Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Hipster is not a real job

But there are jobs out there for the young and hip

Last summer, the government of British Columbia posted billboards that read, “Hipster is not a real job.” But down here in America, there are actually quite a few career options for the coolest of the cool.

While hipsters might seem like this generation’s hippies or flower children, Wikipedia defines hipster as “a subculture of young, recently settled urban middle class adults and older teenagers that appeared in the 1990s.”

Whatever, hipsters still need jobs. The first thing that comes to mind for the career-minded cool kids, is a job in a coffee shop that is not Starbucks or a bookstore that is not Barnes & Noble. If you’re a hipster with some cash in your pocket, buying a food truck and creating some sort of nouvelle cuisine grilled cheese sandwich or Bumbleberry tart is a way to go.

Sponsored
Sponsored

John Altman moved from San Diego to Portland, Oregon two years ago and bought a food truck and began selling gourmet chili.

“The recipes came from my dad and my grandfather, but I put some new touches on them,” he said. “The first year was a struggle, but we started a Facebook page and we tweeted our locations and specials and we now have a decent following. We’re not rich, but that was never the point.”

The good news about a food truck business is that it’s significantly cheaper than leasing a space and hiring staff and all the other headaches that restaurant owners deal with daily. You’ll likely need financing from a bank or private investors. A used food truck can cost between $20,000 — $40,000. A new food truck can be as much as $100,000. Loans for food trucks are hard to come by in these times, but credit unions are a great source for this type of loan according to the Credit Union Times.

If you’re not a foodie-hipster and you like working with your hands, there is a need again for skilled welders. While becoming a blacksmith might be hipper, it’s not as profitable. Underwater welding gigs are high-paying and offer a chance to travel to remote locations to weld bridges, for example. But be sure to have your diver certification. If you can’t swim, you can also bring your welding tools to oil pipeline, or get on board with ship building repair, or perform military support work.

Welding is one of the very few skills that can earn you a six-figure income without a college degree. Highly skilled welders that are willing to travel and work in hazardous conditions can earn well over $100,000 a year according to the American Welding Society. Traveling industrial pipe welders earn anywhere between $50,000 and $185,000 a year. Under water welders can earn $100,000 to over $200,000 a year. Military support welders can start at $160,000 to more than $200,000 a year in the Middle East. The American Welding Society site, aws.org, is the place to find more information about this groovy career.

The forestry service is another hip career choice. You can wear flannel, sport a scraggly beard, and live in the wild. It’s the greenest of green jobs. You can live in a log cabin, cook over a campfire, and kick back in the forest. According to the Forest Service, they offer positions for both permanent and temporary employees. Permanent positions are for full-time employees and provide a flexible range of Federal government benefits. Temporary positions are for part-time or seasonal employees and provide benefits that vary with the position and the location. To learn more about these jobs that Mother Jones and Mother Nature would approve of, go to fs.fed.us.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Reader writer Chris Ahrens tells the story of Windansea

The shack is a landmark declaring, “The best break in the area is out there.”

Last summer, the government of British Columbia posted billboards that read, “Hipster is not a real job.” But down here in America, there are actually quite a few career options for the coolest of the cool.

While hipsters might seem like this generation’s hippies or flower children, Wikipedia defines hipster as “a subculture of young, recently settled urban middle class adults and older teenagers that appeared in the 1990s.”

Whatever, hipsters still need jobs. The first thing that comes to mind for the career-minded cool kids, is a job in a coffee shop that is not Starbucks or a bookstore that is not Barnes & Noble. If you’re a hipster with some cash in your pocket, buying a food truck and creating some sort of nouvelle cuisine grilled cheese sandwich or Bumbleberry tart is a way to go.

Sponsored
Sponsored

John Altman moved from San Diego to Portland, Oregon two years ago and bought a food truck and began selling gourmet chili.

“The recipes came from my dad and my grandfather, but I put some new touches on them,” he said. “The first year was a struggle, but we started a Facebook page and we tweeted our locations and specials and we now have a decent following. We’re not rich, but that was never the point.”

The good news about a food truck business is that it’s significantly cheaper than leasing a space and hiring staff and all the other headaches that restaurant owners deal with daily. You’ll likely need financing from a bank or private investors. A used food truck can cost between $20,000 — $40,000. A new food truck can be as much as $100,000. Loans for food trucks are hard to come by in these times, but credit unions are a great source for this type of loan according to the Credit Union Times.

If you’re not a foodie-hipster and you like working with your hands, there is a need again for skilled welders. While becoming a blacksmith might be hipper, it’s not as profitable. Underwater welding gigs are high-paying and offer a chance to travel to remote locations to weld bridges, for example. But be sure to have your diver certification. If you can’t swim, you can also bring your welding tools to oil pipeline, or get on board with ship building repair, or perform military support work.

Welding is one of the very few skills that can earn you a six-figure income without a college degree. Highly skilled welders that are willing to travel and work in hazardous conditions can earn well over $100,000 a year according to the American Welding Society. Traveling industrial pipe welders earn anywhere between $50,000 and $185,000 a year. Under water welders can earn $100,000 to over $200,000 a year. Military support welders can start at $160,000 to more than $200,000 a year in the Middle East. The American Welding Society site, aws.org, is the place to find more information about this groovy career.

The forestry service is another hip career choice. You can wear flannel, sport a scraggly beard, and live in the wild. It’s the greenest of green jobs. You can live in a log cabin, cook over a campfire, and kick back in the forest. According to the Forest Service, they offer positions for both permanent and temporary employees. Permanent positions are for full-time employees and provide a flexible range of Federal government benefits. Temporary positions are for part-time or seasonal employees and provide benefits that vary with the position and the location. To learn more about these jobs that Mother Jones and Mother Nature would approve of, go to fs.fed.us.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

At Comedor Nishi a world of cuisines meet for brunch

A Mexican eatery with Japanese and French influences
Next Article

Operatic Gender Wars

Are there any operas with all-female choruses?
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader