What drew you to treework?

[spacemule]

The personalities on this site are interesting. I'm curious what caused you all to choose your profession. I've been trying to determine mine for a couple of years, and I find I like too many things. What do you love about your job (I gotta admit I loved climbing trees when I was a kid), and would you choose the same course you've chosen if you had your life to live again?

 

[Florida16]

How wasn't your competition the "brightest"?

 

[Florida16]

That's messed up...

:blob5:

 

[NeTree]

Money. Independence.


And it kept me in school.

 

[Florida16]

Teachers, racist black boys, and ugly girls.

Kept me out of school.

 

[P_woozel]

If by "treework" one meanss Aboriculture, or Urban Forestry, then it was a natural direction after finding my self often residing in urban areas, and having a forestry background ( forestry degree, woking in the woods either cruising timber or falling, wildland firefighting) quite simply I can run a saw and there is a tremendous amount of work so evidently in my later years I will be emplyed in "tree care".

 

[xander9727]

It was the difficult customers, poor working conditions, insufficient pay, uneducated (non HS diploma) competitors, over priced equipment, constant hazard and the egotistical, hard headed, foul mouthed, beligerant, co-workers that drew me to it. I am after all a glutton for punishment.

 

[NickfromWI]

Approaching graduation from www.ripon.edu with a degree (BA in Psychology) that I did not yet wish to apply in the "real world." I had self-acquired knowledge and skill in climbing trees. I was oblivious to the fact that they paid people to do this work. I was racking my brains trying to figure out what my next step in life would be when someone (from a bigger town who'd heard of tree trimmers) suggested I do this. At first I thought they were joking. I looked in to it and found a very good company in Chicago.

That's how it began. I've learned a lot these past few years and most importantly, I've found out the "real world" does not exist.

love
nick

 

[spacemule]

Approaching graduation from www.ripon.edu with a degree (BA in Psychology) that I did not yet wish to apply in the "real world." I had self-acquired knowledge and skill in climbing trees. I was oblivious to the fact that they paid people to do this work. I was racking my brains trying to figure out what my next step in life would be when someone (from a bigger town who'd heard of tree trimmers) suggested I do this. At first I thought they were joking. I looked in to it and found a very good company in Chicago.

That's how it began. I've learned a lot these past few years and most importantly, I've found out the "real world" does not exist.

love
nick

Yeah. "the real world" is only the self-constraining filter most everyone uses. Blaming misery on external factors is easy to do; seeing that we make our own happiness or misery is a bit more difficult.

I've always enjoyed thinking. I'm taking Calculus now, and for the first time I can remember I'm being challenged with math (I have to study). Whenever people get to feeling highly confident in their position, I believe they need to increase their challenges. Otherwise they grow stale.

Make sure to do something you love and would do for free, and the rest takes care of itself. You'll find the challenges you need because your love for your work allows you to devote your time to thinking from different perspectives than someone who hates his or her job. You'll seek out new avenues to try or improvements to make. With this success comes pleasure. With this pleasure comes a complete oblivion to the problems associated with the common notion of a "real world." Carpe diem baby!

 

[BewtifulTreeMan]

loud toys, physical activity and the outdoors

plus, that sound the tree makes when it hits the ground

 

[Nathan Wreyford]

After finishing my forestry degree at Texas A&M, I asked my forest pathology prof if he knew of any jobs working with the oak wilt fungus. I wanted this mainly because all other forestry jobs where in the SE piney woods. Too many banjos for me. I wanted the Texas hill country.

He pointed me towards a "company" in Oakwilt's backyard. My job was to inject Alamo into oaks.

On the slow days I had to go out with the crews and shove brush. Didn't take me long to see I would rather climb than shove brush. My boss was a drunk and a moron so I decided to give it a go self employed.

Then, similar to Dan, I soon discovered that my competition was not the brightest and success was fairly easy.

 

[TimberMcPherson]

It was the women, glory, money and high life. And the chance to wear suspenders and steel caps without getting a swastika tatooed on my forehead.

