u/AffableJoker

Looking to switch trades. I'm between Heavy Equipment Technician and AG Equipment Technician, have an interview on Wednesday at a place hiring for either apprenticeship.

They seem pretty similar, especially since I have no intention of working on highway trucks. I live in a heavily rural farming area. What do Ag techs do that HET don't? Is there any point in picking Ag over HET even if I plan to mostly work on those?

And what do Ag techs do in winter? My current trade is also seasonal but in winter we mostly do larger insurance claims to keep everyone employed, I'm not sure if that's similar in Ag?

I'm currently a journeyman tradesman who is well known in my industry, own my own company and make decent money. I don't find my work rewarding at all, I work 7 days a week from the moment I wake up until I go to bed hustling for the next job and making clients happy with the most petty requests and it makes me feel dead inside doing such meaningless work with my life.

When I was a teenager I took the Emergency Medical Responder course in my province (Alberta) and actually really enjoyed it and did well. I never registered with the college of paramedics or did anything with it and honestly the certificate just became another notch on my resume to put me above the next candidate. I recently began volunteering at my local Fire Department and have found that actually helping people makes me much happier with my life than my day job has been. They have offered to help pay for part of my education if I wanted to become a paramedic and I'm seriously considering taking the leap and changing careers in my mid-30s.

My only hold back is if I'm too old to start this career. I'm physically fit, and not to sound conceited but I pick up new topics and theories pretty easily so I feel like I would be pretty good at it after training and learning from an experienced teacher. Even making less money for a more stressful career I feel like I would be much happier making a difference in people's lives than what I'm currently doing.

I guess I'm mostly just hoping to hear that other people in their 30s/40s have made similar switches and not regretted it.