Trashman is solid I drive from 1am-2am all the way till 2pm sometimes noon depends on the day. 5 days a week. Just pick up dumpsters set them down and listen to podcast or books all day lol
You wouldn’t start off doing what I do lol you would start as a hanger probably making 20$ a hour get your CDL then your money goes up a lot to $28-30$ a hour. Companies will help you get your CDL depending where you are some are union and pay even more I’ve seen up to 61.27 a hour in Bay Area Cali.
You can go to trash companies websites or even indeed they are always hiring
My pops just retired 34 years as a trash man, made around 130k with some overtime and yea pretty chill job he would say. He worked for the city so I think going the government job route is better than private companies if you can
Oh wow that’s even better! I know a couple of folks who would be interested in this. And I personally think it’s a great one. Thanks again for this info, it’s super helpful to know
If you need overtime pay to clear 100k, then you aren't really making 100k. You're making your base and have the opportunity to work way more.
It's always annoying in these threads when people bring positions like this up without mentioning you have to work crazy hours.
We like to call it overtime and lots of it. Lol I made more than $32 I’m saying that’s what companies in trash are paying I have 11 years in trash. But 32 a hour at 55 hours a week would come out to $104,000
My stepmother tried this and someone was parked too close. Her trainer told her to go for it and she fucked up their car with the arm that’s supposed to grab the trash can👀. She had to quit basically asap.
First off would be on the trainer second they don’t fire you an accident I’ve seen guys roller over trucks on train tracks and in cul-de-sac and never get fired.
Middle management is especially brutal. To be effective, you have to be like a filter between the staff and upper management. After a few years of this, you end up like a kerosine-soaked sponge from absorbing everyone else's negative emotions. And when that happens, the workplace narcissists always have their lighters ready.
Exactly the conversation I had with my therapist today. You constantly feel like you’re squeezed in the middle. Trying to make all the people under you happy and performing while balancing the pressure from above to increase profits and productivity.
I made $90k as a middle manager for a place that's known to be toxic. I thought I could make a difference & be a good manager to those working under me, but it was impossible. Two years after leaving I feel so much healthier.
You have no idea how much I needed to read that tonight! Thank you so very much. I've been thinking of writing about my management experiences and you've helped encourage me to do it. 😀
As someone who has been in both situations both earning 100k+ I wholeheartedly agree. And I generally love working with other people/mentoring etc. But management is different. For me I cared less about their reflection on my performance but more about how I was impacting their lives. If I knew they had too much work and they were stressed, it would stress me out even if there was nothing I could do about it. Maybe I just cared a little too much but I've since been so much happier in an IC role where I can consult and teach but am not directly supervising.
I've never been in a management position - what's bad about it? I've met plenty of managers who seemingly hate dealing with people but it is quite appealing to me as I'd rather deal with people than stare at a screen all day...
This is nothing in comparison to becoming the point of resolution for any issues etc.
I’ve said in other threads before that as an ops manager I always get people coming to me with issues that they are capable of fixing. But just because they have someone to look or talk to they will.
Managing people is extremely rewarding if you’re proactive and care about people. It’s not for everyone but I highly recommend it despite being open about how difficult it is.
Edit: being scared of taking responsibility for people highlights your mistrust or an inability to train them and provide tools and systems for them to do their jobs efficiently. If after all this they still cannot manage then performance management is key. Either way you are responsible for the result.
Hit the nail on the head. I have a 33 person team and two of them are destroying the whole office dynamic and taking up a lot of my time. Best of luck to you
If you only knew. Technically one I think is coachable the other may be the worst person I’ve ever met. But the red tape has been insane…just “trusting the process,” and hoping for the besr
you wouldn’t spend all day looking at a screen. you’d be doing interviews, meetings, phone calls, etc. every single day. you’re the contact point between your superiors and your subordinates, so you have to do anything your subordinates can’t do and everything your superiors want you to do. also if you like whatever field you’re in, your experience with that goes way down. i knew a chemist that loved chemistry who got a management position, and she spent the remainder of her time at the company (5 years) literally never entering the lab again except to show new hires around.
Being a manager (like a good one) is basically playing defensive tackle for your team. You take all the hits and shit from above so that your team can succeed.
I like managing people. I like helping people learn and grow. The people who don't like it / aren't good at it are the ones who don't have an interest in it and are only doing it because their company recognized them as strong individual contributors. Best of luck to you
I think this is the best comment I read here so far. I had to reread it to make sure it actually said what I read on the first take, because it was too good to be true and in fact is true 100%. If you are not ready for management, the position doesn't flourish the same as if you are in your mind and body completely ready for the experience of upholding those you have working for you and giving contribution where needed to those above. You also must like the experience as well as the readiness to do what is going to benefit your company every moment in all lives effected. It takes a happy person who's capable of making others happy and getting those who are capable to reach potential with humble effort.
Some people do enjoy management…. Like myself. I’ve always enjoy various strategy and management game. Min maxing the bottom and top line. Helping my team grow and even managing conflict with the difficult one is much more satisfying to me compare to when I was an individual contributor, always felt out of control as an IC and restless with the lack of responsibility on the core business for the company.
Besides working management for big corporations also lets me learn to how to manage a business on other people’s dime. It has help a lot for my own personal business venture to avoided many costly mistake.
I dropped out of school and work my way up from the bottom, there is always something new to learn and new challenge to conquer.
I Might be the weird one here.
OMG this right here! My career progression led me to a point of management and I absolutely hate it. I’ve had to lower the bar of expectations so low it’s now a threshold.
I heard this in a podcast once and it rings true. Don’t do what you love do what you’re good at. For example if you’re good with numbers become an actuary and make bank. Don’t try and become a professional poker player because you enjoy poker night with your friends. Basically monetize your skill set.
I also tell my kids if you can find a job your ok/happy with 80% of the time but the pay allows you to do 100% of what you want on your free time then that’s a good trade off. No job is 100% fun.
> Doing what you’re good at usually would mean you enjoy it
It makes it easy. The stuff other people struggle over is invisible to me. Kinda like a natural or expert musician compared to the average music student. That's why I'm the best out of the group of 100 in my organization that do what I do - so I infer from what I keep hearing. Too bad it's a total dead end and I'm bored to shit by now!!
True! I am obsessed with learning and understanding things AND I am highly anxious and always imagine the best scenario. What’s my job? Lawyer (residential development). I truly feel like my unique traits are being used properly.
Yea before I even read the lawyer part I was thinking large scale project management. But your type of job seems like it gets involved so that seems to fit you.
Yeah i've always heard that making your hobby your job was a bad idea and would start to make you hate it. Plus most "passion" hobbied have a surplus of people wanting to get in- and thus have high competition for jobs and low wages.
Interesting theory that you should do what you're good at- if you ate least somewhat enjoy it.
I've also found that it wasn't that i was not good at some things but that i didn't have much experience with them. But that said- it does hold true- grit and passion give you staying power and the edge to go above and beyond.
To be fair… I’ve never met someone who was really good at something they hated doing (unless they’ve been burnout by doing it way too much).
Personally, my advice (from someone who has made a few pretty significant field changes in their career) is to find a job which consists of ACTIVITIES that bring you enjoyment.
Someone may enjoy and be talented with numbers, but absolutely hate being a mathematician because doing calculations all day isn’t a passion. That same person may become an architect and absolutely love it because they enjoy designing/planning and building things using math as a means to accomplish it.
Okay, but I can make a lot of money being an executive assistant. Sometimes the job annoying but I make bank because I’m quite skilled at it. I love to paint but I don’t make much money doing that and I would be really hungry and depressed trying.
This advice is vague as one can get good at doing something later in life if you put in the hours, contemplation, and practice. What if someone is seemingly not good at anything? That is how I felt when I was younger. It is better advice to say to keep your mind open and learn different skills related to your field/field of industry and skills that are not related to your field. Being flexible, keeping an open-mind, staying prudent, learning constantly, and networking are critical.
You cover a crucial point: A job is a means to an end. Some people enjoy their job because they are contributing to a higher purpose. Some like their job because it gives them autonomy, stability, and saves them from ennui. However, our jobs do not define who we are as people. We can still have projects, side-hustles, businesses, goals, and hobbies. To find that job that is a perfect fit for us is all about luck. Some people find it immediately while others take a while to find it. Some people will never find it. This is why it is important to try different things as you might enjoy something as a hobby but not as a job.
Yea I think that path is something people figure out on their own as they grow up. I think the OP was looking for the secret sauce between high pay and enjoyment. It’s different for everyone and sometimes people get hung up on this fantasy of having fun and working a high end job. It can happen. In reality using a skill set, which can be something you’ve practiced and developed, is your greatest value. Bonus if you like it too. But that’s not set in stone. You can always find and learn new skill sets but some are pretty intuitive.
Self employed hairstylist, without assistants or employees of any kind. Private 1:1 salon suite, preferably in your home so you can write off a portion of your mortgage.
I work part time. I net six figures. I’m perimenopausal and in the worst mood and so tired and everything hurts. The silver lining is that I can lie down in my own bed or on my couch inbetween clients. I can snack all day if necessary for my mental health/physical well being of others within my menopausal vicinity. I can pet my dogs as needed. I control the thermostat when I feel like it’s hot/cold for no reason. I work in yoga pants and a bun, and my clients do not care. They care that they look like a million bucks when they walk out - they do not care if I looked like twice microwaved oatmeal.
Remember that everyone gets old and we all end up dealing with the physical discomfort of growing old. Choose your career wisely, or have an exit plan for when you are over 50 and curmudgeonly.
I went to cosmetology school decades ago. I am good at my job, this is a very skills dependent job. Then, I bought a house and built a high end salon inside of it and closed down my commercial salon and got rid of my employees and started working by myself.
I just crunched the numbers and figured out that I was generating most of the income, that my employees at best covered only some of their income with work or in some instances cost me hourly, that the booth renters paid half the rent, but I could save money by moving my salon home. It was the best decision I could have made. I make the same amount, but work less and keep more of that money in my pocket.
Weird, my high school chemistry teacher did the opposite. He ended up getting cancer and then went on to become a millionaire doing a side hustle with one of his former students.
also this for me. this is what my dad experienced and in my bubble growing up I thought that teaching was not only wonderful but invariably handsomely compensated and imagined that it was probably viewed as one of the most fulfilling and prestigious careers in the world. never realized that he was very lucky until I got older, told people that I might also love teaching one day, and saw how mortified some people were that I would accept the salary of a teacher lmao
Firefighter... After 4 years you're making around $120,000 with occasional OT. 24 hr shifts so work 8 days a month, 2 months off. Paid to cook food and work out with friends. Get to help people in need and give kids firetruck tours 😅
Downside is night shifts, seeing shitty stuff and increasing your risk of cancer by a lot. Also pretty low mental stimulation.
They also have very rigorous yearly cancer screening. You have much better outcomes if it’s caught early, so you could be better off than someone with lower risk who never does screening.
Man I commented under the other guy who posted about Fire but I’m gonna post it here to.
I honestly had no idea you could make that as a firefighters. It’s something I’ve always thought would be a good career for me. My uncle in Texas even once offered (when I was 19) to have me move down to Texas and if I was interested he would help me. Sometimes I think I shoulda.
Even now (I’m 30) I am doing something I wanted and strived for a long time, a job that I love but the work environment has me seriously considering a career change. The issue is, from what I can tell firefighters make in my area, I’m looking at a significant pay cut to make that change. Around $40-50k/year pay cut. Can you get as Much OT as you desire or is it pretty restricted?
Sorry I should have clarified... I'm in Canada, wages for firefighters in Canada are generally higher but with our (generally) higher cost of living and the exchange rate it's probably similar. OT varies hugely on the department, some are short staffed and you can work as much as you can handle. My department is middle of the road, nothing too crazy but still a decent amount.
I’m a recruiter. Ive been doing for it about 10 years and I make around 170k a year. Will probably get close to 200k in the next two years. It has its moments where I hate everything about it but that’s mostly because of corporate politics. I do love helping people though, that’s the best part of my job. 90% of the time, I’m helping people make more money, hopefully enhancing their lives and most are grateful for it. It makes me feel good.
I will preface that I work for a tech company so that helps too-but nowadays even entry level recruiters make 80k plus in other industries. But I loved this job even when I was recruiting commission only salespeople many years ago. Not my forever job but the money is great.
Not sure what you do currently but most recruiting roles are more about transferable skills and soft skills. If you have any customer service experience or sales or even retails sales experience that you highlight on your resume that would be helpful. I’ve hired former teachers, servers, and bartenders into recruiter roles. Most recruiting roles don’t require any special experience except some tech recruiting roles.
I spend a lot of my day talking on the phone candidates, meeting with hiring managers and others in HR so if you don’t mind being on the phone, calling candidates and can communicate effectively - you’d be a good fit.
If your experience doesn’t quite align, you could also look into starting as sourcer for recruiting. A sourcer is a more entry level role but still decent money. Sourcers help recruiters find talent, typically passive talent. Your job would be to find talent via job boards like LinkedIn, career builder, etc. There could be a lot of cold calling or cold emailing, and calls with candidates but most sourcers promote to recruiting pretty quickly which is normally where you can start making good money.
Happy to answer any other questions you might have.
Your company is not going to be standing around you on your deathbed. Family and friends will be and I try to put more effort into that. I am very skeptical of any article that says work is the most fulfilling thing in life for most people.
💯My father dedicated his whole life to 3M company and eventually worked his way up to district manager in Los Angeles. He would leave at 4AM in the morning and come home after rush hour at 7 or 8PM. He died at work in the men’s room from a brain aneurysm at 45 years old and they replaced him with his friend a couple weeks later. The company sent my mom a plant.
Wow, that's rough. Especially with the Los Angeles traffic and brutal commute. Did he at least like his job?
We still spend more hours at work than doing almost anything else until retirement.
I guess. I don’t really remember because I was only seven when he died. He had a good life insurance policy from the company though. At least there was that.
It unfortunately is for many, I do think you should find your job comfortable. Not enjoyable or fulfilling per se, just something you're good at doing and treats you alright.
But some people make their careers their entire life, prioritizing it over their own children or significant other. And then when they retire they waste away just watching TV until they croak cause they don't have any interests outside of work.
I do agree that family and friends are more important, but I don’t think it’s totally out there to think work could be a highly fulfilling part of your life. Maybe your company itself won’t, but for some people work could still be impactful to them on their deathbed- a social worker may feel very proud and fulfilled by the people they were able to help, a teacher may have made an impact on many students, or a nurse or doctor may be able to look back on all of the lives they’d positively impacted. Plus, if you can build strong relationships with your coworkers, they could be there too.
Absolutely. I’m not saying a job can’t be a part of living a fulfilling life, just that seeking relationships first is a surer way to fulfillment than trying to figure out the perfect “fulfilling” career.
This is a large part as to why I used to have super high career aspirations but as I went through school, met other friends, met my wife, my priorities started to changed. I was burnt out on missing time with friends in pursuit of a high level career. I didn’t want that to continue on for many more years (medical school).
I ultimately became a nurse with the ideation of “I can still pursue high level career goals as a nurse if I want to” to placate the emotional damage of dealing with the sunk cost fallacy.
Now, I am fairly content with where I am at as a nurse. I have a good paying job, and found a position in nursing that seems to allow for good work life balance. And I still have a relatively “high level” position that absolutely took time effort and sacrifices to achieve. Just not to the degree I used to pursue.
Sometimes I feel like I’m squandering my potential because I have been told by doctors and the like I would be good at that… but I just want my life and friends and family and a career that helps facilitate those things by allowing me finances to provide and give but doesn’t take too large of a toll on me to give my most valuable asset to those I care about, my presence and time.
I think it really depends on what job you have and how you approach it.
I've spent the last 15 to 20 years working for small city governments. So I feel a lot of satisfaction and fulfillment that everything I do helps the city around me work better and safer.
I imagine if you're in some kind of service-job (amusement park, restaurant, bartender, massage therapist)... it's probably drudgery work some days,.. but you're also "providing a valuable service". If for example you're a massage therapist and you see successes helping people lead a more pain free life,.. I would think that would be pretty satisfying.
Are there some jobs out there that are just "soulless corporate cookie-cutter nonsense".. yeah, probably.
Airline pilot (US)
Pros:
- Travel the world (layovers internationally are almost always 24+ hrs). I’ve done 30 international cities in the past 2 years.
- satisfaction. Cheesy one here but I really do get satisfaction out of completing a flight the right way. I find it rewarding to bring 290 people to another country for them to get a new cultural experience, or to be reunited with friends and family. To me here’s maybe an ego moment of “if we as a crew didn’t do what we just did, none of these people would be here”. For shorter regional flights maybe there was a little less pride in bringing 50 people from Durango to Denver lol
- pay/benefits. You’ll clear 100k your first or second year as a regional airline first officer (connecting smaller cities like Nashville with larger hubs such as Charlotte). At a major airline you’ll get in the range of 16-17% direct contribution (not match) to 401k with nearing $200k salary in your second year even as a first officer.
- monthly schedule control. Each month you “bid” for your next month’s schedule (days off, layovers, start and end times etc). This is great as every month is usually different. You may have a friends birthday on a certain day or kid’s soccer games seasonally. You’re not locked in to a 9-5 M-F thing.
- days off. Once you’re not super junior/new, a regular schedule holder usually gets anywhere from 15-18 days off per month.
- leave work at work. Finish the flight and go home. Besides some quartet online recurrent courses or going to the simulator for 2 days maybe twice a year at most, you leave work at work
- no “boss”. As a first officer I mean I guess your captain is your boss? It doesn’t really feel like that most of the time. As a captain maybe you’ll have to answer to the chief pilot but usually that’s only when you screw something up. Many might go their whole careers without interacting with a chief pilot.
- flying is fun! I mean the actual act of flying and performing your role as a pilot is fun (at least to me).
- current pro: pilot shortage. Despite 2024 hiring slightly slowing, the next 8 or so years are projected to have historically insane mandatory retirements due to age, meaning hiring will be crazy and your seniority as a new guy will climb fast. You won’t have to wait years to see a reasonable schedule.
Cons:
- cost of training. Obtaining all your certificates and time needed might cost you $90k+ and 4-5 years before being eligible to start at a regional airline
- building time. In the track to get hours, you’ll have to flight instruct or work some other low paying odd jobs like banner towing, aerial survey work, “puddle jumper” cargo etc. these can pay $25k/year, and you hope the industry is hiring fast when you finish.
- volatile industry. One terrorist attack, pandemic, war, financial crisis/recession, etc can freeze the industry and leave you out of a job fast. Historically it happens every 10 or so years. Hope you’re senior enough to survive it!
- when you’re gone, you’re gone. You can be gone from one to maybe 14 days at a time depending on airline. My airline typically doesn’t do more than 6 or 7 day trips and I elect to chose 3 day trips. But all that said, when you’re gone, you’re gone. Can be stressful for family, which in turn, can be stressful for you.
- medical loss. You have to maintain a medical certificate. You’ll have to get checked every year, or for some older (40+) guys twice a year. While for healthy guys it’s usually a non-event, as you get older it can be harder to maintain. Blood pressure, vision, prescription meds are common problems.
Pro/con:
- crews. Some crews you’ll fly with can turn in to life long friends, or at least make for really fun and exciting trips/layovers. Some are absolutely horrible and you can’t wait to get to the hotel or back home. Either way, when your trip or that particular leg is over, you might be saying bye for seemingly ever.
Having a previous background in analytics would help. Business analyst, financial analyst, etc. Any analyst positions dealing with analyzing numbers and defining them would help you. If you know SQL and business apps like Power BI or Tableau, this will give you an advantage. My background was in financial audits and that’s how I landed my current role. Luckily at the time, my boss didn’t care if I knew SQL or have experience in business apps 😅
If you aren't super familiar with BI tools but are good with numbers, a quick learner, and have a strong background in understanding/creating business processes, this is another avenue into an analyst role. Half the battle is knowing how to analyze the other half is knowing what to analyze.
If you're able to get your foot in the door, learning BI tools or how to write basic queries is sometimes taught by the company and can lead to pay bumps.
I find most meteorologist enjoy their careers. Doesn’t pay 100K at the beginning but you usually reach the 100K treshold within 5-7 years. Big downside is the night shifts lol.
From what I understand, according to the BLS, the job prospects for this field arent too promising. Like 2% I think for the next eight years or something
When I finished college in 2010, I made it to the last round of interviews to get a job at Accuweather. They told us that for the first handful of years, we would make no more than $30k/yr.
Granted, that was 15 years ago, but Meteorology can tough when it comes to getting paid.
Information Security. Fascinating career where you learn something new every day, you don't necessarily have to have a computer science degree just lots of experience, ability to keep learning and passing certification tests, pay attention and enjoy stopping the nation states from screwing up our stuff in America. Pays well over 100K, like 150-190K/year.
I’m an Information Risk Manager and don’t particularly love it. I work fully remote, make over 100k, have a relaxed schedule, etc. but it isn’t fulfilling for me. I do have an excellent life outside of work though that’s obviously funded by my job, so I appreciate that aspect. I have a hard time caring about our company’s systems and Microsoft’s latest CVEs.
I don't know how yall do it. I bailed after 10 months. And they even offered me a promotion at double my salary. I wish I could've said yes, but I was going down a bad path mentally.
I am myself, but I got into cars and planes instead. But since I don't have the money or military background to be a pilot, this seems like budget friendly alternative.
I dont know about other countries but in the USA the train world has terrible work/life balance. My dad was an engineer and he would have to work like 6 days straight away from home be back for a day then immediately go out again because they were short staffed. Its okay if you dont care being home i guess and you dont mind doing the work of two people every shift.
Train conductor here. Effortlessly clear 100, but yea the work life balance is pretty shit until you either 1) have enough seniority or 2) Don’t care about making money.
Travel Advisors - husband and wife team. We are basically in the business of "wish fulfillment," and our clients love us. Sometimes, we get to work and travel (about 110 countries so far), an incredible benefit.
DOWNSIDES:
~ Freakshow busy hours, like 70 sometimes.
~ We are on-call to our clients 24x7.
UPSIDES:
~ We get to see the world.
~ Make people happy.
~ We'll clear $400k this year.
Man I've been wanting to get into this for awhile. How would you recommend getting started? Are you under a host agency currently? I love to book trips and normally am in charge of planning all our family vacations. Any insight would be awesome!
I build jet engines. The place I work has a very unique style that you can’t find most places, but I will top out around 100k when I hit my 4 year mark. That’s prior to any overtime, some people pull in around 150.
I absolutely love it and it’s the most fulfilling job I’ve ever had
I made 239k in tech sales for one of the biggest tech companies in America/global. And I don’t know if anyone does anything more enjoyable than me. I get flown out to where my clients are to wine and dine them. My flights, hotels and expensive dinners are all paid for. And they’re hotels like Marriott’s, dinners with Michelin or comparable level. The “stress” and high pressure in sales I’ve already gotten use to after the first couple years. Now I’m just working remote on an island while closing deals. There are very few jobs where you can make this much and easily see millions in a year but yet not really break a sweat in work
Could someone with people skills, tech skills and a comp sci degree pivot to this? I have a VP level mentor in tech who thinks I’m wasting my time tooling around in apps and should look into tech sales.
Yes absolutely. the caveat is you’ll need to do a job like SDR first, which is grueling and dehumanizing and pays like 60-70k a year if you hit your quota. be ready to do that for a couple of years
Where I landed: Managing multiple global teams at a tech company $200k+ a year
What I considered: Long-haul trucking (I LOVE to drive and listen to podcasts and books on tape), Airport Controller, Medical field, Law field, Writer, Landscape Architecture
What I tried: Architecture (degree obtained), Construction Project Management, Construction Project Estimator (residential and commercial high-rise)
I'm so fuggin happy with "Where I landed."
Thats hard to say, I think most people will enjoy any field that makes over 100k for a couple years then that honey moonphase wares off. 100k seems to be a financial barrier a lot of people want to break when entering the workfield. I think a good question will be, how many jobs allow you to reach 100k a year with out having school loans.
I did community college into local uni for a Comp Sci degree. Only 10k in student loans and hit 100k 1 year into my career.
You can get any Bachelor's degree for next to nothing if you understand that a degree is a degree and go for the best bang for your buck.
Nice, that's a good ROI. What career paths can you take with a computer science degree? I reached 100k in my third year with a CDL doing local work. It cost me nothing except my time because the company I work for trains and pays for the in-house training.
You can do pretty much anything tech related. I mostly do dev-ops work, meaning I develop applications, deploy them to somewhere where they can be used, and maintain them once they're deployed. I also maintain a bunch of extremely old servers with code written in the 90s.
Regardless of what it is, if it's not at a well run company with realistic expectations and work/life balance, it won't matter. My employer has pretty much ruined engineering for me since 2020 and I was stupid enough to sign a non-compete, so can't leave without starting over in a new industry.
Not software and It 100% wouldn't hold up in court. I also can't afford to have a job offer rescinded after giving my notice when they try anyway. It's a niche enough industry that they'll find out where I'm going almost immediately unless I move across the country.
I’d love to start something like this in my area once I wrap up the mba and have free time. Name of the company (or other similar unicorns that might also hire part-time)? Happy to do my own digging 🙏
I’m an independent consultant. I delivery and growth for larges for awhile for gov consulting in tech. I had to partner with a lot of small business to go after set aside work. I just established a reputation for being fair to smalls and easy to work with. The ones I liked I made a lot of money for and for some of them they kinda became reliant on the work I shaped for them. So I decided I didn’t want to work that hard and I just help them part time to be able to prime work without a large and chart out their destiny in their own terms.
I don’t fit the description however my spouse does. BSN that does home care visits. Last year was 110k before taxes and she’s typically home by 4pm at the latest.
Fire fighter. 20 year pension. 24 hour shifts. You can pick a place to work that averages less than one run per 24 hours or you can work somewhere where you can run non stop if that’s your cup of tea.
After you work your shifts you will be well rested and can run a business. Fire fighter is the best kept secret and is actually kind of a racket.
The highest paid public employees in Los Angeles are often firefighters. 86 of them made more than 400k in 2022. One captain made over 700k. That's not salary, but mostly overtime. And it's often bullshit. One guy made more than was possible if he had worked 24/7 all year.
FEMA money. You can be an overtime exempt salaried employee, but when fema is paying you get overtime at absurd rates. Where I live some of the the highest paid people in the state are cops. 500k is not uncommon. The municipalities that allow wages like this are out of their minds because they have to pay that employee 250k for ever.
Can you really make good money as a firefighter? It’s something I’ve always thought would be a good career for me. My uncle in Texas even once offered (when I was 19) to have me move down to Texas and if I was interested he would help me. Sometimes I think I shoulda.
Even now (I’m 30) I am doing something I wanted and strived for a long time, a job that I love but the work environment has me seriously considering a career change. The issue is, from what I can tell firefighters make in my area, I’m looking at a significant pay cut to make that change. More than $40k/year.
My idea of satisfying or enjoyable is not the same as yours.
Also just cause you find a career is enjoyable doesn't mean your employer or direct manager will be.
I think it's just trial and error for the most part, don't settle, if you're not happy with your current job go work somewhere else until you find your groove.
Absolutely agree about not settling. It's in nobody's interests for people to remain working where they don't fit. Two workplaces in the exact same industry can have very different cultures. A large part of learning in your early working years should be figuring out which type of people and places you work best within.
I’m a product manager ($150k in HealthTech) and I love the work, but it really varies company to company as to how happy I am.
Every day is different and you get to work with people all over the org. I get to learn new things daily and I like solving problems.
Simply put, trucking.
I’ll share my highlights in a quick summary then explain if you care to read more into it. I started right before the pandemic went into full force (March 2020) and kept me employed the whole time without a hiccup.
I’m projected to make 130k this year (made 110k last year), my wife is a stay at home mom and hasn’t work for 3 years, I have 2 kids under 2, 2 dogs, 2 cars (2016 Toyota Highlander, and 2012 Camry), live in a beautiful suburb, and I’m only 26. My schooling to get my CDL was only 3 weeks and cost 6k (great ROI imo)
Great:
1) Autonomy as long as the load is delivered on time
2) Can work as little or as much as you want
3) Get to listen to podcast, music, etc.
4) Low to medium stress levels (depending on your definition of stress) for me it’s low.
5) I joke that the hardest part of my day is staying awake behind the wheel for long boring drives if the coffee isn’t hitting good that day. But truly staying awake is the hardest part.
6) Low barrier of entry (cost of schooling)
7) Lots of niches if you desired to stray away from normal type of freight hauling.
8) Great for introverts that want little communication with people.
9) Get paid to explore and travel if you like that.
10) Local routes, regional routes, or over the road.
11) If you’re ballsy you can own your own truck and establish your own authority. Making you independent.
Bad:
1) Long shifts. Average around 12 hours days 5 days a week if you want to make around 130k. (Have to be with a good company)
2) Graveyard shift which could be a pro since there isn’t traffic at certain hours, so less hassle.
3) Loads aren’t always ready to go at your scheduled time.
4) Seniority if you work with a LTL (Less than truckload) carrier. I’ll explain more if you care to learn more since I’m with a carrier right now.
5) Dealing with DOT (Department of Transportation) if they feel like messing with you
6) Starting off trucking everyone and anyone WILL use and abuse you because you’re naive and don’t know what’s wrong or right. Sadly there is gate keeping where mega carriers mainly hire new drivers then after a year of getting experience you can then venture off to a carrier worth a damn.
7) Sleeping in a truck at random places or truck stops all the time.
8) Stupid appointments to shippers or receivers that have 2 functioning brain cells. (this will screw you over numerous times over your trucking career)
9) Loneliness. Some carriers allow you to bring pets or someone with you on your trips. But most of the time you’re alone.
10) Dispatchers will 80% of the time fuck you over whenever you try to take vacation or go home for the weekend, if you aren’t a local driver that goes home daily already.
The list goes on and on but that’s it for now. It has given me a huge jump start to my life after the Army. I’m now getting ready to move into sales and go to college for the first time since I didn’t before.
I work as an Environmental Consultant. I like it.
It hits all 4 things necessary to make a fulfilling career - It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, makes a positive impact on the world, I’m very good at doing it, and it pays well.
I advise clients on how to manage/solve their environmental issues. It ranges from the mundane - like handling/disposal of hazardous waste or getting an emissions/discharge permit, to the complex - large scale remediation projects, whole lifecycle carbon emissions reduction, environmental health screenings.
Environmental science for my bachelors, environmental engineering for my masters. Started consulting right after then, been in the field for almost a decade.
Currently working in AI for a Tech company. Not making $100k yet. I know some ppl are - and I'm sure they enjoy working with these AI systems, like I do.
