good luck with schooling man, you will need it i graduated from NADC in 00, and now (at 23) i have my own shop, averaging about 55k a year (but also keep in mind that our rate is only 40/hr, this area is lower costs) but the key thing is that i LOVE what i do. i wake up every morning, shit shave shower and go to work, loving every minute of it. if you love what you do, its not a job. so i guess i havent worked a day in five years

pay attention to every thing you see, if you go one day without learning something, it was a day wasted. you better be decent at wiring, or you will need to be when you are done, cause 75% of work on anything anymore is all electronic. and listen to some of the older guys.....they know what they are talking about (most of them at least)

some people may say that 50k a year isnt dick. they are right. in my area, 50k/year is pretty damn good, its about the same as 75-90k in other more populated areas. there are some sacrifices that you will have to make (namely the large amounts of dough you will spend on tools and equipment, i have 54k in tools over a five year period ) and dealing with all the rich assholes that think just cause they make 100k+/year, they are better then you cause you are merely a "grease monkey"

but you can control how their car runs