rocket electrician, ... obviously they mean the one that comes and fix your house or breaker panel.
look my brother is an electrician. I do this work too, but for a different reason: in my area they make as much or more than mid level software engineers, so when it's about adding a breaker box they want 8k and if it's not absolutely perfectly easy they might still drop the job. enough of them do and eventually you do it yourself.
obviously, it's quite different for the ones that gotta go daily for a lot less pay, like my brother, and while it doesn't tax your mind as much as tech companies, you do have a tax on the body. plus, they always do quite a bit more than just the electrical wor
Salary.com says median compensation for a “mid-level software engineer” is $132K (<a href="https://www.salary.com/research/salary/listing/mid-level-software-engineer-salary" rel="nofollow">https://www.salary.com/research/salary/listing/mid-level-sof...). I agree that I’d find it unusual for most electricians to make more than that.
I've done too many jobs around my house that should have been done by a qualified <whatever> because none of them are interested in a shitty little repair job, or if they are, the quote is astronomical because there's a huge cost overhead of taking a job and getting your shit onsite.
airbreather · · focus · HN ↗
There is the house wirer, the panel builder, automotive electrician, HV, marine, drilling, industrial, maintenance etc etc.
Some kinds pay better, others yield work almost wherever you go, others lend themselves to starting your own business better.
It is nowhere near as homogenous as often described.
zobzu · · focus · HN ↗
look my brother is an electrician. I do this work too, but for a different reason: in my area they make as much or more than mid level software engineers, so when it's about adding a breaker box they want 8k and if it's not absolutely perfectly easy they might still drop the job. enough of them do and eventually you do it yourself.
obviously, it's quite different for the ones that gotta go daily for a lot less pay, like my brother, and while it doesn't tax your mind as much as tech companies, you do have a tax on the body. plus, they always do quite a bit more than just the electrical wor
sarchertech · · focus · HN ↗
If you’re in the US, the top 10% might. But the median residential electrician certainly does not.
sgerenser · · focus · HN ↗
astura · · focus · HN ↗
Where's that? In the US the median annual wage for electricians was $63,190 in May 2025 whereas it's $135,980 for software engineers.
<a href="https://www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/electricians.htm" rel="nofollow">https://www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/electric...
<a href="https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm" rel="nofollow">https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/...
raffraffraff · · focus · HN ↗