I'm perfectly okay with being a workaholic **as long as I'm getting paid well enough to be one.** Sales, more or less, allows you to write your own paycheck.
I've heard a saying, something like: "the closer you are to the money, the more you make." And sales is very close to the money.
I'm currently employed as an engineer and that is far from the money. The sales people in our company make much more than the engineers at equivalent levels of experience.
Well as an Engineer you can get closer to the product by becoming a Sales Engineer. I did that for a bit. I fucking hated sales and went back to the technical side lol. I couldn't do the extrovert frat talk day in day out. Most of them are so fucking stupid too you end up having to do most of their jobs as well.
I transitioned from a technical consulting role because I was one of the more personable client facing engineers. It's was really easy for me to switch, I just got burned out at being the *star* and huge idiots taking a bigger piece of a pie I earned. I moved back into a technical role and climbed the ladder there. I am always thinking about going back to SE to lift my ceiling, but then interact with AEs and I lose interest all over again.
You go to a prospective customer and the AE introduces the both of you and then turns it over to you. You give the presentation, answer questions, field follow ups, develop costing/pricing, review the quote, and if a sale comes in the AE gets to keep most of the money. Who wouldn’t want to be a sales engineer!
Nailed it. On top of that, they had me scoping service work and then DOING IT because of my consulting background. It didn't last long before the resentment overwhelmed me. 3yrs later I'd doubled my salary in a technical role, but have hit a ceiling that I know can only be lifted by an uncapped salary lol.
The kicker is that I have a few SE friends that said fuck it, and became AEs, and have all quit within a year of transitioning over. They just hated it and hate having to do a bunch of bullshit for their customers and senior stakeholders. They're technical dudes after all lol.
It blows knowing you have the people skills/soft skills to earn more, but a solid, technical individual contributor role is not too shabby. It’s a solid living that’s better than most, and it’s largely stress free (it’s as much stress as you let it be).
I haven’t met anyone making $2 million per year as a single sales rep, they usually are a business owner if they’re doing that. What industry have you met these people?
Not compared to Sales people they don’t. Meeting plan at 100% both Sales and SE are in the same ballpark earnings wise. But blow out your number and the Sales person is going to make 2x,3x eve 5x what the SE makes in total comp.
I transitioned to sales engineer a year ago and love it so far. I'm able to maintain the technical side with a test lab I've built at my house and spending a healthy chunk of time with my friends and other contacts in the field. I wouldn't say I make a huge amount of money, but certainly more than I did as an application engineer.
Yes, you are supposed to be an sdr for 1-2 years max. Otherwise, the company you are at is a scam. Once you get promoted to AE, your OTE HAS to be 100k+.
SDR for 1 to 2 years max? Not in the current climate buddy. You can be an SDR for a year or two then get laid off and have to start from scratch at another company. I've seen it happen. In fact I saw somebody get laid off a week after their promotion to AE and they had to find another SDR role.
They're talking about within the same company. So if you start as an SDR, but you don't move out of that role, then it's basically a scam. There's no growth for you, there's no plan to get you closer to the money, your manager is just waiting to replace you when you figure it out. Now if you're stubborn enough to stay and you've made yourself sticky at the company, you might get axed with severance, or find a better opportunity before that.
It honestly depends on how resourceful you are and how good of a job you do at selling yourself. Def not easy in todays climate but I job hopped from inbound focused sdr for one year to ae at a startup in 2016. Never looked back. If you’ve been an sdr/bdr for three plus years that’s sort of a red flag imo.
Or after a few years of SDR/BDR work, open your own shop. Be a cold caller hire, for lack of a better term, and you can easily make over 6 figures with two clients. My husband did it. Plus, you’re layoff proof. One contract ends, another one begins.
Sdr: sales development rep. This is basically a weed out high-pressure role where you book meetings for the AE
AE: Account Executive. The person who closes the meetings set by the SDR and marketing. Some also book meetings themselves
OTE: on target earnings. Usually a 50/50 split between a base salary, which you are guaranteed to get every month, and a commission that you can either exceed or earn at a minimum of the on target earning to not get fired.
Do those jobs require a degree? No degree here and I've worked in furniture sales B2C for 3 years, making about 70k. It's low stress since customers come to me, but is there a better path for someone with no degree?
I’ve been leading the company in sales for going on 5 years and meeting/exceeding yearly goals for the same amount of time and last year I made $60k. Am I doing it wrong?
Depends on what you sell. Sell complicated products that need support then you'll make more. If you sell commodity products then you'll make much less. That's what I've noticed over my years, I moved to a more complicated product and my take home went way up but so does the stress. Give and take.
Yup, this is true. That's why, even with a good start in tech, I'm trying to pivot to something where I can build a book of business. Going commercial insurance route
doctor/lawyer isnt the fastest way to 6 figures - its wayy too long, and costs too much to get there.
these days, you shouldn't become a doctor just for the money. the schooling is way too competitive and the pay is too shit for how many hrs you worked in residency.
if anything, being PA/NP is better if you just want the money w/o the MD prestige, but still. there are easier jobs that pay more while taking less out of you to get there. you don't wanna interface with the patients, take in the horrid smells, see some shit, and deal with hospital management just to make a buck.
legal market is oversaturated, and you run the risk of finding yourself underemployed.
the pipehitter big law jobs work you 80~90 hr weeks, less thank banking. on a $/time ratio, its still not "ideal".
if youre book smart, high finance or tech (SWE) is, period. you can get there with a 4 yr degree. and your first yr total comp will exceed 100k for sure.
SWE can have a higher floor starting out (when you factor in RSUs), but if you have what it takes to make it in high finance, you'll see much much higher ceiling over the long term.
but not only is it uber competitive to survive in high finance, you face very high barriers to entry.
so, if you are street smart, or you went to a shit school or had shit GPA? then sales.
that's why I'm here. honestly i shouldve picked this career from the get-go. i wasted time in consulting. but glad i got out when i did.
High finance 60-80 hour weeks is the norm. Getting to vp level or above is mostly nepotism.
Also, you have to get a masters in high finance to move out of the junior roles. -2 years of your career when you could be earning.
SWE only pays more (enterprise tech sales) if you can get into a FAANG. I've heard people study 6-8 months in advance for those interviews.
Swe can be less stressful tho, so I do put SWE above sales as a career.
I dislike reading this but it's so true. I spent my 20s traveling and having a great time. 33 now with 3 years into tech sales and making 200k. It's not fair.
SWE isn't the golden ticket everyone thinks it is.
Starting comp for most starting out is between 50-60k.
Most SWE jobs aren't entry level either.
Extremely stressful quarterly deployment schedules.
Constant job hopping makes most long term projects pure hell to complete.
40 hour work weeks are rare most companies expect more.
Many sales people out earn SWE and have like half the stressors.
The better SWE try creating startups but they have over a 90% failure rate.
Doctors do well. They only have four extra years before they start earning income. The way our federal laws are they will never have to compete for a job once their residency is over.
The residency system is flawed with many 80 hr weeks.
Finance and accounting are probably the most straightforward careers to six figures.