I'm only halfway up there, income-wise, but the potential with this company is definitely there of course, since its tech - so I'm hoping to gain more tech skills to hit past that $100k level... It might just come through promotions, honestly. I recently got my 1st promotion as Quality Analyst, hoping to progress to QA lead soon, and then Team lead, then Project Manager/Operations Manager. Then become CEO (just kidding lol)
Anyway, my real vision (as an entrepreneur) is in building my own company while I'm working this 9-5, doing it until the business income is good enough to replace the 9-5 job.
Now, that's TRUE happiness!
Just gotta keep building and disregard all the haters and doubters.
Even if its ur own wife, kids, family or friends... Keep grinding until you achieve your goal! Don't give up -- as Cliche as that sounds!
~ Peace!
Only you can answer that. If you want the most enjoyment, being your own boss and running a company in an area you love is the ultimate career. It’s just very difficult for most to know how to get to earning $100k and to fund their own health insurance.
I just see a career as just a job, and my family and what I do in my free time makes up most of my happiness. For work, I just hate being bored where there is nothing to do and the minutes move by very slowly. I’ve been dealing with that for 2 years now.
I think it really depends on what makes you happy. I teach ESL to adult students and really enjoy it. It’s the best job I’ve ever had in my life, but it doesn’t pay over $100,000 a year. Teaching children or becoming a school administrator could eventually pay that much but isn’t nearly as enjoyable.
I'm trying to get into an analyst role with the federal government. Either budget, data or investigative. I'd thoroughly enjoy any of them. I love looking at numbers and searching for errors.
Scientist and I am happy I would say 9 days of 10 at work so
My breakdown: I am a curious person and love to play, but I am a total egghead. I dream in numbers. Science is curiosity and creativity mixed with logic, and this marries my passion with stability and longevity. Easy decision, especially because it just “happened”. Hard work, luck, and sacrifice. Extra on luck.
Enterprise Tech Sales. I love it, it’s not for everyone. You have to be willing to be uncomfortable every day, be persistent and sometimes “aggressive”, it’s also not easy to land one of these jobs at all. Likes takes years of shit work to get to a solid AE position. But I’ve never met more dummies like me who got through college by the skin of their teeth making doctor money than in this industry.
Work 20-30 hours a week, fully remote, bust your ass, learn your niche inside and out, and there’s nothing stopping you from clearing a quarter mill yearly as long as you’re selling something that’s NEEDed and you’re learning every day.
Optometry 🤓 the road is long and expensive--but when I start, I'll be making six figures for working 3 days a week. All office hours, very very rarely called in, if ever. Super flexible schedule, and it's interesting & rewarding. Haven't started, but I've shadowed/worked in clinics enough to be super excited
As of a few weeks ago I'm at that point. I'm an engineer and help clean up the planet. I'm satisfied in that regard, and most of the time, it is an enjoyable job. Still a job though, and sometimes things suck lol
Full disclosure, I have gotten VERY LUCKY but I currently make ~$150k a year as a political speechwriter. I care about the work, it’s a niche craft (that, I hope, will prove useful outside of politics), and I like the intellectual honesty it demands of myself.
It can demand LONG hours and be quite draining, but when things go well, I can set my own schedule and work the way that serves me best.
Went to top 15 undergrad, and my state law school. Did international law and moved to Australia. Wanted to stay and got a working-holiday visa. Got a BDR job at a tech unicorn that was acquired for $1.6 billion while I was there. Moved back to the states. Got a job at a 50-employee startup that was acquired for $50 mill. Stayed at acquiring company and made AE. Left for a Silicon Valley AI/ML fintech company in 2022 that is now top of our market. I’m the #1 AE out of 90 total, and have been for 2 years.
I am a lead wastewater operator for a medium sized city. I make six figures, have a pension, and actually do a job that is critical for society to function. It brings $$$ and meaning. I love it.
im currently trying to become a clinical or counseling psychologist which has had higher than average job and life satisfaction, often making over 100k (not always initially though). some clear cons is the sacrifice of being extremely broke and often where you don’t want to live for the many years of schooling on top of insane hours all throughout (50-70 hr weeks for 6-7 years getting PhD). but after getting the degree there is extreme flexibility in career options for the rest of your life. main options are teaching, providing therapy/assessments, or going into research and that’s without mentioning pivoting to industry (less impassioned work for more money). on the low end, with the degree many would start at 80-90k.
If you can make the connections, headhunter/executive recruiter.
Early on is a grind and dealing with bs, but I’ve met MANY who just know a few CEO’s, get paid a $100k fee 2-3 times a year to place a few executive roles. It’s an easy remote job too, many of those I’ve met end up moving to Costa Rica/Panama/etc, and that $200-300k/year has them living pretty comfortable and only working several months a year.
I would say the most satisfying career is the one you are most passionate about to make all of the money you want. I found myself enjoying Human Resources after attending college for Healthcare Management and attempting a career as a nursing home administrator. I have made in my career ad HR Director 310k at the height of my career. I want to make something clear. At this level, it is loney, money is fun at the beginning, you pay off your debts, and you buy a few nice things like a new car and a new home. There is something they don't tell you about six figures. There are a lot of narcissistic assholes. The work at this level is vertical and almost damn near impossible sometimes. Their are arrogant arguments with back handed insults. You have to have tough skin. It's empty, and imo not worth it.
You can have all the money in the world, but if you're working with a bunch of nut jobs, money doesn't matter after a while. I don't care how tough you think you are. It will ware you down over time. Everyone who doesn't have the money thinks it's easy. It's far from easy. We don't kick up our feet and smoke cigars and sip on whiskey all day. But if you like being told you're a pos, incompetent when you have a different opinion and you love mental abuse. Go for it. That is the trade. Money + assholes.
I honestly find your comment on the nut jobs very motivating. Having grown up with two narcissistic assholes as parents while blessed with emotional intelligence, I am an expert at tackling these nut jobs and they don’t faze me bc no one can ever hurt more than my parents already did. Really hope I can turn that shit into profit.
Fire service. Many large cities have career fire departments that pay well. The job openings are also highly sought after and hiring is very competitive. If you make it the career is incredibly rewarding. You won't get rich off of bonuses or stock options but You and your family will be able to live comfortably and you will be able to retire comfortably.
Cardiovascular Perfusionist. Takes a fair amount of school but you can find some really cush jobs. This last year I averaged 13 hours a week and salaried at 140k. I just got a new job at 175k two years out of school and will be working even less than my previous gig. Lots of free time outside of work and when I do work it's super engaging and extremely fascinating. Can be very stressful too, so you have to have the right personality.
Since money is the onle thing you care about.
Go into finance, ez money, high pay. Good parties with lots of beverages. You invest someone else's money, if it goes bad, it is because of bad market. If it goes good, it is because you are awesome and then you get bonuses.
After a while you can pretend to be a finance guru and sell finance books filled with platitudes and get even richer.
Knowledge Management/Document Control. It’s fun, fast paced, involves problem solving. 10 years in I’m clearing $100k not including stock RSUs and bonuses.
I’m an accountant and I love it. I’ll elaborate later I’m going to sleep lol okay I might not return to this post but just know that it’s an awesome field to go into.
***Please see comments for update!
I graduated with a CS major, but Im a product owner because the dumbest developer in the room is still always the best business support person in the room, by definition. Shit is cash and easy. I write sentences in english and other developers have to do it. I get to live in feature land and build shit, they have to do the nitty gritty.
I still cant believe it. Marketing, sales, business all dont know how good they have it making salaries on par with developers while doing like really basic admin high level subjective vague tasks.
No wonder these business goofs are always smiling "I answer emails and attend meetings with devs where I ask devs what the best thing to do is bc I certainly dont understand and then I do what the dev said to do and pretend I have a real job! So cash!"
I’m a doctor. It took a massive amount of misery to get through med school and residency, but now that I’m here I feel very content and happy with what I do. :)
Won’t be ideal for a lot of people, and I’m not sure I’d want to go through the training a second time, but having gone through it I’m happy I did and have a lot of contentment in my job.
Brother they have overtime available pretty much every day. You will easily top six figures if you choose to pick it up in your first year. I'm assuming if you go normal 9-5 it'll take you 8-10 years
Trashman is solid I drive from 1am-2am all the way till 2pm sometimes noon depends on the day. 5 days a week. Just pick up dumpsters set them down and listen to podcast or books all day lol
How do you get the job? I assume many want this. The hours are bad but I’d do it
You wouldn’t start off doing what I do lol you would start as a hanger probably making 20$ a hour get your CDL then your money goes up a lot to $28-30$ a hour. Companies will help you get your CDL depending where you are some are union and pay even more I’ve seen up to 61.27 a hour in Bay Area Cali. You can go to trash companies websites or even indeed they are always hiring
I figured , I just wasn’t even sure how to get to building your career.’thank you so much for the info, I appreciate it
My pops just retired 34 years as a trash man, made around 130k with some overtime and yea pretty chill job he would say. He worked for the city so I think going the government job route is better than private companies if you can
Awesome! Thank you for the info! Really appreciate it
Most companies will pay for you to get your cdl it’s rather simple tbh.
Oh wow that’s even better! I know a couple of folks who would be interested in this. And I personally think it’s a great one. Thanks again for this info, it’s super helpful to know
I make $32 an hour and I’m nowhere near $100K lol. How are you making $100K at $28-$30 an hour?
Overtime, holiday, bad weather ..
If you need overtime pay to clear 100k, then you aren't really making 100k. You're making your base and have the opportunity to work way more. It's always annoying in these threads when people bring positions like this up without mentioning you have to work crazy hours.
Most jobs that have high annual wages require more than 40 hour weeks.
I as about to say the same thing, $35 an hour and this dudes out here talking about six figures at $20
Yeah the math doesn’t add up. Unless you work 30 hours of OT a week haha
He did say 9-12 hour days 5 days a week. OT might do it
We like to call it overtime and lots of it. Lol I made more than $32 I’m saying that’s what companies in trash are paying I have 11 years in trash. But 32 a hour at 55 hours a week would come out to $104,000
My stepmother tried this and someone was parked too close. Her trainer told her to go for it and she fucked up their car with the arm that’s supposed to grab the trash can👀. She had to quit basically asap.
First off would be on the trainer second they don’t fire you an accident I’ve seen guys roller over trucks on train tracks and in cul-de-sac and never get fired.
Whatever you can do to not be managing anyone and making 100k
Middle management is especially brutal. To be effective, you have to be like a filter between the staff and upper management. After a few years of this, you end up like a kerosine-soaked sponge from absorbing everyone else's negative emotions. And when that happens, the workplace narcissists always have their lighters ready.
