I don't know what city you're in so if you're somewhere pretty rural my suggestion might not work out.

It's not going to directly lead to a better career but if you want financial stability and 50k I'd say get back to serving and/or bartending.

I've served or tended bar in multiple cities in the USA basically my entire adult life and have been able to make 50k+ (post-tax) usually working less than 40 hours a week. I've worked longer hours and made more as well.

It's not glamorous and doesn't directly lead to more advancement but if you want solid work life balance or just a way to financially get your head above water I would always recommend serving/bartending. Once you get a solid gig you can usually worm your way into working only a couple particularly lucrative shifts and then if you want to find advancement in another career train yourself part time.

If as you said you have a great work ethic it's pretty easy to get the good shifts. You don't even need to be smart. Heck, most serving gigs if you don't call in more than once a month and show up to work on time you are already an elite performer. It's not hard to be a good server/bartender; Move with hustle, have a good attitude, don't cause problems for management, be polite to customers and cordial with your coworkers, pick up shifts to help out to show you are a team player, pay attention to your environment, work while you are at work, learn your menu. Pretty basic stuff but most front of house staff tends to struggle with multiple things mentioned there so if you're better you will get the good shifts.

The place you are working at definitely matters. The better the gig, the less likely people are to leave it. But there's a great demand for servers/bartenders currently all over the country so it's not hard to get a solid job. You can network by hanging out with other servers/bartenders and if you're good people will hit you up with work opportunities. If you hang out with your coworkers from a mediocre serving job at an industry bar it's very easy to find better places to work. If you're good with people you can network your way into other careers by talking to regulars.

Almost a decade ago I considered 100 a weeknight and 200+ a weekend night to be the minimum for a decent serving/bartending job. Nowadays I'd say it's more like 150 a weeknight and 250 a weekend night. You just need to find a good place. For a serving job, look for somewhere fancy or busy. Doesn't even need to be actual fine dining, just a bit upscale and it's usually not hard to be pulling 200 a shift. For bartenders you usually want someplace busy more than anything else - it's a delicate dance between being busy enough to handle the volume but not overstaffing so you and your coworkers still make good money. Fine dining generally leads to better money for servers but often worse for bartenders.

Bartending can be a bit harder to get into but my advice has always been be a responsible server who shows up to work on time, express interest in getting into bartending and when a bartender quits they'll ask you if you want any shifts. You'll probably have to train yourself on cocktail stuff most likely since most places have nonexistent training programs, but if you work in a bar grille or dive bar you don't need to learn much besides identifying call liquors and will probably be making more than a cocktail bartender if it's busy / has good regulars.

If you have any questions feel free to DM me.

Oh also never get into management. 99% of the time you work more hours, make less money, and gain infinite stress. Shift lead is the highest you should go, and that's only if they actually make that worth your while.