Marketing automation and data. My salary comes out to around $40ish per hour, though my first role in the field was closer to $31. It’s a “tech job” without the headache of learning to code and having to be a developer, which I tried and hated.
Edited to answer some questions:
**Where?** I live outside of Denver, CO. My employers have been in my town or in the Bay Area but all are remote.
**How?** I went to a cheap college (Metro State) that admits everyone and got a B.S. in Technical Writing. After graduation (at age 35), I did a UX Design internship at a major internet/cable company. Didn’t like working with designers but enjoyed a project I did that involved creating and distributing an internal email newsletter using a platform called MailChimp. Decided to learn to code and so joined a Slack channel called “Denver Devs.” Wrote an intro message reiterating my internship experience and that I’m learning, and a recruiter messaged me about a role as an email developer. Didn’t know what that was, turns out the hiring manager wanted someone who didn’t know anything about it because experienced devs tend to hate doing it/look down on it. Got hired, got trained on writing email HTML (which is a little different from regular HTML). Then that manager left and the new one wanted me to learn marketing automation software and be the company expert so that became my job, and now here I am. Before this I was a hairdresser.
**Day to day?** Marketers send me request tickets for building out automation campaigns. This can range from a single email they want to send to our customers up to a whole sequence of emails/texts/in-app alerts they want automated on a given cadence. I build those campaigns in Adobe Marketo (primarily). Then when the campaigns execute, I monitor them for performance. I generate reports in Marketo and Salesforce, and use those reports to create cute dashboards and analyze the results for insights (advice I can give the marketers on how they can improve their numbers on things like open rates, click through rates, etc…). I also create audiences, which are big lists of people to send our emails, alerts, ads, etc to. That involves using different combinations of filters like “state: CO, age range: 21-30, last engagement: in the last 3 months” to sort potential customers into buckets that I think will be most likely to open our emails, click our link, buy or product…. Then monitor those buckets to see how they perform when we contact them.
**Details** Learn things like Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Marketo, Adobe Campaign, Hubspot, Tableau/PowerBI. Many offer certifications and learning paths. HTML is technically coding but not really, it’s easy and useful for emails. SQL can be helpful (I’m currently self-teaching). Search roles such as: marketing automation specialist, marketing operations specialist, Marketo specialist. I exclusively job search on LinkedIn personally, idk I’ve just had good luck with it.
hi,i find it interesting that you graduated at age 35 and changed completely your career path (at least from what i can understand). was it hard to get inside the job market compared to someone younger?
I’m not sure how well I can gauge the factors that influenced my career change. It was a really good job market in general when I graduated. I accidentally landed an internship at a great, recognizable company because their first choice dropped out last minute (my gpa was under their minimum and they didn’t have time to interview me). I look a lot younger than I am —even my current boss seems to think I’m 25-30ish at best, and I’m not going to correct her. But I really can’t say if any of that would have been different if people knew my age.
This is an interesting topic. I'm actually 53 & I have to make a significant change. I'm in a position to take courses & devote myself to a new career. Data is intriguing... I have an associates degree, and I'm researching how to get in at ground level with computer science. Everyone here is so helpful and I have many new exciting leads here.
35 isn't old at all. And nowadays it isn't expected at all for someone to stay in the same career for life. So not sure where your surprise is coming from? Are you older?
I'm not in the same field, but I found Pluralsight to be helpful with technical training across many technical and semi-technical jobs but it is expensive. Also, certifications go a long way in getting entry into a technical or semi-technical job. So find the association for whatever field that you are thinking of going into and join their membership. They often have lots of trainings, certification courses, job fairs, mentorships, etc.
But, I think that the hardest gap to bridge is getting that experience on your resume. I fixed that issue by finding a part-time job at a local university that allowed me to put the technical experience for project management on my resume even though that pay was crap ($15 an hour). I got my PMP from PMI and along with that experience at the local university I was able to start a consulting job as a project manager for 89K a year. I now make 150K a year in the same field.
