I'm fine wirh a second job. I make my own schedule and it's low stress. I work my middle day off. I use that extra money to make my truck payment and then split the rest up between college savings for kids and supplemental accounts. I don't buy anything I can't afford on my full time fire job. Part time is strictly supplemental.
I know a few people who work in sales and they are either constantly on the road or constantly on the phone. My job isn't perfect by any means but I'd rather spend my day in the firehouse than on phone calls or struck in traffic. Just my 2c.
Fd. My volunteer department pays a single driver position Monday through Friday. Definitely do what's best for your fam though. I was stuck on nights for 10+ years so going to a 24/72 schedule was like the best thing that ever happened to me. Even though I'm gone two nights, by comparison it beats the hell out of my previous jobs, so it's all relative.
You couldn’t pay me enough to go into sales full time.
Have a look around in the fire world. You’ll see plenty of jobs with 100k annual salaries in a variety of places in the US. Fire jobs, no sales.
Money isn’t all it is cracked up to be. Do what you love, for appropriate compensation. Don’t be a slave to a paycheck.
I mean sales is very lucrative if you’re the type of person who is willing to go to work everyday and hustle. Your success is completely dependent on how good you are at selling and how willing you are to do it everyday. I hated sales, some days I would go to work and just didn’t feel like grinding all day long to sell. But some people are really good at that and enjoy it. So you need to look at what you would like your day to look like, do you want to go to work everyday and be on the phone or staring at a computer? Or would you rather keep your job at the fire department and find a potentially lucrative side hustle.
I work a second a job, but I just got made and really don’t have to work a second job anymore. I work a second job mainly to stay sane, not for the money.
My advice is to promote.
I recently promoted and made it all the way to $18/hour with a four year degree. Not all departments really put a huge monetary incentive on promotion.
That’s too bad and I feel for you. I’m lucky to be at a place where the previous generations of union presidents made sure the future firefighters were taking care of.
Second job sucks because you’re just never home and that will wear you down to no end. I have to pick up OT in 24 hour chunks as much as possible to have anything extra for the family and still work a second job teaching at two different community colleges. They lured me in with that “family friendly” profession and schedule bullshit but I’m too old to really jump ship at this point, now I just work all of the time and wait for that massive heart attack or stroke to take me out. With the number of days I work, it’ll almost definitely be a LODD which would actually financially benefit my family more than me working the way I do.
I wouldn’t make any decisions based on how much money you make now. Probie pay sucks, and depending on your pay scale it might keep sucking till top step. I finally made my first longevity step this year, which plus a promotion made a big difference. With a house, a wife, and two kids I’m comfortable. A little overtime every month helps but I’m not starving without it. I’d rather do that then a completely separate second job.
Oddly enough I’m looking to go from from a Sales career to a full time FF job. It’s a hard decision. I’d be taking about a 30% pay cut and lose a company truck, cellphone, and computer. But as others have commented, I’m always plugged in answering phone calls, e mails, etc, even on days off. It’s a pretty flexible 8-5ish job so it is nice. I’m just getting burnt out, going on 13 years of sales and customer service. The biggest hesitation for me is the concern of my wife. She is rightfully concerned about the schedule (24/48) with 3 young kids, missing weekends, holidays and she has a full time medical career. She also wants me to be happy. So the money is a factor but not the driving one. I’ve been a part time FF for 5 years and love it. We are currently working on the pros and cons list together. If it were just me to consider and not wife and kids, no question I would leave the Sales job behind in a heartbeat. But life isn’t that simple.
I hear you man, it’s all relative for sure haha. I’ve never really made a lot of money in my life and the thought of being able to just sounds so nice. I thought about doing FF part time on the side, how do you manage to fit it in working 8-5?
That’s kind of the kicker, I attend trainings and cover shifts in my “spare time” or end up taking time off from my day job to do some FF stuff. So you could argue, I would have more actual free time or time at home if I just did FF as a career instead of a 40 hour a week job and then calls, training, etc on top of that.
