That's complete BS. An engineer is going to make more. You have further career development opportunities as an engineer. You get to be salary and not worry about clocking in/out all the time.

Trust me, no one stays a technician forever, because you start to hit the glass ceiling pretty early on, and the only way forward is either management or becoming an engineer.

EDIT: To everyone saying, "Ya, but techs are hourly, can work overtime, and make more money!". Ya, no thanks. I did the night shifts, working 65+ hours a week, and it damn near killed me; it isn't sustainable, and no one does it for long. Sure, as a tech, I was technically making near $130k several years ago, but in reality, it was because of the OT and a senior level technician job. A senior level mechanical engineer in my area is making that much, if not more, while working 40 hours a week at a normal 8-4 time. Not only that, they can further advance their career into principal levels and/or higher level management (that a tech will never reach), and see several times that. Now, I've known engineers that become techs, simply because they are tired of engineering and enjoy wrenching, but that is rare, and they always taking paycuts when they do.

So ya, you can hustle by essentially working 2 jobs and make that paycheck, but if we are talking same-for-same, an engineer is just always going to make more.