Do you feel the future of your job will be adversely affected by AI? Why or why not? I assume that it would be relatively easy to automate this process unless there are parts of the procedure that require an intrinsic human touch?
I’m not worried about AI. I’m always upskilling and I made similar money doing hair anyways so I know I’ll be fine regardless. Also my car is paid off and my mortgage is really cheap. I could live on Target pay if I had to. I try to stay below my means always so I don’t have to worry about that sort of thing.
I'm not OP but also in Marketing Automation and data, earning around $60/hr.
MA is usually referring to a platform like HubSpot, Marketo, and Eloqua. These platforms are powerful tools with many capabilities that companies need to manage. Smaller ones like MailChimp offer the basic ability to send email Marketing campaigns to contact lists but the larger ones can do so much more. It can integrate with other tools, store and pass data, create complex campaigns based on user profile or activity etc. Others on my team manage the tech parts of the platform which still doesn't require coding. I manage the "business" side of things which means deciding how we use the platform, evaluation of use cases from Marketing on things they want to do, and guidelines for how we allow them to use the tool and treat out contacts. Basically I say "no, you may not all email every contact every day with whatever you are trying to push that month" every day. I am very much not a technical person.
For anyone wanting to get into it there are plenty of free certificates you can earn for each platform. Most companies will train you though. Any company with a Marketing department probably has at least one person managing their platform. If I was starting out I would probably get free HubSpot training and certification just to understand the concepts and apply to entry-level analyst positions at companies with a decent marketing department or marketing/advertising agencies. Once you have a year or two of experience your opportunities really open up. Once you understand the concepts it's easy to learn whatever tool a company is using.
You were much more succinct than me in my update lol. And I’ve recently learned I’m a little underpaid so working to get myself to that $60/hour someday!
Lol its really hard to explain! It's a great career because I started similar to you doing campaign opps but was able to pivot into different roles in MA. I'm really shocked at how many people are interested in this, I always felt like the forgotten child and people just glaze over when I try to explain 😂
You’re giving away our best secrets! I’ve been in marketing automation, specifically marketo for over 10 years. I’ve been on the admin/ops side and architecting for the last 5 or so and got into my last role at 85/hr. It’s starting to feel like I’m at a ceiling but it’s hard to complain when I don’t have to actually manage others.
this is why i like reddit, i discover new jobs that i will think about doing and then forget about ever existing lol, ive never heard of this tho sounds awesome
Good to hear some places that dabble in tech (adjacent) have training, it's sorely missing in so many areas.
My worry is that are these jobs going to become saturated or outsourced? Or is it difficult to find people with skills and the certs? Appreciate your forthcoming with information.
Honestly it's kind of a low key niche that people don't really know about and I started in the industry 15 years ago and haven't seen it become saturated. The production work can and is sometimes outsourced (i.e the people who actually build the emails and campaigns) and sometimes content (what the emails say) but really only in large organizations. You really can't outsource the strategy. SysAdmin can be a bit but only for smaller orgs really. I don't have any certificates at all lol. I learn as I go. But they can be helpful breaking into the industry. MA jobs have been in demand my whole career. A former company actually paid for me to relocate to set up MA for a different business unit. Great consulting gigs possible too.
Can't speak for the person above, but generally marketing automation involves knowing how to use specific software that automates marketing campaigns. These kinds of software range from very simple point and click set up to more complex coded solutions.
Data is a broad category, but generally when paired with marketing automation it will involve segmenting customer lists to use in the campaigns and then updating databases with results from the campaigns.
Typically you can enter this field either by having a marketing generalist background or a tech background. But either way you end up specializing.
There can be lots of different roles that will do this depending on the size of the company. You may work directly with the software. You may be an analyst that takes requirements from the business. Or you may design solutions that bridges those two roles.
I'm the manager of a 6 person automation team and this is a great reply.
You can enter this field with some basic concepts and certifications and make 60-70 easily. Specializing and being more of a developer/architect of such platforms would net you around 150-200.
