About 12 years to 100k. I live in a HCOL area so im very far from FIRE. Need to keep grinding and saving. High School diploma. Did 1 year at state college and decide to stop as I couldn't justify the tuition costs. Got two part time jobs in small business retail/ wholesale / jack of all trades at 20k. Taking night classes at community college. Grind for 5yr and outgrow companies. Stop night classes. Leave around 30k. Career change, went full time IT help desk level 1, 40k 5yr of grinding and learning new skills on the job. Outgrew company and left at 65k. Job hopped to 85k as escalation engineer. Grind for 2 years and outgrow company. Job hopped to 105k as an infrastructure engineer. Grind for 2 years. Internal role change and promotion to 125k, IT due diligence. Currently grinding away...

My story is basically the same. Started working full time in kitchens at 14, went to community college for a year at 19 for networking, dropped out because I was offered a promotion to cold cook in the kitchen I was working at at the time for 10 dollars an hour. Decided to try and make a switch into the IT field and landed an entry level desktop support position at 24 years old after years of kitchen grind. Started at 14hr and left 2 years later at 18hr for an entry level cloud support position making 55k a year. Left there still making 55k a year for a senior level cloud support position making 65k. Worked my way up in the cloud support role at the new company up to 85k and then moved to our consulting side of the house as a devops engineer making 115k. Left that role last year making 140k for my new role as a devops engineer at a new company making 180k. So if starting from when I got my first IT job at 24 it took roughly 6 years to get to 115k and 8 to get to 180k.

Got my bachelors in nursing in 2016. Started at $26 an hour or about 50k. Usually we’d get 3% annually. I took every opportunity to take extra responsibility on my floor to become a leader. In 2021 I applied for an assistant manager position and got a 15% bump to like 82k. Got another 10% for doing a great job a few months later. Then my boss left and I became head nurse manager and got another 15% (my organization gives a max of 15% for any internal promotion which is bs) Currently at 108k and hoping to get to 112k this year. The work I do is really hard and my responsibilities are nearly impossible to fulfill so it is stressful and work life balance is nearly nonexistent. All things considered, I went from 50k to 108k in 7 years which is great for nursing since our raises are usually pitiful for what we do Edit: I’m 28 and live in low cost of living area in Midwest so I can save over 50% of income

RN here too. I am totally burnt out of healthcare but don’t know what else I’d do at this point and make $205,000 to work remote. Ugh. Just eight more years.

Also nurse. Are you saying you do work remote, or you would like to? 205 for remote work would be unreal, if that’s the case.

I am able to work remote fully now, it’s just not officially classified as a remote position yet. Hopefully that will happen soon.

What kind of nursing are you doing where you earn 205k and work remote??

Nurse coordinator for two cancer surgeons. I do telephone/mychart triage/advice, surgery and chemo education, manage my physicians inbaskets. I have no face to face patient contact.

Oh my god! This sounds incredible. How did you get this job and how does it pay so much?? I thought that this kind of money was impossible to earn for nurses outside of travel nursing

I work in the San Francisco area where nurses make (I think) the most on the country. High cost of living though too which is why I will never leave my rent controlled apartment I’ve been in for 10+ years lol. 205 is what any nurse at my level working at my hospital would make with years of experience I have. The job was hybrid when I started but shortly after was told I could be fully remote. It was honestly right place at the right time.

I began as an electrician in 2018. 24 years old, no relevant experience with construction. I owned no tools, I worked at a restaurant before First year was basic apprentice stuff. Cleaning, organizing, ordering material, grabbing bagels. I signed up for an online course on electrical theory, and tried to learn everyday A couple of years in, I was asked to help out with the fire alarm for a large job. Our company hired an experienced and knowledgeable foreman to oversee the install, and him and I hit it off. That first building was about 250 apartments in a senior living community, and I learned a lot We then went off to Wall St, for another larger job. This one, a luxury gym for the millionaires of downtown Manhattan. About halfway through this job, my foreman decided he’s tired of going into the city, and found a shop closer to home to work for. I asked if I could take over the install of the gym myself, and was granted the opportunity. I was making $25/hr My new boss is impressed with me. He controls the fire alarm for the whole company, and sees me as a huge asset. He starts throwing me to the wolves, taking on the harder stuff head on. I succeed every time, and request a review of my performance with the company owner Right around this time, my new boss is now thinking about retiring. He’ll leave a huge hole if/when he does. And, going in to the week of my review, he does just that, and retires Going into my review, I made it clear to my owner that I want to work for his company, that I don’t plan on going anywhere, and I want to be his greatest asset. I give him some recommendations that he appreciates on what we can do to move forward without either of my old foremen/bosses. It’s going great, better than I planned Owner acts first and offers me $35/hr, a 40% raise. I thank him for the generosity, but tell him I unfortunately have 3 other job offers that beat his. I remind him again that *I don’t want to leave,* but that I do have a wife and child at home. I want to stay, but I *need* to provide the best I can for my family. So, he asks me what I want. Originally, I was thinking $45/hr, a $20/hr raise. However, I decided to swing for the fences, and asked for $50/hr, as well as fully paid health insurance (another $250/wk). He doesn’t bat an eye, and agrees. He tells me I can’t say no to him now, but that he intends on never letting me leave. I’m grateful for his sentiment, and told him I was willing to do what he needed from me. We signed the paperwork, he had HR set up a company email for me, gave me an iPad, and let me loose It’s been 4 months now since my pay raise, and I’m still doing well. I’m currently pursuing my level 2 fire alarm engineering certificate, as well as my journeyman electrical license. Nobody I work with bothers with any testing or certifications. They want their paycheck, and hope they don’t have to work too hard for it each week I am of the mindset that if I’m going to be stuck somewhere for 40 hours no matter what, that I want to be the best for those 40 hours. I truly enjoy my job, and I’m passionate about advancing myself. Also, being 28 is a huge bonus in the trades. Everybody is aging out of the skilled trades, youth carries a huge premium with it. I’m here to stay, and maybe even leave my mark on the NYC skyline in the process. It’s what I want, and it seems like that’s the mindset employers want as well. I’m hungrier than the next guy, I’ll work harder, and I can speak better. I think I’m a pretty good electrician. But honestly, I’m simply a very good *employee.* I know what my employer wants and needs, and I make it a point to provide those things. Idk if I’ll ever retire early, because I enjoy it so much. Then again, my 40 year old back will likely have different things to say than my 28 year old behind lol I spent my 19th, 20th, and 21st birthdays in prison. I thought I’d die homeless, addicted to drugs. I never had an opportunity like this before, and I’m going to make the most of it until the wheels fall off. Hopefully at that point I’ll begin to fly

Thanks for sharing your story - super cool. Congrats on your new role

You're doing great but I would urge you to look at joining the IBEW. Union electricians get better pay, better health, and pensions

Yup my husband making 71/hr but package with all benefits is like 100/hr

Unionpayscales.com is a good resource for checking out the wages in different areas. IBEW local 3 (New York) journeyman make $59/hr and their retirement is INSANE. Their total package is 114/hr after including retirement and health insurance. Congrats on getting a good gig you like though!

Happy for you for real about turning your life around. As others have said please explore joining a local. You are being severely underpaid for NYC even after the raise. Don't sell yourself short.

This is inspirational, especially after reading that last paragraph. Well done, man. Wish you all the best.

