Appraiser vs PM as a career?

[Waylen Herdman]

I've been a long-time lurker on BiggerPockets but now I finally have a question worth posting. As a 22 year old I'm tired of having manual labor jobs and am looking for something that I can call a career. It's frustrating seeing my friends know what they've wanted to do for years and are getting paid almost twice as much as me. I've always wanted to get into real estate investing and plan to buy a small multi-family unit here in the next 4 years or so after I pay off my student loans but I feel that I need a more concrete RE career to get my toes wet. The two careers I've been looking at more seriously than the rest are Appraiser and Property Manager.

I realize that the PM would be an easier career to get into but for some reason I've been more drawn to the appraiser. I've heard it's very difficult to become a trainee especially now since I've heard there have been some tremors in the industry recently. That being said I haven't had too much luck securing any interviews for an APM position, even at a self storage facility. What are your thoughts about these career choices keeping in mind I plan to transition into more of a REI role? Are there better alternatives? Is now a good time to get into the appraisal industry or am I setting myself up for failure?

Thanks!