Many of the trades still pay over the average mid-level Software Engineer here in the Midwestern US. Of course who your employer is in either field is going to

Many of the trades still pay over the average mid-level Software Engineer here in the Midwestern US. Of course who your employer is in either field is going to make a difference. If this is the direction you're trying to go: I grew up in the trades and keep trying to bounce back into that direction, but always get pulled back towards the technical aspect and/or implementing tech into the business side once anyone in management figures out you can as much as use the Office Suite. I eventually got backed into a spot of not enough "professional" dev experience to leave, and old enough to not be desired to start over as a junior. If you're dead set, though, I'd start with HVAC - I think it's the best balance of interesting with a little manual effort to it. Includes a bit of many trades (plumbing, electrical, steam depending on the area). The main walled garden is the EPA-608 cert and it can be obtained fairly easily with little study.