a flooded basement in an 1890s house. The "water" was sewage, and it came up to his thighs. "I tried and I tried to get this drain unclogged," he said. "Wasn't happening. I used a submersible pump to pump out the water. But then I got down to the drain. I tried snaking it, then found that the drain not only had to be replaced but connected 30 feet down to the middle of a busy street." Plumbing is physical labor often combined with advanced problem-solving. Most customers are nice, but a few are not. Another thing would-be plumbers need to understand is the considerable training required before the big pay kicks in. Craig did the two-year plumbing course at New England Tech. Plumbers have to be proficient in English and basic math (you had to figure out angles and lengths of pipe), and so most students had to take classes to get up to speed. Craig learned all that in high school and could skip the classes. But most enrollees had to take them, and some couldn't get past those basics. The student becomes an apprentice to a master plumber and so starts making money right away. Apprentices cannot do jobs on their own, not legally, anyway. It can take four years before an apprentice gets licensed as a journeyman who can be sent out but remains under supervision. Becoming a master plumber easily takes five years. But the money is real. How much can a master plumber make? "Anywhere from $30,000 to a million," according to Craig. The higher numbers go to entrepreneurial types who employ others. Women are moving into these trades, but the branding still sells a kind of muscled manliness. (It worked for me.) That explains the popularity of rugged Carhartt jackets and indestructible Red Wing boots, especially among professionals. High-fashion boutiques now sell them. Craig would stop at a Starbucks every morning at 6 a.m. and identify the lawyers in Carhartt by their soft hands. Want to be a plumber? "The bad part is the burns, the cuts, the colds, the stitches, often the heat. The strain on your body." The good part: "You're not just leaving an office with some program that you screwed around with. It's something that I can look at and admire the outcome. Plus, there's always work." That's the deal, and it's not a bad one. Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com.