It’s not gonna be fun for my joints, but breaking my back on my own house will probably the most useful skill I will learn in my life than clicking my life away sat at a keyboard. After two decades, doing hard work that’s hidden behind a screen, and the only impact is a virtual number incremented once a month, I wish to do something — anything — that leaves a mark on the physical world.
Right now, in Canada, the average rent is like 70% of the average income. If you enter the workforce today, in a myriad of professions, it's looking like there is zero chance of ever owning a home if you're not at least 2 standard deviations above average.
I have been saving from less than a year of work; I previously ran through 10 years of savings taking a long break after burnout. The type of burnout that turns you off completely from a career path, to the point that carrying bricks sounds more fun.
After a decade I shuttered my own electrical contracting shop because I realized I didn't want to become large enough for full-time employees, but also didn't want to be 100% responsible for problem solving 24/7 (in addition to sales, billing/collection).
If I had to start over Apprenticeship Year One, I couldn't afford to anywhere in America... unless perhaps I were still young and/or lived with parents at under-market rates. In my three decades working, now feels like the worst time to be Bottom 80th%ile™.
Your job may or may not be pointless but it probably provided a very nice quality of life for you and your family.
Things are pretty dire for a lot of professions right now...