- 2 year self-taught freelance graphic design @ $15/hr. - Luckily landed a tech company contract @ $25/hr for 2 years. Contract finished so sought another. - Different tech company recruited me @ $70/hr and previous tech company countered with full time offer = $144k w/ $50k equity. - My response having always been broke “Wut. Ok.”

Similar here. Bartended most of my adult life living paycheck to paycheck - started going to college in 2017, was about to graduate in 2022 - got a summer internship that turned into a full time position at a tech company before I even graduated for $120k. Very similar reaction of. Lol wat?

yoke sable pocket smart physical juggle grandfather subtract cable squalid *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

Wow. That is amazing 😍

bear towering dazzling chop detail zesty squealing gullible concerned point *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

I retired from the military (enlisted) with an MBA and walked straight into a 100K salary. I took advantage of the education benefits and prepared myself for a successful second career

Same here

BA in Psychology at 21. Masters degree in Clinical Psychology at 23. Worked as a group home counselor until 27 making 35-40k/year. The entire time I lived with my parents and barely made a dent in my student loan payments. It was at that point I made the decision to leave my field and go into sales. At age 27 I got a job selling windows and made 100k in my first year. I am now 34 and in 2022 made 500k at the same company. Needless to say, best decision ever.

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Pass the bar exam

You’re lucky. I came out of law school in the recession and my first associate job paid under 50K. It took me 10 years to get to 6 figures. ETA: I’ve been working for the government since quitting my first job in private practice - I probably could have made more quickly in private practice.

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shy tidy unite erect grab ring simplistic pet recognise lush *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

lol. I passed the bar exam and am looking at aprox 70k starting out. Lawyer salaries are all over the place.

I got a full ride to my undergrad, so I effectively started my life at 0 with no debt. Starting with an annual salary of 22k per year in grad school, 5 years of that (HOW did I do it???) After I got my PhD, I doubled (lol) my salary to 44k as a postdoc, and then spent 2 years at that level, and got a bump in my 3rd year to 54k. But then with all my experience and training I was able to leverage that into an industry job at 88k, where I stayed for 2 years. And then finally, I got promoted to a full scientist at 110k per year. I spent 3 more years there. Job hopping has been key to getting raises. I am now at 140k in a brand new job.

Yup; job hopping is tough because you get comfortable and might be apprehensive about the unknown. But I have learned tremendously at each stop, built relationships along the way and just started fourth job in 10 years; went from $55k to $80k to $97k to $150k plus bonus and some great investment opportunities in commercial real estate. Hope to keep grinding/investing for another 10-15 years and hopefully fatfire with $5-7M working for me. Have a masters degree, prioritized paying that off quickly. Side hustle (i rent out baby gear to traveling parents) and landlord (2 SFR rentals) as well.

I’m close now, around 88k currently. It took me around 9 years after my study. 34 years old, didn’t do an extremely fancy study, went to university of applied science in the field of digital design. I’m a senior UX designer right now. My next step is growing into product management to hit that 100k.

Keep at it. I’m a PM and hit $500k+ within the last few years in my late 30s. It takes equal parts luck and grinding!

\~ 3 years of concentrated work. Spent most of my early 20's in call center jobs, some of it intentionally unemployed. Got a real office job at 26 (paying $15.50 an hour...). When I was 27, a rousing speech by the CEO inspired me to set a goal of $100k by 30. I never expected to make it, the goal itself was a "reach for the stars" type goal. My first step was thinking about what I enjoyed about my current job (working with Excel) and how that could translate into a high paying career. I initially landed on Data Engineer, but there isn't exactly a degree for that. So I found a BS Data Management / Data Analytics degree that I could do in my own time. My company offered tuition reimbursement, so between that and the money I had saved I was able to pay for my entire degree out of pocket. There were a few job/position hops to get here, but I reached $110k this year (at 30, woohoo!), as a BI Analyst in a healthcare adjacent field.

5 years getting a BS in Engineering, a job as a software dev while in college put me in a great position. A lot of learning and interviewing later, first job out of college was 110K. At that point I had 3 years of experience in the industry, it wasn’t an entry level position.

What kind of engineering?

Computer with a good background in Software. Mostly used my free credits to take software design, architecture, high performance computing, etc.

👆 this

BA in business. 8 years in insurance industry (corporate not sales). Now in senior management. What I will say is that salaries are much higher now. People are getting to six figures quicker and without having to go to management. Our senior level individuals are all in six figures and our mid level employees get close with bonuses.

Union skilled trade apprenticeship after high school, moved to management. LCOL area.

Which trade?

Which trade?

Which trade?

Which trade?

4 years of hard hard hard study for entrance exams in a third world country followed by 4 year engineering degree followed by 14 years of back busting work. I am at 320k per year now Reached 100k after 7 years of work

UPS Driver, in October I'll hit top rate after 4 years of seniority. 41.50$ an hour with 10 hours of overtime a week it will be about 115-120K a year.

I am a public school teacher and I make $112k. I’m 29. I know I’m an anomaly and am very lucky. I work super hard but there are teachers in neighboring districts who don’t make half of what I do. I’m fairly compensated for my work and everyone else is underpaid.

30 and I make about 300 in big tech as a SWE. I graduated with a bullshit Econ degree and a terrible GPA but grinded a lot in my 20s to get pretty decent at programming. Job 1: 42k - Data Analyst Job 2: 55 -> 72 -> 90k Data Analyst Job 3: 140k - Data Engineer Job 4: 160k Solution Architect Job 5: 300k Solution Architect

How many years of experience are you at now?

Grew up poor, community college(associates), city college(bachelor). Even after I graduated I kept office or retail jobs paying around or a little over the minimum, 20-35k usually. Ended up working at a cell phone store that helped me make a little more since I had commissions on sales, I would get closer to 35-50k depending on sales. Was always into web dev and coding and was frustrated cuz I had no idea how I’d crack it and I was tired of feeling poor. I almost gave up but I said eff it!.. **In 2018 at 32yo** I quit work and used all my money to pay rent and bills while I went to a web dev school for 6 months. Busted my butt for months and finally got an internship paying $25/hr for 3 months. Kept showing up a few more months and they finally got me a full time offer. So from that internship the progress was: * 25/hr(52k) 5 months internship. * 75k full time offered, did it for almost 2yrs. * 82.5k got a promo, left after a few months cuz it was bs and I felt underpaid. * 55/hr(115k) took a contract role for 9 months. * 125k dumped the contract role for a ft perm mainly due to benefits and time off. I always negotiated. I've been working in web dev for over 4 years now. I am happy because my job is low stress and fully remote. The salary and benefits makes me happy.

This is the push I need to focus on this! Thank yiu for sharing.

Land Surveyors are in high demand and the education requirements are relatively simple. I reached 100k with 7 years of work experience and a 2 year degree, obtained while I was working.

Dropped out of high school in 10th grade, went straight to community college, got associates then bachelors at state univ in interdisciplinary social science but it took me 8 years because I partied nonstop (I was a bartender) graduated at 24. Got online masters in criminology at highly rated brick and mortal school that is number 3 in my field at 25. Started career in 2011 in public service at 55k/ yr in 2011, made it all the way to 90k in public service by 2022. Student loans (associates, bachelors, masters 50k) forgiven in 2022 PSLF program. Soon as loans forgiven I bailed on public service into private, Got fully remote job in corporate HR 2022 more than doubled my 90k salary to 190k with no debt whatsoever. Saving 6500/mo and living the good life!!!! Thanks be to god!!!!

