We were traveling in Central America and we passed a mansion on a hill: the biggest, nicest house we'd seen in the country. We asked the driver who lived there, thinking it was perhaps the president's mansion.
He said: "That's the house of the Toilet Paper King."
I've cleaned toilets and programmed computers. I've worked the night shift in a hotel and I've sweated over machines in a sweltering factory. I've sold credit cards and advertising.
Five years I opened a bookstore. Just before I had a conversation with someone who knew my tech background, who was shocked that I would consider entering a dead end industry. I must know future was in tech? Kindle, Amazon, the Internet -- weren't bookstores dead?
Five years in and I make more than I ever did programming. YMMV, but the lesson I learned is do what YOU think is best and don't be ashamed to do what you need to do to get by.
Furthermore, while there may be "dead end jobs", don't ever believe you're in a "dead end life". Stuck working as a oyster diver? Write a best-selling book. Stuck in a patent office? Win a Nobel prize. Stuck in telemarketing? Become a famous actor. You're more than where you are right now.
I'm sure this sounds like heresy to some of you, but you don't have to outrun the bear: you only have to find a temporary local maximum, not an enduring global one. Perfection is the enemy of the good.
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” -- Oscar Wilde