Thanks! I always wanted to make stuff, and when the restaurant I worked at closed down I decided to go to school for a trade and I chose cabinetmaking. I got a bachelors certificate in a one year, four semester course where I learned all the basics and enough to get my foot in the door of most shops without having to push a broom or sand for a few years. I ended up having to sand for a few years at my first shop anyways lol.
I wouldn't recommend the trade honestly, It's very niche with little requirement for skilled workers so the pay sucks and there's zero union presence since most custom shops only employ around six people on the floor. The plus side of the job are that its indoors, it tends to have stable hours (monday - friday), low interpersonal interaction, and is relatively physically undemanding.
If you want to learn as a creative outlet, you can most certainly learn everything you need to know from books and youtube, although if there's a intro woodworking class at a high school or community college near you, you should most definitely take it if only to learn basic machine safety.
Definitely see if your local community college has any continuing education program or will let you take woodworking classes. I took night classes at my community college in Arizona, and essentially got access to a full woodworking studio beyond anything I could normally afford, schooling on safety and the basics, and a great teacher who would let us work on our own projects with the oversight of someone who knew what they were doing. Definitely a lot of older guys who would pay the class fee so they could come in and work on their own projects.
Although I've since moved to a place with a crappier community college system in which it is more difficult and expensive to enroll just for a single class, so your mileage may vary...
Thanks! I always wanted to make stuff, and when the restaurant I worked at closed down I decided to go to school for a trade and I chose cabinetmaking. I got a bachelors certificate in a one year, four semester course where I learned all the basics and enough to get my foot in the door of most shops without having to push a broom or sand for a few years. I ended up having to sand for a few years at my first shop anyways lol. I wouldn't recommend the trade honestly, It's very niche with little requirement for skilled workers so the pay sucks and there's zero union presence since most custom shops only employ around six people on the floor. The plus side of the job are that its indoors, it tends to have stable hours (monday - friday), low interpersonal interaction, and is relatively physically undemanding. If you want to learn as a creative outlet, you can most certainly learn everything you need to know from books and youtube, although if there's a intro woodworking class at a high school or community college near you, you should most definitely take it if only to learn basic machine safety.
Definitely see if your local community college has any continuing education program or will let you take woodworking classes. I took night classes at my community college in Arizona, and essentially got access to a full woodworking studio beyond anything I could normally afford, schooling on safety and the basics, and a great teacher who would let us work on our own projects with the oversight of someone who knew what they were doing. Definitely a lot of older guys who would pay the class fee so they could come in and work on their own projects.
Although I've since moved to a place with a crappier community college system in which it is more difficult and expensive to enroll just for a single class, so your mileage may vary...