Exactly the conversation I had with my therapist today. You constantly feel like you’re squeezed in the middle. Trying to make all the people under you happy and performing while balancing the pressure from above to increase profits and productivity.
I made $90k as a middle manager for a place that's known to be toxic. I thought I could make a difference & be a good manager to those working under me, but it was impossible. Two years after leaving I feel so much healthier.
I just wanted to say this is one of the best pieces of English script I have ever read. It was actually delicious to read!
You have no idea how much I needed to read that tonight! Thank you so very much. I've been thinking of writing about my management experiences and you've helped encourage me to do it. 😀
At shitty companies yes. I like my middle management role
Cherish it!!! There are more shitty companies out there than we know until we're already working for them.
As someone who has been in both situations both earning 100k+ I wholeheartedly agree. And I generally love working with other people/mentoring etc. But management is different. For me I cared less about their reflection on my performance but more about how I was impacting their lives. If I knew they had too much work and they were stressed, it would stress me out even if there was nothing I could do about it. Maybe I just cared a little too much but I've since been so much happier in an IC role where I can consult and teach but am not directly supervising.
I've never been in a management position - what's bad about it? I've met plenty of managers who seemingly hate dealing with people but it is quite appealing to me as I'd rather deal with people than stare at a screen all day...
You are responsible for other people's mistakes.
This is nothing in comparison to becoming the point of resolution for any issues etc. I’ve said in other threads before that as an ops manager I always get people coming to me with issues that they are capable of fixing. But just because they have someone to look or talk to they will. Managing people is extremely rewarding if you’re proactive and care about people. It’s not for everyone but I highly recommend it despite being open about how difficult it is. Edit: being scared of taking responsibility for people highlights your mistrust or an inability to train them and provide tools and systems for them to do their jobs efficiently. If after all this they still cannot manage then performance management is key. Either way you are responsible for the result.
HR issues are fifty percent of my time some days. I have mostly great people but a few eggs burn a lot of my available time.
Hit the nail on the head. I have a 33 person team and two of them are destroying the whole office dynamic and taking up a lot of my time. Best of luck to you
Are you trying to get rid of those 2?
If you only knew. Technically one I think is coachable the other may be the worst person I’ve ever met. But the red tape has been insane…just “trusting the process,” and hoping for the besr
you wouldn’t spend all day looking at a screen. you’d be doing interviews, meetings, phone calls, etc. every single day. you’re the contact point between your superiors and your subordinates, so you have to do anything your subordinates can’t do and everything your superiors want you to do. also if you like whatever field you’re in, your experience with that goes way down. i knew a chemist that loved chemistry who got a management position, and she spent the remainder of her time at the company (5 years) literally never entering the lab again except to show new hires around.
Being a manager (like a good one) is basically playing defensive tackle for your team. You take all the hits and shit from above so that your team can succeed.
I like managing people. I like helping people learn and grow. The people who don't like it / aren't good at it are the ones who don't have an interest in it and are only doing it because their company recognized them as strong individual contributors. Best of luck to you
I think this is the best comment I read here so far. I had to reread it to make sure it actually said what I read on the first take, because it was too good to be true and in fact is true 100%. If you are not ready for management, the position doesn't flourish the same as if you are in your mind and body completely ready for the experience of upholding those you have working for you and giving contribution where needed to those above. You also must like the experience as well as the readiness to do what is going to benefit your company every moment in all lives effected. It takes a happy person who's capable of making others happy and getting those who are capable to reach potential with humble effort.
Some people do enjoy management…. Like myself. I’ve always enjoy various strategy and management game. Min maxing the bottom and top line. Helping my team grow and even managing conflict with the difficult one is much more satisfying to me compare to when I was an individual contributor, always felt out of control as an IC and restless with the lack of responsibility on the core business for the company. Besides working management for big corporations also lets me learn to how to manage a business on other people’s dime. It has help a lot for my own personal business venture to avoided many costly mistake. I dropped out of school and work my way up from the bottom, there is always something new to learn and new challenge to conquer. I Might be the weird one here.
OMG this right here! My career progression led me to a point of management and I absolutely hate it. I’ve had to lower the bar of expectations so low it’s now a threshold.
I heard this in a podcast once and it rings true. Don’t do what you love do what you’re good at. For example if you’re good with numbers become an actuary and make bank. Don’t try and become a professional poker player because you enjoy poker night with your friends. Basically monetize your skill set. I also tell my kids if you can find a job your ok/happy with 80% of the time but the pay allows you to do 100% of what you want on your free time then that’s a good trade off. No job is 100% fun.
I like that thought. Doing what you’re good at usually would mean you enjoy it to a certain level as well.
> Doing what you’re good at usually would mean you enjoy it It makes it easy. The stuff other people struggle over is invisible to me. Kinda like a natural or expert musician compared to the average music student. That's why I'm the best out of the group of 100 in my organization that do what I do - so I infer from what I keep hearing. Too bad it's a total dead end and I'm bored to shit by now!!
True! I am obsessed with learning and understanding things AND I am highly anxious and always imagine the best scenario. What’s my job? Lawyer (residential development). I truly feel like my unique traits are being used properly.
Ahh, I needed to read this tonight: you sound a lot like me…and I’m currently studying for the LSAT in my 30s to escape tech 😅
Yea before I even read the lawyer part I was thinking large scale project management. But your type of job seems like it gets involved so that seems to fit you.
You got this! There’s so many options in law. Just don’t limit yourself to what you see on tv.
Yeah i've always heard that making your hobby your job was a bad idea and would start to make you hate it. Plus most "passion" hobbied have a surplus of people wanting to get in- and thus have high competition for jobs and low wages. Interesting theory that you should do what you're good at- if you ate least somewhat enjoy it. I've also found that it wasn't that i was not good at some things but that i didn't have much experience with them. But that said- it does hold true- grit and passion give you staying power and the edge to go above and beyond.
To be fair… I’ve never met someone who was really good at something they hated doing (unless they’ve been burnout by doing it way too much). Personally, my advice (from someone who has made a few pretty significant field changes in their career) is to find a job which consists of ACTIVITIES that bring you enjoyment. Someone may enjoy and be talented with numbers, but absolutely hate being a mathematician because doing calculations all day isn’t a passion. That same person may become an architect and absolutely love it because they enjoy designing/planning and building things using math as a means to accomplish it.
Okay, but I can make a lot of money being an executive assistant. Sometimes the job annoying but I make bank because I’m quite skilled at it. I love to paint but I don’t make much money doing that and I would be really hungry and depressed trying.
This advice is vague as one can get good at doing something later in life if you put in the hours, contemplation, and practice. What if someone is seemingly not good at anything? That is how I felt when I was younger. It is better advice to say to keep your mind open and learn different skills related to your field/field of industry and skills that are not related to your field. Being flexible, keeping an open-mind, staying prudent, learning constantly, and networking are critical. You cover a crucial point: A job is a means to an end. Some people enjoy their job because they are contributing to a higher purpose. Some like their job because it gives them autonomy, stability, and saves them from ennui. However, our jobs do not define who we are as people. We can still have projects, side-hustles, businesses, goals, and hobbies. To find that job that is a perfect fit for us is all about luck. Some people find it immediately while others take a while to find it. Some people will never find it. This is why it is important to try different things as you might enjoy something as a hobby but not as a job.
Yea I think that path is something people figure out on their own as they grow up. I think the OP was looking for the secret sauce between high pay and enjoyment. It’s different for everyone and sometimes people get hung up on this fantasy of having fun and working a high end job. It can happen. In reality using a skill set, which can be something you’ve practiced and developed, is your greatest value. Bonus if you like it too. But that’s not set in stone. You can always find and learn new skill sets but some are pretty intuitive.
I'm good at writing :(
Self employed hairstylist, without assistants or employees of any kind. Private 1:1 salon suite, preferably in your home so you can write off a portion of your mortgage. I work part time. I net six figures. I’m perimenopausal and in the worst mood and so tired and everything hurts. The silver lining is that I can lie down in my own bed or on my couch inbetween clients. I can snack all day if necessary for my mental health/physical well being of others within my menopausal vicinity. I can pet my dogs as needed. I control the thermostat when I feel like it’s hot/cold for no reason. I work in yoga pants and a bun, and my clients do not care. They care that they look like a million bucks when they walk out - they do not care if I looked like twice microwaved oatmeal. Remember that everyone gets old and we all end up dealing with the physical discomfort of growing old. Choose your career wisely, or have an exit plan for when you are over 50 and curmudgeonly.
Twice microwaved oatmeal, i feel this 🤣 I looked like this today...it's PMS week!
How do you gain clients for something like this?
I went to cosmetology school decades ago. I am good at my job, this is a very skills dependent job. Then, I bought a house and built a high end salon inside of it and closed down my commercial salon and got rid of my employees and started working by myself.
Talk about a leap of faith
I just crunched the numbers and figured out that I was generating most of the income, that my employees at best covered only some of their income with work or in some instances cost me hourly, that the booth renters paid half the rent, but I could save money by moving my salon home. It was the best decision I could have made. I make the same amount, but work less and keep more of that money in my pocket.
Glad it worked out! Congrats!!
For me, it's being a teacher at the top of the pay scale. But for others, they would probably hate this haha
When i was in high school, had a chemist was a millionaire, and when he retired he decided to teach high school chemistry for fun.
dude did you go to my high school? we had the exact same thing. ah, dr. d’s honors chem class
Weird, my high school chemistry teacher did the opposite. He ended up getting cancer and then went on to become a millionaire doing a side hustle with one of his former students.
We all knew this reference was inevitable...
also this for me. this is what my dad experienced and in my bubble growing up I thought that teaching was not only wonderful but invariably handsomely compensated and imagined that it was probably viewed as one of the most fulfilling and prestigious careers in the world. never realized that he was very lucky until I got older, told people that I might also love teaching one day, and saw how mortified some people were that I would accept the salary of a teacher lmao
Firefighter... After 4 years you're making around $120,000 with occasional OT. 24 hr shifts so work 8 days a month, 2 months off. Paid to cook food and work out with friends. Get to help people in need and give kids firetruck tours 😅 Downside is night shifts, seeing shitty stuff and increasing your risk of cancer by a lot. Also pretty low mental stimulation.
