I left school at 15, went to be a mechanic, did it for a year and left as I didn't like working on other peoples shit, enjoyed working on my own car I had on the drive, many of my friends are mechanics,
After being a mechanic I went on to train as a gas heating engineer and did that for around 15 years at easily twice the money an average mechanic can earn but got sick of that, I love mechanical work but have know moved into a sales job
Everything I'd dependent on what your aspirations are but I couldn't live on any where near 30k for example with mortgage kids wife etc