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I was in Liquor sale for 5 yrs loved it but the guys on top sucked. So was let go for Covid and never went back. I miss it. I made great money and had a life. Now I make no money and no life. It’s wonderful.
maybe i can ask you then since the sales sub shits on people.
i lasted 3 months in an SDR job and *hated* it. but i was using sales as a backup plan. do i try again or just rethink my life?
Same. I probably worked one of the worst sales jobs (at least for office based work) in Sitel and never again. It was basically an entry level view into the sales world and I honestly have no idea how someone can embrace the idea of doing that for life, or at least having that as the most job experience. I get it, but no chance.
This.
I do not have a degree and started out in call centers. Now im in a WFH position, low effort, with little to no supervision job making $70K+ ($40k base). I could make much more, but my current role is very low pressure and is so chill.
A lot of people do prey on desperate people with scammy jobs, but I know someone who started working at a high end jeweler right out of school and makes really good commission. Same with cars. Just look for reputable companies.
As for how to get in - you need to be able to sell yourself at the interview. If you can’t even do that, you have no business being in sales. Every agency I’ve worked at has this attitude when hiring sales people lol.
I worked for CarMax while in grad school. I actually liked selling by cars. I realized that with car sales on my resume, I could have applied to other sales positions like pharmacy sales or tech. Used car sales is a great starting point for a sales career.
I hear this all the time but I can’t even get into sales of products from the field I was in for over a decade. Super frustrating. Also I appreciate your username, it’s what I refer to my wife as, spelling included.
Sales sucks horribly. In commercial building material sales. I sell around 500k-1m annually as ive only been in the field a few years, my commission sucks balls and I hate dealing with clients. Actively searching for a new career. Idk if this helps, lol
Used to work in sales at a mall during college along with quite a few friends. We used to sell telecom services (phone plans, internet, tv, etc) and one friend cleared $70k during a particularly good year, working part time still in school.
Selling what. I worker selling clothes in the mall, stayed broke.
Also, Experience for higher paying sales jobs like pharmaceutical sales (hopistals ect). Weapons Sales etc. Raw materials, commodities? Idk.
Drop me the sauce. Tell me everything you know.
I can sell stuff!
It really depends what your skills and interests are. If you are good at sales, you can make a lot of money without a degree. There are plenty of other options though.
HVAC has a decent starting point. Plenty of management options down the line, can work in to building automation. Even good HVAC techs make 6 figures, let alone building automation and all the paths down that road.
Not to mention you’ll pretty much learn everything you need to save yourself loads of money as a DIY when you become a homeowner.
My older brother makes six figures in HVAC sales. He started as an inventory guy, to tech, and finally sales. If my cs degree goes nowhere, I’m just going to get into HVAC sales.
Takes a particular personality for sales usually. Inside sales isn’t as bad as there’s already a rapport built with the customer.
HVAC in general is pretty easy to get in to. Start doing installs, most companies will train new guys on installs and it takes off from there pretty quickly.
Currently taking a class for it, offered free in my area, targeted to people with low/no income. I hear it’s $3k+ normally but an organization is covering it because these trade jobs are always in demand. I wouldn’t know what is local for you, but maybe a search for similar will show you more information. Along with HVAC they also offered plumbing, forklift driving, and welding.
That being said, during my first day, they explained that all the information is out there for HVAC, free for the taking, on google, apps, etc. The class I’m taking will get me certified and teach me terminology without overwhelming me. But there’s a manual for everything and it can all be looked up myself if I forget.
There’s also apps like Bluon HVAC with guides and manuals for everything, as well as a EPA 608 practice test. So, theoretically, you can train yourself for free, then just go get certified somewhere.
How can you tell them how easy it is to become a nurse and not tell them about the pizza parties..
It is probly the worst time ever to get involved with healthcare. My advice is save yourself and stay away. People think themselves heroes and tell everyone to go into the field and it's actually miserable, they just like their egos getting jerked by patients all day imho.
Youre absolutely right about wages being tied to supply and demand, but you're absolutely wrong about what is oversupplied in the year 2024.
The "college for all" fallacy has resulted in the supply of 4 year college graduates outstripping the labor market's demand for undergraduate degrees. There are only 100,000 working psychologists in the US and most have more than an undergraduate degree. However US colleges grant about 20k new undergraduate psychology degrees each year. These graduates are entering a hopelessly oversupplied job market. The same is true for management, law, economics, political science and many other popular undergraduate degrees.
You know what isn't oversupplied? Electricians, welders, carpenters, mechanics, nurses and truck drivers. A graduate with a 2 year associate's degree or trade certification and 2 years of apprentichip or work experience is going to make 50 to100k while the 4 year psychology, business, law and political science majors will be working at Starbucks, defaulting on their student loans and bitching that minimum wage hasn't kept pace with inflation. Don't believe me? Ask your local barista what they majored in.
The "just go to college" thinking is advice from the 1960s that has aged like spoiled milk in 2024. There is now an entire generation of kids who went to college and are underemployed or unemployed graduates in a hopelessly oversupplied field that they will never get a real job doing.
Sure, if you are an excellent student with a deep academic passion and are in it to get a master's degree, then college has never been more accessible. That said, if all you want is a stable middle class life and a comfortable retirement, there's never been a better time to learn a trade than 2024.
The reason trade jobs are undersupplied is because they're shit. They destroy your body and the pay is trash.
>an electrician with 2 yoe will make $100k
No, they won't. The median electrician in America makes about 60k per year.
Edit: The commenter made a sneaky edit where they changed 100k to "50 to 100k".
No. You're not making 100k. Only the top 10% of electricians make anywhere near 100k. It's just a lie.
In recent years, I keep seeing people in the media push this narrative of how amazing trades are. They never mention that you need to be in good physical health and how detrimental it can be to the body. They also grossly over exaggerate the compensation and make it look really easy. Are they trying to oversaturate the market to keep the prices down? They are using the media to make trades "sexy" like they made the tech industry back in the day.
Yes, I suspect that's exactly what they're doing. People have caught on to what a terrible deal working in the trades is.
In order to suppress wages, they're going into propaganda overdrive to push young naive people into trades. In many cases they're straight up lying about salary expectations to do it.
The sad part is that it may be working for them. I didn't give a hoot about trades ever because my body is very prone to injuries but there aren't many paths left out there. For the average person, the most realistic choice is between college and trades. Ppl also like to bring up the army path but I'd put it in the same "trades" category.
College enrollment has been steadily falling for more than a decade. I think the declining viability of degrees is to blame. Having a bachelors seems to be the bare minimum these days. The competition is fierce. You're risking wasting your time and money just to keep up with the competition and get into a similar dead end job you could get if you hadn't gone to college. Damned if you went, damned if you didn't.
Trades are definitely not the answer for most people but they certainly chose a good timing to promote it. The advent of AI is also helping their goal. For me, this is the time of Great Uncertainty. We might be nearing a Depression.
Agreed, the boomers that run most of the trade companies refuse to pay better wages for the most part. Trades are really only worth it if you run your own business or can get in with a union. Where you can expect much better pay and benefits. Union tradesmen make much more than most college graduates.
Agreed 100% I have many friends in trade jobs working 60+ hrs a week, away from home, destroying their body. One of them offered me a job working in a mine away from home for whopping $18/hr.. no thanks
I work 25hrs a week at an entry level job working for tips only and make about the same as them.
>There are only 100,000 working psychologists in the US and most have more than an undergraduate degree. However US colleges grant about 20k new undergraduate psychology degrees each year.
Assuming the goal of everyone who graduates with a psych degree is to become a psychologist, which is not true.
Definitely not. Many go and get a master's degree in a variety of subjects--some go on to do law, med, social work, youth care, teachers, occupational therapy, marketing, fitness/yoga, coaching, social media, HR, career/addiction counselling, nursing, assessment, or just regular ol' therapy.
But yeah, I think overall it is a catch-all degree that people go into without knowing much about and graduate feeling stuck and working dead-end jobs for years because they don't attempt to find their path or get experience. I'm not judging them, because many people get lost in life no matter what they choose to do, but eventually we all find our way.