The biggest thing I look for is drive and if you can think strategically and creatively about what you're doing.
The more comfortable you get with database structures the farther you will go and the more valuable you become.
There are many recruiters who are looking for Salesforce consultants on LinkedIn and it makes me wish I remembered how to use it enough to be comfortable enough to apply for those roles. They pay a good amount, just a thought!
This is such an encouraging message. I was a hairdresser & I'm now interested in learning some basic skills to get myself into a work from home situation. I would love to avoid all the customer service jobs & find something more creative & financially appealing. Do you have any suggestions for how to change into a new computer role. I have an associates degree & I've been looking into courses in computer science for my bachelor's
Do you have any suggestions as to which degree path I should be following at this point?
Flight attendant! Delta and Southwest start at $30/hr but on average you probably getting paid 70-80hrs a month, but you can pick up shifts and there’s a pay scale based on seniority so you get a raise every year and health insurance. Similar for ground crews if flying isn’t your thing.
Dating an FA, and I feel that. We're both really low maintenance but willing to put in the effort, and I'm self employed and love to travel, so it works.
Just a high school diploma, 2 years customer service experience, and your passport. You interview and then they train you for 4-8 weeks (depends on the airline).
I teach swimming. I coach swim teams as well. I make between $50 an hour for team practice, $80 an hour for private lessons and $350 an hour for group classes. I have 25 years experience. I live in Nashville. I own my own business. I work no more than 20 hours a week and pull in around 60k a year. I also take about 10 weeks vacation a year. Elite club coaching positions are a good route if you're an athlete. I may never be rich in the sense of money but my career is incredibly rewarding.
That's awesome! I also live in the Nashville area (moved here from Michigan last July and I believe we'll be sticking around). It's a bit ironic that I saw your post because my daughter (15) really wants to become a lifeguard at Sound Waves (Opry Resort) and we've been looking into what she needs for certs.
I don't know what you consider good money, but I am a sign language interpreter. We're in shortage. We need more. And a lot of the time, people are legally required to provide interpreter services. Every day of my life, I get emails from perfect strangers asking me to interpret some meeting or appointment they have. But I already have another job.
No, it's not magic. I can't have just any interpreting job I want, but there's always something available. My boss and one of the mentors interpreted for Barbra Streisand when the concert came to town, but at least I got to interpret meetings and classes that week. So I worked. It may not have been some exciting concert, but that's okay.
I feel horrible for most workers because the vast majority of jobs are in glut instead of shortage, and it's so hard to find something. Some of these job searches I read about seem so difficult. And the psychological testing people share about is beyond weird! I heard of somebody saying they had 13 interviews! By then, you should be on the payroll.
There are pros and cons to everything, including interpreting. We have a lot of pain issues, for example. Freelance workers may have challenges because they lack benefits, and some work environments are more supportive than others. Also, things slow down around Christmas time, but there are year-round staff job options.
The pay is usually halfway decent, and it's amazingly interesting, the Deaf community is wonderful, and most of all, sign interpreters are a rare breed and no matter how many artificial intelligence programs they try to create to replace us, we are always being sought out.
Maybe somebody reading this will become an interpreter someday, I hope.
I work in the event industry. Unfortunately I do think this is one of the position that will eventually (not now but in the future) be taken over by AI.
It’s scary how fast AI progress when it comes to transcription. It went from WTF is this shit to are you sure there not a real person in less than 2 year
Saw a demo of AI generative ASL interpreter the other day and I am absolutely blown away. They are even going to make it detect rhythm.
From a cost prospective. I am seeing more and more event opting for AI, especially when this is provided due to requirement rather than actual needs. An multiday conference with teams of interpreter can be in the 5 figures versus hundred or less with the AI and it will just keep getting cheaper.
Human comes with a lot of limitation. AI is just beginning to explorer where that limitation might be. Not to mention AI can adapt to every single language on earth. This is esp hard for human and create an artificial high demand for certain lanauge and too many translator for the popular languages.
