As many office workers brace for the impact of AI disruption, a growing number of Americans are rediscovering the value of jobs that can’t be automated. From electricians and welders to carpenters, skilled trades are having a moment in a fledgling job market—offering six-figure paychecks, job security, and a career path that often doesn’t require a college degree. And for one high school dropout, the blue-collar track quickly turned into a six-figure career.
At the age of 15, Matt Panella was already up against a career conundrum: His now-wife was expecting their first child, and the teenager needed to make ends meet. His parents asserted that he needed to make money, but his school encouraged him to stick with the tried-and-true route of going to college. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Panella made the difficult decision to ditch the classroom for construction sites, becoming the next builder in his long family line of blue-collar workers.
“It was conflicting,” Panella, now 29 years old, tells Fortune. “Ultimately what I ended up doing was dropping out of high school—which I don’t condone. I went to work with my dad on site, who worked for another contractor at the time, at the age of 15.”