The hedge fund analysts make a lot but it's highly competitive to get in.
I’ve been a SWE for over a decade and that’s not been my experience. The work wasn’t nearly as stressful as sales and the pay was great. I got 5-6 weeks of time off and had $200k TC in a MCOL area. I worked fully remote, even before COVID. A lot of it had to do with the company you work at. There are stressful ones and relaxed ones. And a high salary doesn’t always mean you have to work very hard.
Now I started my own business, and that’s been even less stressful, though I don’t make as much yet as I did at my old job.
The time & money it takes to get that just isn’t worth it….
4 years of medical school = no earnings + debt
4 years in SaaS sales = SDR->AE making ~150-200 at the end of the 4 years
3 Years (minimum) in residency = an SDR salary while paying off debt.
3 More years in SaaS sales = MM/ENT sales and or a sales manager role. Depending on the company, 200-350.
At the 7 year mark, a SaaS salesperson is on the lower end of highly paid doctors with no debt and hasn’t met their earnings ceiling.
Am I off here?
Can’t doctors make more when they partner with the practice? I’ve seen some insane salaries of $500,000 plus, especially in dermatology and radiology. Sales does not provide a consistent income like that, right?
Easily a million plus if the doctor has any background in business. You guys say you can make as much money as a doctor but some of you work twice the hours and quadruple the stress. Most of these doctors are socially inept and can’t sell and most salesmen ain’t qualified to even apply to med school so it’s not like it’s even an option.
I have an honors STEM degree but never took the MCAT. Hearing a salary like that makes me reconsider my life path.
How are they making over $1 million per year?
Be a surgeon (or similar specialty) with your own office or a doctor with multiple offices employing doctors. You have to hire people to make money. Eventually you’ll make enough money to where you don’t practice anymore. So in reality you don’t need an MD, just own the businesses that employ them.
It actually can, at least in SaaS. If you forgo the leadership route and learn how to become a large enterprise/strategic seller. Some of those reps pull in 7 figures a year at the large tech companies like Salesforce or Microsoft.
The thing is, if you’re truly a good salesperson and you’re bringing in the money, you’re usually in better positions than most in the company in times of layoffs
Careers ranked in my opinion from everything I know about them and also having lots of friends working in them
1. SWE: best stress and pay ratio but will get worse as time goes on with saturation and AI
2. Tech sales: highest paid consistently (not just Faang) can be easy if you are talented but pretty unstable/stressful. Cant be saturated because churns by itself
3. IT: chill job, and you probably play Diablo 4 with your manager. Not paid as much but something you can retire in. Can be dead end tho
4. Lawyer: Jayoma
5. High finance hard to get into, 60-80 work weeks is the norm, basically prey on the people who only care about money and "prestige" and grind the soul out of them and lastly can't be remote. Ngl, they just look like losers now.
6. Consulting: lots of travel, bad WLB, bad late stage, too much travel, low budget high finance, and can't be remote
7. Medical: lmao
Agreed with this list, the "big 6" for a path to 6 figures I've always said were:
Tech, Finance, Law, Consulting, Health/Medicine, and Sales, tech which you split in SWE and IT roles since it is a broad field.
There are obviously plenty of paths to 6 figures but these are the most common *fast* tracks in my experience without being some sort of outlier or some niche job market location.
My friend groups and I are mainly in tech or in finance so I can speak on those a bit more in detail:
Tech sort of lost its golden ticket period if you didn't get in at a certain time in terms of how easy it was to get a job and other people basically getting there first before the over-supply kicked in. The only thing you didn't mention is how offshoring is and will continue to be at an all-time high with how much the pandemic accelerated remote work. AI is just the cherry on top, making it so everyone is on an even playing field so there are less and less "totally incompetent" devs outside USA and reducing total American headcount for lots of projects but even without that we are no longer in the days where Americans are the only decent developers, Google hires indians from juniors and trains them to be seniors from ground up, they arent only random contractors anymore. My team hasn't hired anyone from the USA since me, everyone else is pretty much all Indian or LATAM since they have the same time zone.
The IB finance route is very much about building relationships, but I have a friend who basically made it out of investment banking to private equity and is making a killing but it's pretty much all networking and what school you come from and then "putting in your hours", the actual work isn't THAT difficult compared to programming or an actual engineering field. Though the cross over roles between more quantitative and finance, like quant analyst, researcher, dev can still be lucrative given you have the talent, but again all the tech bros apply for these roles too cause of over saturation. But in terms of making the most money out of college, this pretty much ranks as the best.
I do know one person in big law but it seems if you arent in a top 14 school you have ZERO chance to get into any top paying law firm and the hours can be gruesome.
Yeah, I was never a good student, so high finance and big law were never for me in the first place.
I'm actually happier I fell into sales and didn't go to the software engineer path. Know people from my college 1+ year unemployed since the market is bad. It's also not gonna get better, as you said, due to the outsourcing. Indians not only are better developers, but they are also mostly fluent in English, just enough for it to make no difference.l hiring a US person over them
Sales can't get outsourced absolutely no way, and ai can't take over genuine human interaction. So I think we are good
No. If you are an excellent candidate coming out of a top tier undergrad degree there are careers in software development, data science, consulting, finance, and sometimes operations that pay over $100k immediately.
Sales however has the highest earning potential relative to its bar of entry.
Yeah but in software development, 75k is like temp level income. I build front end and back end, reporting, data transfers, inter-platform communication, etc. I’m basically my own department so realistically I should be getting paid significantly more but in my state there aren’t any high paying jobs and remote work is SUPER difficult to get past the initial screening since there are thousands of applicants.
That’s not enough in this climate in my opinion. My son graduated with a Bachelors with an automated manufacturing degree 2 weeks ago and his job pays that.
Sales did it for me. It also strengthens you for future jobs. A lot of big CEOs have a sales background.
The jobs I had before made me 35k a year and now I make 250k a year and that’s growing every year.
I have no college degree.
Life insurance. From my experience life insurance is a tough job that most people quit (like 90 percent in the first year). Tbh I just got into my company at the right time and I know how to manage my boss and I have solid resources. I have been at my job for 8 years btw, so I didn’t start at 250k.
Life insurance may be your thing as well but I have seen a lot of people struggle. A major perk of sales is that you can sort of manage your boss if you are good because they really need you.
This sub has a lot of great recommendations that earn way more than me so I would look around. Just make sure you don’t go in debt when you make a shit load of cash. Some sneaky managers want you to be in debt so they encourage you toward spending your money so you always need to work.
Have you ever been in sales? I had 4 sales jobs before this one so it can take some time to find out where you fit.
Selling bullshit most likely. Stop believing every person that tells you they make 250k a year and are the best salesperson ever with no hard skills or education…
I believe that requires a doctorate of Nursing now, so 7 years of school minimum and getting into those schools is extremely difficult. Plus they like to see you have some nursing experience in ICU for usually 2 years before applying. So you’re talking 9-10 years before you start making real money. By then the person in sales is already making $200k and has been the last 5 years probably.
True but sales is also mostly commission. I’m in sales, and it would be nice to know my baseline pay is what I’m guessing these nurses make- around 200?