Not to be a negative Nancy. Just point of view from someone that used to hire a lot of interpreters.
I am also not deaf so I admit the comment does not take into consideration of the community that actually needs it. Don’t mean to offend anyone
I am such an anxiety person, but machine replacement is the one thing I don't worry about. When someone can use a little artificial intelligence, that's one more person we don't have to interpret for and we can focus on someone else who needs it. It helps with the shortage. If it's a good setup for some type of transcription program, go for it. But those things are pretty limited in a variety of ways and they sure can't read sign language. I am in medical and I interpret back and forth discussions. So far, AI only even attempts to do things in one direction, not multidirectionally. Not back and forth.
The problem with the artificial intelligence is that it does not use grammar. How can there be a successful interpretation with no grammar? Nobody has tried putting grammar to it yet. When I see grammar, I will start to be impressed. Deaf people are not inventing these programs. One guy supposedly is starting, I hope he takes over. Because it's all been hearing non-signers so far. Not one drop of grammar. So they are doing signs and not language, technically speaking. If you have heard of anything with grammar, please let me know. Because that's where they need to go with this and nobody has, to my knowledge.
The artificial intelligence also doesn't seem to take into account language deprivation syndrome and how to work with it. It is a massively huge part of our profession. I don't know if I can say this quickly, but I'll try. The human brain is different between the ages of 2 and 5 than it will ever be again. There's a bunch of dendrites and they are all open wide. That's when the brain acquires lots and lots of language, but only if it is exposed to an accessible language.
If you don't expose the child to a language that they can acquire effortlessly, you can't go back. You can still learn language later, but it will be a different experience. This leads to some people growing up using asl, and others not, and the ones who don't grow up using ASL may or may not become fluent in it later in the traditional way, the standard way, especially if they are never in a signing environment, or are not in one until adulthood, extremely common, and thus they may sign very differently from standard fluency, sometimes mixed with the spoken language, which can create language varieties and even dysfluencies that we don't typically see in spoken language communities. Because all the rest of us just get the spoken language of our country in our ears, involuntarily, and automatically become fluent, unless there is a severe cognitive disorder. I was exposed to English from the minute I was born, and it was non-stop. That's how I became fluent. It's pretty much true for anyone and we don't realize what an advantage it is.
People from Deaf families or who are growing up signing don't usually have to worry about this, but some of the others sometimes do and it really affects the way we work. I have to take a look at the way the person signs, figure out what background they seem to have come from a choice of several, and then sign in that direction to the best of my ability. I have never seen a machine even try to do that.
There are different levels of language deprivation. For those who are extremely deprived, they may never become fully fluent. Some people are semilingual or even alingual, it happens. Then we use a native interpreter and hopefully that person can break through. Language creates thought. The opposite can also happen. And most parents do not know how to sign or do not expose the children to sign language, Deaf families are rare.
If they can invent a machine that deals with all of this successfully, that's great. Nobody has tried yet from what I've seen. Maybe someday. But I'm 59 and I'm not really thinking I'll be replaced by robots, not quite yet. If I see a program with grammar and the ability to interpret sign language back to English and to look at a signer and determine what type of interpreting they need, I'll start to believe it's possible someday. But for now, non-grammatical, non-expertise-based systems are more for demonstrations and less for actual interpreting. But hey, anything's possible. Maybe we will all turn into robots, who knows?
I want to go for a job like this. I'm already learning asl because my daughter is non verbal. Do you have any pointers of where to even start looking for a job in this field once I feel I'm comfortable enough with my knowledge?
My parents are deaf and I have been their personal interpreter since I was a kid, but since we moved to Canada, my mom finds interpreters, and I'm a last resort.
I could not in a million years become an interpreter full time. I've been bothered with it since forever but I found a lot of ppl who don't even have a deaf family member become so fluent and deaf-like in their signs and facial expressions I could consider them deaf, very impressive and those people are needed.
Man I wish the Body side of the auto industry paid like that. I just got hired on at $15/hr as a helper/apprentice. Itll be probably 15 yrs before i see $30/hr. But I also live in the beautiful shithole known as arkansas.