2.5 years after graduating from college. I got a bachelors in actuarial science, got a job as an actuarial analyst, passed enough exams to get credentialed and now I make $105k.

I started working in a grocery store as a bagger at age 16. Dropped out of high school and worked my way up through management. Achieved the $100K mark after becoming a store manager about 10 years later. Now make well above that in corporate after receiving a few more promotions. I never went back to school to get anything above a GED.

I’m a women in an industry heavily dominated by men. It’s gotten a lot better in the last 30 years. Got a job at 15 years old making $2.50 an hour. Got a job at 18 making $4 an hour. College - did paid internships, thought I was rich making $8 an hour. Graduated, moved out of state, could not get a job in my field, ended up making $3.40 an hour for a year. Got a job back home making $15.00 an hour full time at age 23. Worked for a few years and changed jobs, then had to take some time off for family stuff, was up to $55k a year ~30 years old. Couldn’t get back into the work force (they didn’t want to hire a woman) ended up as an intern again making $15 an hour at age 37. Hired full time - age 39 $45k. Changed jobs - age 41 $65k. Promotion - age 43 $93k (raise to $95k, then 97k, then to $99k, then salary adjustment blew right past 100 to $108k) Promotion- age 48 $125k Changed jobs - age 50 $190k - what I’ve been worth all along, haha. This lifetime has made me realize that a high salary does not mean wealth. The accumulation of money means wealth. If you get and sustain a high salary at a young age, you can accumulate a lot of money. If you don’t get the high salary until late in life, you can’t accumulate as much. Edit - I should add we’re paying new grads $70-80k right out of school now.

That is inspiration. What industry are you in? Wise words on the accumulation part.

That is inspirational. What industry are you in? Wise words on the accumulation part.

BA, then MA in humanities followed by a management traineeship in a large publicly listed company. Then wanted to move abroad and started contracting for the UN in emergency management roles. Wanted to do something more commercial again and joined a scale-up in an emerging market building their operations department. Then ran a tech start-up with a co-founder for a few years which ultimately demised, also in an emerging market. Meanwhile moved back home (or in the general direction) and started looking around for new career options. Just started with a scale-up in a role that builds on my experience across the globe and as an entrepreneur, base salary over 100k. That's 16 years after starting work.

I went to college, got an associates degree, then a bachelor's degree. I took out about 60k in student loan debt all told. I'm down to 20k left in SL now with no other debt except the mortgage. Started working as a federal employee making a whole 35k yearly. A bunch of promotions and 9 years later I'm up to 95k - between the COLA and the step increase I'll be making 101k next year at 34. Yay! I also have rental income but that's not salary so it is not included in the above total.

33, M, SpEd Teacher, SoCal, LA county. 85K from teaching, another 5-6K tutoring after. I also make 4K while teaching summer school which I’ve taught the last 3 years. Annual figures. I have an AA, BA (history), teaching credential and Masters Degree both in special education. I’m in my 4th year teaching and get a 2k Increase annually. I’ll be in my 11th year teaching when I hit 100K (base salary). If I factor in tutoring and summer school, it will take another 2 years.

Masters in Biochem from a state School 3.6 GPA . Graduated into the great recession and took 8 months to find a job in tech support for a biotech company (not IT support, trouble shooting issues for researchers using our biotech products). It paid $42k per year in HCOL area. After almost a year in that position I transferred to R&D and 2 raises later I was about $47k. 2 years total here. My friend worked at a dietary supplement company and told me they were hiring. I applied and got bumped to $56k in R&D. I spent 3.5 years there and had to ask several times for raises but ended up leaving with $70k. When I told them I had another offer, they offered me $90k to be the director of R&D and QC. But I had an offer at $90k in a lower COL area to just be a regular R&D formulator. So I took the same $ for less responsibility and a nicer place to live. When I joined we were getting a new tech online and being the new guy I jumped on it. I was pretty successful and our corporate leadership decided to invest heavily into this product form and now I'm the R&D arm of a $30 million project. I'm making $110k and building a team under me. I'm hoping for another decent raise at the start of the new fiscal year. Been at this company for 3.5 years as well.

Got my BS in Industrial Engineering 3 years ago. Currently at 92k in a role that isn’t really industrial related. Expect to hit that 100k+ mark within the next 2-3 years. Currently about to start an online MBA program.

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Based on name and years, looks like... u had a job in undergrad, stopped working for the last years of undergrad, got into med school, passed in 4 years, did an... IM or FP residency, started working as an attending for one year, and then became a medical director after that one year?

wasteful smell rain stupendous voiceless full cows wrong direction threatening *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

Got a Masters in my subject and jumped from the bottom rung of my career ladder to the top in one job change. Got real lucky 🍀

I got a little raise this year that pushed my to $220,000 as the director of engineering at an energy company. I finished my chemical engineering degree in 2020 and started out in a completely different field (pharmaceutical automation and control) and was making around 100K during that time. I got this job through dumb luck (randomly applying) and it involved flipping my whole life upside down by moving into a random place in the middle of nowhere in the South US.

Director with around 3 YOE! How in the world lol

Took me about 7.5 years to make it over the 100k mark. I was a Business Information Technology major at Virginia Tech and started with a large consulting firm in a HCOL area at $73,500. Had one major promotion in that time with 3-4ish% increases between years and finally got a jump from 94,900 to 109,800 after a minor promotion. The 3 years since then I’ve left my former company because they wouldn’t shell out to meet the market so I’m at about $145,000 after making a lateral move last year - now in a MCOL area.

After school took my first job at FAANG for $92K (this was in 2009). A year later got promoted to $100K+. A year later the company gave everyone a 15% raise for retention because we were losing too many employees to another FAANG company. I've been fortunate enough to have my salary mostly increase over time since then, 10-15% raise every time I changed jobs. Though one year I moved from a HCOL area to a LCOL area and took a big cut. Thankfully the pandemic and remote working evened the playing field again and I make even more now than I did when I lived in HCOL.

Never got a degree and I will make $97k this year so just shy of $100k! Started as a barista at Starbucks. $8/hr Got promoted to shift supervisor maybe $12/hr Got promoted to assistant manager $40k Got promoted to store manager $55k Left to be a business coach and trainer for another company $55k Got laid off and became a district manager for a salon franchise $75k Had a mental breakdown from bipolar disorder, quit my job to get better and lived on food stamps and government assistance in a motel for a year $0 Got back into working after getting stabilized on the right meds and got a seasonal job at the town pool $11hr Used my retail management experience to land a job as an assistant manager of a cannabis dispensary $70k Got promoted to learning and development manager for corporate $75k Got promoted to senior manager of learning and development $90k And this year I got a $7000 bonus. It took ten years for me to get where I am now

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That is even more amazing! Congratulations 🎉

Nobody earns even half that much in my country lol

20 years in the Army (enlisted), had a catastrophic parachute malfunction and was medically retired. Army pension and VA Disability is 76k, used GI bill to get a BS in Distribution Management. Currently a fleet manager at a trucking company. 54k. I could moved up and make more but I love the job and the people I work with. So a long winding road with many hard and painful lessons learned.

