When I started
working as a groundie, the going rate was three bucks an hour. When I started climbing I got seven. I don't remember what minimum wage was then but I was making more than the guys working in factories, as a groundie. You work for what they pay, get experience, watch what goes on, you can learn the best ways of working from the folks that do things wrong as well as the ones that do them right.
A better job with a better outfit will come along if you keep looking and improving.
I used a leather belt with D rings, my climbing rope went thru the left ring, around my butt, thru the right, and got tied with a bowlin. After a few days I added a heavy leather strap butt sling with three small rings to run the rope thru so it would stay centered on the sling. Often I was swinging at the end of the rope with the boss holding my life in his hands, I did the same for him, and we never had a problem, but one day another groundie was lowering me to a limb, and something caused him to drop the rope. I didn't land to hard because the rope was dragging thru several crotches. After that I left a long tail off of my bowlin and used it to tie a taunt line hitch around my down end of the climbing rope. I kept experimenting with different tie ins and in '67 started using what is now called a blake's hitch.
I kept using that rig until six years ago, when a friend had a heart attack up a tower. After we got him down, my lady and daughter ganged up on me and insisted on a full harness. I'm retired, but still do about 20 take downs a year that require climbing, and I'm still asking questions and still learning.
I now have three different harness sets and still feel better in my old rig--but don't tell the ladys.
I have a shoe repair shop cut the soles of my boots partly off, take out the piddly piece of steel they are made with and replace it with a longer, wider piece glued and sewen in place. Makes standing on spurs a lot more comfortable.
