Rethinking Career Path? Consider The Waterways

If you are a young person wondering about your future, please read this. Or if you know a young person or have one in your family or among your friends who is thinking about the future, please show this to him or her. 

Have you ever watched Mike Rowe’s “Dirty Jobs” shows and thought, “I could do that”? Do you like working outdoors? Are you willing to work hard and be part of a team? Are you up for the challenge of helping to move our nation’s cargoes? Would you be interested in a job in which no two workdays are ever alike? Would you like to start earning good money immediately, even if you are 18 or 19, and be able to advance to where you could earn six figures before you are 30? With six months off each year? 

How about if you could do all this without having to earn or pay for a college degree? 

It’s no secret that a broad conversation has been happening across America on the meaning of work and the necessity of college. The worker shortage and “Great Resignation” in the wake of COVID-19 brought to the surface workplace issues that had been simmering for years. It turns out that many high school guidance counselors were premature when they steered student to college and away from vocational programs, many of which were scrubbed from high schools in service to a misguided notion of “college for all.”

A consensus is emerging that while college can be worthwhile, other paths are equally valid. The cost of a college degree has outpaced inflation for decades. Many who manage to complete degrees, even in in-demand fields where they can find good-paying jobs, find themselves saddled with undischargeable debts that may take decades to pay off. 

Meanwhile, dozens of high-paying, in-demand “blue-collar” jobs can’t find enough workers. Rowe has made a crusade out of encouraging people to take a  closer look at these jobs. Nowhere can Rowe’s point be seen more clearly than on our nation’s waterways, where a young person can advance much more quickly than in some other fields.

Not that you’ll be avoiding learning. That’s a must in today’s towboating world that stresses safety, care for the environment and constant improvement. It’s a requirement in all these types of jobs.  Advancement doesn’t come automatically on the rivers, any more than in any worthwhile career. A lot of study is required to become a towboat captain, and license examinations are demanding. This is to be expected in jobs that come with the responsibility for human lives and millions of dollars’ worth of equipment and cargoes.

In this issue you can read about successful captains looking back on their fulfilling careers. They found their way onto the rivers through many paths. Some were born into river families; some came after college; others didn’t even know such careers existed until a chance meeting, acquaintance or mentor steered them toward it. They all found fulfillment and a rewarding (and comfortable) life on the rivers. Many of them also talk about valuing the family atmosphere at their companies, a frequently-cited cliché that not a lot of workplaces have anymore.

If all this interests you, great!  It takes not just ability but special qualities of character, which is why, in this issue, we celebrate towboat captains.