My son is a senior in HS. Has been admitted to college for mechanical engineering but wants to defer and take a year to work before going to school. Wants to do demanding work, preferably outdoors. His high school career office has not been much help. Any one have any general ideas for jobs of this nature that hire ambitious kids right out of high school? He would be looking to start this june and work thru summer ‘26.
Thanks!
Construction if he can get out of bed in the morning.
I would try to advise him against the gap year.
I would try to advise him against the gap year.
This has quite a bit of merit. It’s usually pretty hard for people who take a gap year to actually go back to school. They get a taste of full time money. Not everyone needs a degree and plenty of people are very successful without one.
However it sounds like he wants a degree which is great. I would also try to get him into school right away.
However, construction is good like Dutch mentioned. Concrete is another one. Any local roofers or deck builders?
Or was he more looking for like DNR type outdoor stuff?
Law care landscaping. Keep him using his engineering mind and he will be fine.
Mechanical contractors are always looking for shop guys.
I would try to advise him against the gap year.
This was my initial reaction but we’ve been talking about it for weeks and I am leaning toward trusting his instinct on this one. I work in higher ed and have seen LOTS of 18yo’s head off to college before they were ready for it and it’s not something I want to push my own kid into. He has a 4.0 GPA in high school but he wants to take a break from academics and challenge himself in other ways and I can respect that. He also wants to bank some money now so when college starts he can focus on his studies, and it’s hard to argue with that. He has big long term goals so I don’t see a year of manual labor derailing those.
Wants to do demanding work, preferably outdoors.
Gap year, knows what direction he does want to go when he does start school, and wants outdoor, demanding work…
You’re damn near 100% describing enlisting in the Army National Guard. He sounds smart so he would likely have a wide variety of job options in the Guard. You go to basic training (which everyone does) then your job training, which can be anywhere from 8 more weeks up to almost a year, depending on the job. So basic and job training would take up anywhere from 16 weeks to a year (his gap year). Then for the next 4-6 years (depending on his enlistment) he goes to his unit one weekend a month for training and a 2-week annual training period in the summer.
On top of all this, whatever his college degree was going to cost will dramatically decrease, if it’s not completely covered. Congress has thankfully (finally) increased some military benefits since the War on Terror period started, and there are some soldiers who actually make money by going to college, compared to kids coming out with tens or more thousands of dollars in debt.
This was my initial reaction but we’ve been talking about it for weeks and I am leaning toward trusting his instinct on this one. I work in higher ed and have seen LOTS of 18yo’s head off to college before they were ready for it and it’s not something I want to push my own kid into. He has a 4.0 GPA in high school but he wants to take a break from academics and challenge himself in other ways and I can respect that. He also wants to bank some money now so when college starts he can focus on his studies, and it’s hard to argue with that. He has big long term goals so I don’t see a year of manual labor derailing those.
If hes pulling a 4.0 now and has the drive to get through engineering school that makes even more sense to avoid the gap year. Starting salaries in that field are great and only going up. I get it though if you have seen 18 year olds not ready I imagine your judgement would be right if you think hes not. Best of luck to him 
My son is also a senior this year and did concrete work the summer he was 16. Made good money but it was early mornings and they only worked 8hrs a day so he had his afternoon and evenings to do other things. Last summer at 17 he worked for a general contractor doing a little bit of everything and also worked for his girlfriends parents on their farm. If your son doesn’t mind manual labor there are many options for him to get outdoors and try different things to see what he likes. My son said concrete was ok but not something he wants to do long term. He does well in school but doesn’t want to go to college and it sounds like he has a full time job on the farm after he graduates.
I have coached and worked in education as one of my main jobs for 15 years after college. My other side gig has been contract work through a local lumber yard. I love both things for completely different reasons.
For starters, if he does indeed take a gap year and start putting money in his pocket…make sure YOU as dad are ready to accept he may never go to school (which is fine). I’d estimate for every 10 kids I’ve coached who take a gap year, 2 go on to earn a college degree and the other 8 never do (for various reasons). Routines are huge for teenagers, and that “grind” of school and the textbook type learning is hard to jump back into even after a short hiatus.
I earned an education degree with no gap year but worked construction during summers ever since I was strong enough to carry a few studs around a jobsite. Remind your son that whatever he chooses to do, nothing is absolute nor is having ONE career/source of income a necessity. I’d encourage him to hone his skills in a trade or doing physical labor during his college summers. You develop an appreciation for both worlds. I’ve been on a lot of interview panels…and if someone had a side hustle in hard physical labor or work experience in something like that outside of the degree requiring career they were pursuing, they’d shoot to the top of my list. A 23-24 year old engineer who had hands on physical jobsite or trade experience would be a slam dunk hire.
Laborers Union
A lot of places will pay him higher than level 1 Apprentice, some might even pay him Journeyman in short order if he’s worth a lick.