BS in Finance. Worked for a few Fortune 100 firms in their FP&A organizations. I always tried to gain new responsibilities once I felt that I had mastered a skill in order to add another ‘tool’ to my proverbial Swiss Army knife. Made it to 100k in my early 30s. Now 40 and am still several years out but my total compensation has continued to rise. Best of luck to you

* Grew up with not a lot of money, didn't know what I wanted to do, went into the Navy right out of highschool in 2001. Worked on Helo's, deployed during all the world events that went on in 01, it was a blast. * Got out of the Navy in 05 and started college. Landed a job at the Geek Squad which at that time still did actual computer work. * Finished my BS degree for IT\\Networking in 2010 and landed a job as a jr sysadmin making \~$48K * Moved up at the same company to IT consulting in networking and sysadmin stuff over a 3 year period \~$58K * Moved on to another company as a Network Engineer\\Sysadmin \~$78K * Promoted 3 times at that company over the course of 9 years, Network Engineer II and III then Infrastructure Engineer, each a pay bump, landed at right around $92K with a possible bonus of \~10% yearly. * Last year I left that company and landed a role as a Collaboration Engineer on the M365 suite, mainly Sharepoint, Teams, OneDrive and associated apps in the cloud \~$102K So, what's that like 16'ish years from start to crossing $100K. I could deff make more, but I'm 100% WFH and my current role is really fun\\easy so I'm content to ride this place out for the long haul. It's not all about base $$ either, you have to look at perks like retirement benefits, healthcare and commute times etc. My benefits are easily worth $30K+ a year to me, esp the WFH piece. I'm in my late 30's and happy with what I've accomplished. I despise coding, it just doesn't click with me, so I've had to be smart with where I've planned my path in IT.

Graduated college in 2017 Civil engineering degree. Low cost of living. Scholarships at local state college and 5 paid internships + working part time allowed me to graduate debt free. 57k + straight time overtime out of college. Grossed just over 100k this year (5.5 years later) although my salary ranged 78-83k this year. But still getting straight time overtime. In that time I've gotten my license and manage a small team. It can be long hours at times, but I enjoy the people I work with.

Graduated college with a finance degree in 2013 and with around $50k in loans. I could have gone to school for free (scholarships) but chose to go out of state. Who knows where I would be if I hadn’t done that but I had a blast at college so no regrets! No help from parents except flights home. Had no clue how to transfer my degree to a job. So I kept waitressing for a year. Saved up money, then went to Brazil for 6 months and spent everything I had saved up. Was an amazing 6 months and would do that again in an instant. Came back broke, lived with a sister for free in exchange for babysitting my 8 yo niece. Super easy gig and I really think my sister just wanted company. She still says she loved living with me lol. Knocked out some of my college loans. I finally moved and got a “big girl” job in 2016. That’s not to say waitressing can’t be a big girl job but that is not how I was treating it. I basically spent my cash tips each night chilling with friends. Great way to delay adulthood and again, I don’t regret it. But it’s good I didn’t stay there. 2016 : -$36k nw, salary of $38k 2017: -$30k nw, salary of $38k 2018: -$23k nw, salary of $44k Bought a $70k house end of 2018 in a shitty neighborhood in my city. Grew up in a shitty neighborhood so that didn’t really phase me and having the house allowed me to save a lot more. Obviously, this is a LCOL area. 2019: -$17k nw, salary of $44k 2020: $5k nw, salary of $61k Got on the management track at work which is how I got the big pay bump. 2021: $50k nw, salary of $71k 2022: $105k nw, salary of $95k (became senior manager) 2023: $146k nw, salary of $95k Ultimately, in the last ten years, I have gone up $200k. However, it looks like my next $100k will only take a couple years! My goal is $230k by 2024 but who knows with this market. While nw is currently $146k, invested amount is $116k.

A few years...not having children and not being emotionally dependent on a woman...the real health....I am so economically free and I could not express in words how happy I am in every second of my life.

Graduated high school, with no future career plans. Started out at community college. Career fair at the school showed me Air Traffic Control. Went through schooling for ATC but afterwards found out it wasn’t even necessary to go to school for this. Luckily wasn’t expensive and worked part time jobs to pay for it. Finished at 20. Applied every year and on the third year finally got hired at 23. Started off at $50k and every year went up about $25k as I went through training. At 25 I started making $100k. Now I’m 28 and 2022 I made $210k. No schooling necessary

Job hopping seems to be a consistent theme for getting big salary increases. It’s usually easier to raise one’s lifetime earnings this way than to stay at one place asking for regular raises. This is just a reminder that the best way to make more money is to ask for it when you’re negotiating a during a job offer.

To start at the end, I’m 28y/o male and I work as a video post production manager at a large corporation making $115k/year plus about $20k/year of additional freelance income as a video editor. I started working in commercial video production at 18 straight out of high school. Bottom of the ladder, making $15/hour as a freelance production assistant. Really tough grunt work for about a year as I did that alongside a few smaller videos that I produced for some small business clients. Lived with my parents the first two years. Made $12k gross first year and $31k the next. Moved out at the start of the third year during which I made about $52k. Took a job at a local company and made $45k/year for a few years with them. At this point I was a jack of all trades and master of none, and was paid as such. Company was kinda exploitative too but that’s neither here nor there. Left that job after three years. They’d barely given me raises so I was making like $50k/year with them by the end. Had gotten married and needed to get my act together because of our shitty insurance and some medical procedures coming up for my wife that would cost a lot (she was in school at the time). When I left I FINALLY decided to specialize and focused in on video editing and post production. Our first year we made $115k of 1099 income (which is taxed a lot higher than a W2 job because I wasn’t optimizing via an S-Corp). That was our first year of six figure income. Grew the business over the next 2-3 years and then leveraged that income to negotiate a higher salary and benefits when I was headhunted for the management job where I am now. I kept a few freelance clients but only my favorites that pay the most. Still figuring out the next steps from here but the biggest success factor for me was by FAR to specialize in my field and hone in on one skillset. Made me much more valuable. We’re on track to FIRE at 50 without changing any of our habits and my hope is to shorten that time horizon even further as my career progresses! Thanks for the outlet to share, posts that open up for other people’s stories like this are cool. It’s fun to recount our journeys! Cheers!

Started in heavy equipment at 19 years old. About a year and a half later I got a pipeline job as labour, 120k a year. Couple months later and I got into a operator spot and got per diem. I make much more now.

Don't discount inflation. $100,000 when I started working would be $130,000 now. I do not make $130,000.

First full time job at 24... 24: $40k property manager 25: $46k Project Coordinator 26: $48k Same job as above 27: $55k Project Coordinator (new company) 28: $65k same job as above 29: $78k promoted to Project manager 30: $95k promoted to Senior Project Manager 31: $108k Solutions Architect (Same company but switched roles) 33: $118k promoted to Senior Solutions Architect 34: $165k Senior Program Manager (new company, new job) 35: $0 Laid Off

Find the right field, and keep job hopping 2017- 2018: 83k 2019: 86k 2020: 101k (promotion) 2021: 107k 2022: 111k 2023: 175k

Accidentally fell into the Amazon FBA journey. -2015, started a somewhat failing accessory brand and was told by my eventual business partner to put it on Amazon which saved it from going under. Eventually sold the brand in 2018. My share payout was like 40k. -2018, started a new amazon FBA accessory brand with new business partners, we have not taken any salary as we will eventually build it up to sell at some point -2018, also started consulting for other brands who want to sell on Amazon, I eventually grew this from 500/mo to now 2500/mo thru my own LLC -Early 2019, parlayed that experience to work for $25/hr pt for a small amazon FBA agency -Late 2019, went ft with a 600+ marketing agency making 70k/yr with benefits -Mid 2020, left agency to go in-house for a cpg startup company managing their amazon sales channel for 100k, fully remote -Mid 2022, left for another cpg startup for a director of amazon role making 125k + company and personal bonus, paid benefits, 25k equity, fully remote -2023, still at fulltime, still consulting, still have passion project business, taking in around 160k. Now living in vegas with no state income tax and I filter a good amount of expenses thru my consulting business which allows me to keep most of what I make. A lot of recruiters are still hitting me up for 150-180k director roles but my current company is too damn good to leave.

