Most hands on engineers knew what they wanted to do when they were 10, never mind 23 !!
True. Very true!
But when you've turned fifty, the eyes can't focus on anything closer than eight feet, your back complains every time you stand up and your knees only bend 75 degrees instead of the 120 they managed easily when you were only forty, then its time to head for the office. The old degree is very handy if you can dust it off, polish the C.V. a bit and scrounge a job in a nice warm office. (or a nice cool one depending on where you live) Otherwise you might find yourself at the top of a cherry picker in a brisk sub-zero north-easterly blowing freezing rain down your neck at 2 a.m. and wondering what the f*ck you were thinking about when you went into line maintenance...