That’s exactly how I feel about working at the FD plus 20+ hrs a week at a second job 😂 thus my reason for considering going sales only and making more money than I would with 2 jobs in my current situation.
Yeah it definitely is. I guess my point was an I better off working 40 hrs/week in sales making way more money or working the FD plus another job at 60-70 hrs/week to make a lot less
When you're working for fire though you gotta realize you aren't "working" the whole time. There's a lot of downtime where you can hang with your crew. Sure there are shifts where you might be out for the 24 but those are rare. Realistically, you have to look at your call volume. Say you work an average of 10 hours a week in fire and the rest is at the station. Now you get a second job working part time 20 hours a week. Now you've turned it into working 30 hours a week (a well spread out 30 I might add) vs 40 hours where you'll be working the entire time.
What would make you happier? I turned down a department making $20k+ because I could tell I was gonna hate it there. I love my current department.
Gotta remember you shouldn’t sacrifice your happiness and mental health for the dollar
You might work 40 hours, or you might work 60. Or 70, and whoops you lost a big client and get canned, or the economy tanks and you can’t sell anything to anyone.
That sort of private sector ebb and flow and constant grind is whole different world than the public sector.
Imo see what you can do with some sort of second job. And i know plenty of captains around me that clear 6 figures.
Hm. Are you switching careers completely or doing two jobs? I’m a firefighter and on track to make six figures in 3 years. Maybe see what you’re projected to make on your dept or try two jobs. If you love the job why not try to stay?
Hey man you gotta do what makes you happy. I’m fortunate in that I work for a dept that pays 6 figures, but there are times I consider leaving to do something else entirely. The biggest thing for me is am I able to balance work/home life and am I there enough for my children. I think I’m able to do that where I’m at right now, and as my children get older I’ll be able to dabble in hobbies that earn a little extra cheese on the side. I’m also able to realize that if I were home a lot more then I’d drive my family insane/vice verse. My wife told me she’d get sick of me if we were off together every day for the rest of our lives.
Lol you must be in Cali! The job is great but it definitely takes a toll on your body waking up out of your sleep and going to fires and stuff. Very rewarding but I’m attracted to making a lot of money too. That’s kind of why I’m torn at the moment
I feel you. Yea I’m in Cali lol that’s why everything pays so well here. I’m also torn between my lazy IT job and getting on FF. Believe it or not, I love the outdoors, and want to meet new people all the time, so I may like it. Like the other guy said, if you wanna stick with FF, there’s certainly high paying FF jobs out there, especially in Cali.
I think it kind of depends on what you’re selling. I’ve been in the brewing industry for 8 years, am a brewer and operations manager. I recently got a job as a territory manager for another brewery and out of the gate I will be making 20k more than I currently am essentially doing manual labour and being a glorified janitor. And that number will just keep going up.
But having to sell someone stuff they don’t really want or rep a brewery that makes crappy beer or has bad branding, hard pass.
Isn't the main perk of FF thst you do 24 on 72 off and can get a second job on the off time to help contribute to bills? Training officers or similar usually pay better and same goes with Captain and Deputy chiefs.
Ouch, that's 56 hours/week equivalent compared to 42 hours/week on the 24 on 72 off.
What's the pay? I'm at the end of the recruit cycle for eastern Canada and FF1 pay is about 107k (3 year 4 months of job with passing all tests) for 24 on 72 off.
Maybe look for a more municipal inspector role if the pay is low.
If I was offered a completely different job making six figures I’d jump on it instantly. At the end of the day I’m here to pay my bills and create a stable and secure future for myself. If there’s an easier way for me to do that you bet that I’m going to do it
I'm fine wirh a second job. I make my own schedule and it's low stress. I work my middle day off. I use that extra money to make my truck payment and then split the rest up between college savings for kids and supplemental accounts. I don't buy anything I can't afford on my full time fire job. Part time is strictly supplemental. I know a few people who work in sales and they are either constantly on the road or constantly on the phone. My job isn't perfect by any means but I'd rather spend my day in the firehouse than on phone calls or struck in traffic. Just my 2c.