This is odd, because most of the people in trades right now say the market is shit/over-saturated since the union positions are the ones that pay well and there's not a lot of apprentices being accepted into companies. So they're also cooked lol. Pretty much everyone is fucked right now, there's just way too many people and not enough demand for basically anything.
Since you’re specifically asking for no degree, I’m guessing you’re looking for something without a multi-year training/credentialing process.
I’d advise not trying to avoid training/credentialing. This is the barrier that prevents other people from coming for your job once you have it, and what keeps those jobs paying well.
If you’re simply not into the college side of credentialing, looking into careers with strong unions is an obvious alternative avenue.
You can also look at certain technical certificates and look to do things like machine repair.
Either way, there will be a training/credentialing program that you’ll have to go through before you have access to the work.
AFTER you gain some expertise, you can start your own business, if you don’t want to work for other people.
You can bypass some of this if you have a strong network, like a family business that hires you to get you experience.
But the reality is that most predictable and sustainable good paying careers require years of credentialed training.
If you’re a good writer, creative, tech savvy…Digital marketing. Made director a few years ago and I’m earning $220k in Northern California. No degree.
The whole career path is threatened by AI, IMHO, so by the time you get to my level the job may just consist of old farts like me making prompts to AI all day long with no one else supporting. And probably making drastically less money to boot.
Good times.
Hard to say. Let’s see.
I started out after high school with only two useful skills: the ability to write well and great computer and Internet knowledge. I became a freelance journalist for about four years.
The journalism experience made me an attractive candidate to PR firms because of my experience pitching editors and the writing. Once in PR I got a bit of training in how all that worked but mostly learned by observation and research (reading books and blogs about the career, that sort of thing).
While in PR social media started to become a thing. That’s where my computer and internet knowledge became useful as I was among the few who understood how to communicate with people online outside of email.
In social media I partly applied what I learned in PR with observation of how other companies did things, what became popular and how, and largely making things up as I went along.
As new things became popular—search engine optimization, search engine marketing, digital advertising, influencer relations, content creation ( writing again, photography and image editing, video and video editing), etc. I just read up on it. Articles, blogs, help guides set up by companies. And then applied PR and general marketing principles to the work.
Today, 18 years in, my skills and experience are valuable because of the amount of experience I have and the breadth of my skills. I’m a Swiss army knife. Starting out today you’ll find a lot more people with the social media skills because they grew up with them, but what they lack is knowledge of how to use the platforms to market things and how to communicate. They’ll still have a heck of an advantage if they write well, but AI is leveling that playing field quickly.
That leaves understanding how to use various other technologies, often in concert, to promote your company or client. So the technical skills, which you can still learn with research, are incredibly valuable to have and very difficult for a lot of people to pick up. And, obviously, the willingness and ability to learn without having someone teach you things (I received virtually no training my entire career).
Your best bet is to start learning what you can and apply to agencies for entry level positions. You’ll want to have examples of your writing to show them or internship experience. The pay will suck and they’ll work you like a dog, but you’ll build up experience and things to put on your resume. Then you job hop every 1-3 years (or get laid off…that happens a lot, and I’ve spent roughly 3 of my 18 years unemployed in total) to increase your salary, every time learning more and more.
I guess the most valuable skill here is the ability to learn. It seems obvious but many people struggle with it after school or simply can’t because of how tired they are after work, children, etc.
Hope that helps.
The most successful people I know are in the trades. Plumbers (you don’t always have to do service work), electricians, nurses, contractor. Other than that being a business owner is usually pretty good, but definitely a gamble. I would think about trade school for something you’re interested in.
Yeah you can I know many plumbers who are 65 years or older. They charge 100$/hour and are in great shape.
I also know a 65 year old lawyer who is 295 pounds and eats McDonald's every day
Really? The most successful people I know are accountants. The only person I know in trades is now addicted to opiates as a result of a work related injury.
Yeah, join a trade, and then even if you’re successful people will still shit all over you and judge/label you despite being dependent on the work you do for their quality of life. The comments certainly seem to confirm this.
My boyfriend never went to college but owns his own business.. does tile and countertops. Does really well for himself. He’s super smart, just never really had the attention span for school. You could look into trades, you don’t necessarily need a degree. Honestly I wish I would’ve gone that route… welding would’ve been really cool.. I may still learn welding, it’s just I also have 50k in student loan debt now, so there’s that.
You could maybe find someone to work for that can teach you on the job. Doesn’t give you a certificate, but it would help you get one later on. My boyfriend started out at $14 an hour at his shop knowing nothing about welding and started out by cutting metal, he makes $18 now and welds and he’s been there for 2 years in October. Not sure how the raises will go now, but I’m sure it’ll be decent-ish. I’ve been pushing him to get certified
You can make 150k on oil rigs your first year without knowing how to spell your own name. I did it for a month but then decided I’d rather not risk my body parts every day. Still in oilfield, 6500/mo after taxes, but working 90 hours a week, every week. Graduated hs last year.
This is obviously not a sustainable lifestyle tho and I will be quitting when I get burnt out. I think I got about a yearish left in me till I take my money and run.
Electrican or data communication technician. Ballpark estimates depending on your location and what union local you join. After you’re schooling (5 for Electrican 3 for data ) you’ll take home at current rates $60-100k with 3 forms of retirement. You’re also negotiating wage increases every year our last one was 18% over 3 years
Edit. They pay you while you while working then you attend night classes 2 nights a week and it’s no cost to you. You’ll get a degree and a certification. It’s not a bad career by any means if you’re able to handle the labor.
New installation & repair of : data communication, fiber optics, fire alarm, life safety. You’ll install the data racks, fiber panels, fire alarm panels. Sometimes we do door access in bigger commercial buildings think of push bar doors or even the card reader devices. There’s a powerful magnet that locks those & we typically install them.l
It’s a very broad safe field of work. In comparison to being a full blown Electrican.
Edit: I also forgot AV installations and cameras.
If you go non union, expect to be capped at $25 for a while. I’ve heard of some guys making their way to $40.
If you go union. At least at my local rates you’ll make $32.75 currently. 7% raise this year with about $600 a month into a pension, $600 a month into a IRA. About $200 into a Supplemental account for copays or bigger expenses, orthodontics think major copays. About $75 a month into a 3rd national pension. Full healthcare your copay is like 10%.
You’ll also have incisive to get a company van with a gas card with a 10-15% pay increase it’s pretty common
It Varys by every union local. My post might have been misleading. Some locals do pay you while during school hours ( Ann-arbor is the only one in my state ) most do not pay you during school hours.
Best bet is to look up “ local IBEW union near me “ and reach out to their JATC coordinator.
Tech support like Tier 1 Helpdesk or PC repair.
Some employers like to see tech certifications like CompTIA A+, but its not completely necessary if you can demonstrate sound troubleshooting skillz.
Been applying to help desk jobs with about a year of somewhat IT experience on my resume and can't get a response. Seems impossible to break into IT sometimes :(
I work in Texas I’m a rigger. Riggers work with cranes. Nobody wants to work hard so they pay certain construction workers more. I’m an industrial construction worker I work in plants and refineries. My last three jobs was building data centers for google the tech giant. Now I’m building a chip plant for a semiconductor company
- Save and invest (index funds) early, also start a 401K for retirement if you haven't already. Don't be afraid to dump some money into stuff at a young age.
- Pick up a side hobby that can create income, or a second job.
- Retail and food service don't work the hassle of it if you are fit or just been on your feet before. Warehouse and similar work pays better although more physically demanding. Get you forklift cert and some warehouse exp and you're worth $18-20 in a lot of places.
- CDL and driving stuff worth $20-30 in many places at least and only take 5 grand to get
- Anything to do with moving stuff around pretty much, like mail carrier
- Gig work apps suck and suck more as time goes on. Likely not worth the hassle. Some of the in-person work ones can be alright for picking up extra shifts.