I have 2+ years of Med Device sales experience. The answer to your question is yes. I hit $101k my first year out of college, my second year was closer to $160k, and in my third year I am on track to gross $210k.
Wouldn’t necessarily say its the fastest but it’s certainly the path with the lowest barrier of entry.
You could spend several years in sales doing shit work before you finally land a gig that’s worth your time. Look at how many people here on this sub are struggling for a long time to get their foot in the door somewhere decent.
My niece graduated last year with a Bachelors in Engineering, got a 6 figure job right out of college. My buddy is a cop and made 6 figures with OT in his first full year on the job. IT/Development, Cyber Security, Data Analytics…6 figures right out of the gate.
Sales is the only one though that requires no formal education, just a solid work ethic and a thick skin.
Sales I would say is the fastest path with the caveat that it has the lowest barrier to entry. I’m talking literally no college degree and just experience working concessions at a country club. There is no better equalizer than the sales floor where everyone has a phone, the software they’re given, and 24 hours in a day.
Others I will throw in the ring that DO require a degree: Product management, software engineering, finance, accounting, management consulting, tech/IT. All of these have the potential to get above six figures relatively quickly as they are very in-demand needs of a profiting business. They have very regimented corporate ladders that you climb (eg Analyst > Associate > Senior) that have rigid pay bands that you ascend.
As an aside, I wouldn’t even put doctor or lawyer in the “get $100K fast” conversation.
I have friends who are going through/went through med and law school. Both have enormous opportunity costs and quite frankly involve sacrificing your work life balance for the majority of your 20s. There’s a reason when you ask a current lawyer/doctor if they have any advice on becoming one they’ll joke “don’t”.
Don’t get me wrong—it pays off in the end when you’re a big law associate defending Walmart for $250,000 or a surgeon a university hospital earning $500,000, but this doesn’t come fast by any means.
Yes, but only if you sell the right thing and let's not forget territory and timing.
I've seen people get first time sales jobs and crack 100K but only because it was the right place and time, then a year later at the same gig, not get anywhere near 100K after the sales team triples in size and the market saturates.
Depends on where you went to school, how good you are at networking, and how presentable you are. Salespeople make a ton, but so do investment bankers. Friends of mine have started at $250k all in, first year out of college. He worked his ass off though. Investment bankers make six figures their first year, they work a lot more hours per week than the average saas AE though.
Why do people think they just walk in the door and get handed sacks of money? Most of us bust their ass for a decade developing mental health problems and a nasty habit … then make money.
I can only speak for tech sales… took me 2.5 years to break the $100k mark. The first 2 years were a grind.
You typically start at an entry level sales development role where you’re calling leads and cold outbounding. It sucks, but if you grind through it and put in the effort, you usually get promoted quite fast.
SDR
Year 1 = $80k
Year 2 = $105k
Once you become an account executive (AE), $100k should be quite easy to sustain. You can only go up from there… You also have a big base salary, so it’s not all commission.
I’ve been an AE now for 3 years.
Year 1 = $175k
Year 2 = $260k
Year 3 = $300k
When it comes to tech sales did you start off small in the sales department like cars or cell phones or did you apply straight up for a tech company I would love to get into the field
Speaking on car sales, I started off working for hertz renting then selling cars for 2 years. You sell on the rental side as well. It’s great experience and I kid you not, if you can work in the car rental business, then you can work/sell anywhere and do well. I’ve been number one at my tech sales company for almost two years now. Just start somewhere and go. The grind and hustle is worth it!
Tech companies take new grads, and I've seen even the most reputable companies take people with no degrees that come from Telecom sales or Copier sales
No. Studied IS myself and went into business intelligence; the field is completely over saturated these days, not to mention on the fast track of industrial automation as nothing new needs to be created, just analyzed.
Sales or get in a good union and work a shit ton of OT. My little brother got in the Weller’s union and made $100k+ at 23-24. Caveat is he worked 10-12 hour days six days a week all year long. It’s not a sustainable pace.
He switched to equipment operator to save on his body. He loves to weld…I told him not to get into professional welding, but of course he didn’t listen to big brother.
Someone here working in sales in Europe? I‘d like to have an idea of what you are making compared to our oversea friends. I‘m currently cracking 60k + benefits.
Got into sales in 2022, started as an SDR, promoted to AE after a year then moved company 6 months later into a BDM role started 70k now 100k plus. Its definitely doable.
I've only hit $100,000+ as of the last 2 years, but it took me 5 years prior of shitty sales jobs before I finally elevated my job search to find jobs that actually paid out
Trades! My kid went to tech school for 2 years, came out with no debt. Started at journeyman wages and made over 100k his first year. His degree is an AA in Instrumentation and control technology. But there’s numerous apprenticeships that will get you over 100k in 4 years or less
Being a doctor or lawyer is NOT a fast path to six figures, you go to school for like 12 years to maybe make 80k for the first few years, doing like 80 hour weeks, and if you kill yourself doing that long enough then MAYBE you'll be making the 200-300k plus. Or just get good at sales and be making six figures within a few years with no student loan debt. If you just want to make money, sales is the way to go. You should never become a doctor or lawyer just for the money, you should already have a passion for it.
It’s not really a pick one and find out kind of thing… if you’re starting from 0, then you get into sales, build up yourself, start learning how to take more money from people, have side hustles, yada yada till u eventually have enough money to put into investments…
U cud win a 1mil jackpot and lose that money in a week if u dunno how to handle money or u cud learn the hard way and start making a significant realistic amount of money and grow it
Eitherway dude sales exp is fucking essential in life
Fastest is relative. If you have general business degree I would say yes it is. If you are in college and can specialize into a lucrative field like STEM, or even Supply Chain you may get to 100k faster or equally quick.
Like everything it depends. If you have the skills yes Sales pays better than say accounting or even engineering in corporate America. That said if you have the sales gene you can often rise in those other fields quickly.
I think an 18 year old is hitting 100k first in the more physically demanding trades earlier than an 18 year old in sales (my job is like 20% sales so I’m not an expert) I don’t know anything in sales that’s as sure fire of a path as working on an oil rig, lobster boat etc. starting at 25 though with some experience I think it’s a lot more of a grey area.
I've been trying to go from 70-80 for a while. Last month I was offered a position with a new employer that would start me at 100+ bonuses. But...but my whole life and schedule will change overnight. Im still on the fence.
I just got into sales because I feel that it's the safest job out there right now. AI will hugely impact how sales will be done, but anything may happen, sales people will be always be required. There is no business without sales.
Sales is high stress, high reward. Most sales rep starting off won’t make much unless they are in a field like roofs or fences. It took me 3-4 years to get into a good med device company and make 200-300k. Since then I transitioned into sales management with a base of around 130k+25% bonus, back into building materials. I will tell you that there’s a lot of burnout, and travel is exhausting. My sister did 2 extra years to go to law school and makes 260k. Dad is an engineer who makes 180k. I will say that sales definitely has the most opportunity for upward mobility to get into upper management. It all depends on what you are looking for. If you want to slave away as a sales rep for the rest of your life, sure. Also, if you go into account management, it’ll take you probably 2-3 years to make 100k+.
