My life experience is..

After high school i went 2 years on a tech school teaching me to become a normal mechanic, took a break after 2 years since i was dead tired.. The work was at a fish factory were i earned about $15 each hour and the job was horrible but i liked the people and we had lots of parties together (tons of swedish girls) Worked about 400 hours more then a normal job(aka 2100 in total) Took me about a year to get some kind of "upgrade" wich made the job alot more enjoyable but it still was crap and getting pissed on by random bosses in a bad mood happened from time to time.

But i was detirmened to finsih the last year and get alot more electrical stuff since that means you can be used everywere and to everything!

Had to take 1.5 years as a apprentice and earn 60% wich was $15 (same as my old wage) but when i worked overtime im paid 100% instead of 50%. Aka if i bothered to work 6-7 hours on a saturday were i started WHEN i wanted and did WHAT i wanted i suddenly earned $58 each hour.The down side is that i have to work 1 week early 6-14 and one week late 15-23.. (The day is one hour shorter on fridays thought)

Now im done and my normaly hour pay is $29 wich is enough for me since i still live home with my mother (sad yes) 6 months ago i was offered to join the fire phone thing (incase of a fire alarm i meet up and is there to inform the fire department of sudden changes, gas bottles etc) This is each 5th week and the requirment is to be sober and less then 30 min away. $720 for one week EXTRA on my normal pay.

With 3 years of school in total (since i didnt work as a mechanic on the fish factory) the difference is.

My last year on the fish factory i earned a total of $40 700 spread on around 2100 hours..

2008 in my new job i earned $68 570 spread on around 1700 hours.

My old job was quite physical and i was very tired after a worked day (always worked 06:00-15:30) It was very noicy and you got yelled at by some random asshole bosses. I couldnt do shit without taking a shower after work since the smell wasnt that great. Every morning was hard since that i didnt enjoy going to work!

Now there is barley any physical work left and i work 1.5 hours less.. I dont wake up and think to myself "YES WORK" but if i stay home a whole day even wow tends to become boring! The key certainly to not do the same stuff each day!

My plan however is to start on a engineer degree in september wich is over 4 years.. I guess i will go up about $14 000 - $20 000 but i dont realy care about the money as long as i like the job and its not underpaid of course.

$68 570 might sound like alot for a normal job but DO take in consideration that i pay 45% tax since i dont have a big load or kids.. Since im from Norway everything costs waaaay more then in other countries. I do however get a scholarship when i head back to school,free health care and dont one of thoose crazy health insurances you need in the states.

When i go out and drink i use atleast $140 and i do it around 4 times each month so $75 on multiboxing isnt to bad.