Useful skills that can make you an income before, during and after SHTF

[halphase]

Discuss what jobs and skills that will be valuable and essential to learn before,during and after SHTF.

Skills that can earn you an income and make you too valuable for groups and community to replace you with no matter how bad and how good the situation is.

At the top of my head I can think of carpentry, plumbing, electrician, doctor, EMT, etc...And perhaps jobs that won't take you more than 4 years to learn like being a doctor, unless field experience counts when SHTF.

 

[Dr. Ricearoni]

A chef. I know it seems like a small thing, but believe me, people will get miserable eating the same bland thing every day. If you know how to cook a wide variety of meals for a large number of people from a limited number of ingredients, you'll make people very happy.

 

[Casshern]

Homesteader. Being able to grow a variety of crops and handle a variety of animals is a great thing, both for yourself and in a community as a whole. And you shouldn’t hoard this information either as sharing it will build you far more wealth in the community than selling your produce ever could. I would prefer my neighbors all grow alongside me, creating a safety net of sorts, as then when I undoubtedly have bad harvests I can use my other trades to barter for goods.

Another to add is a mechanic. Learning to repair your own vehicles and the vehicles of others around you will be paramount, as despite how some fools see TEOTWAWKI, cars will not cease to exist and especially farm equipment won’t.

 

[fedoralordjish]

prostitution always makes some money and doesn't require too much up front investment. abortions can always be induced with the right mix of herbs and spices.

 

[Topsoil]

Logging, brewing, knapping, tanning, plumbing (waste disposal in general), weaving/basketmaking (especially with natural stuff like pinestraw/reeds), pottery, literally any animal husbandry skills, hunting, navigating without a map/compass, knowing what foods are safe to forage in your area, fishing, horse riding, fermenting, composting, herbal medicine, chemistry (for the not-so-herbal medicine & fertilizers), gardening/crops, cobblery, making toilet paper/paper in general

 

[Kheapathic]

A lot of frontiersman type skills, like what @Topsoil listed. One thing I'll say for certain is water purifying; we may not think about it much since we can mostly all go to our tap and ideally drink what comes out without being poisoned or introduced to bacteria. But mainly frontiersman/bush craft, homesteading, and fixing/repairing/maintenance like people have been saying; but keep your needs in order, you need clean food and water and shelter, before a house, garden, and all that other good stuff.

 

[Rekeita's Kidneys]

Any skilled trade, provided the market isn't complete fucking shit (unfortunately like it is now). Carpentry, welding, sparky etc

 

[Meiwaku]

I feel just being a laboring adult can get you pretty far. You can always use a trusty hand to do anything grunt wise. Lots of trad labor was just neighbors getting together to assist harvests, barn raisings, etc. even if they didn't have expert level skills.

Also, anyone who has a trade or knowledge that they can teach to others and who is agreeable and well-socialized will do well. Working with others becomes your most important ability in these societies.

 

[Poppavalyim Andropoff]

scrappers. sure just about any old fuckwit can go rip copper pipe out of somewhere but a scrapper will know the best place and why. Also they'd have fixed a ton of shit people just throw away.

mechanics, machinists, blacksmiths, engineers & strippers

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Being able to mend cloths and sew new ones is a pretty good bet for anyone too weak for manual labour.

 

[Sithis]

Unironically, learn how to cook meth or make some other basic drugs using simple chemistry, and you will never want for friends or allies in the wasteland.

 

[A Man on Fire]

Building stuff. Anything involving touching grass, making stuff for homes/furniture/van-life stuff.

 

[Boggy B]

Butchery, surprised it hasn't already been mentioned. More, better products means better food and therefore better morale.

It's also a gory, dangerous and potentially smelly job that someone with other skills would probably not mind palming off on someone else.

Also composting - there's more to that than it looks.

 

[Obeah Mon]

Just owning a complete set of tools will get you loved. paper making .. rope making.. pottery all the medieval shit

 

[MCLOS Horthy]

Not a specific job per se but understanding basic engineering principles while doing construction or mechanical jobs can make a world of difference. Not even numerical calculations or anything, but sussing out that a board is more stiff and strong on one axis as opposed to another can help you do eyeball engineering, and help you make something that's stronger than otherwise with the same materials.

 

[ChampFantana]

Smithing will become a very in demand skill. Gunsmithing in particular and knowing how to make blackpowder will go a long way.

 

[Cane Skretteburg]

I see a lot of people in this thread LARPing in their answers. We are a long way out from having to scrape out a living in a barren wasteland. It is best to cultivate any skill that relates to self-reliance. Don’t like that you have to buy so much of an item from the store? Learn to make it yourself. Don’t like your shitty job? Learn skills necessary to get a new job or become self-employed. Don’t like that your car breaks down? Learn to fix it. Ultimately the only person you can rely on 100% of the time is yourself, and the body of knowledge that you possess should be a reflection of that truth.

Also, it’s unlikely any of us will die in a gunfight with bandits in a burned-out dystopian hellscape. We are, however, certainly going to be faced with shortages of manufactured goods and supply chain breakdowns that make it more difficult for us to buy things we currently take for granted. I remember reading an article a long time ago about the siege of Sarajevo back in the 90s. The man being interviewed in this article claimed that the most well-off man in his neighborhood at that time was a man who knew how to refuel bic lighters. Having a shitload of guns and ammo is cool, but a wealth of practical knowledge will take you further.

 

[Justa Grata Honoria]

prostitution always makes some money and doesn't require too much up front investment. abortions can always be induced with the right mix of herbs and spices.

Actually if you are a good herbalist you can do this and make a bank. Even now most medications that are pushed are far more hamfull than the herbal preparations given .

 

[TapewormSalesman]

abortions can always be induced with the right mix of herbs and spices.

It's literally just regular parsley, can also be used to kickstart the period, but if you overdo it, you will bleed to death.
Semi related tax: a veterinarian, especially the one for large animals. Has access to a decent stockpile of antibiotics and other medicines that are theoretically not for people, but honestly will work just as fine in an emergency. Also knows how to deliver offspring on basically any mammal, so it would probably translate to a human in a desperate situation.

 

[Badungus Kabungus]

Learn some dirty jokes and entertaining anecdotes about pre-war society. You need to be really entertaining to avoid getting eaten by post-nuclear cannibals.