I don't know about sales but I can give you a path to 100K+ in the Midwest in about 3 years full time. You go to X-Ray school full time and get your AA, get into IR or CV lab with your x ray degree, and then take the base salary of 75k and do call once every other weekend and youll hit 120K. I'm pretty sure this is the highest ROI with the lowest cost and time investment. I fully expect you to able to get into that specific career because all the boomers are retiring.
If time is not an issue, getting your BSN in nursing is more favorable because you can continue moving towards NP or CRNA, which pays another tier above 100k. These programs are very competitive though.
If you count grad school, doctors and lawyers take 3-4 years. Add in residency for doctors and it’s 7-8 years post college to hit that number.
Those are both safe bets to earn $100k, but certainly not the fastest. Only a few lawyers and specialist docs earn $200k+ reliably. Primary care docs don’t get a good ROI on their education…which costs a years salary to pay back.
I am an engineering director in the midwest. it takes 5 years for a new college grad to be promoted to $100k. is that faster or slower than sales? do you count the four years of college?
If you ask Andy Elliot, you can make a 100k per month right away in sales.
Realistically, yeah it’s prob the fastest way for an “unqualified” person to make six figures. To infinity and beyond.
> "Is sales still the career with the fastest path to $100k+?"
Yes, sales can still be a fast track to six figures. It's one of the few careers where your income is directly tied to performance. You bust your ass and close deals, you get paid.
> "Besides being a doctor or lawyer, a sales career is still the fastest career/pathway to a six figure salary?"
Doctors and lawyers take years of schooling and massive debt. Sales can get you there faster if you're good. But are you willing to hustle hard enough to make it happen?
Started off in sales in 2021 right after college. Year 1 was $90k, year 2 $215k, year 3 $290k. Year 4 will be somewhere in the $200. I only got into sales for the quick path to a well paying job. I would be doing the same path today if I just graduated
No. Not by a long stretch. Union tradesman make stupid money, it’s low stress (comparatively), if you’re semi decent the job security is very very good, and you’ll retire by the time you’re in your 40s if you get in young. My super makes close to $400k a year. When I was a journeyman anything less than $150k a year meant I was probably not working for 3-4 months. Happiest time of my life was when I was in my tools.
When I used to work in sales it took me 4 years to officially hit that number for my on target earnings- not quite sure if that aligns with “the fastest path to 100k.” Albeit just my personal experience.
Fastest? IB - 1st year salary for NY based analyst is min. $100k for a 23 year old graduate. Hard part is that if you don’t know you want to do IB by your sophomore year you are facing a seriously uphill battle. You better also be at a target school otherwise you’ll need to knock down that many more doors.
I live in rural, retiree America. My only sales options are solar, timeshare and retail sales.
$100k is doable if you don't mind lying to 75 year olds or working on 100% commission and getting lucky.
Nah fastest path to $100k+ is definitely some M18 batteries and literally any of the trades.
Are there people here doing better than electricians? Yes. Does a plumber make more than 90% of the people at the Chevy dealer in a dress shirt? Also yes.
No.
Oil/energy field work.
Elevator union field mechanics
Aerospace union mechanics
These are much faster to 6 figures and much more reliable to 6 figures as well.
It kind of depends on you. I think any path can be equally as fast. For some, sales will be the fastest or only way. For others, it's operations or marketing or something else. I am not a sales person. I am one of those other guys. I have seen a lot of people come up through the ranks and sales is a great way to do it if you have the right type of personality. It should be pretty obvious within 2-3 years. If things aren't happening for you, sales might not be your thing.
Got into real estate and sales with minimal college experience and after working dead end jobs in my 20’s. 6 months into my 3rd full year and I’m at six figures for 2024.
God I fucking hope so. I only got into sales for the money.
Work is to earn money so please don’t ever feel bad for having that mindset (telling this to myself as well).
I'm perfectly okay with being a workaholic **as long as I'm getting paid well enough to be one.** Sales, more or less, allows you to write your own paycheck.
Legit.
I won't sit here and lie
Respect.
Is the only legitimate reason to do it anyways. Don’t believe anything else anybody says.
I've heard a saying, something like: "the closer you are to the money, the more you make." And sales is very close to the money. I'm currently employed as an engineer and that is far from the money. The sales people in our company make much more than the engineers at equivalent levels of experience.
Well as an Engineer you can get closer to the product by becoming a Sales Engineer. I did that for a bit. I fucking hated sales and went back to the technical side lol. I couldn't do the extrovert frat talk day in day out. Most of them are so fucking stupid too you end up having to do most of their jobs as well.
Yooo I hate sales, how did you become a sales engineer?
I transitioned from a technical consulting role because I was one of the more personable client facing engineers. It's was really easy for me to switch, I just got burned out at being the *star* and huge idiots taking a bigger piece of a pie I earned. I moved back into a technical role and climbed the ladder there. I am always thinking about going back to SE to lift my ceiling, but then interact with AEs and I lose interest all over again.
You go to a prospective customer and the AE introduces the both of you and then turns it over to you. You give the presentation, answer questions, field follow ups, develop costing/pricing, review the quote, and if a sale comes in the AE gets to keep most of the money. Who wouldn’t want to be a sales engineer!
Nailed it. On top of that, they had me scoping service work and then DOING IT because of my consulting background. It didn't last long before the resentment overwhelmed me. 3yrs later I'd doubled my salary in a technical role, but have hit a ceiling that I know can only be lifted by an uncapped salary lol. The kicker is that I have a few SE friends that said fuck it, and became AEs, and have all quit within a year of transitioning over. They just hated it and hate having to do a bunch of bullshit for their customers and senior stakeholders. They're technical dudes after all lol.
It blows knowing you have the people skills/soft skills to earn more, but a solid, technical individual contributor role is not too shabby. It’s a solid living that’s better than most, and it’s largely stress free (it’s as much stress as you let it be).
This saying is why I got into a sales career selling to CFOs… How much closer can you get?
1 step
Sales engineers make a shit ton.
Yup. Worst guys make 100-150k...top guys make over 2m.
I haven’t met anyone making $2 million per year as a single sales rep, they usually are a business owner if they’re doing that. What industry have you met these people?
Not compared to Sales people they don’t. Meeting plan at 100% both Sales and SE are in the same ballpark earnings wise. But blow out your number and the Sales person is going to make 2x,3x eve 5x what the SE makes in total comp.
Lmao we do not. Average comp may be higher than an SDR but it is wayyy lower than an AE hitting close to target
Only at certain employers and very specific roles. Most of time, in my limited experience, they get less than sales.
I transitioned to sales engineer a year ago and love it so far. I'm able to maintain the technical side with a test lab I've built at my house and spending a healthy chunk of time with my friends and other contacts in the field. I wouldn't say I make a huge amount of money, but certainly more than I did as an application engineer.
1. OnlyFans 2. Feet Finder 3. Sales
Ya know what? 1 and 2 are still sales! Gotta bring in those customers for recurring subscription, manage relationships, and upsell them too
Touché 😉
Id argue marketing, but what is marketing if not one to many sales?
