Speaking as a college professor, your comment does not surprise me at all. Sorry about this, but the powers that be are sort of lying when they tell you that our society values education. I see little evidence of it.
(I do hope the education meant something to you, if not to prospective employers.)
What I do see is that skill is always valuable, at least to a certain population (like owners of old Leicas). The backlogs that Sherry and other skilled techs have prove that there is a viable livelihood to be made at camera repair, at least for quite a while.
But you do need to build a reputation, and the best way to get that is to apprentice to someone everyone trusts.
I wonder how many of the pros would take the idea seriously? They should.
Randy