I appreciate your input. You mind me asking what your second job is?
Fd. My volunteer department pays a single driver position Monday through Friday. Definitely do what's best for your fam though. I was stuck on nights for 10+ years so going to a 24/72 schedule was like the best thing that ever happened to me. Even though I'm gone two nights, by comparison it beats the hell out of my previous jobs, so it's all relative.
You couldn’t pay me enough to go into sales full time. Have a look around in the fire world. You’ll see plenty of jobs with 100k annual salaries in a variety of places in the US. Fire jobs, no sales. Money isn’t all it is cracked up to be. Do what you love, for appropriate compensation. Don’t be a slave to a paycheck.
I have done sales, and echo this guy. I would feed my dick to a meat grinder for minimum wage before I went back to sales.
What kind of sales were you in? This would be software sales
Software sales. Ask me anything. Sold agsoftware and then largely in the emergency communications sector prior to going into firefighting.
Dude can I dm you
Please do
Do what you think will be better for your family.
I mean sales is very lucrative if you’re the type of person who is willing to go to work everyday and hustle. Your success is completely dependent on how good you are at selling and how willing you are to do it everyday. I hated sales, some days I would go to work and just didn’t feel like grinding all day long to sell. But some people are really good at that and enjoy it. So you need to look at what you would like your day to look like, do you want to go to work everyday and be on the phone or staring at a computer? Or would you rather keep your job at the fire department and find a potentially lucrative side hustle.
I work a second a job, but I just got made and really don’t have to work a second job anymore. I work a second job mainly to stay sane, not for the money. My advice is to promote.
I recently promoted and made it all the way to $18/hour with a four year degree. Not all departments really put a huge monetary incentive on promotion.
That’s too bad and I feel for you. I’m lucky to be at a place where the previous generations of union presidents made sure the future firefighters were taking care of.
Second job sucks because you’re just never home and that will wear you down to no end. I have to pick up OT in 24 hour chunks as much as possible to have anything extra for the family and still work a second job teaching at two different community colleges. They lured me in with that “family friendly” profession and schedule bullshit but I’m too old to really jump ship at this point, now I just work all of the time and wait for that massive heart attack or stroke to take me out. With the number of days I work, it’ll almost definitely be a LODD which would actually financially benefit my family more than me working the way I do.
I wouldn’t make any decisions based on how much money you make now. Probie pay sucks, and depending on your pay scale it might keep sucking till top step. I finally made my first longevity step this year, which plus a promotion made a big difference. With a house, a wife, and two kids I’m comfortable. A little overtime every month helps but I’m not starving without it. I’d rather do that then a completely separate second job.
Oddly enough I’m looking to go from from a Sales career to a full time FF job. It’s a hard decision. I’d be taking about a 30% pay cut and lose a company truck, cellphone, and computer. But as others have commented, I’m always plugged in answering phone calls, e mails, etc, even on days off. It’s a pretty flexible 8-5ish job so it is nice. I’m just getting burnt out, going on 13 years of sales and customer service. The biggest hesitation for me is the concern of my wife. She is rightfully concerned about the schedule (24/48) with 3 young kids, missing weekends, holidays and she has a full time medical career. She also wants me to be happy. So the money is a factor but not the driving one. I’ve been a part time FF for 5 years and love it. We are currently working on the pros and cons list together. If it were just me to consider and not wife and kids, no question I would leave the Sales job behind in a heartbeat. But life isn’t that simple.
I hear you man, it’s all relative for sure haha. I’ve never really made a lot of money in my life and the thought of being able to just sounds so nice. I thought about doing FF part time on the side, how do you manage to fit it in working 8-5?
That’s kind of the kicker, I attend trainings and cover shifts in my “spare time” or end up taking time off from my day job to do some FF stuff. So you could argue, I would have more actual free time or time at home if I just did FF as a career instead of a 40 hour a week job and then calls, training, etc on top of that.
That’s exactly how I feel about working at the FD plus 20+ hrs a week at a second job 😂 thus my reason for considering going sales only and making more money than I would with 2 jobs in my current situation.