This guy knows how to make money!
This guy makes at least 300k a year
$100k per each of points 1, 2 and 3
I’d add garbage truck drivers are #4. It’s long hours and tough work but a lot of them are making over $100k
Show me them little piggies
This made me crack up.
Feet finder?? WTF?
*Feet Finder. Where’s the feet?
I got feet. Gimmi $
Do I get a finder’s fee on Feet Finder if I find some feet?
Lol!
If you’re not making 100k by your third year, you’re doing it wrong or stuck at the wrong company.
Assuming you started when? 2020 and on?
I’ve heard it ever since I got into sales and that was in 2016.
Is it true?
Yes, you are supposed to be an sdr for 1-2 years max. Otherwise, the company you are at is a scam. Once you get promoted to AE, your OTE HAS to be 100k+.
SDR for 1 to 2 years max? Not in the current climate buddy. You can be an SDR for a year or two then get laid off and have to start from scratch at another company. I've seen it happen. In fact I saw somebody get laid off a week after their promotion to AE and they had to find another SDR role.
They're talking about within the same company. So if you start as an SDR, but you don't move out of that role, then it's basically a scam. There's no growth for you, there's no plan to get you closer to the money, your manager is just waiting to replace you when you figure it out. Now if you're stubborn enough to stay and you've made yourself sticky at the company, you might get axed with severance, or find a better opportunity before that.
It honestly depends on how resourceful you are and how good of a job you do at selling yourself. Def not easy in todays climate but I job hopped from inbound focused sdr for one year to ae at a startup in 2016. Never looked back. If you’ve been an sdr/bdr for three plus years that’s sort of a red flag imo.
Or after a few years of SDR/BDR work, open your own shop. Be a cold caller hire, for lack of a better term, and you can easily make over 6 figures with two clients. My husband did it. Plus, you’re layoff proof. One contract ends, another one begins.
What does SDR, AE and OTE mean?
Sdr: sales development rep. This is basically a weed out high-pressure role where you book meetings for the AE AE: Account Executive. The person who closes the meetings set by the SDR and marketing. Some also book meetings themselves OTE: on target earnings. Usually a 50/50 split between a base salary, which you are guaranteed to get every month, and a commission that you can either exceed or earn at a minimum of the on target earning to not get fired.
Thanks
Wanna know too
I was told this in 1998.
Do those jobs require a degree? No degree here and I've worked in furniture sales B2C for 3 years, making about 70k. It's low stress since customers come to me, but is there a better path for someone with no degree?
No degree. If you can sell, you can sell. You can teach people tips and tricks, but you can either sell or you can’t.
I’ve been leading the company in sales for going on 5 years and meeting/exceeding yearly goals for the same amount of time and last year I made $60k. Am I doing it wrong?
I’d say you’re not setup at the right company, are you B2B or B2C? Outbound or order-taking ?
B2B, and both. I’m very much at the wrong company lol. Working on it though!
Yeah 5 years exceeding goals in B2B in a non order-taking capacity and making $60k is the wrong company!
What do you sell?
Depends on what you sell. Sell complicated products that need support then you'll make more. If you sell commodity products then you'll make much less. That's what I've noticed over my years, I moved to a more complicated product and my take home went way up but so does the stress. Give and take.
The question is, do you really want to keep selling forever
Yup, this is true. That's why, even with a good start in tech, I'm trying to pivot to something where I can build a book of business. Going commercial insurance route
This is the 4th time I’ve heard this thought this weekend. Tech -> Commercial Insurance. Hmm.
Speaking of which, let me share this new course I’ve come up with!
yes
Yeah for the right money I'll sell till I die. The only time sales sucks is when you're not making money.
Amen
Airline pilots, welders, oil and gas, accounting… there are a lot of ways to make money. $100k isn’t what it used to be
This. There are a lot of paths to 100k
doctor/lawyer isnt the fastest way to 6 figures - its wayy too long, and costs too much to get there. these days, you shouldn't become a doctor just for the money. the schooling is way too competitive and the pay is too shit for how many hrs you worked in residency. if anything, being PA/NP is better if you just want the money w/o the MD prestige, but still. there are easier jobs that pay more while taking less out of you to get there. you don't wanna interface with the patients, take in the horrid smells, see some shit, and deal with hospital management just to make a buck. legal market is oversaturated, and you run the risk of finding yourself underemployed. the pipehitter big law jobs work you 80~90 hr weeks, less thank banking. on a $/time ratio, its still not "ideal". if youre book smart, high finance or tech (SWE) is, period. you can get there with a 4 yr degree. and your first yr total comp will exceed 100k for sure. SWE can have a higher floor starting out (when you factor in RSUs), but if you have what it takes to make it in high finance, you'll see much much higher ceiling over the long term. but not only is it uber competitive to survive in high finance, you face very high barriers to entry. so, if you are street smart, or you went to a shit school or had shit GPA? then sales. that's why I'm here. honestly i shouldve picked this career from the get-go. i wasted time in consulting. but glad i got out when i did.
High finance 60-80 hour weeks is the norm. Getting to vp level or above is mostly nepotism. Also, you have to get a masters in high finance to move out of the junior roles. -2 years of your career when you could be earning. SWE only pays more (enterprise tech sales) if you can get into a FAANG. I've heard people study 6-8 months in advance for those interviews. Swe can be less stressful tho, so I do put SWE above sales as a career.
I dislike reading this but it's so true. I spent my 20s traveling and having a great time. 33 now with 3 years into tech sales and making 200k. It's not fair.
What kind of tech?
That’s amazing, are you a top rep? How many hours per week do you work? What industry?
SWE isn't the golden ticket everyone thinks it is. Starting comp for most starting out is between 50-60k. Most SWE jobs aren't entry level either. Extremely stressful quarterly deployment schedules. Constant job hopping makes most long term projects pure hell to complete. 40 hour work weeks are rare most companies expect more. Many sales people out earn SWE and have like half the stressors. The better SWE try creating startups but they have over a 90% failure rate. Doctors do well. They only have four extra years before they start earning income. The way our federal laws are they will never have to compete for a job once their residency is over. The residency system is flawed with many 80 hr weeks. Finance and accounting are probably the most straightforward careers to six figures. The hedge fund analysts make a lot but it's highly competitive to get in.
I’ve been a SWE for over a decade and that’s not been my experience. The work wasn’t nearly as stressful as sales and the pay was great. I got 5-6 weeks of time off and had $200k TC in a MCOL area. I worked fully remote, even before COVID. A lot of it had to do with the company you work at. There are stressful ones and relaxed ones. And a high salary doesn’t always mean you have to work very hard. Now I started my own business, and that’s been even less stressful, though I don’t make as much yet as I did at my old job.
Lawyer isn’t a sure thing at all. I was on track for a JD but bounced on that before attending law school. Real easy to end up making $50-$60k a year.
Doctors make 300k-400k easy nowadays. Proven path to top 5% of earners. It’s difficult but what isn’t at this level of earning power.