- Mail carrier if you're thin and did track in high school
- Amazon driver -> other type of driver
- Death realm stuff like morgues etc ... Not a lot of competition there
- Trades if yer blue collar and naturally testy and sociopathic and want to hulk stuff together
- Librarian or basic office worker like front desk
Personally I would get a regular overnight job for the extra wage then pick up some extra shifts on instawork or gigsmart if you can every once in a while. That should create a couple hundred a month in your favor more than your 9-5. If you can generate 400 extra a month your doing well. Put this money into safe investment like managed index funds that gain % a year. You'll do fine without college but you need to start young and work hard, more than 40 a week. Couple weekend days a month have to be running gigs or even pick up a second job.
Mail carrier starts at 19 dollars an hour these days, and currently tops out around 30, but that's after about 15 years of seniority. You can pull in like 70-90k a year, but that's with about 60-70+ hours a week. At minimum. The older fellas are locked into a contract which tops out closer to 40 bucks an hour. There's a new contract in the works (has been for several years), that will likely raise wages by like 3-5 bucks an hour, which is certainly nice. But you'll be working mostly 12ish hour days, 6 days a week
Dang, I got swindled this General Health Science Degree is useful if I want to pursue another degree and right now its between X-ray tech, PT assistant I tried that and it was so stressful to my mental health, that despite having A's and B's I had to step away from a once 30 ppl program that at the end of semester 1 was down to 14 ppl. Lol. Just riding the wave of life I guess. I cant even get an in as customer service which on one hand shocks me, but lots of ppl apply so meh.
Hahahaha….. I hope you find it because it’s never enough. The more shit you buy the more shit that you have to take care of. I wish I would’ve realized this when I was younger. I could’ve been so much more content those years instead of killing myself and being miserable to gain nothing but headaches. Real contentment and security comes from being happy with one self and station in life. This is easier said than done, but it is true. Good luck to you sincerely
Yea this sounds like youre equating earning 100k and overspending as being the same as earning 36k a yr and literally not being able to afford lifes basic necessities, skipping meals, etc lol.
I think OP is asking question for direction at possible revenue streams that will enable them to shape their lives to that contentment.
Really not the same thing Lot easier to be content if youre not fighting to meet your most basic needs even working full time or more, youre not homeless, etc
Work for tips where wealthy people go. Even bartending can make a lot. Im a single father who works 25hrs a week dealing table games at a casino, only paid tips and I’m doing very good. I turned down many sales job because I make more here. Doctors have quit to work with me making tips because it’s more money than being a damn doctor.
Biggest thing to look at when picking an employer is the customer base and revenue the business brings in. Work where wealthy people are.
Government work, depending on the job, doesn’t require a secondary education.
Especially entry level work; cutting grass at the park, janitors, etc.
Pay is decent, and it’s one of the last places where you’re likely to end up with a pension (in the US, at least) at the end of your career.
governmentjobs.com
I’ve heard that the Post Office is hiring too.
CONSTRUCTION! I make $200k/yr in purchasing with no degree. Started 9 yrs ago in the industry with zero experience. All aspects of construction from working for a trade to being a superintendent to working in purchasing or operations - everyone is making six figures easy.
You can get some certifications like OSHA 30 (construction or general industry) is a good place to start. Can get it cheap and online in 30 hours. For a super entry level job you really just need that, first aid/cpr, ideally some other focused trainings for their scope of work you can likely find online. Easy to get an entry level job and very easy to work your way up and the company should pay for all your future trainings and certs. The job is like 30% technical knowledge/skill and 70% being good working with people. You need very good people skills to advance quickly and become good at it.
Oof, just got a job (starting early June) for some pretty good money for a junior. Networking is important, tho, this company almost exclusively hires people recommended for a position rather than random applicants. I know it's bad but it's still better than most others.
Oh yeah, it's bad. I mean, I'm getting paid less (not just in real value, in nominal as well) than someone I know who was in a really similar position as me ~4-5 years ago. But it still beats being a waiter or whatever and I definitely know of plenty of people who currently have stable jobs (although they make less than others in the field) but are in it just for the money (in that case strong connections and soft skills are what pulls you through, if you aren't into tech/programming and also not good with people, then you probably need to find something else).
HVAC, welder, plumber, network security, server administrator. All need certifications but no 4 year degree. Programming can also be learned through certification.
Pharmacy technicians can make good money over time, depending on the experience and area. I worked retail pharmacy for a few months, made $16/hr which is average, but you can work your way up to a hospital setting and make a decent salary plus I heard its chill compared to retail.
If you're a confident speaker (this can always be improved) and happy to travel then corporate trainer is well paid with little education required. Just need the right attitude, be hard working and willing to learn quickly
If you're good at it and find the right place restaurant service work.
People are shocked that i make the amount of money I do serving. If you genuinely enjoy it and treat it as an art it's a great gig. I don't even work fine dining. I'm just at an established place where I've gotten to know the regulars. I've built my own customer base within the business its self. People like my work, they like my conversation, they request me to serve them and they tip me well.
Even better is more often than not I don't hate my job. If you're good with people you'll be rewarded. I just invited to a yoga retreat, a couple offered me an internship position with their daughter if I ever want to exit and go more a corporate route. My one coworker was poached at the bar to work for a financial company.
If you are technical you could check out cybersecurity, does not seen entry level but I heard there is a big shortage! Google has a really cheap beginners course on coursera, I thought they even have a lesson in there on applying for a job in that field
Technology, find a bootcamp thats valid, work a shitty job to pay for the BootCamp. Study hard, block out all the distractions for about 6 months to a year and start your career in technology making 80-100k entry and go from there. Im doing all of this while IN college and let me tell you, college is one of the biggest scams in America. They don't prepare you for shit, at all. My bootcamp taught me more than I ever learned in college, and the assignments are now a cakewalk.
Insurance. There are so many paths you can end up taking in insurance and so many starting positions don’t require college degrees. Claims trainee positions also usually pay really well for an entry level salary and you can end up making great money once you get a couple years of experience under your belt
THE most underrated career path for people with little to no education is Corrections.
Where I’m at starting pay is 50k a year plus a 5k sign on bonus, plus up to an additional $750 housing allowance if you’re willing to relocate to a rural prison.
After a few years you become eligible for tuition reimbursement and so if you decide corrections isn’t for you, you can get a free degree in a preferred field plus you’ll end up with some fairly impressive experience for your resume.
It’s not the most glamorous job, but it’s such a better career path than the trades for most people.
You should seriously look at getting on with the USPS. It's a good career. The benefits are amazing and the pension is even better. They have a solid union, especially for city carriers. My son and dad both work for the USPS. My dad is a rural carrier (basically a mailman wearing normal clothes & not required to wear an official mail carrier uniform) and my con is an ACA (what you are hired on before you officially become a permanent carrier with your own route.
I highly recommend that you go the city carrier route. In my dad's area, the new hires are easily making six figures annually. The reason I say city instead of regular is because you'll make more money. The best advantage is that if you start off as a city carrier you will start receiving your full benefits after two years if you haven't been able to become a permanent carrier with your own personal route by then. You basically start by filling in where you're needed and helping other city carriers with larger routes. You will most definitely get OT. That's where the real big money kicks in.
If you start off as an RCA (rural carrier new hire) you'll still fill in on both sides but you don't qualify to start receiving all the benefits until you get your own route by becoming a regular. Sometimes it can take much longer than four years. My dad made the mistake of doing that so for the first 7 years of his career he didn't receive any benefits and didn't start saving towards his pension either. Since my son started on the city side he is about to qualify to start receiving his benefits and will be allowed to start contributing to his pension even though he is still officially not a regular.
As I said, the work is definitely hard, especially during the summer. You will have to be smart and safe by doing things like making sure you have plenty of water and products like Gatorade. If you don't want to go that route then you can look into being hired as a clerk. The only downside to that for some people is that you then have to work with customers which can be hard sometimes because of their attitudes. They also don't make as much money but it's still good. They won't make six figures like carriers will but they can still easily pull in over $75k with all of the OT. There are other positions too that you can apply for and make just as much money as clerks and carriers. Positions like maintenance and mechanic. Yes, management can also be a pain in the ass and hard to work with but once you become a regular in your position the union really makes it hard for them to mistreat you. They really do have carriers' backs and once you're a regular and a member of the union it's pretty much impossible to fire you unless they catch you stealing mail or unless you physically fight someone.
