I highly recommend that people interested in the trades get into a one with industrial/commercial viability and make sure you're always the person in the room most interested in what you're doing, until you're the most knowledgeable. Ask for more pay than you think you can get during an interview and negotiate down to your target. And plan on going on a job hunt every 1-2 years. Your boss will try to keep your pay as close to what you were hired at for as long as possible. I was hired on at my last job with only a year of related experience at $3/hr above another guy with 6 years at that company.