There’s no easy or perfect answer to this question.

But I think the best way to figure it out is pretty simple:

That’s really true for any career decision. You have to understand yourself, understand what’s out there and what the opportunities are, and then figure out where those two things match.

Before worrying about which trade pays the most or which one has the most jobs, spend some time figuring out what actually matters to you.

Write it down. Make a list.

Those things matter.

For example, some people hate math. If that’s you, then a trade that involves a lot more math potentially isn’t going to be a great fit.

Other people hate confined spaces. If that’s you, HVAC might not be a great fit because you may have to spend a lot of time in confined attics and crawl spaces.

There isn’t one trade that is objectively the “best.” There’s a trade that is the best fit for you.

So start by being really honest with yourself about what you care about and what kind of work you actually want to do every day.

Once you have that list, tools like ChatGPT or Claude can actually be a great resource.

Take everything you wrote down and bounce it back and forth with an LLM.

Tell it what you enjoy, what you hate, what matters most to you, what kind of environment you want to work in, and what you want your career to look like.

Then ask it which trades might fit you best and why.

You shouldn’t blindly accept whatever it tells you, but it can help you think through options you may not have considered and start narrowing down the list.

Nothing beats actually figuring out what the job is like.

And YouTube is an absolute goldmine for this.

There are videos about almost every skilled trade imaginable. Search for things like “day in the life of an HVAC technician,” “day in the life of an electrician,” or whatever trade you’re considering.

What does their day look like?

Where are they working?

What kind of problems are they solving?

What parts look interesting?

What parts look miserable?

It’s a much better way to understand a career than just reading a paragraph describing it.

Informational interviews are tremendously useful.

This basically means finding someone who already works in the trade you’re considering and asking them about their experience.

Maybe you see an HVAC truck in your neighborhood and stop to talk to the technician.

Maybe you knock on the door of a local company.

Maybe you email somebody.

Maybe you call and say:

“Hey, I’m thinking about doing this as a career. What do you actually do? How’s the job? What do you like about it? What don’t you like about it?”

Most people never do this.

But talking to somebody who actually does the job can teach you an unbelievable amount about whether you would enjoy it.

And there’s a bonus: informational interviews are also an incredible way to network.

The person you talk to today because you’re trying to understand the trade could eventually be the person who helps you get your first job.

So if you’re trying to figure out which trade is right for you, don’t overcomplicate it.

Understand yourself. Learn what the different trades are actually like. Watch people do the work. And talk to people who already do it.

Do those things well, and you’ll be in a much better position to figure out which trade is actually right for you.

All three are licensed trades, all three pay above the national average, and all three have more open jobs than people to fill them. The pay is close enough that money should not be your deciding factor. What separates them is the day to day work, the training path, and the parts of the job people quit over.

Here is an honest side by side, so you can pick the one you will still want to be doing in ten years.