I'm 24 (getting close to 25). I finished german high school at age 18 and did a year of work afterwards for orientation. I worked at a residential home for people with severe physical and mental disabilities and decided to make my career in this job. I moved out from home into another city and attended an educational school in this field for three years with theoretical and practical teachings. German welfare is kind, so I could do all this without wealthy parents and without debts. I made my degree and moved again (because of my partner). Now I live in a apartment in big old Berlin! Crazy!
I work at a shared apartment for youngish adults with smaller handicaps here (mainly mental disabilities or illnesses). What's good about this is, that I only work 30 hours a week, so I have enough time to work on my hobbies while still having financial security. Plus I love my job. The people I work with are just very nice, funny people, even though helping them can be stressful. But any job is and I get to go to the movies with them and call it "work", so I think I chose well
Should my comic ever get more popular or my art make some money, I could reduce the time I spent working, so right now this is exactly where I wanna be. Good job, time for my comic and other hobbies, good relationship... In comparison to my school years (which were horrible, horrible times) I couldn't be more happy.