I worked my way through college with a company that OEM'd parts (crossover, plastics, drivers etc) to just about every speaker company in existence. I went to work for them right out of college as a Sales Engineer. In two years I was Tech Sales Manager (we did $40 million that year) But at the age of 24 I had two ulcers and weighed 225#.
I went to work for a start up speaker company (they were a customer) here in San Diego. I did all of the inside sales, I was the support guy, and I also trained our customers' installers. In doing so I realized that I was a better installer than most of them.
I ended up taking a year off and rebuilt a house myself. To make ends meet I did "handyman" work and started doing small A/V jobs kind of by accident. Nine years later we're going strong as a small "boutique" installation firm. I do quite a bit of consulting for audio companies also.
All in all, I could not image working for someone else ever again.
I'm Not an engineer, but I play one on TV. My handle is Tweety but I have nothing to do with the organization of similar name. I just had a really big head as a child so folks called me tweety bird.