Advice to swap from blue collar to white collar?

[Zbrody1997]

I’ve always liked the prospect of white collar work specifically the dressing up for work and using your brain however I’ve only ever had blue collar opportunities so I suppose I’m looking for any advice that could help me transition over and find a good job closer to what I’m looking for. I’m not picky yet as we have to start somewhere but I’m truly lost

[normalice]

You might consider trade school. I think it is technically still blue collar but it pays better. Other than that pretty much college is the only option. When people start late, as I did, it's common to attend a community College first and then transfer. Grants are usually availible to those who start late as well, but you should still assume loans are pretty much inevitable. You could also possibly consider joining the military - not only do they offer College funding but there are some states (like illinois) that cover 100% of tuition for veterans.

However, I will also say using your brain for your job isn't wildly better. I have such a job and I relish opportunities at home to get some physical work done for the exercise. I can afford riding mowers but intenionally get heavy push mowers so I can spend a few hours a week engaging in productive exercise. The main reason I tried so hard to pursue a job where I use my brain, I think, was because it felt subservient to be told to do physical things. Believe me when I tell you it feels no less subservient to be told to think about a company's problems. It's absolutely true my tolerance for the latter is substantially higher, and yours probably is too, but don't expect it to be limitless.

It all depends on if your determination can keep pace with your ambitions, really. I got lucky in a lot of ways so I can't defer to myself as an example, really. But I did start from next to nothing and stumbled upward far enough to be comfortable.

[Zbrody1997]

I’m actually a veteran working for a tree company and it would take me 3-6 months to be able to afford a push mower that isn’t second hand and possibly on its last legs I’ve worked retail which seems like low end white collar and I’ve worked factory as well as other more physically demanding jobs like construction and this current job tbh I’d love to use my free college however knowing what to go for is the difficult part. I’ve never wondered what could line up best for me I only know I want to be able to just afford life and maybe open my own company eventually but that also depends on what finally catches my interest. Point being I just want experience in a more common white collar job to have a better understanding of what I’m good at and gain knowledge as I go.

[Zbrody1997]

Of course I could be just wasting time.

[normalice]

All it takes is diligence. There is nothing mysterious about intelligence. If you can stick with a plan for four years, you win. But that's exactly where most people falter - the desire to party and chase women supercedes their awareness of basic simple learning assignments and before they know it all those simple learning assignments they neglected have piled up into a complex beast they don't have the time to understand. Further, many of the people who end up dropping out of college approach it like it, too, is a subservient role. They can't get passed the idea that the teacher is acting like they know more than them, even though that's the only way it could ever work.
Professors - and in a pinch teaching assistants - are well aware the information outpaces most people's attention spans and so are generally helpful when it comes to explaining things during office hours. Some teachers even straight up do the homework during office hours for anyone who shows up, clearly reading from the solutions manual as they go, like they don't know either. It's important to understand it's not a competition. Everyone can get an A and it would put no one out.
But, yeah, I'd suggest starting with a community College. It is much slower paced than a university - a lot of classes don't even have homework - and it's cheaper. But also a lot ofmthe courses don't transfer 1:1, either - like calculus is one class in a university but can be three in a community College. It's a good way to test your ability to learn and kind of see if there is anything you have knack for.

[jennifer_bloom]

I believe blue collar jobs and white colour jobs are similar to the 98th degree of brain usage. The only difference is the complexity of sequencing in the logical decisions you make so it should not be difficult to train if you have industry insider connections and notable ethics at work. I believe engineers are only 4% smarter than janitors. That 4% determines whether you are a PSW or a doctor and that 8% determines whether you are a doctor or a billionaire.