Dennis Rider’s career path changed directions recently, as reported by The Grand Rapids Press. After 27 years as a roll forming and laser cutting machine operator, he was let go in 2007. After spending serious time job hunting, Rider decided to retrain as an auto mechanic. He told the newspaper that he likes his job a lot; he was a serious car tinkerer in his youth, after all. He does miss the money, though. Today he makes about half what he made at his former position, factoring in all the night-shift and overtime work he had operating metal fabricating machinery.

You read right: He now makes half of what he used to make, and he put himself through two years of school to get that smaller paycheck. Note that this isn’t your stereotypical, relatively unskilled assembly person. This person was trained in metal fabrication technology.

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