I started my plumbing career in 1985, as an apprentice working in the cities of Albany and Schenectady. I was a little past 20 years old. Jobs were a little hard to find back then, as people old enough probably remember. I had just spent a summer installing fencing around a correctional facility downstate that was becoming converted to maximum security when I found a newspaper ad for a plumber's helper.
It wasn't pleasant work, believe me, we serviced very old and neglected buildings, the typical work of a city plumber. There were endless days of fixing leaks draining through plaster ceilings, replacing rusted piping, nursing along ancient boilers, all of it very hard work. But I felt fortunate to have a full time job then as a lot of people at that time weren't working at all, not to mention that I learned something new every day. As the decade closed I continued working new construction projects and doing repair work for other companies, in 2000 I decided to apply for the Master Plumber's exam. I qualified and passed it.
Since then I've concentrated mostly on residential repairs and improvements, with occasional light commercial job thrown in to keep things interesting. Overall becoming a plumber was a great career choice for me, I enjoy the work and the travel, you get to see a lot of different places.
One of the advantages of running a small shop is that I work for the client, not for a plumbing business, so there's no daily quotas for me to meet, no radio to answer. I can book clients at a rational pace with no pressure to race through their job and get to the next one, that's how a lot of real disasters happen.