Looking to Network in Birmingham, AL area

[Will D.]

I hope you this thread finds you all well! As I said above, I'm completely new to this world but I'm HUNGRY!!! Building a strong network is a huge focus for me. 

A little about myself, I work a blue collar job (10hr shifts, 11 days on 3 days off on top of my military duties as a reserve member in the Army.) I do have a little experience in the vertical construction world. I currently am a certified vertical construction instructor in the military. I've been in it for almost 12 years now so, DIY would be great for me but I don't have the passive income to do this as a full time job in the rental investing world. However, if there is an investor in my area and I can find a way to lend a hand on a current project, I'm more than willing to put in some sweat equity into it just for the experience. 

What opened my eyes? Well, a coworker of mine started asking me a month, "are you happy with our job and what they pay us?" Simply put NOOO! I see people at my job that are in their 50's and 60's with no idea of how or when they are going to retire. I don't want that for my own life. Since, he asked me that question I've been doing research like crazy on how I can break into this world. I currently listen to the podcasts from Biggerpockets at 1.5x speed during my shift at work to learn what I can, I'm reading at least 2 chapters a day from a book in the field (currently Brandon's Rental Property Investing.) Not only that, but I've been trying to building a list of contacts. Just today, I found 2 different rounded contractors for when the time comes for my first property.

I hope I haven't lost everyone at this point. At the end of the day this is post is me trying to find some information on breaking into this beautiful world. Any other books you can recommend, tools that I can use to help crunch the numbers, contacts in my area that I can reach out to, etc. Anything at all you can think might help me begin this journey would be greatly appreciated!