honest hard work, depending on the country. if you can cut it as a pipefitter or welder that will make you $100K easy. But its demanding, dangerous, risky work. welding for a living will ruin your eyes even when using the best available protection - if you start at 30 you'll be blind at 50; so they pay accordingly. pipefitting, if you have the aptitude and energy, can pay very well, but its never risk-free. American companies love to H1B both these jobs because its normally a 150-200/year for a domestic master, they pay an H1B $100K and call it cost cutting. For a foreigner, learn with a domestic crew, go overseas and make your seed money quickly, then retire and stop risking your life and your vision doing that work.