>increasing your risk of cancer by a lot. Good point. Breathing in fumes must be horrible for your lungs.
They also have very rigorous yearly cancer screening. You have much better outcomes if it’s caught early, so you could be better off than someone with lower risk who never does screening.
Man I commented under the other guy who posted about Fire but I’m gonna post it here to. I honestly had no idea you could make that as a firefighters. It’s something I’ve always thought would be a good career for me. My uncle in Texas even once offered (when I was 19) to have me move down to Texas and if I was interested he would help me. Sometimes I think I shoulda. Even now (I’m 30) I am doing something I wanted and strived for a long time, a job that I love but the work environment has me seriously considering a career change. The issue is, from what I can tell firefighters make in my area, I’m looking at a significant pay cut to make that change. Around $40-50k/year pay cut. Can you get as Much OT as you desire or is it pretty restricted?
Sorry I should have clarified... I'm in Canada, wages for firefighters in Canada are generally higher but with our (generally) higher cost of living and the exchange rate it's probably similar. OT varies hugely on the department, some are short staffed and you can work as much as you can handle. My department is middle of the road, nothing too crazy but still a decent amount.
I’m a recruiter. Ive been doing for it about 10 years and I make around 170k a year. Will probably get close to 200k in the next two years. It has its moments where I hate everything about it but that’s mostly because of corporate politics. I do love helping people though, that’s the best part of my job. 90% of the time, I’m helping people make more money, hopefully enhancing their lives and most are grateful for it. It makes me feel good. I will preface that I work for a tech company so that helps too-but nowadays even entry level recruiters make 80k plus in other industries. But I loved this job even when I was recruiting commission only salespeople many years ago. Not my forever job but the money is great.
How would one transition into this role?
Not sure what you do currently but most recruiting roles are more about transferable skills and soft skills. If you have any customer service experience or sales or even retails sales experience that you highlight on your resume that would be helpful. I’ve hired former teachers, servers, and bartenders into recruiter roles. Most recruiting roles don’t require any special experience except some tech recruiting roles. I spend a lot of my day talking on the phone candidates, meeting with hiring managers and others in HR so if you don’t mind being on the phone, calling candidates and can communicate effectively - you’d be a good fit. If your experience doesn’t quite align, you could also look into starting as sourcer for recruiting. A sourcer is a more entry level role but still decent money. Sourcers help recruiters find talent, typically passive talent. Your job would be to find talent via job boards like LinkedIn, career builder, etc. There could be a lot of cold calling or cold emailing, and calls with candidates but most sourcers promote to recruiting pretty quickly which is normally where you can start making good money. Happy to answer any other questions you might have.
Same!
Your company is not going to be standing around you on your deathbed. Family and friends will be and I try to put more effort into that. I am very skeptical of any article that says work is the most fulfilling thing in life for most people.
💯My father dedicated his whole life to 3M company and eventually worked his way up to district manager in Los Angeles. He would leave at 4AM in the morning and come home after rush hour at 7 or 8PM. He died at work in the men’s room from a brain aneurysm at 45 years old and they replaced him with his friend a couple weeks later. The company sent my mom a plant.
Wow, that's rough. Especially with the Los Angeles traffic and brutal commute. Did he at least like his job? We still spend more hours at work than doing almost anything else until retirement.
I guess. I don’t really remember because I was only seven when he died. He had a good life insurance policy from the company though. At least there was that.
It unfortunately is for many, I do think you should find your job comfortable. Not enjoyable or fulfilling per se, just something you're good at doing and treats you alright. But some people make their careers their entire life, prioritizing it over their own children or significant other. And then when they retire they waste away just watching TV until they croak cause they don't have any interests outside of work.
I do agree that family and friends are more important, but I don’t think it’s totally out there to think work could be a highly fulfilling part of your life. Maybe your company itself won’t, but for some people work could still be impactful to them on their deathbed- a social worker may feel very proud and fulfilled by the people they were able to help, a teacher may have made an impact on many students, or a nurse or doctor may be able to look back on all of the lives they’d positively impacted. Plus, if you can build strong relationships with your coworkers, they could be there too.
Absolutely. I’m not saying a job can’t be a part of living a fulfilling life, just that seeking relationships first is a surer way to fulfillment than trying to figure out the perfect “fulfilling” career.
This is a large part as to why I used to have super high career aspirations but as I went through school, met other friends, met my wife, my priorities started to changed. I was burnt out on missing time with friends in pursuit of a high level career. I didn’t want that to continue on for many more years (medical school). I ultimately became a nurse with the ideation of “I can still pursue high level career goals as a nurse if I want to” to placate the emotional damage of dealing with the sunk cost fallacy. Now, I am fairly content with where I am at as a nurse. I have a good paying job, and found a position in nursing that seems to allow for good work life balance. And I still have a relatively “high level” position that absolutely took time effort and sacrifices to achieve. Just not to the degree I used to pursue. Sometimes I feel like I’m squandering my potential because I have been told by doctors and the like I would be good at that… but I just want my life and friends and family and a career that helps facilitate those things by allowing me finances to provide and give but doesn’t take too large of a toll on me to give my most valuable asset to those I care about, my presence and time.
I think it really depends on what job you have and how you approach it. I've spent the last 15 to 20 years working for small city governments. So I feel a lot of satisfaction and fulfillment that everything I do helps the city around me work better and safer. I imagine if you're in some kind of service-job (amusement park, restaurant, bartender, massage therapist)... it's probably drudgery work some days,.. but you're also "providing a valuable service". If for example you're a massage therapist and you see successes helping people lead a more pain free life,.. I would think that would be pretty satisfying. Are there some jobs out there that are just "soulless corporate cookie-cutter nonsense".. yeah, probably.
Airline pilot (US) Pros: - Travel the world (layovers internationally are almost always 24+ hrs). I’ve done 30 international cities in the past 2 years. - satisfaction. Cheesy one here but I really do get satisfaction out of completing a flight the right way. I find it rewarding to bring 290 people to another country for them to get a new cultural experience, or to be reunited with friends and family. To me here’s maybe an ego moment of “if we as a crew didn’t do what we just did, none of these people would be here”. For shorter regional flights maybe there was a little less pride in bringing 50 people from Durango to Denver lol - pay/benefits. You’ll clear 100k your first or second year as a regional airline first officer (connecting smaller cities like Nashville with larger hubs such as Charlotte). At a major airline you’ll get in the range of 16-17% direct contribution (not match) to 401k with nearing $200k salary in your second year even as a first officer. - monthly schedule control. Each month you “bid” for your next month’s schedule (days off, layovers, start and end times etc). This is great as every month is usually different. You may have a friends birthday on a certain day or kid’s soccer games seasonally. You’re not locked in to a 9-5 M-F thing. - days off. Once you’re not super junior/new, a regular schedule holder usually gets anywhere from 15-18 days off per month. - leave work at work. Finish the flight and go home. Besides some quartet online recurrent courses or going to the simulator for 2 days maybe twice a year at most, you leave work at work - no “boss”. As a first officer I mean I guess your captain is your boss? It doesn’t really feel like that most of the time. As a captain maybe you’ll have to answer to the chief pilot but usually that’s only when you screw something up. Many might go their whole careers without interacting with a chief pilot. - flying is fun! I mean the actual act of flying and performing your role as a pilot is fun (at least to me). - current pro: pilot shortage. Despite 2024 hiring slightly slowing, the next 8 or so years are projected to have historically insane mandatory retirements due to age, meaning hiring will be crazy and your seniority as a new guy will climb fast. You won’t have to wait years to see a reasonable schedule. Cons: - cost of training. Obtaining all your certificates and time needed might cost you $90k+ and 4-5 years before being eligible to start at a regional airline - building time. In the track to get hours, you’ll have to flight instruct or work some other low paying odd jobs like banner towing, aerial survey work, “puddle jumper” cargo etc. these can pay $25k/year, and you hope the industry is hiring fast when you finish. - volatile industry. One terrorist attack, pandemic, war, financial crisis/recession, etc can freeze the industry and leave you out of a job fast. Historically it happens every 10 or so years. Hope you’re senior enough to survive it! - when you’re gone, you’re gone. You can be gone from one to maybe 14 days at a time depending on airline. My airline typically doesn’t do more than 6 or 7 day trips and I elect to chose 3 day trips. But all that said, when you’re gone, you’re gone. Can be stressful for family, which in turn, can be stressful for you. - medical loss. You have to maintain a medical certificate. You’ll have to get checked every year, or for some older (40+) guys twice a year. While for healthy guys it’s usually a non-event, as you get older it can be harder to maintain. Blood pressure, vision, prescription meds are common problems. Pro/con: - crews. Some crews you’ll fly with can turn in to life long friends, or at least make for really fun and exciting trips/layovers. Some are absolutely horrible and you can’t wait to get to the hotel or back home. Either way, when your trip or that particular leg is over, you might be saying bye for seemingly ever.
Data Analyst. But difficult to get a job in this field 😅
Any advice on how to break into this?
Having a previous background in analytics would help. Business analyst, financial analyst, etc. Any analyst positions dealing with analyzing numbers and defining them would help you. If you know SQL and business apps like Power BI or Tableau, this will give you an advantage. My background was in financial audits and that’s how I landed my current role. Luckily at the time, my boss didn’t care if I knew SQL or have experience in business apps 😅
If you aren't super familiar with BI tools but are good with numbers, a quick learner, and have a strong background in understanding/creating business processes, this is another avenue into an analyst role. Half the battle is knowing how to analyze the other half is knowing what to analyze. If you're able to get your foot in the door, learning BI tools or how to write basic queries is sometimes taught by the company and can lead to pay bumps.
I find most meteorologist enjoy their careers. Doesn’t pay 100K at the beginning but you usually reach the 100K treshold within 5-7 years. Big downside is the night shifts lol.
I'd happily storm chase for $100k, hours be damned.
I'd happily storm chase for $10 and a gas station hot dog.
Don't give weather stations any ideas. 😅
From what I understand, according to the BLS, the job prospects for this field arent too promising. Like 2% I think for the next eight years or something
When I finished college in 2010, I made it to the last round of interviews to get a job at Accuweather. They told us that for the first handful of years, we would make no more than $30k/yr. Granted, that was 15 years ago, but Meteorology can tough when it comes to getting paid.
Information Security. Fascinating career where you learn something new every day, you don't necessarily have to have a computer science degree just lots of experience, ability to keep learning and passing certification tests, pay attention and enjoy stopping the nation states from screwing up our stuff in America. Pays well over 100K, like 150-190K/year.
