TecRecAg said:
This was me. Graduated HS in 2005 with no guidance or plan. Worked for a tow truck company for 3 years in my hometown before I took school serious. Working for $8/hr those years taught me a lot. Went to Blinn in 2008, graduated A&M in 2012. Took a sales job at $30,000 a year (no pun intended) and more student loan debt than I knew what to do with. Fast forward 10 years, no debt other than my dream home and a nice truck. Wife and 2 kids are taken care of so I'm happy.
We have some surface level similarities.
Graduated HS in 2006, came to A&M and didn't take it seriously until around 3 years in, racking up needless student debt in the process. Got my **** together and finally graduated in 2012, 6 years later and with considerable debt to pay off.
Applied and interviewed for a job for months, only getting close to a job once. I ended up taking a crappy door-to-door sales job in Houston out of desperation, and quit after six weeks.
Finally got a lucky break with a consultant gig (in an actual IT job), and finally got my foot in the door which led to my current career.
Was paid pretty poorly for a while and was living in NY with a HCOL, but was still able to save what I could and chip away at my debt.
Finally became debt-free in 2019, and have been able to focus solely on building a portfolio and saving for retirement since then.
Pretty happy with my progress in the past couple of years. Getting out of debt is like finally being able to fight with both hands rather than having one tied behind your back.