I don't have Higher Learning, and pull cables for a living (OK - I do also sweep the workshop floor at the end of each shift!).
With nothing higher than an Advanced Trade qualification, the best I was able to do was get a job managing a power station in a malarial jungle clearing, in some Third World Country - which I gave away after there were two attempts on my life in as many years.
During my final year at high school, some of the brain-boxes in the congregation assured me that "you made more money doing unskilled work, than you made at a skilled job." Fortunately, I woke up to that one while there was still time to at least learn a trade - and then slip in a paper in Advanced Trade Studies as well.
Bill.