Customer Reviews

Blue Collar and Proud of It: The All-in-One Resource for Finding Freedom, Financial Success, and Security Outside the Cubicle

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This book is written in a conversational style and encourages you to follow your heart and find a job that you love and that uses your particular strengths. On beautiful spring days, I used to sit in my cubicle and daydream about being a mail carrier. Now I will be thinking about a changing to a blue collar job!
If you are coming from a white-collar background, you have no idea how to get into a trade. What are some of the choices of careers? What are the jobs like and what skills should I have to be good at them? Where could I get training and how much should training cost? Do I have to start young? Blue Collar and Proud of It gives enough information on these topics to help you know how to get started in a trade.
Added to the how-to-get-started information, the author shared the satisfaction that various blue collar workers feel when they see that their work makes a difference in the world. Imagine the pleasure of driving past places you helped build years ago or being a mason working a fireplace made by a mason 250 years ago, and knowing your work will also endure.
As a math enthusiast, I also like that the book makes it clear that you need math for many of the trades. It shared the success of a carpenter who didn't do well with math in school but discovered that when he "stopped taking math and started applying it" he enjoyed math and was good at it.

I have known the author of Blue Collar and Proud of It for nearly 20 years. This book is not some pie-in-the-sky, power-of-positive-thinking nonsense--it is the real thing. Joe speaks with authority on this subject because he has lived it himself. The basic premise is so obvious that many people miss it: not everyone can go to college, or needs to in order to succeed. There are too many people wasting precious resources and time on an "education" that doesn't actually advance their career. The resources available to such people today are greater than they have ever been. This book is one of those resources.

This book was so refreshing! My husband is an electrician and we found that this book is long over due! Joe's information and knowledge is well worth reading. I have and would recommed this book over and over again. If you are self employed or thinking of a "Blue Collar position" you must buy. Wondering how to get there successfully buy the book.

They are the electricians that wired your home, the automotive technician that fixes your car, and the women that weld submarines in Connecticut, railroads in Oregon, and work on hybrids in San Francisco. These blue collar careers can be a choice that you feel good about as opposed to a fallback option. Blue collar workers are looking to be challenged also, and want to succeed professionally; they just love doing it with their hands and outside the office cubicle.
These are the thoughts of Joe Lamacchia in his book "Blue Collar & Proud of It" (with Bridget Samburg). Joe goes on to explain that he has nothing against Shakespeare, but adds that you don't need an English degree from a 4 year university if you are interested in landscape design.
In his book, Lamacchia tells us that blue collar workers built the United States, and continue to build and rebuild it every day. He adds that "we are the glue that holds the community together, the people you call when your car breaks, your roads are full of potholes, and your faucet is leaking. We are America's backbone, and we are proud of it".
Joe points to the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimating that there may be up to 40 million job openings (depending upon economic conditions) for workers entering the workforce without a bachelor's degree for the period 2004 to 2014; that there are presently more than 4 million students in vocational or technical programs, and that half of all high school students are involved in vocational programs on some level. He adds that it is time to stop turning our backs on the blue-collar jobs that have built nations, and that it is time for parents, teachers, businesses, and the community wake up and see the benefits and contributions made by blue-collar workers.
Having been a blue collar worker the majority of my life and enjoying a successful career in the automotive industry, this book cuts right to the core of it all. Not knowing what to do after high school, I entered the military where I developed an even deeper passion for working on cars.
Like Lamacchia, I too had difficulty focusing in high school and didn't test well, even in the service. I loved the years and experience the military gave me, but I was in an office setting the majority of my military career and wanted out, while my superiors were constantly trying to talk me out of pursuing my passion to become an automotive technician and stay in the service. But I knew there was more to life than that cubicle; so soon after leaving the military, I enrolled in a community college's CTE program and got the skill sets necessary to compete in this industry.
The 30+ years I have been in the automotive industry have been some the most memorable and rewarding times in my life. This industry has opened up some wonderful doors also, to where I now have the opportunity to counsel and teach those individuals pursuing that "blue collar" path as the Automotive Professor at a community college's CTE program in the southwest.
Joe's testimony is a wonderful confirmation that there is another road to success for those of you looking for it. The opportunities discussed in "Blue Collar & Proud of It" are just a sample of the many jobs available for those looking for security outside of the cubicle, or for those looking for an alternative to the years and cost of schooling that would be necessary at the university level. But you need to be willing to do the research, make the informed decisions, counsel with people in the know, work as hard as you can, and follow your dreams.
Maybe you are one of those people looking for a change, or you are just starting your career. Are you that person in the cubicle with your engine idling, just waiting to strip your gears because you have run out of patience with the boss, the routine, and the paperwork? Maybe you have always had a passion for working outside, or working with your hands building or making something. You have thought about a career change or maybe you are just out of high school and beginning your career, but don't know where to start, or for that matter, where to turn.
I would recommend that you put the brakes on and take the time to read Joe Lamacchia's book "Blue Collar & Proud of It", where he shares success stories of trades people from many walks of life. His book may give you the jump start you need as he gives his personal insight to succeeding as a blue collar worker, and a guide to schools, apprenticeships, and post secondary training programs; along with chapters dedicated to "Green-Collar America", "This Is Women's Work, Too", and "The Blue-Collar Savings Plan". So what are you waiting for; a new career may be waiting just for you.

This is an interesting book. I got it for my son and it's not only informational but has referencs in the back. It should be useful for quite a while.

Excellent book. Well written and easy to read.Blue Collar and Proud of It: The All-in-One Resource for Finding Freedom, Financial Success, and Security Outside the Cubicle