Or go get yourself an apprenticeship, earn money for 3-4years and then have an actual trade and relevent qualifications...
I've thought about this in-depth and researched it quite a lot. However, I can't find any sort of apprenticeship that would suit me. Without sounding like a nob, I'm more of an academic than a practical handy man type guy, and it seems most apprenticeships are geared towards the latter. Any ideas?