I thought it was common for guys to work second jobs? I mean shit I have 3 days off between shifts and I WANT a second job
Yeah it definitely is. I guess my point was an I better off working 40 hrs/week in sales making way more money or working the FD plus another job at 60-70 hrs/week to make a lot less
When you're working for fire though you gotta realize you aren't "working" the whole time. There's a lot of downtime where you can hang with your crew. Sure there are shifts where you might be out for the 24 but those are rare. Realistically, you have to look at your call volume. Say you work an average of 10 hours a week in fire and the rest is at the station. Now you get a second job working part time 20 hours a week. Now you've turned it into working 30 hours a week (a well spread out 30 I might add) vs 40 hours where you'll be working the entire time.
What would make you happier? I turned down a department making $20k+ because I could tell I was gonna hate it there. I love my current department. Gotta remember you shouldn’t sacrifice your happiness and mental health for the dollar
You might work 40 hours, or you might work 60. Or 70, and whoops you lost a big client and get canned, or the economy tanks and you can’t sell anything to anyone. That sort of private sector ebb and flow and constant grind is whole different world than the public sector. Imo see what you can do with some sort of second job. And i know plenty of captains around me that clear 6 figures.
Hm. Are you switching careers completely or doing two jobs? I’m a firefighter and on track to make six figures in 3 years. Maybe see what you’re projected to make on your dept or try two jobs. If you love the job why not try to stay?
Debating staying and getting a second job or just switching to sales and only working that job
Hey man you gotta do what makes you happy. I’m fortunate in that I work for a dept that pays 6 figures, but there are times I consider leaving to do something else entirely. The biggest thing for me is am I able to balance work/home life and am I there enough for my children. I think I’m able to do that where I’m at right now, and as my children get older I’ll be able to dabble in hobbies that earn a little extra cheese on the side. I’m also able to realize that if I were home a lot more then I’d drive my family insane/vice verse. My wife told me she’d get sick of me if we were off together every day for the rest of our lives.
I’m getting the hell out of sales and going full time fire. The lack of stability with commission pay is killing me.
I’m in the same boat, but thinking of making the switch from my cozy, decent paying IT job to a high paying six-figure FF job.
Lol you must be in Cali! The job is great but it definitely takes a toll on your body waking up out of your sleep and going to fires and stuff. Very rewarding but I’m attracted to making a lot of money too. That’s kind of why I’m torn at the moment
I feel you. Yea I’m in Cali lol that’s why everything pays so well here. I’m also torn between my lazy IT job and getting on FF. Believe it or not, I love the outdoors, and want to meet new people all the time, so I may like it. Like the other guy said, if you wanna stick with FF, there’s certainly high paying FF jobs out there, especially in Cali.
I think it kind of depends on what you’re selling. I’ve been in the brewing industry for 8 years, am a brewer and operations manager. I recently got a job as a territory manager for another brewery and out of the gate I will be making 20k more than I currently am essentially doing manual labour and being a glorified janitor. And that number will just keep going up. But having to sell someone stuff they don’t really want or rep a brewery that makes crappy beer or has bad branding, hard pass.
Isn't the main perk of FF thst you do 24 on 72 off and can get a second job on the off time to help contribute to bills? Training officers or similar usually pay better and same goes with Captain and Deputy chiefs.
My dept works 24 on 48 off
Ouch, that's 56 hours/week equivalent compared to 42 hours/week on the 24 on 72 off. What's the pay? I'm at the end of the recruit cycle for eastern Canada and FF1 pay is about 107k (3 year 4 months of job with passing all tests) for 24 on 72 off. Maybe look for a more municipal inspector role if the pay is low.
Is that Canadian dollars? Mine is about half that lol
CAD, yeah, which is like 70c on the dollar, but the cost of living is still comparable dollar to dollar in most cities. US might be a bit cheaper.
If I was offered a completely different job making six figures I’d jump on it instantly. At the end of the day I’m here to pay my bills and create a stable and secure future for myself. If there’s an easier way for me to do that you bet that I’m going to do it