Hot damn, well that's certainly not what i was trying to advise but i wasn't very specific either. On top of that, I'm in a unique position having been born in a family that would go on to start their own repair biz. I've injured myself on the job no doubt. Made big dumb expensive mistakes, to boot. Never had to expose myself to some of the risks you mentioned though, and my pay is definitely higher than that--but only after having been at it for over 20 years between apprenticing and leveling-up to professional, whenever that happened. Being self-employed is absolutely amazing though, if anyone should be fortunate enough to get a chance like i did. Can't get laid off from your own job! But you're also on the hook for your own insurances, you have to establish a good rep and uphold it, keep a current inventory, juggle appointments daily, drive a lot, paperwork aplenty, etc etc etc, the headaches are plentiful... And I'm still not getting rich doing all this work, either so it's hard to really advocate that strongly for my occupation i guess.

I think my response was more directed at how so many companies are executing layoffs lately. Aren't a lot of these people programmers as well?