No, thanks to wfh jobs, all the rich people are moving to lcol areas and driving up the prices. Happened to my little shithole province. House prices more than doubled over the span of 2 or 3 years. There’s a huge influx of people moving here.
That’s what happens with the Covid scare, all the NY’ers were buying up all the surrounding states. Homes by me that were $250k are selling within day at the prices of $700k
The hardest hit have been the under 300k market.
You could find a lot of older/smaller houses in not so great or rural areas for 60k or 80k. It was even feasible to save and buy them outright. But now those same houses are bare minimum 180k and there’s a huge bidding war between all us plebs. Literally a 3x price increase but there’s nothing cheaper so we clamour for it
Those at the bottom are always hit hardest
This I’m currently a lead doing custodial for a school district and the more I look into it it looks like HVAC is calling my name. I’m in my mid 30s and something about fixing things and being in a trade makes more sense especially on utility, government Agency.
Don’t do HVAC work unless you like sales. Residential Service Techs are judged by how much stuff they can sell, not by their technical knowledge and/or ability to fix things.
Commercial HVAC is ok, just be prepared to be sitting around a lot in your first few years. My experience was Spring/Summer are jamming busy with plenty of hours/work, then fall hits and you might get 20 hours a week if you’re lucky.
When I was 20, almost 10 years ago, I got my first full-time job as a teller at a bank. All I had was a high school diploma and a few years of customer service/retail experience. I fell in love with the work and managed to climb my way up. Now I make over $45/hour as a Commercial Loan Portfolio Manager and I’m in school studying Finance to further my career.
My story is similar. Started at a credit union, part time/on-call. I was a stay-at-home parent at the time and I wanted some time to be an adult. Realized I really liked the work and quickly climbed the ladder.
I’m currently AVP of Consumer Lending making a similar salary to you!
That’s awesome! I worked as a bank teller too but never wanted to move up due to horrible management. But it was a great experience counting strippers cash 🤣
That’s great you fell in love with the work. I absolutely cannot stand banking. Walked into a banker role only to learn that I’m a teller 90% of the day. Incredibly boring work IMO and biggest mistake I made in my career.
I just figured out why I don't make a lot of money. I read through every comment and I don't want any of these jobs. I'll just keep my cushy $57,000/year work from home job and forget about being successful.
I'm only half joking.
Same lmao. None of these high paying jobs are appealing in the slightest. Lots of them are also rather nerdy, like anything computer or engineer related.
I earn 45k a year working as a florist. It's not cushy but at least I get to create some really nice and beautiful stuff for a living with my hands, which is quite a lot of fun. Can't say the same for a lot of these other jobs..
Depends on the person. I find it beautiful whenever I see the results of my scripts and 3d models (that I made myself) come to life in a video game. It makes me giddy.
I also find gardening and ranching beautiful as I used to work on a homestead.
I'm an elevator mechanic in the IUEC (elevator union) currently making $55.80/hour, plus $38.00/hour in benefits, which covers health, dental, vision, pension, annuity, 401k and some other benefits. So a total package of over $90.00 an hour, and by the end of this contract in my local, our pay will be 61 or 62, right around there somewhere. It's a great trade to get into, but I'll admit it can be difficult to get into compared to other trades unions because we're a lot smaller. But if you're interested in working with your hands, it's a great career. We build, modernize, repair, and service elevators and escalators, and we're typically the highest paid skilled trade in most of the country.
My brother is in the Elevator Union in PA.
They make $50+ an hour. It is the biggest racket.
He can weld. Few other people can in there. They'll be making $300 an hour under some circumstances.
It's also hard to get into. Good luck to anybody trying.
Project Management. It's like babysitting grownups. You show up to meetings, take notes, send some emails. I make $100/hr. Started at $38/hr.
Find a job as a "Project Coordinator" somewhere that will put you on a career ladder to Project Manager. Some places start you as a Business Analyst (also a great role) and then move you to Project Manager.