 

[underwor]

The big bucks -- $2.15/hour -- since I was a poor college student working for $.95 minimum wage. Enjoyed the work, excitement, W.Va. hillbillies on the crew in Youngstown, OH. Have just hung around since. Only change is I might have picked a school that paid better to teach at this stage of my life. I am still looking for variety in life. Would like to do more on site type sessions in tree biology and PHC. I am a firm believer that if you know how the system works, you can tell when it is not working and the system will tell you how to correct it. Best learning comes from hands on observation. Always try to determine what went wrong so you can prevent it the next time. It keeps life exciting. If you or your employers would like to take advantage of this opportunity, just PM me.

Keep having fun!!! Bob

 

[jmchristopher]

Speaking for myself as a production Tree Climber, I loved the challenge of tackling a tough, significant job, new every day. As I learned my trade, I developed a deep sense of competence that has helped me in all areas of my life. Yes, of course, there have been bad days, nasty people, and scary situations. But the original question was what drew me to the profession in a deep, personal, sincere sense.

 

[tshanefreeman]

Bob,

This may mean that I'm selfish, but I'm glad that you have stuck it out as long as you did. If there weren't people like you in this world that didn't honestly believe in what they were doing, people like me wouldn't have had the opportunities that I've had. I personally wouldn't have had the chance to be warped (educated) and directed to where I am today. Thank you for corrupting my mind and putting up with my endless questions and Canadian sayings!

And if it's any concellation, you and your knowledge are worth far more than any school could ever afford to pay!

 

[Tree Machine]

I had a deep-seated addiction to adventure racing. I was part of a French race in Costa Rica in '91, and after this, for some reason, decided to mould my future life in this direction, and redirect my career to accomodate it. This went on for years.

At one point, I simply needed a job where I could get a full-day workout as part of what I did during the week. As you all know, tree work fits that bill perfectly.

I answered an add in the paper for a tree climber, B.S.'d my way into getting hired, and enjoyed long days, running across front yards shouldering piles of brush, or dragging big limbs, stacking them onto the back of a flatbed truck. People used to ask me if I was on amphetamines.

A couple years and a number of races later, I had to choose between adventure racing, or my relationship with Elizabeth. I chose Elizabeth. I had to ask, "But what about my working as a treeguy?" (which I'd really come to love).

"I would be proud if you were a treeguy."

That, gentlemen, was the hinging moment, over a decade ago. Still got the girl, still got the job. Now you're stuck with me.

 

[xander9727]

TM,
Glad to see you made the right choices.

 

[BranchWalker74]

My Dad was a tree climber. I worked with him every weekend from when I was 8 untill I was 20. I strayed to the motorcycle buisness, I thought it was more fun. I guess it was for a while. Now I am 30 and I have been running my own tree service for over a year now. The money is nice, but I love helping the customers, and meeting lots of different people, from different backgrounds. Also I want to show up all the hacks out there doing bad work like topping trees, and using spikes on trim jobs. I wake up nearly every day looking foward to work.

 

[blue]

i was drawn to tree work by the money,fame and glory of it all.seriously i can't really remember.
would i do the same again?
definateley NOT.i would pay more attention at school and not be such a smart-arse.
the thing with my family is we are all very good at what we do,my grandad was a very succesful buisnessman,my dad a very good vet,my eldest brother is a world renowned metalurgist,my other brother's nearly a millioinaire(aged 35).me a humble tree surgeon all be it a good one.
but i do regret my choices earlier in my life now but i cannot change the past so will stick with climbing for a few more years

 

[MasterBlaster]

I was drawing a whopping $65 a week unemployment after getting out of the Navy. A buddy I hadn't seen since HS drove up in a shiny, red Hi Ranger. He said he could get me on making $20 a day as a groundie, and that was that. I started operating and climbing in the first week. I think my first climbing pay was $2.75 hr. I was king of the world!!!