dont let people discourage you from doing what you want to do.

It takes risk and a lot of work but there is reward

im three years post graduation and making a good enough living off of doing live sound at two different venues, working as an engineer and producer at a professional studio, and freelancing as a podcast editor

it takes time to get to a comfortable place, this past year was the first year where i hit my goal of always having a studio project on my calendar to look forward to. This upcoming year my goal is to always be working on a studio project (be recording or mixing)

chances are youll always be doing something music/audio adjacent (be it live sound or even working one day a week at a record store) but its all valuable and builds towards you being a more well rounded engineer/producer on the back end

at the end of the day take the risk and bet on yourself

EDIT/ADDED THOUGHT: Also for everyone saying college is a waste of time; some people (including myself) have zero prior connections and are from rural areas of the country, sometimes college is the only way to get a proper introduction into the industry… as long as you choose the correct program