my understanding of most blue collar jobs is the first 5-15 years are great, but as your body starts to break down, you physically can't do it any more.
My first 3-4 years were meh in terms of income, but great in terms of fun (could hack long hours, and I got excited for every little thing). My next 5 years were great in terms of income, and meh in terms of fun (I just wanted to get paid and leave at 5pm). Nowadays, the money is still good so it’s hard to give up, I don’t like software engineering (doing software with a team, with deadlines, with oncall, with managers, etc) anymore. I still love doing side projects.
You’re way underpaid as you’re apprenticing.
Money in trades comes from owning the business not running the trencher, pulling wires etc.