$35-40 an hour and time-and-a-half overtime likely for a highschool kid isn’t bad. Then he’d get benefits on top of that (but if he’s only doing it a year they wouldn’t mean much to him)
One summer of hard work will be plenty for the young lad to say F that and go back to school in the fall. Unless somethings wrong w em like the rest of us nail pushers lol
I’ve hired several smart kids in this scenario, they go back to school shortly after doing manual labor, is what it is. Ymmv
Has nothing to imply with your son whatsoever, but it’s a funny story I took on a kiddo 15yrs ago, he’s probably a clinical psychologist now making double of what I do, but a job sup came up to me and said ur guy just destroyed a freshly enameled bench, fellas first week on the job and he was tasked to simply put up dust barriers w .3mil poly, f’er was cutting it right on the bench, I said wtf dude, it’s ok he said he put down a barrier, it was a hunk of red rosen smfh.
Heavy equipment operator . Dozers, track hoes, packers dump trucks . Good money in it especially if you’re in a rural area . I did this my senior year of high school summer and loved it . Used to look forward going to work . Got a degree unrelated though .
My only advice would be if he decides to delay college, continue doing calculus on the side.
Calculus is what gets most engineering students in the most trouble.
I would try to advise him against the gap year.
True. And yeah construction/trade of some kind if he can get up early and bust his back and/or knuckles.
Sore subject sometimes but hit it and quit it if you’re going that route. Just learn something. Also don’t let randos on the internet sway you too much cuz 25-50% are full of shyt.
Do your thang and let kid do his thing. It’ll all likely work out if it’s meant to. Plus it sounds like your kid may be set up for a great white collar gig already.
It’s mostly personal decision and goals in the end.
Btw, landscaping and hardscaping/masonry can be great and/or suck almonds.
After that, results are like an old person; depends, depends, depends.
Best thing he could do is learn how a worker bee will interpret his directions once he’s calling the shots.
If he remembers and takes that into consideration he will be a better engineer and gain respect.
IMHO
Appreciate all the ideas guys. Being a white collar dude myself I needed a couple places to start and this helps.
Will continue to talk with the boy about all this. If he decides to go forward with the gap year he needs to tell the university by July 1, so in theory he would have a chance to get a taste of this before he makes that call. Maybe once he starts real work he will feel more “ready” for college.
Best thing he could do is learn how a worker bee will interpret his directions once he’s calling the shots.
If he remembers and takes that into consideration he will be a better engineer and gain respect.
IMHO
A year in the field won’t teach that. But yes I do agree.
Some form of a labor gig is always great for young men. Especially those that want to be higher ups in the construction design. Most higher ups being engineers are about as dumb as it gets when it comes to reality. It’s always nice to deal with ones who been in the field. But 1 summer in the field won’t teach much. And being hired as a temp summer kid, we just feed them the clean up after us kind of work. Most won’t get any real work due to the fact they are just disposable. Tell him to go landscape and do yard work. They love disposable kids.
We have 2 kids that were supposed to be temporary, both have worked for us for a few years now because they loved the money and work more then school and office. I hated school and new I wasn’t going to college, been very successful in the construction industry.
Why the year ? Go get an outdoor job with a road crew or yard crew for the summer. Many pay a signing bonus for a summer job.
or … Go work in an outdoor youth camp for the summer. There are outdoor camps in the Ely area and Scout camps across MN and WI. Many have you sleeping in a wall tent and working outside 10+ hours a day. Pay sucks, but some have tuition scholarship programs available if you stick it out through the entire summer. Great program for those that can take it.
The heavy equip operator was a good idea. There’s not hardly a piece on them that a man can pick up by himself. He could start out with a truck driving school and a CDL. Then he could afford payments on a used Bobcat.
Land surveying companies are typically looking for summer help and beyond. Excellent outdoor work every day, but also exposure to some cool GPS mapping tech in the field and the office. Good for someone looking to eventually get into engineering field. Lots of options that can involve legal work for property surveys, road construction staking, building construction staking, and most importantly dealing with the public.
The heavy equip operator was a good idea. There’s not hardly a piece on them that a man can pick up by himself. He could start out with a truck driving school and a CDL. Then he could afford payments on a used Bobcat.
That’s a strange twist on a 1 year gap.
I hated school and new I wasn’t going to college, been very successful in the construction industry.
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The construction industry has some value. 
Carpenters union has a pre-apprentice option where they don’t have to attend the apprenticeship school. Can work up to a total of 2,000 hours before having to either sign up or get out. If he can find a contractor looking it’s a good gig for summer work while going to college. Not all outdoors though
HVAC/Electrician apprentice, most are hiring at a solid wage and will offer him to stay on if he works hard and changes his mind on school. Degree adjacent for him, and if he ends up loving it he can be his own boss in short order.
If he wants hard/demanding outdoor work for a year either landscaping, concrete, or framing crew. They are all hard up for decent labor. Landscaping will be good in the winter as well doing snow removal.
My son did the same thing last year. He worked at Wild Strawberry Lodge in Sitka Alaska as a deck hand on there charter boats. It was the best experience of his life and really changed him into a young man who knows what hard work is truly like. He met amazing people and experienced the outdoors in a way few people do. It was financially rewarding for sure. They are always hiring for their summer season as many of today’s young people don’t really want to work very hard. If he would like to talk to my son, I can connect the two if you would like.
Why do so many people say young guys don’t like to work ? I see the exact opposite. Alot of the young dudes are great workers. The difference i can tell is by how they were raised. How they were raised is usually the difference in work ethic. You can tell coddled kids from non coddled kids. Hard to wrap a entire generation in to saying none of them like to work
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