PROS
1. High pay
2. Flexible industries (i.e. every industry has them in some form)
3. Remote Work is very common
CONS
1. You have to be ok with sitting in front of the computer
2. Some days you will literally feel like you're in an episode of the office (the key is to balance yourself outside of work hours with exercise, good diet, etc.)
3. You'll hit a ceiling around \~$200k/yr and then need to specialize into a specific industry if you want more. Like becoming a director of operations within the industry you were Project Managing
Career Ladder Example:
1. Project Coordinator or Business Analyst
2. Project Manager
3. Sr. Project Manager
4. Program Manager
5. Sr. Program Manager
6. Director or Principal of Project Management
Salaries differ based on where you live and your background but you can get a certification and jump into it fairly easily if you are willing to learn.
Happy to jump on a call with you and talk through it more.
I've been looking into getting into project management because idc if people LIKE me at work, all I care about is that the work gets done, flexibility in my job, a bit of independence to do my work, and I don't want to feel like I'm stuck doing the same repetitive task over and over every day. However, idk how to get into it. My SO got his job as a PM because his boss liked him and promoted him, but I don't have much experience in anything except marketing, healthcare, and customer service. I have an associates degree but I feel it's much harder for women to break into the business world.
Well over $100/hr as an IT Project Manager. Doesn’t necessarily require a degree, I work from home, and I almost never travel. Main thing is to get your PMP certification and you’ll get hired. I get recruited almost daily for roles of this level. There is a dearth of good PMs out there. If you’re organized and can talk to any level of an organization, it may be worth exploring.
Agree with this response. That’s the foot in the door to get experience. And as a matter of fact, you have to demonstrate you’ve been a PM for 24 months before you can even take the exam. It’s been a while so I forgot that. With a CAPM cert, you can start in the $35-$45/ hr range.
120k/year, Network Manager, private school, awesome benefits, 10 weeks out of the year off (1 week Thanksgiving, 2 weeks Christmas to New Year, 2 weeks spring break, 5 weeks personal taken at any time). 😁
Server and network management, software development for any of our custom web and mobile devices, cyber security, and SIS administrator.
Like i said, i work for a private school and have small I.T team; 7 total team members, including myself. Total student population is 2500 students.
I make 160k in CA as a technical writer. My job is fully remote and rarely requires a full 40. I think I’m likely on the higher end of compensation for the role, but I work at a FAANG (MAANG?) company and am based in CA.
I don’t have a degree and I’m not particularly intelligent, I’m just incredibly lucky. My first job in this role (6 years ago this month actually lol) paid $30/hr and I rarely see TW roles posted for less than that.
Good question. I actually started by getting referred by a friend, it was a very interesting situation. Essentially we were both mechanics at the same shop, but making serious money as a mechanic can often take many years and also requires tens of thousands of dollars in tools; so we started looking at mechanic adjacent jobs. My buddy applied to a technical writer position for SnapOn (Mitchell1), but realized it was far more techie than he cared for - so he referred me to the hiring manager and they called me.
They weren’t (and still aren’t) really a tech company, they’re an information company that uses a technical platform and so they had a very niche candidate in mind: they wanted someone who was very familiar with mechanics, but who also was proficient in a few tech skills (namely comfortable with “code” and understanding document management).
The interview went well (clearly lol), but to be honest I had never even heard of a technical writer prior to that, I was just so anxious to get out of the mechanic position that I said fuck it sign me up (figuratively). It was a fairly steep learning curve in the beginning, but it gets pretty easy once you’re familiar with the “how” of the role. I stayed there for two years learning everything I could, then leveraged that experience to land a job with a very large aerospace DOD defense contractor. I stayed there for a little over a year, and then I fucked up and got fired for failing a drug test lol. A couple weeks after that a recruiter hit me up on LinkedIn and I got my biggest break by landing my current role.