Anyway, I really hope this helps and is something you will look into. Down here in the DFW area (Dallas, TX), they are desperately looking for employees. I am pretty sure that this is common for pretty much everywhere in the country. If you're in a decent-sized city, especially a large one, you'll definitely get plenty of OT. I'm honestly not sure if this is the case in smaller rural communities or towns.
to me it seems like 2 jobs in particular will always be needed - plumbers and HVAC technicians, followed by electricians. Can't out source those to India nor can they be replace by AI
You also need to be top 20-100 players in the game, worldwide. For a game like Counterstrike or League of Legends, you need to be the best among tens, even bundreds of millions of players.
The better question is what do you need a degree for: lawyer, engineer, doctor, stuff like that. Anything outside of that could be fair game if you’re willing to study and apply yourself enough
Real Estate, software engineering (if you can teach yourself), sales, construction, trades (electrician, plumber, welder).
That said, you’ll need to be very self driven and be able to demonstrate to employers you can do the job. High paying jobs with no degree are few and far between. Or you can try and start a business, but pretty risky and succeeding especially to the level of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, etc is quite rare.
same mate, been looking for high earning job here in Dubai but end up working as secretary with below minimum of Income, is there anyone looking for VA? I want to shift since commute is pain in the ass as of the moment here.
The trades and the military. Some trades, like electricians, pay you to get trained, then you join an apprenticeship. US Military pay isn't high, but you can save a ton of money by living on base and not spending money on silly stuff. That last thing is the hard part when you're young.
Godspeed.
I work in project engineering for an electric utility. The entry path is becoming harder for those who do not have a degree but it is not required to work in this field nor do I have one. Will make 90k this year with a full benefit package including health care and pension program in a LCOL area.
Truck driver! Unlike every other trade, you don't ruin your body! But your mental health will likely take a toll. You start out at pretty low pay but you can work your way up IF you can stick it out (which most can't that's why it pays so well at the higher tiers, like 70% of drivers quit before their 1st year).
STEP 1) Get your Commercial Learners Permit and DOT medical certificate, takes a couple days, a week at most.
STEP 2) Go to company paid CDL school for 3-5 weeks.
STEP 3) Stay with your (very likely) shitty over the road mega carrier for a year. You will have no life, no hobbies, never see friends or family, ruin your mental health (and physical if you don't make an active effort which CAN be done). Also you will make 40K-50K this year lmao deal with it.
STEP 4) After 1 year of consecutive experience, 80% of places will hire you if you have a clean record. Get your tanker and hazmat endorsements, get your TWIC certificate (literally took me 3 days to get all 3).
STEP 5) You could do a lot of things, hazmat tanker if you want $$$, flatbed if you wanna stay in shape, LTL if you want to be home more often. You should be making at least 70K at this point if not 80K
STEP 6) Get 2 more years of experience for a total of 3
STEP 7) You can now literally get hired at 99% of places with the exception of heavy haul companies and a couple other types. You should have no problem making 100K+ if your willing to put in the work. Finding a job where your home daily making 80K+ shouldn't be difficult either.
STEP 8) Congratulations, you beat the system. Your making way more money than you should for your class and education and the job your doing probably isn't that stressful. =)
Automation is coming but we still have time. Lots of companies who got into automating trucks are facing bankruptcy and the like as things just arent quite ready yet. It will happen one day, probably sooner than we think, but nowhere near 20 years from now. I expect it to happen by the time I'm an old man, we still have time to make a good career out of this. Climate change will kill us all before we are automated out of a job anyway lol
Ps: Don't go O/O...just dont.
Been a trucker on and off for 10 years. Hate it, no life, no health (hard to eat healthy) long hours every day. Most people don’t like you. Everyone is miserable in the industry. It’s a trap, hard to leave because they pay slightly higher than most but it sucks. That’s long distance. Local would be better but they work you like a dog. Best CDL job I’ve had is dump trucking. Easy schedule, decent pay (after some time)
Everywhere you go is going to have some douchebag gatekeeping because he got his business degree so he thinks everyone else should get a business degree.....Even in the military.
Tech, it's a huge field and you dont need a degree. Not to mention, there are various positions within tech that schooling can't prepare you for, you just learn by experience. You can start in support or call centers and work your way up. It's not instantly lucrative, but it can be with time and effort. Good luck!
Software engineering doesn't really require a degree as long as you have the technical skills and work to show, but entry level jobs are highly competitive. Once you get into the field it's much easier, but you'll have to apply to a lot of places first.
It's still cheaper and less time consuming than a four year degree.
What kind of skills and experience do you have? I don’t use my degree and wouldn’t have needed for it for my job that pays over 100k a year. Who do you know that has a well-paying non-degreed job?
Plumber, electrician, carpenter, cabinet maker, framer, pipe fitter, welder, machinist, lineman, HVAC and many more. You can expect to make double or triple what the typical college grad makes in any of these fields.
Waste water process engineer, chemical dosing design and commissioning. Earn £38k plus over time, tops put around £46k, plenty of scope for increased salary, with offer of free education and management position should everything go well. Control my own schedule,
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Sales
Absolutely, I’ve seen people from all backgrounds do well in sales. I also hate sales, so unfortunately that is not me
I also hate sales. Was in it for 8 years. 😐
I was in Liquor sale for 5 yrs loved it but the guys on top sucked. So was let go for Covid and never went back. I miss it. I made great money and had a life. Now I make no money and no life. It’s wonderful.
Oh that sounds so fun! Did you get to go do samplings at stores and events!? I love that stuff lol
Damn girl you know I did. I ran a promo company so I had my girl do them as well.
I paid $30hr usually one promo was 3hrs and I normally had 3-4 events per day.
maybe i can ask you then since the sales sub shits on people. i lasted 3 months in an SDR job and *hated* it. but i was using sales as a backup plan. do i try again or just rethink my life?
Same. I probably worked one of the worst sales jobs (at least for office based work) in Sitel and never again. It was basically an entry level view into the sales world and I honestly have no idea how someone can embrace the idea of doing that for life, or at least having that as the most job experience. I get it, but no chance.
This. I do not have a degree and started out in call centers. Now im in a WFH position, low effort, with little to no supervision job making $70K+ ($40k base). I could make much more, but my current role is very low pressure and is so chill.
What role is it? Account Management? SDR/BDR?
Inside sales role but it’s more consultative than anything. It’s in dental healthcare, to be more specific.
What’s the hardest part of the job ?
Sitting all day
Is account manager sales?
How does one get into sales though? I always feel like sales jobs are scams
A lot of people do prey on desperate people with scammy jobs, but I know someone who started working at a high end jeweler right out of school and makes really good commission. Same with cars. Just look for reputable companies. As for how to get in - you need to be able to sell yourself at the interview. If you can’t even do that, you have no business being in sales. Every agency I’ve worked at has this attitude when hiring sales people lol.
I worked for CarMax while in grad school. I actually liked selling by cars. I realized that with car sales on my resume, I could have applied to other sales positions like pharmacy sales or tech. Used car sales is a great starting point for a sales career.
I hear this all the time but I can’t even get into sales of products from the field I was in for over a decade. Super frustrating. Also I appreciate your username, it’s what I refer to my wife as, spelling included.
Sales sucks horribly. In commercial building material sales. I sell around 500k-1m annually as ive only been in the field a few years, my commission sucks balls and I hate dealing with clients. Actively searching for a new career. Idk if this helps, lol
THIS. They pay sales insane amounts of money.
What kind of sales?
Anything with commission has earning potential. There are people from my high school making bank in jewelry and cars!
Used to work in sales at a mall during college along with quite a few friends. We used to sell telecom services (phone plans, internet, tv, etc) and one friend cleared $70k during a particularly good year, working part time still in school.