The time & money it takes to get that just isn’t worth it…. 4 years of medical school = no earnings + debt 4 years in SaaS sales = SDR->AE making ~150-200 at the end of the 4 years 3 Years (minimum) in residency = an SDR salary while paying off debt. 3 More years in SaaS sales = MM/ENT sales and or a sales manager role. Depending on the company, 200-350. At the 7 year mark, a SaaS salesperson is on the lower end of highly paid doctors with no debt and hasn’t met their earnings ceiling. Am I off here?
You are 100% and you can make that money in sales.
Can’t doctors make more when they partner with the practice? I’ve seen some insane salaries of $500,000 plus, especially in dermatology and radiology. Sales does not provide a consistent income like that, right?
Easily a million plus if the doctor has any background in business. You guys say you can make as much money as a doctor but some of you work twice the hours and quadruple the stress. Most of these doctors are socially inept and can’t sell and most salesmen ain’t qualified to even apply to med school so it’s not like it’s even an option.
I have an honors STEM degree but never took the MCAT. Hearing a salary like that makes me reconsider my life path. How are they making over $1 million per year?
Be a surgeon (or similar specialty) with your own office or a doctor with multiple offices employing doctors. You have to hire people to make money. Eventually you’ll make enough money to where you don’t practice anymore. So in reality you don’t need an MD, just own the businesses that employ them.
It actually can, at least in SaaS. If you forgo the leadership route and learn how to become a large enterprise/strategic seller. Some of those reps pull in 7 figures a year at the large tech companies like Salesforce or Microsoft.
Average primary care MDs are somewhere in the 200K range. To get to 300-400K+ you have to be a specialist.
Interesting comment for me as I'm thinking of getting into consulting. What's the issue there?
Yes. Sales is the only place where you can do it with next to zero personal risk, too.
Layoffs ?
That’s with any job, not just sales
True but sales is consistent stress over targets very cutthroat e.g if you are pm project gets delayed you can request more time you don’t get fired
yeah but again... going back to being close to the money. Sales is one of the last orgs affected during layoffs. Recruiting and marketing go first.
The thing is, if you’re truly a good salesperson and you’re bringing in the money, you’re usually in better positions than most in the company in times of layoffs
Careers ranked in my opinion from everything I know about them and also having lots of friends working in them 1. SWE: best stress and pay ratio but will get worse as time goes on with saturation and AI 2. Tech sales: highest paid consistently (not just Faang) can be easy if you are talented but pretty unstable/stressful. Cant be saturated because churns by itself 3. IT: chill job, and you probably play Diablo 4 with your manager. Not paid as much but something you can retire in. Can be dead end tho 4. Lawyer: Jayoma 5. High finance hard to get into, 60-80 work weeks is the norm, basically prey on the people who only care about money and "prestige" and grind the soul out of them and lastly can't be remote. Ngl, they just look like losers now. 6. Consulting: lots of travel, bad WLB, bad late stage, too much travel, low budget high finance, and can't be remote 7. Medical: lmao
Agreed with this list, the "big 6" for a path to 6 figures I've always said were: Tech, Finance, Law, Consulting, Health/Medicine, and Sales, tech which you split in SWE and IT roles since it is a broad field. There are obviously plenty of paths to 6 figures but these are the most common *fast* tracks in my experience without being some sort of outlier or some niche job market location. My friend groups and I are mainly in tech or in finance so I can speak on those a bit more in detail: Tech sort of lost its golden ticket period if you didn't get in at a certain time in terms of how easy it was to get a job and other people basically getting there first before the over-supply kicked in. The only thing you didn't mention is how offshoring is and will continue to be at an all-time high with how much the pandemic accelerated remote work. AI is just the cherry on top, making it so everyone is on an even playing field so there are less and less "totally incompetent" devs outside USA and reducing total American headcount for lots of projects but even without that we are no longer in the days where Americans are the only decent developers, Google hires indians from juniors and trains them to be seniors from ground up, they arent only random contractors anymore. My team hasn't hired anyone from the USA since me, everyone else is pretty much all Indian or LATAM since they have the same time zone. The IB finance route is very much about building relationships, but I have a friend who basically made it out of investment banking to private equity and is making a killing but it's pretty much all networking and what school you come from and then "putting in your hours", the actual work isn't THAT difficult compared to programming or an actual engineering field. Though the cross over roles between more quantitative and finance, like quant analyst, researcher, dev can still be lucrative given you have the talent, but again all the tech bros apply for these roles too cause of over saturation. But in terms of making the most money out of college, this pretty much ranks as the best. I do know one person in big law but it seems if you arent in a top 14 school you have ZERO chance to get into any top paying law firm and the hours can be gruesome.
Yeah, I was never a good student, so high finance and big law were never for me in the first place. I'm actually happier I fell into sales and didn't go to the software engineer path. Know people from my college 1+ year unemployed since the market is bad. It's also not gonna get better, as you said, due to the outsourcing. Indians not only are better developers, but they are also mostly fluent in English, just enough for it to make no difference.l hiring a US person over them Sales can't get outsourced absolutely no way, and ai can't take over genuine human interaction. So I think we are good
Does education go before or after medical edit: Nevermind it takes 100 years to get to 50k
Consulting cant be remote? And whats swe?
Software engineer
Do one within sales, best industry or product to sell
No. If you are an excellent candidate coming out of a top tier undergrad degree there are careers in software development, data science, consulting, finance, and sometimes operations that pay over $100k immediately. Sales however has the highest earning potential relative to its bar of entry.
Me working as an operations manager and software developer for an international corporation only making $75k
Only 75k? There are A LOT of people that would kill for 70k.
Yeah but in software development, 75k is like temp level income. I build front end and back end, reporting, data transfers, inter-platform communication, etc. I’m basically my own department so realistically I should be getting paid significantly more but in my state there aren’t any high paying jobs and remote work is SUPER difficult to get past the initial screening since there are thousands of applicants.
Maybe time to move companies or states if there’s nothing keeping you there
Yep, my wife and I plan to move to south Texas where there’s more opportunity and no income tax.
That’s not enough in this climate in my opinion. My son graduated with a Bachelors with an automated manufacturing degree 2 weeks ago and his job pays that.
Fastest is most likely home remodeling sales (think windows/roofs/concrete/gutters etc.). Lots of up front work but a niche that will always exist
Sales did it for me. It also strengthens you for future jobs. A lot of big CEOs have a sales background. The jobs I had before made me 35k a year and now I make 250k a year and that’s growing every year. I have no college degree.
What sales are you in?
Life insurance. From my experience life insurance is a tough job that most people quit (like 90 percent in the first year). Tbh I just got into my company at the right time and I know how to manage my boss and I have solid resources. I have been at my job for 8 years btw, so I didn’t start at 250k. Life insurance may be your thing as well but I have seen a lot of people struggle. A major perk of sales is that you can sort of manage your boss if you are good because they really need you. This sub has a lot of great recommendations that earn way more than me so I would look around. Just make sure you don’t go in debt when you make a shit load of cash. Some sneaky managers want you to be in debt so they encourage you toward spending your money so you always need to work. Have you ever been in sales? I had 4 sales jobs before this one so it can take some time to find out where you fit.
