I chose my current career in construction despite having both an undergraduate and master’s degree for a few reasons.

First, I worked “white-collar” jobs for the first 10 years of my working life after undergrad. To sum it all up in one word, it was B-O-R-I-N-G. I got no enjoyment, nor any sense of fulfillment or satisfaction sitting in a sterile, gray box all day staring at a computer screen. I had to force myself out of bed every morning knowing that day was going to be exactly the same as the last 500 days. I’d go home after work thinking, “I did absolutely nothing of any significance today. The work I did had no meaning whatsoever to anyone except my boss.”

Now imagine feeling like that every day for ten years. If I had continued on that path, I would have gone nowhere except downhill. It would have been a dead-end job. I had no motivation or enthusiasm for my job, and thus, no chance for promotion. I would likely have sunk into depression and possibly alcoholism. That was not the path I wanted, it was the path I was expected to take. I was taught from a young age not just that college equals success, but that college was the only way to success. I bought it, hook, line and sinker, and I have the bills to prove it.

Secondly, I’m a builder. I always have been. I played with Legos as a kid, and built model ships and planes and Pinewood Derby cars. I go to the hardware store and get googly-eyed over power tools. I like the whole process of building things, from planning it out in my head, to execution, to putting the finishing touches on something I built with my own two hands. I like seeing it all come together. I like stepping back at the end of the day and being able to see the whole finished project, and knowing that what I’ve built will have a tangible and positive impact on someone’s life.

Thirdly, there is a lot more to manual labor in my field than grunting and banging rocks together. It requires problem solving and ingenuity to deal with issues that the engineers did not or could not predict or account for. It requires experience to figure out the best and most efficient way to get things done. They don’t teach that in any school.

Sometimes you have to do all this while you’re dying of thirst on a 90°F day. Or, it’s 40°F, raining sideways and you’re soaked through to your underwear. Some people can’t picture themselves working in conditions like that. The idea of working in the elements is repulsive to them. What’s repulsive to me is being chained up all day long, day after endless day, to a gray desk, surrounded by four gray walls, a gray ceiling and perhaps a slightly darker gray carpet.

I’ve been on both sides of the fence, and I know which I prefer.