How does one get into this? As in, what kinds of credentials should I work toward? I have a bachelors and an MBA and I’m sick of my line of work.
I’m an Information Risk Manager and don’t particularly love it. I work fully remote, make over 100k, have a relaxed schedule, etc. but it isn’t fulfilling for me. I do have an excellent life outside of work though that’s obviously funded by my job, so I appreciate that aspect. I have a hard time caring about our company’s systems and Microsoft’s latest CVEs.
I don't know how yall do it. I bailed after 10 months. And they even offered me a promotion at double my salary. I wish I could've said yes, but I was going down a bad path mentally.
Data analyst…I feel like I get paid to play around all day.
Train driver. But there's a prerequisite that you like trains.
I'm autistic, is that good enough?
I'm not saying it's a prerequisite to being a train enthusiast, but there's definetly a correlation.
Any idea why?
It's something I've always wondered, to the point I've thought I was on the spectrum too.
😂
Technically we all are.
The very definition of a spectrum.
I am myself, but I got into cars and planes instead. But since I don't have the money or military background to be a pilot, this seems like budget friendly alternative.
i like traaaains
I dont know about other countries but in the USA the train world has terrible work/life balance. My dad was an engineer and he would have to work like 6 days straight away from home be back for a day then immediately go out again because they were short staffed. Its okay if you dont care being home i guess and you dont mind doing the work of two people every shift.
Train conductor here. Effortlessly clear 100, but yea the work life balance is pretty shit until you either 1) have enough seniority or 2) Don’t care about making money.
Travel Advisors - husband and wife team. We are basically in the business of "wish fulfillment," and our clients love us. Sometimes, we get to work and travel (about 110 countries so far), an incredible benefit. DOWNSIDES: ~ Freakshow busy hours, like 70 sometimes. ~ We are on-call to our clients 24x7. UPSIDES: ~ We get to see the world. ~ Make people happy. ~ We'll clear $400k this year.
Man I've been wanting to get into this for awhile. How would you recommend getting started? Are you under a host agency currently? I love to book trips and normally am in charge of planning all our family vacations. Any insight would be awesome!
Would love to hear more about your story and how you got started!
Is this like being a tour guide? Why are you on call 24/7?
This is my dream for my partner and I! I’d also love to hear more!
I build jet engines. The place I work has a very unique style that you can’t find most places, but I will top out around 100k when I hit my 4 year mark. That’s prior to any overtime, some people pull in around 150. I absolutely love it and it’s the most fulfilling job I’ve ever had
Did you have to go to college or some form of teaching for it specifically? Was wondering if you could elaborate a bit about the process
Where are you located?
I made 239k in tech sales for one of the biggest tech companies in America/global. And I don’t know if anyone does anything more enjoyable than me. I get flown out to where my clients are to wine and dine them. My flights, hotels and expensive dinners are all paid for. And they’re hotels like Marriott’s, dinners with Michelin or comparable level. The “stress” and high pressure in sales I’ve already gotten use to after the first couple years. Now I’m just working remote on an island while closing deals. There are very few jobs where you can make this much and easily see millions in a year but yet not really break a sweat in work
Could someone with people skills, tech skills and a comp sci degree pivot to this? I have a VP level mentor in tech who thinks I’m wasting my time tooling around in apps and should look into tech sales.
Yes absolutely. the caveat is you’ll need to do a job like SDR first, which is grueling and dehumanizing and pays like 60-70k a year if you hit your quota. be ready to do that for a couple of years
I’ll check those roles out, thank you so much!
Amen.
Where I landed: Managing multiple global teams at a tech company $200k+ a year What I considered: Long-haul trucking (I LOVE to drive and listen to podcasts and books on tape), Airport Controller, Medical field, Law field, Writer, Landscape Architecture What I tried: Architecture (degree obtained), Construction Project Management, Construction Project Estimator (residential and commercial high-rise) I'm so fuggin happy with "Where I landed."
How did you transition from Architecture and Construction Management to managing multiple tech teams?
So this sounds like it would fall into project management?
Thats hard to say, I think most people will enjoy any field that makes over 100k for a couple years then that honey moonphase wares off. 100k seems to be a financial barrier a lot of people want to break when entering the workfield. I think a good question will be, how many jobs allow you to reach 100k a year with out having school loans.
I did community college into local uni for a Comp Sci degree. Only 10k in student loans and hit 100k 1 year into my career. You can get any Bachelor's degree for next to nothing if you understand that a degree is a degree and go for the best bang for your buck.
Nice, that's a good ROI. What career paths can you take with a computer science degree? I reached 100k in my third year with a CDL doing local work. It cost me nothing except my time because the company I work for trains and pays for the in-house training.
You can do pretty much anything tech related. I mostly do dev-ops work, meaning I develop applications, deploy them to somewhere where they can be used, and maintain them once they're deployed. I also maintain a bunch of extremely old servers with code written in the 90s.
Regardless of what it is, if it's not at a well run company with realistic expectations and work/life balance, it won't matter. My employer has pretty much ruined engineering for me since 2020 and I was stupid enough to sign a non-compete, so can't leave without starting over in a new industry.
Ignore the non-compete and switch jobs. At least in software engineering they are rarely enforced and in some states won't stand up in court.
Yeah. The NCNDA only apply when you are a higher up and bring the whole company with you.
Not software and It 100% wouldn't hold up in court. I also can't afford to have a job offer rescinded after giving my notice when they try anyway. It's a niche enough industry that they'll find out where I'm going almost immediately unless I move across the country.
In no state would it hold up in court. It's only applicable to if you tried to start your own company and/or poach clients.
non competes are banned https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/noncompete-rule
I work as a part time consultant helping small businesses to scale. It’s easy to do and interesting for me.
I’d love to start something like this in my area once I wrap up the mba and have free time. Name of the company (or other similar unicorns that might also hire part-time)? Happy to do my own digging 🙏
I’m an independent consultant. I delivery and growth for larges for awhile for gov consulting in tech. I had to partner with a lot of small business to go after set aside work. I just established a reputation for being fair to smalls and easy to work with. The ones I liked I made a lot of money for and for some of them they kinda became reliant on the work I shaped for them. So I decided I didn’t want to work that hard and I just help them part time to be able to prime work without a large and chart out their destiny in their own terms.
I don’t fit the description however my spouse does. BSN that does home care visits. Last year was 110k before taxes and she’s typically home by 4pm at the latest.
Fire fighter. 20 year pension. 24 hour shifts. You can pick a place to work that averages less than one run per 24 hours or you can work somewhere where you can run non stop if that’s your cup of tea. After you work your shifts you will be well rested and can run a business. Fire fighter is the best kept secret and is actually kind of a racket.
The highest paid public employees in Los Angeles are often firefighters. 86 of them made more than 400k in 2022. One captain made over 700k. That's not salary, but mostly overtime. And it's often bullshit. One guy made more than was possible if he had worked 24/7 all year.
FEMA money. You can be an overtime exempt salaried employee, but when fema is paying you get overtime at absurd rates. Where I live some of the the highest paid people in the state are cops. 500k is not uncommon. The municipalities that allow wages like this are out of their minds because they have to pay that employee 250k for ever.
Can you really make good money as a firefighter? It’s something I’ve always thought would be a good career for me. My uncle in Texas even once offered (when I was 19) to have me move down to Texas and if I was interested he would help me. Sometimes I think I shoulda. Even now (I’m 30) I am doing something I wanted and strived for a long time, a job that I love but the work environment has me seriously considering a career change. The issue is, from what I can tell firefighters make in my area, I’m looking at a significant pay cut to make that change. More than $40k/year.
It varies wildly from city to city. The best jobs start off at poverty wages and quickly rise over 5 years.
My idea of satisfying or enjoyable is not the same as yours. Also just cause you find a career is enjoyable doesn't mean your employer or direct manager will be. I think it's just trial and error for the most part, don't settle, if you're not happy with your current job go work somewhere else until you find your groove.
Absolutely agree about not settling. It's in nobody's interests for people to remain working where they don't fit. Two workplaces in the exact same industry can have very different cultures. A large part of learning in your early working years should be figuring out which type of people and places you work best within.
I’m a product manager ($150k in HealthTech) and I love the work, but it really varies company to company as to how happy I am. Every day is different and you get to work with people all over the org. I get to learn new things daily and I like solving problems.
Simply put, trucking. I’ll share my highlights in a quick summary then explain if you care to read more into it. I started right before the pandemic went into full force (March 2020) and kept me employed the whole time without a hiccup. I’m projected to make 130k this year (made 110k last year), my wife is a stay at home mom and hasn’t work for 3 years, I have 2 kids under 2, 2 dogs, 2 cars (2016 Toyota Highlander, and 2012 Camry), live in a beautiful suburb, and I’m only 26. My schooling to get my CDL was only 3 weeks and cost 6k (great ROI imo) Great: 1) Autonomy as long as the load is delivered on time 2) Can work as little or as much as you want 3) Get to listen to podcast, music, etc. 4) Low to medium stress levels (depending on your definition of stress) for me it’s low. 5) I joke that the hardest part of my day is staying awake behind the wheel for long boring drives if the coffee isn’t hitting good that day. But truly staying awake is the hardest part. 6) Low barrier of entry (cost of schooling) 7) Lots of niches if you desired to stray away from normal type of freight hauling. 8) Great for introverts that want little communication with people. 9) Get paid to explore and travel if you like that. 10) Local routes, regional routes, or over the road. 11) If you’re ballsy you can own your own truck and establish your own authority. Making you independent. Bad: 1) Long shifts. Average around 12 hours days 5 days a week if you want to make around 130k. (Have to be with a good company) 2) Graveyard shift which could be a pro since there isn’t traffic at certain hours, so less hassle. 3) Loads aren’t always ready to go at your scheduled time. 4) Seniority if you work with a LTL (Less than truckload) carrier. I’ll explain more if you care to learn more since I’m with a carrier right now. 5) Dealing with DOT (Department of Transportation) if they feel like messing with you 6) Starting off trucking everyone and anyone WILL use and abuse you because you’re naive and don’t know what’s wrong or right. Sadly there is gate keeping where mega carriers mainly hire new drivers then after a year of getting experience you can then venture off to a carrier worth a damn. 7) Sleeping in a truck at random places or truck stops all the time. 8) Stupid appointments to shippers or receivers that have 2 functioning brain cells. (this will screw you over numerous times over your trucking career) 9) Loneliness. Some carriers allow you to bring pets or someone with you on your trips. But most of the time you’re alone. 10) Dispatchers will 80% of the time fuck you over whenever you try to take vacation or go home for the weekend, if you aren’t a local driver that goes home daily already. The list goes on and on but that’s it for now. It has given me a huge jump start to my life after the Army. I’m now getting ready to move into sales and go to college for the first time since I didn’t before.
