TikToker Will (@will.tom75) is turning a lot of heads with his video “Maintenance Technician Job,” which is quickly approaching a whopping 573,000 views as of Sunday. In the video, Will delves into the sometimes murky waters of gig work, offering a candid glimpse into the realities of job hunting in a 2023 market.
“If you see a job listing for a maintenance person…do not take it,” Will warns. “A lot of jobs just really aren’t worth it nowadays.”
He recounts how a seemingly lucrative job listing with no experience required led him to an interview where the conditions were less than ideal.
“You have to be willing to go 20+ minutes away…you also need your own tools…we need you on 24-hour call,” Will recalls the interviewer telling him.
The catch? Lower pay due to lack of certifications, he says, which appears to be a problem in the field according to one Redditor who replied to a post inquiring about tech pay. By their estimation, “Maintenance jobs will always be under paid. You are expected to know pretty much every trade but don’t make as much as you would working any one of those trades” a commenter wrote.
The comments section in response to Will’s video is buzzing with a mix of heavy sarcasm, advice, and similar experiences.
One user wrote, “>gets maintenance job >gets told to do maintenance >shocked.”
Yet another viewer highlights the plight of skilled trades, commenting, “They want someone with a journeyman’s in 5 different trades and pay them 1 apprentice’s salary.”
Another pivoted with a success story, sharing, “Apartment maintenance is a no go but industrial maintenance is where it’s at. I made 130k last year and I’m gonna make 155k this year.”
Will’s experience speaks volumes about the gig economy’s growing influence. Millennials and Gen Zers are reshaping the traditional work landscape, favoring flexible gigs over the old-school 9 to 5 grind. The gig economy is booming, offering a range of opportunities, though not all are as golden as they seem.
While Will’s encounter may seem a bit on the “scammy” side, as he put it, it could ironically be a stepping stone into a lucrative maintenance career. The demand for skilled blue-collar workers like electricians and plumbers is soaring, partly due to a decline in DIY skills among the general population, exacerbated by services like TaskRabbit.
There are some Americans who have been long-standing advocates for trade schools and programs that instruct citizens on how to become skilled tradespeople, like Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe who has been a vocal proponent of folks eschewing intellectual-based degrees in lieu of “real-world” job knowledge.
Skillwork pens that the country is in dire need of skilled laborers, stating that some 3 million unfilled trades jobs are just waiting for job seekers to hop into. The Census Bureau provided figures that aren’t as dire but still paint a high demand for trade work: the agency says 2.1 million unfilled jobs as of 2023 are still on the table for folks to scoop up.
@will.tom75 Maintenance Technician Job #fyp ♬ original sound – Will
The key takeaway from Will’s story is that while some gigs may be a bust, others can lead to highly rewarding careers. As echoed by a commenter, “Industrial maintenance all the wayyyy,” while someone else wrote, “Only industrial maintenance is legit. Make $25-$40+ an hour in LCOL depending on experience with a cheap technical certificate. Apt maintenance is BS.”
These aren’t numbers to scoff at, especially with full-time and overtime hours, and in today’s economy, such opportunities could be worth exploring for many, considering that the majority of Americans earn an average hourly wage of $15.87.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Will via TikTok comment for further information.
