Pros and Cons of Working as a Blacksmith

You think about becoming a blacksmith but want to get additional information on salaries, work-life balance, educational requirements, working conditions and much more?

Great! Stick with me since I will show you all the pros and cons of being a blacksmith in the following chapters.

Blacksmith Job Profile

Advantages of Being a Blacksmith

1. Blacksmiths can work with their hands
2. You can see the results of your labor rather quickly
3. Blacksmiths can stay fit at work
4. You will not be at great risk of becoming obese
5. Blacksmiths don’t have to work in a classical office job
6. Blacksmiths don’t have to work on weekends or holidays
7. You don’t have to work in the evening or at nighttime
8. Good work-life balance for blacksmiths
9. Being a blacksmith can be beneficial for your private life
10. You can hand over precious knowledge to the next generation
11. Being a blacksmith is considered cool by many people out there
12. Blacksmiths can work indoors
13. You can be creative at work
14. Decent job security for blacksmiths
15. You don’t need a college degree for becoming a blacksmith
16. You can avoid student loan debt
17. You can work self-employed as a blacksmith
18. You can build a strong personal brand
19. Blacksmiths don’t have to deal with high levels of time pressure
20. Your risk of burnout is rather low

Blacksmiths can work with their hands

One advantage of being a blacksmith is that you can work with hands and can really connect to your labor and your products while many other people working in classical office jobs just work with a computer and often get bored with their jobs pretty soon.

You can see the results of your labor rather quickly

As a blacksmith, you also see the results of your labor pretty quickly.

In fact, you will create new products almost every day and will be pretty proud of some of the items you create and this keeps you motivated and ambitious to improve your skills even further.

Blacksmiths can stay fit at work

Since you will work in a physical manner, you can also stay fit as a blacksmith and don’t have to go to the gym after work as financial controllers and many other people working in classical office jobs often have to do on a regular basis and you will therefore be able to use your time much more efficiently as a blacksmith.

You will not be at great risk of becoming obese

Due to the physical nature of your work, you will burn lots of calories at work and your risk of becoming overweight or even obese will be much lower compared to the average person since you can barely eat enough to compensate sufficiently for the loss of calories at work and chances are that you will stay in great shape in the long run.

Blacksmiths don’t have to work in a classical office job

Another upside to becoming a blacksmith is that you also don’t have to work in one of those artificial office environments but can rather work with basic elements like fire as our ancestors did thousands of years ago and working in such an environment can be considered much more natural and may also make you happier in the long run.

Blacksmiths don’t have to work on weekends or holidays

As a blacksmith, you also don’t have to work on weekends or holidays. Instead, you will have a rather standard 9 to 5 week and can make many nice weekends trips with your family while train drivers and many other people often have to work during those days.

You don’t have to work in the evening or at nighttime

Not only will you have free weekends, but you will also not have to work in the late evening or at nighttime as a blacksmith and this gives you the opportunity to meet up with your favorite people after work on a regular basis while investment bankers and many other people have to work many extra hours and often don’t have this luxury.

Good work-life balance for blacksmiths

In general, thanks to free weekends and holidays, you will also have pretty good work-life balance as a blacksmith and will have more than enough time to spend with your loved ones and to see your kids growing up.

Being a blacksmith can be beneficial for your private life

Since you will work with your hands quite a lot, you will also learn many craftsmen skills as a blacksmith in the long run and this gives you the opportunity to fix many things at home yourself without having to hire third parties who would often cost lots of money.

You can hand over precious knowledge to the next generation

Another benefit of becoming a blacksmith is that you will also be able to preserve precious knowledge and to hand this noble tradition over to the next generations so that ancient knowledge will not be lost but can live on for many years to come.

Being a blacksmith is considered cool by many people out there

Many people also consider being a blacksmith a cool career and you may therefore be able to brag about your job in your circle of friends and many of your peers may really envy you for your job and may secretly want to change places with you.

Blacksmiths can work indoors

Another reason to become a blacksmith is that you can also work indoors while scaffolders and many other people have to work outdoors during times of bad weather and you will have a much more relaxed workday in this regard.

You can be creative at work

Since you can create many different items at work, being a blacksmith also allows you to be creative at work and to invent many new and exciting things in the long run so that you will never get bored with what you are doing and also have some discretion regarding how you want to spend your workday.

Decent job security for blacksmiths

Since not many people want to become blacksmiths anymore, you will also have pretty decent job security and don’t have to worry about losing your job anytime soon since competition in this market is rather limited and really good blacksmiths will be needed for many years to come.

You don’t need a college degree for becoming a blacksmith

You also don’t need a fancy college degree for becoming a blacksmith.

Instead, finishing high school will often be enough to start an apprenticeship in this industry and you can therefore start making money at a rather young age and can become independent of your parents rather soon.

You can avoid student loan debt

Since you don’t need to spend many years in college, you also don’t have to deal with student loan debt and will not have to pay back huge sums of money in this regard while many of your friends may really struggle in this regard and may be financially constrained for many years.

You can work self-employed as a blacksmith

Another advantage of working as a blacksmith is that you can start your own business rather easily and instead of working for someone else, you can be your own boss and work on your own terms which gives you high levels of freedom and may make your workday much better in the long run.

You can build a strong personal brand

If you work as a self-employed blacksmith, you can also build a strong personal brand using social media platforms and other digital channels to promote your business and you may become a real expert in your industry rather soon.

