What does your work history look like? A few years on the Alberta oil rigs, another couple of months operating lumber banding machines in the Pacific Northwest, and a stint fixing boat motors down in Florida? The lives of skilled trades people are varied and interesting. Your skills allow you to move around more than people in other fields. If you feel the traveling bug biting once again, consider moving on to Akron, Ohio. Regardless of your experience level, you can get a job in manufacturing there. Here are some of the possibilities that await you.

Due to its history as a manufacturer of motor vehicle tires, Akron was widely known as the "Rubber Capitol of the World." Goodyear and Firestone had huge competing factories in the city which spawned working neighborhoods that still bear their names. Though the days of vulcanization and pneumatic conveying systems are over for Firestone in Akron, the city is still home to the world headquarters of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.

Goodyear became such a staple of Akron's economy that the city became home to a variety of other manufacturing operations that dealt with automobiles. The city was a logical place for such operations, as its central location naturally lent it prowess as a transportation hub. Since the 1980s this industry has shrunk somewhat and hand notchers have given way to robotic arms, but auto manufacturing is not dead. Motor vehicles are still among the items produced in Akron factories, along with metals and auto parts.

The reason Goodyear has managed to survive the 1980s slump is that it has branched out into new fields, specifically technology, which is one of the nation's top job sectors at present. By leapfrogging off its rubber production history, Goodyear was able to turn over more than a new leaf - it was more like several new sheaves - and get into polymer research. The jobs resulting from this changeover were more weighted toward white collar chemistry and computer fields, but there is still room on the production end of things for skilled workers, especially once the research has proceeded far enough down the pipeline to be useful in the field of medicine.

Akron's status as a transportation hub has also given it opportunities in the present that will carry over into its future. Trucks and trains have given way to air power. It started with the famous Goodyear Blimp and today it has expanded into an industry that receives billions of dollars in defense contracts. Lockheed Martin is the big name in this sector, so if you've got experience working with fuse holders rated for high level flight or another aspect of aeronautics manufacturing, you could find yourself producing aeronautical controls and instruments for a living.