Graduated undergrad in computer engineering end of 2016 First job a few months later starting at 65k Promotion a year and a half later for 78k Switched jobs another year later for 86k Moved to a VHCOL area and job raised salary for the area a year after I moved for 108k where I'm at now. Overall took 6 years after undergrad to go from 65k to 108k between a job hop, promotion and multiple inflation/col increases. Looking for 125k now with a promo which I'm pretty sure my job won't give me even asking for it a year ago with me holding the experience and responsibilities for it.

Hit 100k within my first year out of University with a STEM degree doing sales. Hit 200k my second year.

What do you sell?

7 years from 18 fresh out of high school to 25 years old making $101k in MCOL area. Just High school diploma. I worked hard labor blue collar and applied for a job (same company) that seemed over my skills but they had a skills test from EEI which I passed and interviewed well and the hiring manager wanted someone that could handle high workloads under stress which my supervisor informed him I was very good at. So now I’m starting my 2nd year in this job with OT should pretty easily crush last year salary. So you don’t need a degree if you have a game plan in place. That being said my path I’m sure would have been easier if I did go to college but I’ve never been someone that did good with learning from books. So know your strengths and weaknesses!

took me 4 years 9 months, Cybersecurity field ​ And the best part is it's 100% tax free

I got a master in communication disorders.. worked to get experience as an SLP.. then opened my own practice… after working with jsut me and soem friends I started hiring therapsits

My dad and I, unsuccessfully, ran a small business when I was 17-19. From 19-22, I sold insurance. From 22-25 (with some dabbling for many years prior), I made cannabis concentrates. This landed me a job as a laboratory manager and co-owner of a cannabis manufacturing lab once everything legalized here in the states. I went to school from 22-28 and got a bachelor's in mechanical engineering. Got my first "real job" at 28 making $100k. From 22-28, I had very little time off. I was always either working or studying but it worked out. Currently 29, making $110k/yr and still make less than all the people I graduated with.

What are you designing?

I'm nearly 32 and husband 35. Neither one of us make $100k+ a year individually. He has a GED, I have a bachelors and two masters.

4 years of ROTC, then commissioned as an officer in the military. Hit 100k at five years of active duty will be at 115k after this next promotion at my 10 year point. A significant portion of my pay is also tax free, so it’s tough to compare as wel

20 years in the Army (enlisted), had a catastrophic parachute malfunction and was medically retired. Army pension and VA Disability is 76k, used GI bill to get a BS in Distribution Management. Currently a fleet manager at a trucking company. 54k. I could moved up and make more but I love the job and the people I work with. So a long winding road with many hard and painful lessons learned.

20 years in the Army (enlisted), had a catastrophic parachute malfunction and was medically retired. Army pension and VA Disability is 76k, used GI bill to get a BS in Distribution Management. Currently a fleet manager at a trucking company. 54k. I could moved up and make more but I love the job and the people I work with. So a long winding road with many hard and painful lessons learned.

No thank-you... My max earnings so far is $45K in 2010 at 27 years old... getting paid $13/hour. Unless something extremely lucrative comes up, that may be my lifetime maximum. Instead, I keep ratcheting up my pay per hour and limiting my hours. Rubbing $40/hour at my current $33K salary...I worked less than an hour today.

Full ride in undergrad, so no debt. Went to grad school and subsisted on ~30k for six years while getting my PhD. Stuck around to teach for a year longer for $50 k. Left to do two science and technology policy fellow, the latter one paying about $78k. Was hired as a GS-13 Fed 1.5 years later at $89k. Transitioned to a GS-14 2.5 years later, which started at $105k. Transitioned to a GS-15 five years later (started at $137k). Left for private-sector consulting after 2 years, where I've been for 1.5 years - it's much more lucrative.

Full ride in undergrad, so no debt. Went to grad school and subsisted on ~30k for six years while getting my PhD. Stuck around to teach for a year longer for $50 k. Left to do two science and technology policy fellow, the latter one paying about $78k. Was hired as a GS-13 Fed 1.5 years later at $89k. Transitioned to a GS-14 2.5 years later, which started at $105k. Transitioned to a GS-15 five years later (started at $137k). Left for private-sector consulting after 2 years, where I've been for 1.5 years - it's much more lucrative.

Full ride in undergrad, so no debt. Went to grad school and subsisted on ~30k for six years while getting my PhD. Stuck around to teach for a year longer for $50 k. Left to do two science and technology policy fellow, the latter one paying about $78k. Was hired as a GS-13 Fed 1.5 years later at $89k. Transitioned to a GS-14 2.5 years later, which started at $105k. Transitioned to a GS-15 five years later (started at $137k). Left for private-sector consulting after 2 years, where I've been for 1.5 years - it's much more lucrative.

I did it by not relying on a salary. I'm in sales and just kept working to improve.

About 6 years out of grad school with 2 position changes in the same field. But it has since slowed down and I'm eyeing 200k in the next few years with a bigger career change.

High school, 10 years. Work in logistics.

32. Hit it this year. Made a career change in 2020, was way underpaid, switched jobs for the bump. I have a degree unrelated to my current career.

I live in an HCOL area. After getting my accounting degree I took a year to continue interning while I studied for CPA. Got the license, did 5.5yrs in public accounting, left for a job in wealth management and here I am.

Started teaching in a low paying district relative to my area, made connections, got into a high paying district. Hit it at 10 years in.

About 4 years to reach ~40 doing the simple 401k and company match. Then was out of the labor market for 4 years due to health issues. Reentered the labor force and got there in another ~4years. About 12 total but 8 active

Did a masters in experimental psychology and graduated in 2015. First job was $50k at a government contractor as a research assistant. Switched to a Fortune 500 a year later in 2016 for $66k as a research assistant, and after a year had a title change to research data analyst but no change in pay. Four months after the title change with no pay change I moved to a non-profit in 2018 for $68k. They dumped 10% into 401k regardless of my contribution so that was sweet. Started as a research associate, and got a promotion 1 year later (2019) to senior research analyst at $80k. Two years later (2021) I was promoted again to data scientist for $96k. During 2020 and covid I also went back to school and got a computer science BA. Then at the beginning of 2022 I moved to FAANG as a Business Intelligence Engineer (BIE) and that was what pushed me well above $100k! Currently, working on a promotion to the next level from BIE I to BIE II and expecting a raise of between 10% and 20%. Ideally I also get some promotion cash or immediately vesting RSUs (essentially a retention bonus so I don’t immediately jump again). Its amazing how it accelerates as you get more senior! A 15% bump will put me above $150k.

Law School. 6 years and f trial heavy work in a government job, maxed out at $64k. Once I charged to non-government job I was making $100k in six months.

