I feel like being a blacksmith in 2024 is probably the same if not more lucrative than back when people rode horses, wore armor and swung swords around considering you'll mostly be making replica anime and video games pieces for rich nerds.
I imagine it'll help a lot, but if you're in and around a smithy for years you'll still end up breathing a lot more bad stuff than the average breather
I develop billing systems. If you've received a bill from e.g. your ISP, I might have been a part of making that system work. I get paid about the same as a doctor, but I spend about 85% of my work time gossiping / posting memes with my coworkers and watching youtube. I'd say I'm OK at my job, on many occasions I'm probably the first person in the world to solve (but also encounter) that particular problem.
I was a gifted child, but I ended up in this job because I'm lazy and a procrastinator. Never finished college, stopped caring when I started getting paid.
Well I think I'm on the right career path, but maybe not with the right employer. I'm also trying to finish my degree and move more into designing new systems rather than fixing problems in existing ones.
The gossip / memes is more significant for the business than you might think. It's information sharing between teams and corporate levels that's very hard to achieve by some predefined weekly sync meetings, townhalls etc.
I like cooking, but I'd never want to be a chef. One might like tending to their own little garden, but being a farmer is a completely different thing. You might like making your own little game, but working at a gaming company is not the same thing.
A job is a job, at the end of the day. Sometimes I think it could be better to keep the things you like doing as a hobby, rather than your job, as you might enjoy doing them more in the end.
Would I rather be on the beach with the family or on a cruise? Absolutely.
Reality is I need to work to feed my family. I have a job I'm good at and I find the work fulfilling. That makes it tolerable and I don't find going to work everyday an absolute drag.
All jobs sucks, you can only hope to find one that align with your abilities and with things you like so at least they don't consume your soul. I don't like physical jobs and I'm good with numbers, so I found myself a job doing excel shit (that I move on to doing the same, but with python and sql, because it pays better).