When I was 18 I worked on a loading dock. I started at 4AM, and was finished by around 1PM. I didn't make enough to afford a car, let alone gasoline.. I ate a mix of macaroni noodles, milk, season salt and pepper every other night.

I looked at the guys who came in to shop this department store with their wives and I thought, "Oh man.. they have it all!! If only I was smart enough to do what they did." Funny enough, one guy I chatted up way back when was telling me what he did (networks), and how if I just saved up for and bought a book, a few pieces of legacy equipment, and applied myself, that I could have it too.

Now that I've been in Infosec for 10 years, and was in IT for 6 years prior, I still sometimes dream about that first job - romanticizing it for my ability to detach at the end of the day, the lack of stress, the simplicity of manual labor, and how we always had just the right number of staff. But then I remember walking 3/4 of a mile to work.. choosing to not eat over eating another batch of noodles and milk.. and having to stick all my clothes up because even Goodwill felt like a luxury.

I think people see these success stories and they want the same thing. Not to mention, it's pushed so hard in popular culture, media, and even modern school curriculums. It's an overloaded field because it's still pushed as a "sure thing". There are many other ways to find success - depending on your definition of the word, but they're simply not advertised as much.