Blacksmiths don’t have to deal with high levels of time pressure

While working as a blacksmith is physically demanding, you still don’t have to stress your brain much and also don’t have to deal with high levels of time pressure but can rather spend your workday in a pretty relaxed manner from a mental point of view.

Your risk of burnout is rather low

Since you will not experience lots of stress at work and will also have lots of leisure, you will also be at much lower risk of suffering from burnout compared to people working in private equity or other professions where stress is a real problem on a daily basis.

Now that you know all the reasons for working as a blacksmith, we also have to talk about the downsides that come along with it so that you can make a profound decision regarding whether you still want to become a blacksmith or rather want to work in a different field.

Disadvantages of Working as a Blacksmith

1. Most blacksmiths don’t make really good money
2. You may not be able to save and invest enough for retirement
3. Some blacksmiths even need to work a second job to pay their bills
4. You have to work in a hard physical manner
5. Many blacksmiths have to quit their careers early
6. You may ruin your body in the long run
7. Blacksmiths can’t work remotely
8. Questionable future outlook for blacksmiths
9. Your loved ones may not understand your career choice
10. Hard to make a big positive impact on society
11. Limited promotion opportunities for blacksmiths
12. Hard to switch to a different field
13. Accidents at work are quite common

Most blacksmiths don’t make really good money

One problem with being a blacksmith is that you will have a hard time making really good money and if your goal is to become wealthy or even rich, you may be better off working as a dentist or in other jobs where you can make much more money on average.

You may not be able to save and invest enough for retirement

Due to your rather low salary, you may also not be able to save and invest enough money for retirement as a blacksmith and may suffer from serious old-age poverty once you get older and have to quit your active career.

Some blacksmiths even need to work a second job to pay their bills

If you live in pretty expensive areas where living and housing costs are high, your blacksmith salary may not even be enough to cover your basic expenses and you may have to work a second job to survive which would take away lots of leisure in the long run.

You have to work in a hard physical manner

Another downside to becoming a blacksmith is that you will also have to work in a hard physical manner and you should therefore be in a pretty decent physical condition since you might not be able to do this job otherwise in an efficient manner.

Many blacksmiths have to quit their careers early

Due to the physical nature of this job, many blacksmiths also have to quit their careers early since they often suffer from serious physical health conditions and are not able to do this job until retirement age.

In turn, many blacksmiths get into serious financial problems in case they don’t find a different job.

You may ruin your body in the long run

Since you will have to stress your body quite a lot, you may also ruin your spine in the long run and many blacksmiths are barely able to walk anymore once they get older and also suffer from all sorts of physical health problems which make it hard to really enjoy life.

Blacksmiths can’t work remotely

Another disadvantage of working as a blacksmith is that you will also not be able to work from home and while risk managers and many other people can work remotely on a regular basis, you will be far less flexible as a blacksmith since you will have to be present at your workplace in person.

Questionable future outlook for blacksmiths

Since many tasks will be automized and machines will do blacksmith work instead of humans, some jobs may also be lost in the blacksmith industry sooner or later and if you are unlucky, you may not find a new job anytime soon in this industry and may have to switch to a different field.

Your loved ones may not understand your career choice

Since blacksmiths don’t make really good money and also have to stress their bodies quite a lot, your family and friends may also not understand your career choice and you may have to justify quite a lot in this regard which may become really annoying sooner or later.

Hard to make a big positive impact on society

As a blacksmith, you will also not have the same high social impact as professors or other people who can really change the minds of many people on a regular basis and you may therefore just not feel important as a blacksmith and may lose motivation for your job in the long run.

Limited promotion opportunities for blacksmiths

You should also know that you will have pretty limited promotion opportunities as a blacksmith and will do the same work for many years or decades and while your friends will be able to climb the corporate ladder rather soon, you may really get frustrated in this regard as a blacksmith.

Hard to switch to a different field

Since you will be pretty specialized, you will also have a rather hard time in the job market in case you don’t want to work as a blacksmith anymore but rather want to work in a completely different field since you will often lack the skills necessary to do so.

Accidents at work are quite common

Another drawback of being a blacksmith is that you will also be at significant risk of accidents at work and if you are unlucky, you may suffer from serious issues in this regard and may even have to quit your career.

Top 10 Being a Blacksmith Pros & Cons – Summary List

Should You Become A Blacksmith?

Working as a blacksmith can be a great career since you can work with your hands and see the results of your labor rather quickly. However, you should also keep in mind that most blacksmiths don’t make good money and also often suffer from serious health problems in the long run which often forces them to quit their careers early.

In the end, it is on you to evaluate all the pros and cons of being a blacksmith so that you can better decide whether you still want to work as a blacksmith or rather want to work in a different field.

If you come to the conclusion that a blacksmith career is not for you, you may also want to check out the following articles:

Advantages and disadvantages of being a brewer

Advantages and disadvantages of being a restaurant manager

Advantages and disadvantages of being a DJ

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacksmith

Own research and interviews.

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people about the different career paths that are possible in our current state of the world.

In my opinion, people often make the mistake to choose their profession solely based on how much money they can earn from it instead of doing what makes them really happy.

This is quite sad and I just want to give people a more objective picture of what a fulfilling career could look like.

I did the same when I started working in consulting after finishing my Master’s degree in Economics.

However, I’ve quit pretty soon after that since I haven’t found true meaning in my job.

Now I can do what I really love to do and I want to enable as many other people as well to go this exciting path towards happiness instead of money.

I conducted various interviews with employees to give you a good impression of what working in different fields will look like and that you can make the best possible decision regarding your future career choice.

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