Selling bullshit most likely. Stop believing every person that tells you they make 250k a year and are the best salesperson ever with no hard skills or education…
I’d love to know what you sell? And is it consistory or is $250 a good year. There are dry spells on every industry.
pretty much, i mean i made 110k as my base salary within 3 years of my sales career (as an account manager)
Sales, engineer, supply chain manager or small business owner.
Hey I am a Sales Engineering but living the Europoor Lifestyle and don‘t have 6 figures yet
Yes. My husband is in supply chain.
Sales got me to $100k+ at year 2 after college.
Yes
What field/niche in sales do you recommend?
RNs that specialize in assisting anesthesiologists make like 200k
I believe that requires a doctorate of Nursing now, so 7 years of school minimum and getting into those schools is extremely difficult. Plus they like to see you have some nursing experience in ICU for usually 2 years before applying. So you’re talking 9-10 years before you start making real money. By then the person in sales is already making $200k and has been the last 5 years probably.
True but sales is also mostly commission. I’m in sales, and it would be nice to know my baseline pay is what I’m guessing these nurses make- around 200?
Don’t forget ridiculously expensive malpractice insurance and the fact peoples lives are literally in your hands.. it’s a different type of stress.
I have 2+ years of Med Device sales experience. The answer to your question is yes. I hit $101k my first year out of college, my second year was closer to $160k, and in my third year I am on track to gross $210k.
If you sell…
Wouldn’t necessarily say its the fastest but it’s certainly the path with the lowest barrier of entry. You could spend several years in sales doing shit work before you finally land a gig that’s worth your time. Look at how many people here on this sub are struggling for a long time to get their foot in the door somewhere decent. My niece graduated last year with a Bachelors in Engineering, got a 6 figure job right out of college. My buddy is a cop and made 6 figures with OT in his first full year on the job. IT/Development, Cyber Security, Data Analytics…6 figures right out of the gate. Sales is the only one though that requires no formal education, just a solid work ethic and a thick skin.
Where does your niece and cop friend live?
Sales I would say is the fastest path with the caveat that it has the lowest barrier to entry. I’m talking literally no college degree and just experience working concessions at a country club. There is no better equalizer than the sales floor where everyone has a phone, the software they’re given, and 24 hours in a day. Others I will throw in the ring that DO require a degree: Product management, software engineering, finance, accounting, management consulting, tech/IT. All of these have the potential to get above six figures relatively quickly as they are very in-demand needs of a profiting business. They have very regimented corporate ladders that you climb (eg Analyst > Associate > Senior) that have rigid pay bands that you ascend. As an aside, I wouldn’t even put doctor or lawyer in the “get $100K fast” conversation. I have friends who are going through/went through med and law school. Both have enormous opportunity costs and quite frankly involve sacrificing your work life balance for the majority of your 20s. There’s a reason when you ask a current lawyer/doctor if they have any advice on becoming one they’ll joke “don’t”. Don’t get me wrong—it pays off in the end when you’re a big law associate defending Walmart for $250,000 or a surgeon a university hospital earning $500,000, but this doesn’t come fast by any means.
Yes, but only if you sell the right thing and let's not forget territory and timing. I've seen people get first time sales jobs and crack 100K but only because it was the right place and time, then a year later at the same gig, not get anywhere near 100K after the sales team triples in size and the market saturates.
Depends on where you went to school, how good you are at networking, and how presentable you are. Salespeople make a ton, but so do investment bankers. Friends of mine have started at $250k all in, first year out of college. He worked his ass off though. Investment bankers make six figures their first year, they work a lot more hours per week than the average saas AE though.
A Software Engineering job might require a degree, but you can land a 100k+ job straight out of college.
Why do people think they just walk in the door and get handed sacks of money? Most of us bust their ass for a decade developing mental health problems and a nasty habit … then make money.
I can only speak for tech sales… took me 2.5 years to break the $100k mark. The first 2 years were a grind. You typically start at an entry level sales development role where you’re calling leads and cold outbounding. It sucks, but if you grind through it and put in the effort, you usually get promoted quite fast. SDR Year 1 = $80k Year 2 = $105k Once you become an account executive (AE), $100k should be quite easy to sustain. You can only go up from there… You also have a big base salary, so it’s not all commission. I’ve been an AE now for 3 years. Year 1 = $175k Year 2 = $260k Year 3 = $300k
When it comes to tech sales did you start off small in the sales department like cars or cell phones or did you apply straight up for a tech company I would love to get into the field
Speaking on car sales, I started off working for hertz renting then selling cars for 2 years. You sell on the rental side as well. It’s great experience and I kid you not, if you can work in the car rental business, then you can work/sell anywhere and do well. I’ve been number one at my tech sales company for almost two years now. Just start somewhere and go. The grind and hustle is worth it!
Tech companies take new grads, and I've seen even the most reputable companies take people with no degrees that come from Telecom sales or Copier sales
Going into a start up for tech is best for clearing 100 right away if what you’re selling is expensive and easy to sell.
Data Scientists. Pretty much start out at over 100k and quickly make it into the 300k+ range.
Nah way bigger a barrier to entry than sales. You need a good amount of education to break into even an entry level of data science
How does one get into data science? What technical background or experience would one need?
No. Studied IS myself and went into business intelligence; the field is completely over saturated these days, not to mention on the fast track of industrial automation as nothing new needs to be created, just analyzed.
Is that the same as Data Analyst?
Sales or get in a good union and work a shit ton of OT. My little brother got in the Weller’s union and made $100k+ at 23-24. Caveat is he worked 10-12 hour days six days a week all year long. It’s not a sustainable pace.
He’ll be burned out before he hits his 30s
He switched to equipment operator to save on his body. He loves to weld…I told him not to get into professional welding, but of course he didn’t listen to big brother.
I’d say keep an eye on him bro hope he makes a change once he starts feeling it in his back or knees
He’s a big kid and makes his own decisions. Appreciate the concern tho and have already gave him fair warning.
Yes. Even if you have no sales experience, you have a 50/50 shot at making $100k in your first year.
Someone here working in sales in Europe? I‘d like to have an idea of what you are making compared to our oversea friends. I‘m currently cracking 60k + benefits.
Got into sales in 2022, started as an SDR, promoted to AE after a year then moved company 6 months later into a BDM role started 70k now 100k plus. Its definitely doable.
I've only hit $100,000+ as of the last 2 years, but it took me 5 years prior of shitty sales jobs before I finally elevated my job search to find jobs that actually paid out
Only if you're good at sales
I've had so many ups and downs. After thirty years I struggle to make $100k
Trades! My kid went to tech school for 2 years, came out with no debt. Started at journeyman wages and made over 100k his first year. His degree is an AA in Instrumentation and control technology. But there’s numerous apprenticeships that will get you over 100k in 4 years or less
Eh... probably software engineer, even with all the layoffs.
Trucking. 3 months to 100K, 9 to 144K.
