I strongly believe that time spent learning a trade for career development is as valuable as the time invested in a college degree.
I think that the most important thing is the time invested in your dreams, it doesn't matter if it is a college degree or a trade, nor if one takes longer than the other or if one of them will get you more money. Time spent in something you don't like to do, eventually, will be a waste because you will not be happy doing that job and will probably quit sooner or later.
Whether you pick one thing or the other, you must really love it, you have to be passionate about it and, if you do this, it'll be never a waste of time.
.
