I got a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from a ‘good school’ and yet I never got a good entry level job in the field so I was just wandering the wastelands for a long while before I got a good corporate bullshit job from which I got fired after 3 years and now I have no actual engineering skills and tens of thousand in college debt
I’m 33 and live with my parents and I’m in this constant cycle of living with them until I find a good job in some far away city. They live in a remote place where the only jobs available are 7.50 and yet the living costs are absurd so really, you’re pretty much working just to work. The problem is I can’t move out and do human things such as live by own and have a meaningful because I need a decent salary to survive, and that can only happen if I get something in a far away big city. I don’t want to have to fend for peanuts living paycheck to paycheck(i’ve already tried that a couple of times) in some rathole in a city but I also hate living with my parents so I’m forced in an all or nothing mindset where I need to have a decent salary. I wish I could just take a low wage jobs in some other city but the logistics don’t allow me to.
I feel like I’m rambling, I just feel incredibly stuck, my social life and dating lives are nonexistent and I’m completely fucking broke. I just masturbate all day in my parents house. I have a degree that should be lucrative according to this shitass society, I’m not the archetype of a basement dwelling reddit loser because I do have drive and have moved from place to place and worked and clawed my way through life and stay fit and know how to talk to women and I constantly feel like I shouldn’t be where I’m at but…I kind of am a fucking loser.
Experience shows me that, I guess, this too shall pass and I should land on my feet but god damn I’m regressing constantly and every aspect of my life can’t be moved forward if Instay with my parents in this town. Sorry to rant
Hold on this actually kinda sounds sick, what's the catch
Typical union style seniority pay (some exceptions, like if you can get security clearance you will get higher paying contracts, etc)
You can go into:
-Navigation (deck-hand to captain)
-Stewards (kitchen to chef to quartermaster)
-Engine (Jr Engineer to Sr Engineer); the initial apprenticeship program rotates you through all three
As the union is predicated on keeping sailing jobs occupied by US sailors you do have to swear an oath of loyalty to the US - but i mean it's just words really. The training programs also have some quasi-military style structure. You kind of start off in a boot-camp scenario but it's mostly to weed people out.
The only real catch is double-edged: You will be away from family and friends for long periods of time; so great if you don't really care for your family and don't have super close IRL friends. While you are in the training program and while you are at sea you have no expenses - this is why you only have to worry about rent for part of the year while you aren't working contracts. So, if I were doing the program I'd be looking for a situation where I either live family while I'm not at sea or find a person will to rent to me month-to-month. Paying rent for a residence you aren't living in for the majority of the year would be silly unless you are like the head of a family that at least gets to use it while you are away or something.
https://www.seafarers.org/training-and-careers/jobs/entry-program/
It's a bit of a rugged life-style but some people like that. Makes you feel alive and all. For the women comrades FYI: about 25% of the people enrolled while I was there were women and they seemed to be treated very well by staff and other people enlisted in the program. Felt very safe for everyone and everyone was pretty cool/chill (except the Commandant, he was cool but definitely not chill lol).
While the lifestyle is a bit rugged, the food is fucking amazing - no joke. People at sea eat like kings (for free apparently).
One of the cool things is that they have political education classes where they give you some union history (watered down, they aren't revolutionaries) and teach the power of unions to their members. Self-serving sure, but it is literally the only time I've seen institutionalized political education in action in the US, was pretty wild.
Honestly I'd recommend it to anyone who is:
-Is young and directionless
-Wants to be in a unionized sector
-Loves the open sea / wants to travel in a non-tourist way
-Is economically vulnerable
Don't apply if any of these describe you though:
-Unwilling to work on your drug habits/addictions
-Unwilling to work on your fitness/health generally
-Unwilling to tolerate any forms of authority/discipline
-Unwilling to to complete a 3 month training program where you live expense-free but have no income and are essentially chaperoned.
FYI, though: they will not tolerate drugs or alcohol while in their training program and if you get caught inebriated while working a contract they will come down hard on you (they have a rehab clinic they'd force you to attend).
But for real, if you are someone who just cannot find any economic traction and are living a meek existence - please apply for this program - you'll actually get to start living your life.
Of course if you don't like the sea/ocean then probably not for you.
Before anyone asks why I left the program, it was because of family shit - turns out mine falls apart without me around.
If any one does go through with an application my advise is to convince them why the program suits your particular life. Just like most jobs they are going to turn away applicants who seem to be applying on a whim who they might have a bad ROI on.
My current job is cushy but a dead end. I will genuinely consider this. Gives me something to try if the job I'm in becomes too much. Thanks for the info. I'm young, want to travel, good at following rules, generally like the sea, not against physical labor, don't do any drugs, and have almost no connections to where I live so it pretty much sounds perfect for me except that it would kinda suck to leave my grandmother all alone
Also idk how well they'd accommodate veganism, I might end up stuck eating crackers and white bread lol
I have not contemplated how vegan friendly they are, tbh. Sorry for the oversight. From my experience I'm confident that a vegetarian would be alright; for full veganism I'd encourage you to reach out to their contact #.
It's not utopia but it is uniquely different from selling individual labor-power on a market.
Return to tradition (breaking your teeth on hardtack at sea)
How young is young? This sounds like a great idea, but I'm pushing 30yo and have never finished school or had proper steady employment. Wonder if that will be a deal breaker
It's relative to you, I'm afraid. I felt like I "missed the boat" when I enrolled at 30, but I will tell you straight that there were people from 20-60 enrolling in the program.
It's just due to the seniority aspect that I mention "the younger the better".
But, if you need work and are willing to do it - no matter the age, I'd enroll.
Probably living and working with the same 5 or 6 people for months on end in a setting that can be very dangerous
.. But there's satellite internet and stuff these days so it can't be that bad