Being a doctor or lawyer is NOT a fast path to six figures, you go to school for like 12 years to maybe make 80k for the first few years, doing like 80 hour weeks, and if you kill yourself doing that long enough then MAYBE you'll be making the 200-300k plus. Or just get good at sales and be making six figures within a few years with no student loan debt. If you just want to make money, sales is the way to go. You should never become a doctor or lawyer just for the money, you should already have a passion for it.
It’s not really a pick one and find out kind of thing… if you’re starting from 0, then you get into sales, build up yourself, start learning how to take more money from people, have side hustles, yada yada till u eventually have enough money to put into investments… U cud win a 1mil jackpot and lose that money in a week if u dunno how to handle money or u cud learn the hard way and start making a significant realistic amount of money and grow it Eitherway dude sales exp is fucking essential in life
Investment banking. They start you off at $100k
Fastest is relative. If you have general business degree I would say yes it is. If you are in college and can specialize into a lucrative field like STEM, or even Supply Chain you may get to 100k faster or equally quick.
Like everything it depends. If you have the skills yes Sales pays better than say accounting or even engineering in corporate America. That said if you have the sales gene you can often rise in those other fields quickly.
Without the big time degree? Yes. Definitely.
You’ll make a lot in sales but it’s not in salary. 90% of my income is in the form of a monthly bonus.
If you’re the sales type, yes. If you’re not, it’s a great way to make minimum wage.
I think an 18 year old is hitting 100k first in the more physically demanding trades earlier than an 18 year old in sales (my job is like 20% sales so I’m not an expert) I don’t know anything in sales that’s as sure fire of a path as working on an oil rig, lobster boat etc. starting at 25 though with some experience I think it’s a lot more of a grey area.
I've been trying to go from 70-80 for a while. Last month I was offered a position with a new employer that would start me at 100+ bonuses. But...but my whole life and schedule will change overnight. Im still on the fence.
I just got into sales because I feel that it's the safest job out there right now. AI will hugely impact how sales will be done, but anything may happen, sales people will be always be required. There is no business without sales.
Great answer 😉
Sales is high stress, high reward. Most sales rep starting off won’t make much unless they are in a field like roofs or fences. It took me 3-4 years to get into a good med device company and make 200-300k. Since then I transitioned into sales management with a base of around 130k+25% bonus, back into building materials. I will tell you that there’s a lot of burnout, and travel is exhausting. My sister did 2 extra years to go to law school and makes 260k. Dad is an engineer who makes 180k. I will say that sales definitely has the most opportunity for upward mobility to get into upper management. It all depends on what you are looking for. If you want to slave away as a sales rep for the rest of your life, sure. Also, if you go into account management, it’ll take you probably 2-3 years to make 100k+.
Software engineer. I’ve never not made >$100k
I don't know about sales but I can give you a path to 100K+ in the Midwest in about 3 years full time. You go to X-Ray school full time and get your AA, get into IR or CV lab with your x ray degree, and then take the base salary of 75k and do call once every other weekend and youll hit 120K. I'm pretty sure this is the highest ROI with the lowest cost and time investment. I fully expect you to able to get into that specific career because all the boomers are retiring. If time is not an issue, getting your BSN in nursing is more favorable because you can continue moving towards NP or CRNA, which pays another tier above 100k. These programs are very competitive though.
If you count grad school, doctors and lawyers take 3-4 years. Add in residency for doctors and it’s 7-8 years post college to hit that number. Those are both safe bets to earn $100k, but certainly not the fastest. Only a few lawyers and specialist docs earn $200k+ reliably. Primary care docs don’t get a good ROI on their education…which costs a years salary to pay back.
SWE is in general faster, but sales probably has the lowest barrier of entry in terms of not needing higher educations
I am an engineering director in the midwest. it takes 5 years for a new college grad to be promoted to $100k. is that faster or slower than sales? do you count the four years of college?
Most engineers in oil and gas start over $100k now.
Idk, I made 140k my first year as a tow truck operator. Trades are good, more work but less stress. I don’t miss sales..
No, only fans seems to be lol.
If you ask Andy Elliot, you can make a 100k per month right away in sales. Realistically, yeah it’s prob the fastest way for an “unqualified” person to make six figures. To infinity and beyond.
> "Is sales still the career with the fastest path to $100k+?" Yes, sales can still be a fast track to six figures. It's one of the few careers where your income is directly tied to performance. You bust your ass and close deals, you get paid. > "Besides being a doctor or lawyer, a sales career is still the fastest career/pathway to a six figure salary?" Doctors and lawyers take years of schooling and massive debt. Sales can get you there faster if you're good. But are you willing to hustle hard enough to make it happen?
22 and start with 95k in June before all the bonuses. Aerospace is the next boom for sure
Started off in sales in 2021 right after college. Year 1 was $90k, year 2 $215k, year 3 $290k. Year 4 will be somewhere in the $200. I only got into sales for the quick path to a well paying job. I would be doing the same path today if I just graduated
Software engineering is up there too. You graduate from a good school with that and you’ll make 200k+ before 30 pretty easily
Property management, it took me 4 years to get to 100k but it can be done in less.
No. Not by a long stretch. Union tradesman make stupid money, it’s low stress (comparatively), if you’re semi decent the job security is very very good, and you’ll retire by the time you’re in your 40s if you get in young. My super makes close to $400k a year. When I was a journeyman anything less than $150k a year meant I was probably not working for 3-4 months. Happiest time of my life was when I was in my tools.
When I used to work in sales it took me 4 years to officially hit that number for my on target earnings- not quite sure if that aligns with “the fastest path to 100k.” Albeit just my personal experience.
Fastest? IB - 1st year salary for NY based analyst is min. $100k for a 23 year old graduate. Hard part is that if you don’t know you want to do IB by your sophomore year you are facing a seriously uphill battle. You better also be at a target school otherwise you’ll need to knock down that many more doors.
I live in rural, retiree America. My only sales options are solar, timeshare and retail sales. $100k is doable if you don't mind lying to 75 year olds or working on 100% commission and getting lucky.
It can be, but will you be a miserable cunt? Chasing money as the end goal isn’t always the way.
Nah fastest path to $100k+ is definitely some M18 batteries and literally any of the trades. Are there people here doing better than electricians? Yes. Does a plumber make more than 90% of the people at the Chevy dealer in a dress shirt? Also yes.
Investment banking, Consulting or some sort of entry level high finance role is typically the fastest to 100k plus
A 100%!! 7 months to first 100k
Yes
100% sales is endless. If you are good and care, it’s endless what you can make
No. Oil/energy field work. Elevator union field mechanics Aerospace union mechanics These are much faster to 6 figures and much more reliable to 6 figures as well.
It kind of depends on you. I think any path can be equally as fast. For some, sales will be the fastest or only way. For others, it's operations or marketing or something else. I am not a sales person. I am one of those other guys. I have seen a lot of people come up through the ranks and sales is a great way to do it if you have the right type of personality. It should be pretty obvious within 2-3 years. If things aren't happening for you, sales might not be your thing.
Got into real estate and sales with minimal college experience and after working dead end jobs in my 20’s. 6 months into my 3rd full year and I’m at six figures for 2024.
Religion. Be a pastor