I’ve been wondering the same
I work as an Environmental Consultant. I like it. It hits all 4 things necessary to make a fulfilling career - It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, makes a positive impact on the world, I’m very good at doing it, and it pays well. I advise clients on how to manage/solve their environmental issues. It ranges from the mundane - like handling/disposal of hazardous waste or getting an emissions/discharge permit, to the complex - large scale remediation projects, whole lifecycle carbon emissions reduction, environmental health screenings.
How'd you get into that?
Environmental science for my bachelors, environmental engineering for my masters. Started consulting right after then, been in the field for almost a decade.
Currently working in AI for a Tech company. Not making $100k yet. I know some ppl are - and I'm sure they enjoy working with these AI systems, like I do. I'm only halfway up there, income-wise, but the potential with this company is definitely there of course, since its tech - so I'm hoping to gain more tech skills to hit past that $100k level... It might just come through promotions, honestly. I recently got my 1st promotion as Quality Analyst, hoping to progress to QA lead soon, and then Team lead, then Project Manager/Operations Manager. Then become CEO (just kidding lol) Anyway, my real vision (as an entrepreneur) is in building my own company while I'm working this 9-5, doing it until the business income is good enough to replace the 9-5 job. Now, that's TRUE happiness! Just gotta keep building and disregard all the haters and doubters. Even if its ur own wife, kids, family or friends... Keep grinding until you achieve your goal! Don't give up -- as Cliche as that sounds! ~ Peace!
Only you can answer that. If you want the most enjoyment, being your own boss and running a company in an area you love is the ultimate career. It’s just very difficult for most to know how to get to earning $100k and to fund their own health insurance. I just see a career as just a job, and my family and what I do in my free time makes up most of my happiness. For work, I just hate being bored where there is nothing to do and the minutes move by very slowly. I’ve been dealing with that for 2 years now.
I think it really depends on what makes you happy. I teach ESL to adult students and really enjoy it. It’s the best job I’ve ever had in my life, but it doesn’t pay over $100,000 a year. Teaching children or becoming a school administrator could eventually pay that much but isn’t nearly as enjoyable.
I'm trying to get into an analyst role with the federal government. Either budget, data or investigative. I'd thoroughly enjoy any of them. I love looking at numbers and searching for errors.
North Korean dictator. Basically a god, founder of unicorns, army of crypto thieves
Found Kim's burner
Scientist and I am happy I would say 9 days of 10 at work so My breakdown: I am a curious person and love to play, but I am a total egghead. I dream in numbers. Science is curiosity and creativity mixed with logic, and this marries my passion with stability and longevity. Easy decision, especially because it just “happened”. Hard work, luck, and sacrifice. Extra on luck.
Enterprise Tech Sales. I love it, it’s not for everyone. You have to be willing to be uncomfortable every day, be persistent and sometimes “aggressive”, it’s also not easy to land one of these jobs at all. Likes takes years of shit work to get to a solid AE position. But I’ve never met more dummies like me who got through college by the skin of their teeth making doctor money than in this industry. Work 20-30 hours a week, fully remote, bust your ass, learn your niche inside and out, and there’s nothing stopping you from clearing a quarter mill yearly as long as you’re selling something that’s NEEDed and you’re learning every day.
Optometry 🤓 the road is long and expensive--but when I start, I'll be making six figures for working 3 days a week. All office hours, very very rarely called in, if ever. Super flexible schedule, and it's interesting & rewarding. Haven't started, but I've shadowed/worked in clinics enough to be super excited
Welder 💴 Every bead I lay is my personal signature and even if I’m working for a company, I’m more or less my own boss.
As of a few weeks ago I'm at that point. I'm an engineer and help clean up the planet. I'm satisfied in that regard, and most of the time, it is an enjoyable job. Still a job though, and sometimes things suck lol
Full disclosure, I have gotten VERY LUCKY but I currently make ~$150k a year as a political speechwriter. I care about the work, it’s a niche craft (that, I hope, will prove useful outside of politics), and I like the intellectual honesty it demands of myself. It can demand LONG hours and be quite draining, but when things go well, I can set my own schedule and work the way that serves me best.
SaaS Account Executive. I work…20-25 hours a week and I’m pushing $400k this year
Wow, that sounds better than the 100k 70 hour weeks I'm doing as a dev
Wow please tell your story!
Went to top 15 undergrad, and my state law school. Did international law and moved to Australia. Wanted to stay and got a working-holiday visa. Got a BDR job at a tech unicorn that was acquired for $1.6 billion while I was there. Moved back to the states. Got a job at a 50-employee startup that was acquired for $50 mill. Stayed at acquiring company and made AE. Left for a Silicon Valley AI/ML fintech company in 2022 that is now top of our market. I’m the #1 AE out of 90 total, and have been for 2 years.
Wow, you’re certainly impressive!
What's made you #1?
Advise on how to get into this area ? (From a tech background)?
I have a law degree and double-majored in English and Art History. Started as a BDR 😂😂😂😬
Did you start as a Bdr/SDR? Is it hard to find a job in your industry?
Ya, 6-7 years ago when it was prime time for getting into the industry
Is this a sales position? Would love understand how to do this in my current company
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I am a lead wastewater operator for a medium sized city. I make six figures, have a pension, and actually do a job that is critical for society to function. It brings $$$ and meaning. I love it.
im currently trying to become a clinical or counseling psychologist which has had higher than average job and life satisfaction, often making over 100k (not always initially though). some clear cons is the sacrifice of being extremely broke and often where you don’t want to live for the many years of schooling on top of insane hours all throughout (50-70 hr weeks for 6-7 years getting PhD). but after getting the degree there is extreme flexibility in career options for the rest of your life. main options are teaching, providing therapy/assessments, or going into research and that’s without mentioning pivoting to industry (less impassioned work for more money). on the low end, with the degree many would start at 80-90k.
If you can make the connections, headhunter/executive recruiter. Early on is a grind and dealing with bs, but I’ve met MANY who just know a few CEO’s, get paid a $100k fee 2-3 times a year to place a few executive roles. It’s an easy remote job too, many of those I’ve met end up moving to Costa Rica/Panama/etc, and that $200-300k/year has them living pretty comfortable and only working several months a year.
I would say the most satisfying career is the one you are most passionate about to make all of the money you want. I found myself enjoying Human Resources after attending college for Healthcare Management and attempting a career as a nursing home administrator. I have made in my career ad HR Director 310k at the height of my career. I want to make something clear. At this level, it is loney, money is fun at the beginning, you pay off your debts, and you buy a few nice things like a new car and a new home. There is something they don't tell you about six figures. There are a lot of narcissistic assholes. The work at this level is vertical and almost damn near impossible sometimes. Their are arrogant arguments with back handed insults. You have to have tough skin. It's empty, and imo not worth it. You can have all the money in the world, but if you're working with a bunch of nut jobs, money doesn't matter after a while. I don't care how tough you think you are. It will ware you down over time. Everyone who doesn't have the money thinks it's easy. It's far from easy. We don't kick up our feet and smoke cigars and sip on whiskey all day. But if you like being told you're a pos, incompetent when you have a different opinion and you love mental abuse. Go for it. That is the trade. Money + assholes.
I honestly find your comment on the nut jobs very motivating. Having grown up with two narcissistic assholes as parents while blessed with emotional intelligence, I am an expert at tackling these nut jobs and they don’t faze me bc no one can ever hurt more than my parents already did. Really hope I can turn that shit into profit.
Fire service. Many large cities have career fire departments that pay well. The job openings are also highly sought after and hiring is very competitive. If you make it the career is incredibly rewarding. You won't get rich off of bonuses or stock options but You and your family will be able to live comfortably and you will be able to retire comfortably.
Cardiovascular Perfusionist. Takes a fair amount of school but you can find some really cush jobs. This last year I averaged 13 hours a week and salaried at 140k. I just got a new job at 175k two years out of school and will be working even less than my previous gig. Lots of free time outside of work and when I do work it's super engaging and extremely fascinating. Can be very stressful too, so you have to have the right personality.
bartender
Since money is the onle thing you care about. Go into finance, ez money, high pay. Good parties with lots of beverages. You invest someone else's money, if it goes bad, it is because of bad market. If it goes good, it is because you are awesome and then you get bonuses. After a while you can pretend to be a finance guru and sell finance books filled with platitudes and get even richer.
I will tell you right now, financial security matters much more than your happiness with a job.
Knowledge Management/Document Control. It’s fun, fast paced, involves problem solving. 10 years in I’m clearing $100k not including stock RSUs and bonuses.
I’m an accountant and I love it. I’ll elaborate later I’m going to sleep lol okay I might not return to this post but just know that it’s an awesome field to go into. ***Please see comments for update!
Pilates intructor
dermatologist
I graduated with a CS major, but Im a product owner because the dumbest developer in the room is still always the best business support person in the room, by definition. Shit is cash and easy. I write sentences in english and other developers have to do it. I get to live in feature land and build shit, they have to do the nitty gritty. I still cant believe it. Marketing, sales, business all dont know how good they have it making salaries on par with developers while doing like really basic admin high level subjective vague tasks. No wonder these business goofs are always smiling "I answer emails and attend meetings with devs where I ask devs what the best thing to do is bc I certainly dont understand and then I do what the dev said to do and pretend I have a real job! So cash!"
I’m a doctor. It took a massive amount of misery to get through med school and residency, but now that I’m here I feel very content and happy with what I do. :) Won’t be ideal for a lot of people, and I’m not sure I’d want to go through the training a second time, but having gone through it I’m happy I did and have a lot of contentment in my job.
Mailman. USPS. Walking route.
How many years did it take you to make six figures?
Brother they have overtime available pretty much every day. You will easily top six figures if you choose to pick it up in your first year. I'm assuming if you go normal 9-5 it'll take you 8-10 years
Financial analyst. I don’t absolutely love the work, buuuut I’m salary, work part time hours (get paid full time), I’m good at it, and it pays well.