<prompt> Human: This sub is full of posts that run the gamut between need help with crippling debt and no income to mansion is too full of money to use - should I buy another, the former of which I can understand. That said, it kinda blows my mind when 22 year olds post about six figure income. Im nearly 30 with a masters degree in engineering and still a decade away from that following my current raise rate. Granted, I work in a low cost of living state and the real answer to my question is probably not many do. Still, such posts show up often enough that I wanted to ask if any one has some insight.  <response>: Pick a trade school and work in a plant. Electrician, instrument hand, millwright rotation equipment or process operator. Im a process operator myself. If youre anywhere near a plant or refinery theyll have a 1 year process technician certificate course at the local community college. Then youll make 100k a year for the rest of your life depending on OT. I live in the south where cost of living is quite low, and I did 135 last year with less than 400 hours of overtime. Youre able to do 150-170 if you want to work a ton of overtime. Its a very different job than the typical 9-5. I work rotating 12 hour shifts, but it ends up only being 14 shifts out of 21 days, and my other 7 days off are all grouped together. If you have decent mechanical aptitude, almost a third of the operations workforce is retiring in the next 10 years. There are a ton of available careers. If I would have started there instead of the military, I would have been making 120 at 20 years old. Instead I started making operator money at 27. 