> You think everyone can be an electrical engineer? Or even wants to be an electrical engineer?

No, that's why I said:

> There will be some small handful, but the incentives push strongly towards one over the other.

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> If you look at when the trades start earning and if they are willing to go where the high pay is (just like some CS guy won’t make FAANG wages in Ohio), they can do very well.

Of course, and if you look at when degreed engineers start earning (not even mentioning benefits, bonuses, equity...), and if they are willing to go where the high pay is, both numbers are higher. Until that's not true, until the lifetime earnings of trades is at parity or higher than college-bound careers, the incentives will always be lined up that college is the better choice from an earnings point of view.

Money isn't everything. Not everyone will pick the options that lead to the highest lifetime earnings/earliest retirement/least risk of on the job injury, but most will if given the option. Pretending that isn't true doesn't benefit anyone.

Maybe you can try again? I’m still not sure the point you’re making.

I mean, no, someone who wants to be an engineer won’t choose the trades. But they wouldn’t do it regardless. That’s not the point.

I agree, someone who wants to be an engineer won't pick the trades. Someone who deeply wants to work the trades won't become an engineer.

What I'm saying is that the vast majority want to have a career that makes the most money, with the best benefits, and the best work-life balance within the body of possible options that interest and are available to them.

If you're interested in working with electricity you might be an electrician or an electrical engineer, but with the way things are lined up today if you have the opportunity and are not devoted to the trade, you pick electrical engineer every time.

Your first paragraph seems to be at odds with your last paragraph.

I agree with the 1st. There may be some overlap, but engineers and trades are two very different careers.

What I think is the important point is for those folks who are interested in electrical/electronics, if being an engineer isn’t an option, knowing that trades are a pretty well paying choice is a good thing.

Let me put it this way:

If you have the opportunity to make a choice between a trade and a engineering career in the same field, and you don't have a personal preference/calling between the two, the engineering career pays better and has better benefits. People will generally pick the thing that pays better all else being equal.

I genuinely don't see what's confusing about that idea. The over promotion of trades is mostly to obscure this fact, that compensation in engineering is better than in trades. The thing here is, if you only have a weak preference for trades, you might pick the trade if you think the compensation is comparable, but might pick engineering if you learn that the compensation is significantly better. I think the goal of these campaigns is to swindle these lightly preference'd types.

There is nothing confusing, but I don't think anyone would disagree.

But the point is - that's a pretty rare situation. I'd argue most people who want to do engineering would do it even if it paid less than trades.

I'd argue the exact opposite, the number of people who have a strong preference for one or the other is dwarf'd by the number who mostly care about which pays better, has better benefits, and leads to a better work-life balance.

Most people are strongly motivated by money and benefits over personal preference. Most people, especially in manual labor, don't like their jobs, or merely put up with their jobs for the purpose of making money. Money is the incentive that matters here. Which is why accurately representing to said people what careers can be expected to earn compared to other options in the same field matters.

I guess we'll agree to disagree.

I don't meet many engineers, who, if the trades paid better, would swap their office job and the intellectual nature of the work for a job designing the electrical system of factories and pulling wire. Those are two very different jobs.

People make career decisions based off of a lot of things: interests, training requirements, day to day work environment. Yes pay, but plenty of people take low paying jobs when they could do something else and make more.

If people can make a baseline wage that provides a comfortable life doing a job they like, I could see them foregoing a certain amount of money. I've turned down better paying jobs before.