So You Want to Be a Plumber? (AI Can't Do This Job)

AI can write code. Can it unclog a toilet? A human and an AI robot apply for the same job again — this time the job needs hands. In this episode: what plumbers really do, how you get paid to learn (instead of paying for college), what the job pays (spoiler: the median is not six figures — so who makes $100K?), the "great plumber shortage", what robots and AI can actually do in 2026, and the part nobody puts in the ad. At the end: our Future-Proof Score. Would you crawl under a house for $64K a year? Tell us in the comments. 0:00 The robot got here first 0:37 What the job really is 1:18 Getting in: paid to learn 2:18 Year one 2:37 The money 3:41 The 'great plumber shortage' 4:54 Can a robot do this job? 6:40 Where AI actually helps 7:57 What nobody puts in the ad 8:34 How to get in now 9:18 Verdict: Future-Proof Score Previous episode: So You Want to Be a Software Engineer. Next: So You Want to Be an Airline Pilot.