I was also a self taught crew chief...
I did take a couple of classes eventually. I was around $40/hr NY/NJ area late 90s early 2000s. Once gps hit the scene the time constraints on jobs got ridiculous and the pay went way down everywhere. But I totally miss digging up an old whiskey bottle in a field nobody has seen in 100 years and hunting down blaze marks on trees and all the old history part of the job