The plumbing courses cover all the aspects that you will be required to deal with as a clog. You will be taught about the basic aspects as well as about health and safety issues and sanitation.
There are two, one on each side of the toilet, closet bolts which hold the toilet to the floor. If there are caps over the bolts, remove or pop them open. Using a small crescent wrench unscrew the nuts from the bolts. Alternate side to side when unscrewing this will be much more important when reinstalling the water line repair bolts but alternate anyhow.
The con to time well spent is only if the fix or installation works. Suddenly, when a pipe is squirting water or the dishwasher is leaking all over the floor, that time seems wasted instead of well spent. Now your time is wasted, plus you have to pay for a professional plumber to come over and fix the mess. That time could have been spent doing something else, like golfing or swimming or gardening.
These harsh working conditions would be hard for anyone. Plumbers need to make sure that they take all of the precautions they can take to remain uninjured, healthy and safe.
Be certain that the bathroom exhaust fan vents to the outdoors, not into the house or attic. If the exterior vent dampers don't operate properly or water line repair don't seat well have them fixed or replaced.
When doing the install on a water heater, keep an eye out for unconnected pipes. A commonly missed pipe is the one that leads out from the area for drainage. It is probably a recirculation pipe; that helps your water remain heated without wasting too much water.
Bottom line is that it is now very easy for even a desk jockey to fix his own pipes. Go by the closet home improvement store on your way home. Pick up some of these fittings and impress the wife with talents that she did not know you had. You may even get brave and do that small plumbing project that she has been begging for. Now you can use these fittings to cut into that water line to run that new outside faucet or hookup that water filter yourself. With the push type fitting plumbing has been made easy enough for anyone to be able to do it.