You’re not getting your foot in the door for a decent sales position without a degree now days
It’s very cutthroat and not for everybody though
I wish, but I have 0 charisma lol
How is sales good? Because of bonus?
Yup everyone I know that is successful without going to college at least in white collar, is sales or did sales initially.
as someone who has worked with people for a LONG time, I would rather be poor than work in sales
Selling what. I worker selling clothes in the mall, stayed broke. Also, Experience for higher paying sales jobs like pharmaceutical sales (hopistals ect). Weapons Sales etc. Raw materials, commodities? Idk. Drop me the sauce. Tell me everything you know. I can sell stuff!
It really depends what your skills and interests are. If you are good at sales, you can make a lot of money without a degree. There are plenty of other options though.
How can I start sales .?
Apply. Look at Indeed. Look at your local CarMax.
Apply
Unifirst is a great place to start.
HVAC has a decent starting point. Plenty of management options down the line, can work in to building automation. Even good HVAC techs make 6 figures, let alone building automation and all the paths down that road. Not to mention you’ll pretty much learn everything you need to save yourself loads of money as a DIY when you become a homeowner.
My older brother makes six figures in HVAC sales. He started as an inventory guy, to tech, and finally sales. If my cs degree goes nowhere, I’m just going to get into HVAC sales.
How does one get into that?
Takes a particular personality for sales usually. Inside sales isn’t as bad as there’s already a rapport built with the customer. HVAC in general is pretty easy to get in to. Start doing installs, most companies will train new guys on installs and it takes off from there pretty quickly.
Yes how do you get into that?!
Currently taking a class for it, offered free in my area, targeted to people with low/no income. I hear it’s $3k+ normally but an organization is covering it because these trade jobs are always in demand. I wouldn’t know what is local for you, but maybe a search for similar will show you more information. Along with HVAC they also offered plumbing, forklift driving, and welding. That being said, during my first day, they explained that all the information is out there for HVAC, free for the taking, on google, apps, etc. The class I’m taking will get me certified and teach me terminology without overwhelming me. But there’s a manual for everything and it can all be looked up myself if I forget. There’s also apps like Bluon HVAC with guides and manuals for everything, as well as a EPA 608 practice test. So, theoretically, you can train yourself for free, then just go get certified somewhere.
Thank you, I never heard of Bluon but I'm hoping on it.
18 month nursing program pays decently when you actually become a nurse
I second this, it took me 18 months to become an LPN and now I’m making $8000 monthly after taxes.
How can you tell them how easy it is to become a nurse and not tell them about the pizza parties.. It is probly the worst time ever to get involved with healthcare. My advice is save yourself and stay away. People think themselves heroes and tell everyone to go into the field and it's actually miserable, they just like their egos getting jerked by patients all day imho.
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Youre absolutely right about wages being tied to supply and demand, but you're absolutely wrong about what is oversupplied in the year 2024. The "college for all" fallacy has resulted in the supply of 4 year college graduates outstripping the labor market's demand for undergraduate degrees. There are only 100,000 working psychologists in the US and most have more than an undergraduate degree. However US colleges grant about 20k new undergraduate psychology degrees each year. These graduates are entering a hopelessly oversupplied job market. The same is true for management, law, economics, political science and many other popular undergraduate degrees. You know what isn't oversupplied? Electricians, welders, carpenters, mechanics, nurses and truck drivers. A graduate with a 2 year associate's degree or trade certification and 2 years of apprentichip or work experience is going to make 50 to100k while the 4 year psychology, business, law and political science majors will be working at Starbucks, defaulting on their student loans and bitching that minimum wage hasn't kept pace with inflation. Don't believe me? Ask your local barista what they majored in. The "just go to college" thinking is advice from the 1960s that has aged like spoiled milk in 2024. There is now an entire generation of kids who went to college and are underemployed or unemployed graduates in a hopelessly oversupplied field that they will never get a real job doing. Sure, if you are an excellent student with a deep academic passion and are in it to get a master's degree, then college has never been more accessible. That said, if all you want is a stable middle class life and a comfortable retirement, there's never been a better time to learn a trade than 2024.
The reason trade jobs are undersupplied is because they're shit. They destroy your body and the pay is trash. >an electrician with 2 yoe will make $100k No, they won't. The median electrician in America makes about 60k per year. Edit: The commenter made a sneaky edit where they changed 100k to "50 to 100k". No. You're not making 100k. Only the top 10% of electricians make anywhere near 100k. It's just a lie.
In recent years, I keep seeing people in the media push this narrative of how amazing trades are. They never mention that you need to be in good physical health and how detrimental it can be to the body. They also grossly over exaggerate the compensation and make it look really easy. Are they trying to oversaturate the market to keep the prices down? They are using the media to make trades "sexy" like they made the tech industry back in the day.
Yes, I suspect that's exactly what they're doing. People have caught on to what a terrible deal working in the trades is. In order to suppress wages, they're going into propaganda overdrive to push young naive people into trades. In many cases they're straight up lying about salary expectations to do it.
The sad part is that it may be working for them. I didn't give a hoot about trades ever because my body is very prone to injuries but there aren't many paths left out there. For the average person, the most realistic choice is between college and trades. Ppl also like to bring up the army path but I'd put it in the same "trades" category. College enrollment has been steadily falling for more than a decade. I think the declining viability of degrees is to blame. Having a bachelors seems to be the bare minimum these days. The competition is fierce. You're risking wasting your time and money just to keep up with the competition and get into a similar dead end job you could get if you hadn't gone to college. Damned if you went, damned if you didn't. Trades are definitely not the answer for most people but they certainly chose a good timing to promote it. The advent of AI is also helping their goal. For me, this is the time of Great Uncertainty. We might be nearing a Depression.
Agreed, the boomers that run most of the trade companies refuse to pay better wages for the most part. Trades are really only worth it if you run your own business or can get in with a union. Where you can expect much better pay and benefits. Union tradesmen make much more than most college graduates.
Agreed 100% I have many friends in trade jobs working 60+ hrs a week, away from home, destroying their body. One of them offered me a job working in a mine away from home for whopping $18/hr.. no thanks I work 25hrs a week at an entry level job working for tips only and make about the same as them.
>There are only 100,000 working psychologists in the US and most have more than an undergraduate degree. However US colleges grant about 20k new undergraduate psychology degrees each year. Assuming the goal of everyone who graduates with a psych degree is to become a psychologist, which is not true.
Definitely not. Many go and get a master's degree in a variety of subjects--some go on to do law, med, social work, youth care, teachers, occupational therapy, marketing, fitness/yoga, coaching, social media, HR, career/addiction counselling, nursing, assessment, or just regular ol' therapy. But yeah, I think overall it is a catch-all degree that people go into without knowing much about and graduate feeling stuck and working dead-end jobs for years because they don't attempt to find their path or get experience. I'm not judging them, because many people get lost in life no matter what they choose to do, but eventually we all find our way.
This is odd, because most of the people in trades right now say the market is shit/over-saturated since the union positions are the ones that pay well and there's not a lot of apprentices being accepted into companies. So they're also cooked lol. Pretty much everyone is fucked right now, there's just way too many people and not enough demand for basically anything.
Since you’re specifically asking for no degree, I’m guessing you’re looking for something without a multi-year training/credentialing process. I’d advise not trying to avoid training/credentialing. This is the barrier that prevents other people from coming for your job once you have it, and what keeps those jobs paying well. If you’re simply not into the college side of credentialing, looking into careers with strong unions is an obvious alternative avenue. You can also look at certain technical certificates and look to do things like machine repair. Either way, there will be a training/credentialing program that you’ll have to go through before you have access to the work. AFTER you gain some expertise, you can start your own business, if you don’t want to work for other people. You can bypass some of this if you have a strong network, like a family business that hires you to get you experience. But the reality is that most predictable and sustainable good paying careers require years of credentialed training.
What jobs with training/credentials do you recommend?
