I will second Dnk's advice.
If you can do the college thing I would look at engineering. I do think these trade jobs are going to be scooped up by immigrants and all of the "technician" jobs really lost their luster in the early 80s when things became "pluck and chuck" (good one). We called it "swap til you drop" but there were more FRUs and less LEDs telling you which one was bad then. I was in the computer hardware biz and moved to the electrical side because it was more interesting.
If you can stick it out I would pack as much engineering credits in my pocket as I could and go from there. You might try some "wireman" work in a right to work state during the summer break, just to get some real world experience. I think the only people who are going to have good jobs in the future will be engineering or management but it is nice to have some field experience.
edit to remove the repeated redundency I said again.
[This message has been edited by gfretwell (edited 07-10-2006).]