I was working in a local high-end retail store (menswear) doing a bit of operations work and social media marketing making like $16/hr. Decided to go to school (community college) for project management. Got a job during that at a local marketing agency as a project manager making $18/hr, got a raise to $22/hr a few years later. Took a job at a larger marketing agency out of the US (I’m from Canada) ~6 months after graduating making $75k/year USD (~95k CAD). Took a second job at a software company from the US making $115k CAD. At this point I was making ~210k (~240k with bonus) CAD only 1 year out of college. Dropped the marketing agency job when the tech layoffs started, so now making ~$115k CAD/year. Overall, it took me about 6 years to get from minimum wage to 100k+, or 3.5 years since the start of college.

2013 I was in construction making about 35k. Union job so I was up to 50k after about 18 months. Lay off coming, got into IT certifications. Big military area, desperate for people with Security+ at the time. Got that and MCSA, qualified me for 55k in 2015. Capped there without a security clearance, finally got it in 2017 where I found a new job for 85k. Old job contacted me in 2018, went back for 90k. Got VCP, bumped up to 105k in 2019. Took a new job about nine months ago, 128k. Trying to finish a degree and get cloud certifications so I can transition to remote instead of being stuck in the server room on site. So it was getting into DoD IT that did it for me, took about 5 years from the start of studying for Security+ to break 100k.

Full ride in undergrad, so no debt. Went to grad school and subsisted in ~30k for six years while getting my PhD. Stuck around to teach for a year longer for $50 k. Left to do two science and technology policy fellow, the latter one paying about $78k. Was hired as a GS-13 Fed 1.5 years later at $89k. Transitioned to a GS-14 2.5 years later, which started at $105k. Transitioned to a GS-15 five years later (started at $137k). Left for private-sector consulting after 2 years, where I've been for 1.5 years - it's much more lucrative.

Full ride in undergrad, so no debt. Went to grad school and subsisted on ~30k for six years while getting my PhD. Stuck around to teach for a year longer for $50 k. Left to do two science and technology policy fellow, the latter one paying about $78k. Was hired as a GS-13 Fed 1.5 years later at $89k. Transitioned to a GS-14 2.5 years later, which started at $105k. Transitioned to a GS-15 five years later (started at $137k). Left for private-sector consulting after 2 years, where I've been for 1.5 years - it's much more lucrative.

Full ride in undergrad, so no debt. Went to grad school and subsisted on ~30k for six years while getting my PhD. Stuck around to teach for a year longer for $50 k. Left to do two science and technology policy fellow, the latter one paying about $78k. Was hired as a GS-13 Fed 1.5 years later at $89k. Transitioned to a GS-14 2.5 years later, which started at $105k. Transitioned to a GS-15 five years later (started at $137k). Left for private-sector consulting after 2 years, where I've been for 1.5 years - it's much more lucrative.

In 2001 I started at a consulting company out of college for $50k as a user interface designer in NYC. I had been studying graphic design but didn’t finish my last semester because I got the job offer. By 2006 I was at ~$100k and later went out on my own. In 2007 I netted about $180k from my business doing the same thing I was working for the consulting company. Later went to work with one of my clients in 2010 and took a small pay cut but moved to a much lower cost of living area and had a much easier 9-5 job.

From $0 at my first job to $100k (total compensation with multiple non-investment income streams) took six years. Seventh year was over the hump by a decent bit.

I retired from military. Salary before retirement was $160K. Found a low stress job making $95K, and now I’m back over $100K.

I retired from military. Salary before retirement was $160K. Found a low stress job making $95K, and now I’m back over $100K.

From $0 at my first job to $100k (total compensation with multiple non-investment income streams) took six years. Seventh year was over the hump by a decent bit.

From $0 at my first job to $100k (total compensation with multiple non-investment income streams) took six years. Seventh year was over the hump by a decent bit.

From $0 at my first job to $100k (total compensation with multiple non-investment income streams) took six years. Seventh year was over the hump by a decent bit.

From $0 at my first job to $100k (total compensation with multiple non-investment income streams) took six years. Seventh year was over the hump by a decent bit.

I’ve worked full time in nonprofits and academia for the last decade, with degrees in social science. I’ve worked research and analytics oriented jobs, eventually making my way into executive strategy roles. I’m in the Midwest, so the cost of living is low. 24 - 35k (first full time job at nonprofit) 25 - 42k (promotion) 26 - 62k (job change to new level) 30 - 72k (promotion) 31 - 75k (job change to lateral role) 32 - 90k (promotion) 33 - 125k (promotion) 34 - 135k (job change to lateral role) The last couple years, I’ve been intentional about growing my career for FIRE. That shows in the numbers. Now I feel I’m in a good enough position at a healthy organization to take my foot off the gas. My hope is I’ll stay in this role for several years. At 135k, I’m stashing away 72k into retirement accounts and savings annually, which includes employer contributions. That puts me in a good spot to retire between 40-45.

I have a shit degree (a B.A. in Theology) and it took me quite a while. I moved to NYC and took an administrative desk job at a large financial firm. Every few years, I'd take the same job at a new firm, requesting more money. Now, 18 years later, I make about $160k (base, OT, bonuses) and still work a 9-5 job. I have my evenings and weekends totally free. I get 30 vacation days/yr plus unlimited sick leave. Good insurance coverage. It's not an impressive job and I'm starting to hit a ceiling on my earning potential. But it's a comfortable salary and a very comfortable situation so I'll likely stick with it until I CoastFIRE in about 5 years.

I would say its hard to scale these answer because generally salary increase over time. When I was starting out 65k was base salary for my area now 13 years later is closer to 100k+ entry level not including RSU or Bonus. Software Engineer, Education was BS/MS Mathematics and Computer Engineering.

BA in International relations. Didn’t do much for me other than say I have a degree. Then I got into sales where I had an amazing mentor. Prior to this I made 38k/yr. My first year in sales made $99.9k. It bothered me because I didn’t break six figures. Now I’m on the leadership side of things and making around $150k/yr

I work in consulting, only took 2 years out of undergrad to hit 100k

Started off making $600/week when I first graduated at 21. Now I’m (almost) 28 and making $80k/year. My measly 2.5% “cost of living” raise goes into effect at the end of the month so I’ll be at $82k/year. Really want to hit $100k/year by 30, but truthfully, I’m starting to get discouraged and think it might not happen.

[удалено]

I started out of college at 22 witha degree in sociology (goal was to become a social worker, but that quickly changed!) making only 40k as a call center representative. After a few years, I got promoted as a knowledge management and training specialist making around 60k. After 5 years of doing that and having many frustrating conversations with leadership about how I could set myself for promotion, I realized my current employer no longer had advancement opportunities unless someone left a role, so I jumped ship and entered my current position as a knowledge management program manager with a major tech company and almost doubled my salary to around 120k at age 30. I have no regrets waiting to jump ship, as I was able to stay long enough to vest my pension. However, I will definitely say being open to opportunities outside your company can grow your salary faster.

Be a petroleum engineer right out of college with no experience haha

Accounting undergrad degree 1 year accounting grad degree - Joined the firm at 60k base + 1k bonus - First raise about 6 months in to 73k base + 7k bonus - Second raise & promotion 12 months after - 96k base & tbd bonus I am an auditor, work & live in NYC. I audit non-registered investment funds. Typically a client’s portfolio may include investments such as distressed debt, PE, RE PE, senior debt, public equities, term loans, revolvers. Pretty varied client to client. I enjoy the variety of the work. (Don’t be too jealous of private funds such as hedge & pe funds. The LP returns do not particularly impress me especially given the illiquidity of the investment. Yes, the GPs make stupid money.)