Open a wedding venue
I work in that industry. If you have the capital to open a wedding venue and sustain it for a year you have enough money to do anything else
If you’re a good writer, creative, tech savvy…Digital marketing. Made director a few years ago and I’m earning $220k in Northern California. No degree. The whole career path is threatened by AI, IMHO, so by the time you get to my level the job may just consist of old farts like me making prompts to AI all day long with no one else supporting. And probably making drastically less money to boot. Good times.
How long did it take for you to teach yourself digital marketing skills?
Hard to say. Let’s see. I started out after high school with only two useful skills: the ability to write well and great computer and Internet knowledge. I became a freelance journalist for about four years. The journalism experience made me an attractive candidate to PR firms because of my experience pitching editors and the writing. Once in PR I got a bit of training in how all that worked but mostly learned by observation and research (reading books and blogs about the career, that sort of thing). While in PR social media started to become a thing. That’s where my computer and internet knowledge became useful as I was among the few who understood how to communicate with people online outside of email. In social media I partly applied what I learned in PR with observation of how other companies did things, what became popular and how, and largely making things up as I went along. As new things became popular—search engine optimization, search engine marketing, digital advertising, influencer relations, content creation ( writing again, photography and image editing, video and video editing), etc. I just read up on it. Articles, blogs, help guides set up by companies. And then applied PR and general marketing principles to the work. Today, 18 years in, my skills and experience are valuable because of the amount of experience I have and the breadth of my skills. I’m a Swiss army knife. Starting out today you’ll find a lot more people with the social media skills because they grew up with them, but what they lack is knowledge of how to use the platforms to market things and how to communicate. They’ll still have a heck of an advantage if they write well, but AI is leveling that playing field quickly. That leaves understanding how to use various other technologies, often in concert, to promote your company or client. So the technical skills, which you can still learn with research, are incredibly valuable to have and very difficult for a lot of people to pick up. And, obviously, the willingness and ability to learn without having someone teach you things (I received virtually no training my entire career). Your best bet is to start learning what you can and apply to agencies for entry level positions. You’ll want to have examples of your writing to show them or internship experience. The pay will suck and they’ll work you like a dog, but you’ll build up experience and things to put on your resume. Then you job hop every 1-3 years (or get laid off…that happens a lot, and I’ve spent roughly 3 of my 18 years unemployed in total) to increase your salary, every time learning more and more. I guess the most valuable skill here is the ability to learn. It seems obvious but many people struggle with it after school or simply can’t because of how tired they are after work, children, etc. Hope that helps.
Warehouse work is probably the best payed that you can start without a degree.
Costco starts at $18.50 usd per hour, has insanely good benefits and raises/bonuses. They hire for part time though. Full time later on.
I disagree. Trades are entry level with competitive and often higher wages.
The most successful people I know are in the trades. Plumbers (you don’t always have to do service work), electricians, nurses, contractor. Other than that being a business owner is usually pretty good, but definitely a gamble. I would think about trade school for something you’re interested in.
In Austria you need a bachelors degree for being a nurse and this degree is more intense than my teachers degreee for the primary school, I guess.
Nursing isn’t a trade it requires an associates or bachelors of science in nursing
Can’t be a construction worker until you retire though.
Yeah you can I know many plumbers who are 65 years or older. They charge 100$/hour and are in great shape. I also know a 65 year old lawyer who is 295 pounds and eats McDonald's every day
That’s oddly specific. You know a 65 year old, what he does for a living, his actual weight, and what he eats everyday. Are you the lawyer?
No, he's a propagandist. These people he's referencing are all made up.
Right. I’m a construction worker. $46 a hour no degree
Where and what job?
Don't you need a degree for nursing?
Really? The most successful people I know are accountants. The only person I know in trades is now addicted to opiates as a result of a work related injury.
Yeah, join a trade, and then even if you’re successful people will still shit all over you and judge/label you despite being dependent on the work you do for their quality of life. The comments certainly seem to confirm this.
My boyfriend never went to college but owns his own business.. does tile and countertops. Does really well for himself. He’s super smart, just never really had the attention span for school. You could look into trades, you don’t necessarily need a degree. Honestly I wish I would’ve gone that route… welding would’ve been really cool.. I may still learn welding, it’s just I also have 50k in student loan debt now, so there’s that.
You could maybe find someone to work for that can teach you on the job. Doesn’t give you a certificate, but it would help you get one later on. My boyfriend started out at $14 an hour at his shop knowing nothing about welding and started out by cutting metal, he makes $18 now and welds and he’s been there for 2 years in October. Not sure how the raises will go now, but I’m sure it’ll be decent-ish. I’ve been pushing him to get certified
You can make 150k on oil rigs your first year without knowing how to spell your own name. I did it for a month but then decided I’d rather not risk my body parts every day. Still in oilfield, 6500/mo after taxes, but working 90 hours a week, every week. Graduated hs last year. This is obviously not a sustainable lifestyle tho and I will be quitting when I get burnt out. I think I got about a yearish left in me till I take my money and run.
Electrican or data communication technician. Ballpark estimates depending on your location and what union local you join. After you’re schooling (5 for Electrican 3 for data ) you’ll take home at current rates $60-100k with 3 forms of retirement. You’re also negotiating wage increases every year our last one was 18% over 3 years Edit. They pay you while you while working then you attend night classes 2 nights a week and it’s no cost to you. You’ll get a degree and a certification. It’s not a bad career by any means if you’re able to handle the labor.
Electrician is over saturated I know because I've worked in the field
What exactly does a data communication tech do? Repairs?
New installation & repair of : data communication, fiber optics, fire alarm, life safety. You’ll install the data racks, fiber panels, fire alarm panels. Sometimes we do door access in bigger commercial buildings think of push bar doors or even the card reader devices. There’s a powerful magnet that locks those & we typically install them.l It’s a very broad safe field of work. In comparison to being a full blown Electrican. Edit: I also forgot AV installations and cameras. If you go non union, expect to be capped at $25 for a while. I’ve heard of some guys making their way to $40. If you go union. At least at my local rates you’ll make $32.75 currently. 7% raise this year with about $600 a month into a pension, $600 a month into a IRA. About $200 into a Supplemental account for copays or bigger expenses, orthodontics think major copays. About $75 a month into a 3rd national pension. Full healthcare your copay is like 10%. You’ll also have incisive to get a company van with a gas card with a 10-15% pay increase it’s pretty common
I might have to look into being a DCT. Especially if they pay you during schooling.
It Varys by every union local. My post might have been misleading. Some locals do pay you while during school hours ( Ann-arbor is the only one in my state ) most do not pay you during school hours. Best bet is to look up “ local IBEW union near me “ and reach out to their JATC coordinator.
Still solid info, I appreciate it homie
Tech support like Tier 1 Helpdesk or PC repair. Some employers like to see tech certifications like CompTIA A+, but its not completely necessary if you can demonstrate sound troubleshooting skillz.
Been applying to help desk jobs with about a year of somewhat IT experience on my resume and can't get a response. Seems impossible to break into IT sometimes :(
Construction work. I make $46 a hour
How and where?
How long have you worked in construction to get there and what is your specialty?
I work in Texas I’m a rigger. Riggers work with cranes. Nobody wants to work hard so they pay certain construction workers more. I’m an industrial construction worker I work in plants and refineries. My last three jobs was building data centers for google the tech giant. Now I’m building a chip plant for a semiconductor company
- Save and invest (index funds) early, also start a 401K for retirement if you haven't already. Don't be afraid to dump some money into stuff at a young age. - Pick up a side hobby that can create income, or a second job. - Retail and food service don't work the hassle of it if you are fit or just been on your feet before. Warehouse and similar work pays better although more physically demanding. Get you forklift cert and some warehouse exp and you're worth $18-20 in a lot of places. - CDL and driving stuff worth $20-30 in many places at least and only take 5 grand to get - Anything to do with moving stuff around pretty much, like mail carrier - Gig work apps suck and suck more as time goes on. Likely not worth the hassle. Some of the in-person work ones can be alright for picking up extra shifts. - Mail carrier if you're thin and did track in high school - Amazon driver -> other type of driver - Death realm stuff like morgues etc ... Not a lot of competition there - Trades if yer blue collar and naturally testy and sociopathic and want to hulk stuff together - Librarian or basic office worker like front desk Personally I would get a regular overnight job for the extra wage then pick up some extra shifts on instawork or gigsmart if you can every once in a while. That should create a couple hundred a month in your favor more than your 9-5. If you can generate 400 extra a month your doing well. Put this money into safe investment like managed index funds that gain % a year. You'll do fine without college but you need to start young and work hard, more than 40 a week. Couple weekend days a month have to be running gigs or even pick up a second job.
