It might be helpful to narrow down your options by focusing and researching for markets with strong rental demand, growing job markets, and property prices that fit within your budget.

What would be the best ways to familiarize myself with construction process, while still maintaining my W-2 job? 

If you are clearing $100/door with mortgages, each month, and your rent is $1200, one month of vacancy killed your entire cash flow for the year - two months means you better have a job or some extra money sitting around to pay that mortgage. 

I thought it was admirable and for a good cause.

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

The problem many of us run into is being in New England, many of the markets are high cost, high appreciation markets that we either can't get pre qualified for, or even after moving out will struggle to cash flow.Another big constraint is that many of us have W-2 jobs in engineering that require some days in the office, and these types of higher paying jobs are primarily in major cities (most of us are in the Boston area).Lastly, a lot of us have significant others that may be less interested in living somewhere "random" because it makes sense as an investment.

My sacrifice… no haircuts and no fast food. 1 job full time, 1 full time side hustle. 0 debt at the time other than student loans.

Our job is to rapidly identify, qualify and analyze all listings, tour the propsect as soon as possible and write workable and winnable offers.

For starter, I am married to my 9-5 job and looking for a way out.

I bet you heard but the market around those areas are booming right now, especially since it is a buyers market, it gives you an advantage to get better deals from sellers while people are continously moving there, especially for jobs like tech, logistics, etc.