Can I just chip in here? I am a reasonably young fully qualified engineer, or "line certifying technician" as we're now officially known, I love my job. I have lots of intelligent professional friends who I know earn less than me, 90% of working people in the UK earn less than 48k, FACT. This puts most certifying staff in the UK in or around the top 10% of earners! For this money I enjoy a laid back atmosphere in my work place, a sense of purpose, plenty of time off a lot of it outside of weekends (and the masses of people that go out on them at once) I see more daylight than most office types and my job is physical so i'm not getting bed sores from an office chair. I have two holidays a year minimum, I drive a decent (ahem) car and I regularly eat out, if people find out what I do in conversation they are interested. In short, my life is good and my job is good. I know what a bad job is like and this isn't it! I would like to add that at the line station I work at, I rest assured that if the engineers didn't play ball the operation would literally grind to a halt, no exaggeration. So come on engineers, big up yourself and enjoy what you've got!