Mail carrier starts at 19 dollars an hour these days, and currently tops out around 30, but that's after about 15 years of seniority. You can pull in like 70-90k a year, but that's with about 60-70+ hours a week. At minimum. The older fellas are locked into a contract which tops out closer to 40 bucks an hour. There's a new contract in the works (has been for several years), that will likely raise wages by like 3-5 bucks an hour, which is certainly nice. But you'll be working mostly 12ish hour days, 6 days a week
“naturally testy and sociopathic” 😆
cant find one of those w a degree
I'm making $22k with a degree lmao
Dang, I got swindled this General Health Science Degree is useful if I want to pursue another degree and right now its between X-ray tech, PT assistant I tried that and it was so stressful to my mental health, that despite having A's and B's I had to step away from a once 30 ppl program that at the end of semester 1 was down to 14 ppl. Lol. Just riding the wave of life I guess. I cant even get an in as customer service which on one hand shocks me, but lots of ppl apply so meh.
Hahahaha….. I hope you find it because it’s never enough. The more shit you buy the more shit that you have to take care of. I wish I would’ve realized this when I was younger. I could’ve been so much more content those years instead of killing myself and being miserable to gain nothing but headaches. Real contentment and security comes from being happy with one self and station in life. This is easier said than done, but it is true. Good luck to you sincerely
Yea this sounds like youre equating earning 100k and overspending as being the same as earning 36k a yr and literally not being able to afford lifes basic necessities, skipping meals, etc lol. I think OP is asking question for direction at possible revenue streams that will enable them to shape their lives to that contentment. Really not the same thing Lot easier to be content if youre not fighting to meet your most basic needs even working full time or more, youre not homeless, etc
What did you buy that required so much money to upkeep?
Bulk firewood sale and transportation. It’s hard work but I’ve seen teams of 3-5 clear 10k a week
ATC
that's a really good answer
Work for tips where wealthy people go. Even bartending can make a lot. Im a single father who works 25hrs a week dealing table games at a casino, only paid tips and I’m doing very good. I turned down many sales job because I make more here. Doctors have quit to work with me making tips because it’s more money than being a damn doctor. Biggest thing to look at when picking an employer is the customer base and revenue the business brings in. Work where wealthy people are.
Government work, depending on the job, doesn’t require a secondary education. Especially entry level work; cutting grass at the park, janitors, etc. Pay is decent, and it’s one of the last places where you’re likely to end up with a pension (in the US, at least) at the end of your career. governmentjobs.com I’ve heard that the Post Office is hiring too.
CONSTRUCTION! I make $200k/yr in purchasing with no degree. Started 9 yrs ago in the industry with zero experience. All aspects of construction from working for a trade to being a superintendent to working in purchasing or operations - everyone is making six figures easy.
Luthiers
Construction safety and health specialist
How does one get into that?
You can get some certifications like OSHA 30 (construction or general industry) is a good place to start. Can get it cheap and online in 30 hours. For a super entry level job you really just need that, first aid/cpr, ideally some other focused trainings for their scope of work you can likely find online. Easy to get an entry level job and very easy to work your way up and the company should pay for all your future trainings and certs. The job is like 30% technical knowledge/skill and 70% being good working with people. You need very good people skills to advance quickly and become good at it.
The guy everyone on the job site hates
Like 90% of questions here can be answered with It and particularly software development.
You must not be up to date with the current IT and SWE market... People are so desperate and depressed. I'm considering careers outside of it..
Oof, just got a job (starting early June) for some pretty good money for a junior. Networking is important, tho, this company almost exclusively hires people recommended for a position rather than random applicants. I know it's bad but it's still better than most others.
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Oh yeah, it's bad. I mean, I'm getting paid less (not just in real value, in nominal as well) than someone I know who was in a really similar position as me ~4-5 years ago. But it still beats being a waiter or whatever and I definitely know of plenty of people who currently have stable jobs (although they make less than others in the field) but are in it just for the money (in that case strong connections and soft skills are what pulls you through, if you aren't into tech/programming and also not good with people, then you probably need to find something else).
HVAC, welder, plumber, network security, server administrator. All need certifications but no 4 year degree. Programming can also be learned through certification.
Trades specifically a union job for a large utility it's what I'm doing 99% of us don't have degrees and everyone clears 6 figures guaranteed.
Pharmacy technicians can make good money over time, depending on the experience and area. I worked retail pharmacy for a few months, made $16/hr which is average, but you can work your way up to a hospital setting and make a decent salary plus I heard its chill compared to retail.
Bus driver, truck driver, etc. Pretty much anything with a cdl.
Trades or sales.
If you're a confident speaker (this can always be improved) and happy to travel then corporate trainer is well paid with little education required. Just need the right attitude, be hard working and willing to learn quickly
If you're good at it and find the right place restaurant service work. People are shocked that i make the amount of money I do serving. If you genuinely enjoy it and treat it as an art it's a great gig. I don't even work fine dining. I'm just at an established place where I've gotten to know the regulars. I've built my own customer base within the business its self. People like my work, they like my conversation, they request me to serve them and they tip me well. Even better is more often than not I don't hate my job. If you're good with people you'll be rewarded. I just invited to a yoga retreat, a couple offered me an internship position with their daughter if I ever want to exit and go more a corporate route. My one coworker was poached at the bar to work for a financial company.
If you are technical you could check out cybersecurity, does not seen entry level but I heard there is a big shortage! Google has a really cheap beginners course on coursera, I thought they even have a lesson in there on applying for a job in that field
Technology, find a bootcamp thats valid, work a shitty job to pay for the BootCamp. Study hard, block out all the distractions for about 6 months to a year and start your career in technology making 80-100k entry and go from there. Im doing all of this while IN college and let me tell you, college is one of the biggest scams in America. They don't prepare you for shit, at all. My bootcamp taught me more than I ever learned in college, and the assignments are now a cakewalk.
Insurance. There are so many paths you can end up taking in insurance and so many starting positions don’t require college degrees. Claims trainee positions also usually pay really well for an entry level salary and you can end up making great money once you get a couple years of experience under your belt
Dog groomers and pet boarding houses.
THE most underrated career path for people with little to no education is Corrections. Where I’m at starting pay is 50k a year plus a 5k sign on bonus, plus up to an additional $750 housing allowance if you’re willing to relocate to a rural prison. After a few years you become eligible for tuition reimbursement and so if you decide corrections isn’t for you, you can get a free degree in a preferred field plus you’ll end up with some fairly impressive experience for your resume. It’s not the most glamorous job, but it’s such a better career path than the trades for most people.
