I got my CDL/hazmat/taker/doubles & triples, inspection licenses, various operators licenses in addiction to my mechanical certifications. Always had a clean CDL never used drugs or alcohol. I made more than any other guy that I went to school with and they all joked that I was overqualified and should get back up the hill to the uni. My CDL instructor raved about how good I drove compared to his students that were there just to get a CDL. I worked on and drove about every piece of heavy equipment you can think of for a massive operation.

And yet I barely made enough to keep going and moved to try and find better work elsewhere. It was even worse there and I ended up running a manufacturing facility after being promoted from millwright. And I still made crap wages. The whole time I was applying everywhere. Everybody wanted me, nobody wanted to pay me. Too many people willing to work for nothing.

That was before I went back to uni for econ but not by any means the end of the story.