I am thinking about a career change...

My Grandfather always told me that I should find the the two things I love most in life. Keep the first one as your hobby and make the second one your career.
(I wasn't equipped to make it as a pornstar, so I became a mechanic).

I'm comin up on the big five oh pretty quick and I have been turning a wrench most of my life. It ain't as easy as it used to be. The environment has totally changed from what it once was. When I first started, a good mech was a valuable asset. Now, we are just a tradable commodity in a market flooded with out of work mechanics. I see a lot of shops hiring based on how little they can pay and not how good the tech is. The money isn't as easy to come by anymore either. Most of my friends are wrenches and most of them are doin the burn out thing also. I don't have any real answers, if I did, I would probably be typing this from a different perspective for sure.

Rani, I can tell you one thing. What seperates a good mechanic from a great one is working smarter, not harder. You have the brains to work out the situations your size doesn't accomodate.