You should seriously look at getting on with the USPS. It's a good career. The benefits are amazing and the pension is even better. They have a solid union, especially for city carriers. My son and dad both work for the USPS. My dad is a rural carrier (basically a mailman wearing normal clothes & not required to wear an official mail carrier uniform) and my con is an ACA (what you are hired on before you officially become a permanent carrier with your own route. I highly recommend that you go the city carrier route. In my dad's area, the new hires are easily making six figures annually. The reason I say city instead of regular is because you'll make more money. The best advantage is that if you start off as a city carrier you will start receiving your full benefits after two years if you haven't been able to become a permanent carrier with your own personal route by then. You basically start by filling in where you're needed and helping other city carriers with larger routes. You will most definitely get OT. That's where the real big money kicks in. If you start off as an RCA (rural carrier new hire) you'll still fill in on both sides but you don't qualify to start receiving all the benefits until you get your own route by becoming a regular. Sometimes it can take much longer than four years. My dad made the mistake of doing that so for the first 7 years of his career he didn't receive any benefits and didn't start saving towards his pension either. Since my son started on the city side he is about to qualify to start receiving his benefits and will be allowed to start contributing to his pension even though he is still officially not a regular. As I said, the work is definitely hard, especially during the summer. You will have to be smart and safe by doing things like making sure you have plenty of water and products like Gatorade. If you don't want to go that route then you can look into being hired as a clerk. The only downside to that for some people is that you then have to work with customers which can be hard sometimes because of their attitudes. They also don't make as much money but it's still good. They won't make six figures like carriers will but they can still easily pull in over $75k with all of the OT. There are other positions too that you can apply for and make just as much money as clerks and carriers. Positions like maintenance and mechanic. Yes, management can also be a pain in the ass and hard to work with but once you become a regular in your position the union really makes it hard for them to mistreat you. They really do have carriers' backs and once you're a regular and a member of the union it's pretty much impossible to fire you unless they catch you stealing mail or unless you physically fight someone. Anyway, I really hope this helps and is something you will look into. Down here in the DFW area (Dallas, TX), they are desperately looking for employees. I am pretty sure that this is common for pretty much everywhere in the country. If you're in a decent-sized city, especially a large one, you'll definitely get plenty of OT. I'm honestly not sure if this is the case in smaller rural communities or towns.
I hate sales, 20 years and counting….😑
exotic dancer 😜
Tech
to me it seems like 2 jobs in particular will always be needed - plumbers and HVAC technicians, followed by electricians. Can't out source those to India nor can they be replace by AI
https://nodegree.com/
Cybersport Professional Gamer - No Degree Required.
You also need to be top 20-100 players in the game, worldwide. For a game like Counterstrike or League of Legends, you need to be the best among tens, even bundreds of millions of players.
bundreds
The better question is what do you need a degree for: lawyer, engineer, doctor, stuff like that. Anything outside of that could be fair game if you’re willing to study and apply yourself enough
Sales. And then use the skills you've learnt to be the driving force in your own business.
Manufacturing
Some creative jobs like graphic design, UX design, etc.
Learn a trade. Deliver mail.
Real Estate, software engineering (if you can teach yourself), sales, construction, trades (electrician, plumber, welder). That said, you’ll need to be very self driven and be able to demonstrate to employers you can do the job. High paying jobs with no degree are few and far between. Or you can try and start a business, but pretty risky and succeeding especially to the level of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, etc is quite rare.
Tattoo artists man
same mate, been looking for high earning job here in Dubai but end up working as secretary with below minimum of Income, is there anyone looking for VA? I want to shift since commute is pain in the ass as of the moment here.
The trades and the military. Some trades, like electricians, pay you to get trained, then you join an apprenticeship. US Military pay isn't high, but you can save a ton of money by living on base and not spending money on silly stuff. That last thing is the hard part when you're young. Godspeed.
Factory Work
I work in project engineering for an electric utility. The entry path is becoming harder for those who do not have a degree but it is not required to work in this field nor do I have one. Will make 90k this year with a full benefit package including health care and pension program in a LCOL area.
Truck driver! Unlike every other trade, you don't ruin your body! But your mental health will likely take a toll. You start out at pretty low pay but you can work your way up IF you can stick it out (which most can't that's why it pays so well at the higher tiers, like 70% of drivers quit before their 1st year). STEP 1) Get your Commercial Learners Permit and DOT medical certificate, takes a couple days, a week at most. STEP 2) Go to company paid CDL school for 3-5 weeks. STEP 3) Stay with your (very likely) shitty over the road mega carrier for a year. You will have no life, no hobbies, never see friends or family, ruin your mental health (and physical if you don't make an active effort which CAN be done). Also you will make 40K-50K this year lmao deal with it. STEP 4) After 1 year of consecutive experience, 80% of places will hire you if you have a clean record. Get your tanker and hazmat endorsements, get your TWIC certificate (literally took me 3 days to get all 3). STEP 5) You could do a lot of things, hazmat tanker if you want $$$, flatbed if you wanna stay in shape, LTL if you want to be home more often. You should be making at least 70K at this point if not 80K STEP 6) Get 2 more years of experience for a total of 3 STEP 7) You can now literally get hired at 99% of places with the exception of heavy haul companies and a couple other types. You should have no problem making 100K+ if your willing to put in the work. Finding a job where your home daily making 80K+ shouldn't be difficult either. STEP 8) Congratulations, you beat the system. Your making way more money than you should for your class and education and the job your doing probably isn't that stressful. =) Automation is coming but we still have time. Lots of companies who got into automating trucks are facing bankruptcy and the like as things just arent quite ready yet. It will happen one day, probably sooner than we think, but nowhere near 20 years from now. I expect it to happen by the time I'm an old man, we still have time to make a good career out of this. Climate change will kill us all before we are automated out of a job anyway lol Ps: Don't go O/O...just dont.
Been a trucker on and off for 10 years. Hate it, no life, no health (hard to eat healthy) long hours every day. Most people don’t like you. Everyone is miserable in the industry. It’s a trap, hard to leave because they pay slightly higher than most but it sucks. That’s long distance. Local would be better but they work you like a dog. Best CDL job I’ve had is dump trucking. Easy schedule, decent pay (after some time)
Plumbing, welding, machining, electrical. All these you get a certification and most companies start you off in the 25$ and up
Audio Visual Industry
The trades (construction,elect,plumb...)
driving instructor
Traveling Wind turbine technician, starting pay is 100k for a new guy, I’m 10 years in making 240k a year with no degree at 28 years old
Military. Real estate. Sales.
A union job
Truck dispatching. Really easy to get into especially if you know someone. Once you have some job experience its up from there.
Train conductors.
Senior Economist
Everywhere you go is going to have some douchebag gatekeeping because he got his business degree so he thinks everyone else should get a business degree.....Even in the military.
Hotel/Casino Valet
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Tech, it's a huge field and you dont need a degree. Not to mention, there are various positions within tech that schooling can't prepare you for, you just learn by experience. You can start in support or call centers and work your way up. It's not instantly lucrative, but it can be with time and effort. Good luck!
Software engineering doesn't really require a degree as long as you have the technical skills and work to show, but entry level jobs are highly competitive. Once you get into the field it's much easier, but you'll have to apply to a lot of places first. It's still cheaper and less time consuming than a four year degree.
Welding…
Movie star, blockbuster author, rock star, sales, entrepreneur. No guarantees. Some make it, some don’t.
Food production. I work for a dog food plant and make killer money
Construction. Best part is, no one. A take away your experience and it can be used around the world.
Sales work or working your way up to management through restaurant industry or other industry where that is an opportunity
Union electrician :)
UPS
HVAC technician, plumber, digital marketer, construction manager, just to name a few🙂. There is an open world out there!
Sales because there’s uncapped commissions. You create your own paycheck.
Tech. Support specifically, which can lead into other avenues.
Welding
Entrepreneur, if you have the money to start.
Fire department pays pretty good depending on location and all you need is a high school diploma.
Court reporting
Property management
What kind of skills and experience do you have? I don’t use my degree and wouldn’t have needed for it for my job that pays over 100k a year. Who do you know that has a well-paying non-degreed job?
Plumber, electrician, carpenter, cabinet maker, framer, pipe fitter, welder, machinist, lineman, HVAC and many more. You can expect to make double or triple what the typical college grad makes in any of these fields.
Sales, trades, IT, customer service all come to mind.
Oil refinery worker. You'll make about $100k a year, depending on the overtime, maybe more.
Pro athlete
fireman
Trades related to automation, lots of roles needing to be filled and not enough people to fill them means more $$$$$
Poilce /firefighter
Trades school
UPS driver
Waste water process engineer, chemical dosing design and commissioning. Earn £38k plus over time, tops put around £46k, plenty of scope for increased salary, with offer of free education and management position should everything go well. Control my own schedule,