>>43096 (OP)Sounds like things are going well.
In your shoes i would: focus on trade school, then half way through trade school i would start asking around for potential employers who may need my skills.
Figure out where i want to live, how much i need to save for the car of my choice, what tools i need, and set aside an emergency "some nigger stole my tools fund"
Tradies own their own tools, and i have heard of guys having to skip important bills because some nigger kicked the door down on a house they were working on, and stole all the tools on the first floor. A "smash and grab" as we call it in 7d2d. they WILL warn you about this in trade school.
One benefit of the trades is that when work is over, it's over. It does not follow you home like computer work does. Ever notice that the boss babe coders who "kode" have vanished? Welcome to the world of oncall rotations foid. Want to have a quiet Saturday? NOPE Asok Pajeetramhikhran from terrordata has dropped a key table, and ruined the database in a way that is unnatural and not supposed to happen. He did this while testing an unapproved change in prod. Thus you must be called in to repair it. No you will NOT be getting that day back, welcome to salary foid. No Asok will NOT be punished either. Corporate is understanding though and you can leave after the Tuesday meetings to work from home.
They never talk about oncall rotations in school.
Tradies, own their tools. So if layooofs happen, well you can do project work as it comes up. It's easier to hire a guy with his own tools off the street to do a short project than it is to onboard an IT contractor. This ALSO something they never talk about in school.