Machining is nice. I was in IT for little less than 20 years, programming and sysadmin. Then I started hand engraving and got good at it. Now I am fulltime machinist with my own company and quite a few machines. Currently I'm also in uni studying mechanical engineering. Seems like I learn new things every day - metallurgy, metrology, machining etc etc. A wondrous rabbithole of learning, it is.