The ones who make Real Money in the trades are mostly in sales & management before their career's too far along (either very high-up in some larger firm, or run

The ones who make Real Money in the trades are mostly in sales & management before their career's too far along (either very high-up in some larger firm, or running their own thing with employees). Their knees tend to be OK. [EDIT] Actually, that kinda goes for tech workers who aren't in the top part of the trimodal comp graph, too. You either move into management or start your own thing, if you want Real Money (else you'll see a bad mid-career plateau).