Jim,
As you know, I'm a manufacturing engineer for
www.paulcomp.com
A good friend and former college roommate (owner of American Cyclery in S.F. , maybe you know him) said to me a few months back: "So, you've decided to stay in the bicycle industry and take their version of a salary?"
Yeah, the pay isn't the best, but the work environment is exceptional and I get to make whatever I want on the CNC machines on my own time. Not a bad deal.