21M, 2 years into my career and I hate it.
For Context, I kinda just drifted through high school and just went with the flow. Didn’t care about college or anything. Heard about how you “make a lot of money” in trades so I decided to go to trade school with my 2 best friends. Graduated high school with decent grades then went off to trade school. (technically a college) Graduated trade school with an associates degree in HVAC in 2023. I met an employer at the career fair and got a job with them as a service technician for industrial steam boilers. Started out at $26 a hour. Fast forward to now 2025. I hate it. The communication and training sucks at my company. Every foreman is miserable and they notice that I work hard and take advantage of that by making me do all the work while they complain about how they have no money. Half the days I never know wtf is going on. I’m always working in a dungeon type environment that’s humid and hot. I get put into the 24/7 oncall rotation when I’m still very “fresh” into this trade. Getting calls that I have no idea how to fix when I get there. Mind you, these are massive corporations that need there boilers up and running because they are losing money by the minute if they are down. And the company sends me a 21 year old to figure it out. I am not currently making $29 a hour and I know i am being ripped off. Anyway the whole reason for posting here is to figure out reddits opinion. People who don’t care about me or know me. Parents will just tell you what you want to hear. My question is, should I go back to school? And pursue a 4 year degree in mechanical engineering? I currently make around $3,400 a month take home. And I know that I will essentially be making zero if I become a full time student my parents are not rich so I won’t have much help from them. I would have to start all over again and I feel like I would be so behind compared to the others I graduated with in high school. I wouldn’t be out of college until I’m 25 or 26 give or take. I don’t think many if not any credits will transfer so I would have to start out at a freshman at an actual university. My father graduated in mechanical engineering as well and he told me it is very challenging. What is your opinion?