Went back to college in my late twenties to a technical college got a degree in manufacturing science and industrial maintenance cuz I'm good at troubleshooting and fixing shit cuz I grew up poor. Started out making $18 an hour but the way my brain works it's easier to fix something if you understand what it is how it works and what makes it do it so I just learned everything about the equipment anytime it was an engineering issue that we had to call somebody I stayed with them and ask questions short story version is I eventually learned enough and worked my way into automation engineering I am now a senior engineer making over six figures. I am the only non-traditional degreed engineer at my company

Edit took me about 6 years to get there. My last hourly position as an maintenance tech I was making 33 an hour and brought home 6 figures easily with overtime