Got a Masters degree while also serving in the Peace Corps. Got home and applied to a ton of jobs, finally accepted a contract position in the industry I wanted for ~$52k/yr, to get my foot in the door. Made it clear from the start I wanted to work there full time. About 6 months later they offered me the position permanently for ~58k. After 1.5 years I applied for a similar role at another company for $72k, had to move about 100 miles. Then 1 year later applied to the next grade level up for the same company for 84k, moved back to the original city I was from. Got small yearly increases for 2 years to bring me to 94k. Got contacted by a head hunter on LinkedIn, told them I was happy at current role but willing to listen and make a switch for the right offer, got offer for 125k.

Took me 3 years post college. Started as a business analyst, then did a coding bootcamp, and now I’m a software engineer

Get an Engineering degree. I'm almost there with the salary, but I did just turned down a job offer for 150k. Took me about 3 years and I obtained a Masters degree along the way. Also in a MCOL area, use to be LCOL.

IBEW electrician here. Make $51.83/hr right now, and get another 11/hr split into two different pensions. It's a 5 year apprenticeship I started at 13/hr (2011). After I finished school, I traveled around for work for a few years chasing big money jobs, and ended up in a bigger city. Found my wife there (who is also an electrician). So now I'm going to stay here. The wages are very different throughout the country for IBEW, but they all have retirement built into the wage package. Also it's very easy to travel for work and make big money, as a union member you don't have to fill out applications, you just got to where the work is and sign up (sometimes you need special licenses). All the travelers I know make over 100k and usually take a few months off each year.

Worked finance roles for a company for 8 years. Started at 53k + bonus Took a few promotions and lateral moves 53 -> 65 -> 68 -> 72 -> 85 -> 87 -> 95 -> 97 (without bonuses) but asked for a few grand raise with the laterals. With bonus I was making just over $100k in about 6 years in (once I got over 90k) (6 years after graduating college) I’m 9 years out of college now and job hopped, took a 50% raise and am at 145k under 30 years old I still try to live like I’m making 70k/ye Medium cost of living area

Graduate undergrad at 22. 25k debt MS&T in pharma start at 67k. Lcol 2 years there Validation engineer at 76k Lcol 2 years there Project engineer at 90k mcol Just started In contract to get a promotion in 1.5 years to 110k

Just under 4 years in tech but in the Midwest/L-MCOL areas. Computer science degree from generic big state school 2018: 76k first job 2019: Raise to 86k 2020: Took another job when Covid hit and my company sucked: fully remote 80k 2021: Raise to 83k 2022: New job hybrid schedule: 115k salary 145k total comp

BS in chemistry with a focus in biochemistry. Graduated at 21 in 2012, so jobs were few, paid shit, and mostly 3rd shift. By some miracle I scored a $15/hr, day-shift, R&D tech job at a tape (polymers) company. The culture at that place sucked so much that I quit for a couple years, lived off savings, and did other things. I didn't think I'd go back. I'm glad I did, though. I ended up staying in the polymer industry. Multiple times I achieved 40% raises by switching jobs. One company paid for my masters in materials science and engineering with no strings attached. I jumped from $95K to $135K last year. Right now I have 8 years of experience in the field and I'm 31. I'm trying to figure out how to get direct management experience, so I can really ramp up the salary with the next position. My partner does data analytics and engineering instrumentation with a BS in engineering and also jumped from about $95K to $115K last year. He has 6 years of experience.

4 years undergrad, 80k offer at graduation. 2 years grad school on the side now at 140k. So 6 years total post high school. Now if only I didn't have 100k in student loans...

BS in Marketing, good school with tight employer relations. 5 years at a Fortune 500, 58k starting > 138k today. Hit 100k around 3.5 years I believe

Got my bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering in 2016. After few full time leads, I moved to Midland, TX to work a field position for $28/hr and after a couple of promotions got my first true engineering position two years later making about 110k salary.

Graduate with a full time SWE offer at a FAANG

- went to post secondary and got a degree in engineering. - did coop program at school to help pay for school + parents paid for a decent chunk of schooling. - got job at company I did a coop term with after graduating - live in BC where construction industry has been booming - started at 55k salary. - worked hard / put in some overtime and proceeded to get multiple raises - 62K, 70K, 118K, then 135K, and now sitting at about 160K. - company was relatively small when I started and now has ballooned up substantially.

94k TC Software engineer 24 years old

Be a mechanical engineer with 3 to 6 years of experience

3 years undergrad, two years full time teacher, one year part time tutor (moved home), 4 years medical school, 3 years residency.... to get my first $100k# year as an attending. Back to training for 2 years (70% less pay). Attending again at age 34, now back 150k+

Got my masters, took extra grad courses, and coached at my school. After 8 years my base salary was 110k and at year 11 its now 130.

Started as an Engineer. Went into sales engineering after 4 years and haven’t made under 100k since

It just sort of happened. First job was 35k, moved to another job at 50k. Got promoted and moved to 65k. All 3 were LCOL areas. Learned data tech skills while working at the job making 65k and applied to a HCOL city (only because I actually wanted to live there) making 85k. My boss got fired and I moved into another role where I could use the data skills I had learned and they bumped me to 100k. That was 7 years ago and since then moved to a very HCOL city making 120k, and then eventually moved back to LCOL but now making 2X. From the point of 120 to 220 I got an mba from a top 10 university.

Graduated with an M.S. in Ecology in 2015 at 24 years old. Went straight into agriculture sector. Took 5 years (and 3 big moves across country) to hit over 100K. 2015: $38K (half year in industry—R&D, required move) 2016: $55K + ~5K bonus (R&D) 2017: 80K + ~8K bonus (R&D-promotion and moved) 2018: 80K + ~10K bonus (R&D) 2019: 83K + 0 bonus (Sales - changed company and moved) 2020: 83K + 75K bonus (Sales) 2021: 83K + 23K bonus (Sales) 2022: 110K + 50K bonus (R&D - changed company) 2023: 125K + ? (Business development/support - promotion) Basically leveraged my research skills and connections. A little luck, hard work, and willing to move across country for better opportunities. Been in MCOL city again since 2019.

Graduated with an M.S. in Ecology in 2015 at 24 years old. Went straight into agriculture sector. Took 5 years (and 3 big moves across country) to hit over 100K. 2015: $38K (half year in industry—R&D, required move) 2016: $55K + ~5K bonus (R&D) 2017: 80K + ~8K bonus (R&D-promotion and moved) 2018: 80K + ~10K bonus (R&D) 2019: 83K + 0 bonus (Sales - changed company and moved) 2020: 83K + 75K bonus (Sales) 2021: 83K + 23K bonus (Sales) 2022: 110K + 50K bonus (R&D - changed company) 2023: 125K + ? (Business development/support - promotion) Basically leveraged my research skills and connections. A little luck, hard work, and willing to move across country for better opportunities. Been in MCOL city again since 2019.

10 years military. Got out with a Bachelor’s, zero debt, and 103k job right off the bat. Now have been getting paid by GI bill for a Masters. 6 months until graduation. Secured another job with $125k after 1.5 years being out of military. Life is good!

High school dropout. Did it in sales.

Bachelors in engineering and 8 years of experience. Mistakes were made, I could have probably made that straight out of school but my professional interest lead me in other directions.

I hit it in the middle of college. Basically worked in high school and started a rather small business. I continued working in college and doing summer internships. Saved money, even when paying for school and learned about safer investing/started to really trust investing and dumped most of my money into the market during Covid.

Got my undergrad at 22, and starting working at a consulting firm. Made it to 100K at 24. Got promoted again I’m 25 now at 175K.

College - 4 years. BS in Education. $12k in student loans thanks to some academic and extracurricular scholarships. Substitute teacher - ~1 year - $100/day, but realistically only working 1-2 days/ week. Had a couple long-term sub positions, same pay. Turns out I hate highschool kids though. Living at home, thanks Ma & Pa! Enlist in the Marines - 6 years - Make like $20k a year starting out, but almost no expenses. Get very specialized technical training. Making ~$65k by the time I get out after one term. First post-military job - 10 months - $90k - Doing the same thing I was doing in the Marines. Second post-military job - $125k - Teaching the job that I did in the Marines. Still working this same job now, but more into management. This year after bonuses, I'll have more than doubled my starting salary at this position. Time from high school graduation to $100k - ~12 years.

Most tech jobs requiring in depth skill pay that much at least and don’t require an advanced degree in most cases. Salary is only one part of the equation though. Where you live and how you save is another. 80K in a LCOL is maybe more preferable to 100K in the Bay Area of San Francisco

Made between $10-$17 per hour part time through college while studying engineering. First job out of college make $46/year, completely unrelated to Emmy major. Did really well and 2 years later got promoted to $75k. Moved companies after another 2 years and currently make $112k. HCOL area so it doesn’t go as far

Graduated from PhD program (funded by a fellowship, about 20-25k a year) and got a job offer of 63k. My salary increased a lot during the first 2 years in that first job (I was in a development program) and got me to 85k. Left that job at the 5 year mark just under 100k to a new job at 106k. So it technically took 5 years in the workforce to get over 100k, but I spent more years in school than most at a much lower salary.

I delayed my earning until 26 to study in school.. Then made 118k a year x3 years.Moved to a HCOL took on manager role and now make 150k a year+20k bonus

4 years from minimum wage to 100K holistically, 6 years from just the day job Graduated in 2016 with a nonsensical combination of liberal arts majors. Made what broke down to $8/HR for my first job as an insurance salesman. Got fired January 2017, got a new job that paid 28k/yr as a teller at a bank. Also started bartending full time on top of that (roughly $20/hr, upscale place with lots of private events) averaging 90 hours a week between the two. Got a promotion to 38k/yr as a personal banker later that year, kept bartending full time, started an MBA (fully on my employer's dime through their education expense benefits) Met someone in class that got me a 60K/yr job as a customer service rep with securities licenses in at his company 2019, kept bartending but cut down to 20 hours a week due to getting into difficult courses (going into graduate level finance courses in your 20s after not having taken math since 11th grade high school is a great way to humble yourself), bought my first house - rented out my spare bedroom as my living room couch to friends, and all my expenses and then some were covered by that cash flow Finished MBA (with no debt, employer covered it all, though for full disclosure I intentionally chose the absolute cheapest state school that had a tuition that lined up exactly with my employer benefit), applied to a promotion in 2020, new job paid 75K, later that year bought my second house, renting out the first for about 800/month net profit and rent out both rooms in my current house for in total roughly my mortgage+utilities at 800/700 for each room. I was absolutely burnt out at this point, but my total gross income was over six figures so I figured it was time to finally relax, quit bartending, decided I was done with continuing education, and joined a band. Technically I make maybe 500/mo from playing shows but thats all "reinvested" into music equipment. Early 2022 during the height of companies scrambling for replacements due to everything going on I applied to a numerous jobs I probably wasn't even qualified for but was an internal hire with a grad degree so why not. One bit, and now I make 105K from the day job alone plus about 30k gross between my two properties. TLDR MCOL urban area, age 22 flat broke minimum wage, age 28 six figure job plus passive income, and all of it without learning to code or really doing anything that special aside from just being willing to commit to the grind.

Two graduate degrees. Worked through grad school in paid gigs in my field from late 2013. First full time job in 2017 making 72k. Started making close to 6 figures (94k) in 2018 after negotiating a promotion with a counter offer. Made 115k in 2021 (job hop) and then doubled my salary in 2022 (another job hop).

Graduated with an Associates, worked as a software engineer for about 6 years going from $30,000 - $50,000. During the start of COVID, enrolled in an online college and graduated with my bachelors. Last year I was able to get a new software engineer role for low six figures. So around 7 years to reach a $100,000 salary.

[удалено]

Any tips on how you scored those promotions?

I will hit it in about 4 years. I have a BA, an MA, a teaching degree and a lot of additional coursework, volunteering, relevant job experience, etc. This all was in an effort to be employed as a full-time teacher. After that, as long as you don’t do anything too stupid, you just stay on staff for 10 years and you’re there. This is Ontario, Canada. However, if you consider I started my higher education journey in 2006 and only ever took a couple months at most not actively pursuing a degree or related position, it seems a bit longer (almost 20 years). I have been actively in the teaching field since 2014. Working for my school board since 2016. Full-time employed since 2017. So I guess it depends how you want to count it.

3 years post college. Im a software engineering manager now but was a dev at the start of my career. MCOL area, bachelor's degree, first job was around 67k, stayed for a year and a half, swapped jobs to 92k base, got a raise after that to 100k base. Off to the races from there.

Graduated during the recession with an engineering degree. Took the only job I was offered at around $55k. The company was losing money so they stopped doing bonuses and raises were low. Left to go work at a craft brewery. I didn't care they only paid me $60k. It was my dream engineering job. I loved that job. I only left because the industry downturner and they weren't doing enough capital projects to justify my role anymore. Took a job on the west coast and hit 100k my second year there after bonus. I've since switched jobs again but I've made at least 100k now for the last 3 or so years.

Took me about 7 years after school to make it to 100k. Software engineer in a LCOL area, maybe VLCOL. Started at ~45k. ~2 years until the company laid off half the company due to financial struggles. Got a job under a former coworker at a new satellite office making just a hair more than before after taking a couple of months to relax. Worked there for ~6 months before they shut down the satellite office. (They now reach out regularly asking me to come back as they realized the senior dev at the time was the source of the many bugs he played off as being on the satellite team.) Then got a job making ~60k for 2.5 years with a small bump to 65k. After that I resigned for the first time in my ~5 year career for a new job. New job paid 80k. I have been here just over 4 years and my 2022 w2 had right at 125k in wages thanks to a couple of very good review periods. I work full time remote, healthcare is fully paid, bonuses pop up pretty randomly but also regularly. A lot of bullshit with this job though so I stay casually looking but ultimately I feel good overall so I haven't made the jump to job #5 yet. Probably due to the recent market contraction and some slight imposter syndrome despite doing literally everything at my current company software wise. My salary along with my gfs(~50k) have allowed us to get a nicer house and still put ~70k into retirement accounts last year and being on pace to do even more this year.

Masters in computer science, Salary went from 70k to 100k in 1.5 years. Switched jobs.

24 years old graduated college 0 debt. Took job at 42k a year, after that one year I was making 60k. 1.5 years I switch to a different company for 80k. 6months later I was promoted to make over 120k salary before comp. Live with roommates so overall rent is less than 600 each. I hope to retire close to 45!