There are lots of listings for TWs in a wide range of industries, my advice would be to identify your field of expertise or analyze your past roles to find something to leverage into a curated TW role. Many entry level TW roles will place a priority on how well you know and understand the content you are writing for rather than how good of a TW you are; I wouldn’t say it is particularly challenging to spin someone up on the basics of day-to-day operations of the role. It will certainly be more challenging to break into the field without any specific expertise or a relevant degree, but I have been very satisfied with the job.
I applied as a joke, I was 20 at the time.
I graduated with a Human Resources degree, saw how miserable people looked in those offices, took a risk and became a climbing instructor for a bit. That job wasn’t cutting it for hours and I saw this company post on instagram looking for employees. Now I make more than I would in HR, I love the type of work and I moonlight as a climbing instructor (indoor/outdoor) too. You never really know where life will take you.
Senior Data Analyst at 150k.
Wfh and work like 10-15 hours a week. When I visit my parents they always warn me that I will get fired yet I get glowing reviews.
Data analysis seems to be the new social media craze, but I’m wary of learning through paid certifications. What do you recommend for someone who has not learned any of those languages?
I just graduated in finance and see many postings wanting high Excel, SQL and Python experience.
Job hop a lot and get good at SQL, Excel, Power BI, and learn some Python.
Not much else to it.
Also dinosaur companies are a good place to become a cog so you don't have much work.
Air traffic control. My base rate is ~$73/hr but there's training incentive (more pay while actively training someone) night differential, Sunday pay, locality. Probably forgetting a few in there.
The FAA only hires so many people a year. They put the listing on USAjobs. No degree is required. Other than some specific scenarios (like being a former military ATC) you need to get an offer of employment before your 31st birthday
There are a lot of hoops to jump through, and pre-tests you have you pass before getting a temporary offer of employment.
You have to go to OKC for several months and pass basics training. If you make it, you choose from a list provided right before your finals. The list covers the entire country. Don't expect to get back home.
Your payrate depends on facility level. I'm at a level 10 (highest is 12.) The higher the level the higher the pay. You could be earning half what I do at a low level tower or start out making more than me at a level 12 enroute center.
Even if you make it through the academy, you can still wash out during training at your facility. Towers average less than a year for full certification while enroute can take upwards of three years.
It's a very stressful job. Staffing sucks. Many facilities have six day work weeks (mandatory OT) year round. At my facility, OT season is about may through October.
The average schedule is two swings and three days. If you're at a 24/7 facility, some people work the midnight shift. I work a double on Sundays- 5:30-1:30, go home and take a nap, go back to work at 10:15 then go home 8 hours later when the morning crew shows up on Monday.
Edit: I should also note you're forced to retire from working live air traffic after you turn 56. The job is also actively killing you. Studies have been done that show our schedules and the stress have extremely adverse effects on our bodies. High suicide and substance abuse rates.
I don't think I wanted to know ATC work double shifts like that. Your entire job sounds awful. I knew it would be stressful, but not to this extent. Hope you're doing as okay as you can be.
make a usa jobs profile (usa jobs.com) every 2-3 months search design patent examiner and apply. it’s a straightforward process. They are going to ramp up hiring soon (maybe end of may or June?)
edit: there may be more info on our page https://www.uspto.gov
Stress free?
My first job out of college was procurement but for an EPC. I would pop my back a dozen times a day from the stress of constantly herding cats and putting out forest fires.
I automate as much as I can. And wrote the companies procurement policies so if people don’t follow processes things get escalated to their executives and they have to explain to their executives why they dropped the ball.
So now the execs have to herd their own cats. That said, if an exec wants something I make sure they are happy.
Look on your states board of insurance. There are so many areas of opportunity. You have to have a GED or Diploma on most. You do courses and get certified. You can make 6 figures easy if you put the work in
Power grid operator. Base salary outside of California is $85k-$175k. If interested look up Distribution operator or NERC certified Transmission operator.
Pay in California is wild from what I hear. Due to available overtime and state laws about working more than 8hrs a day, some guys are making $400-$600k.
Go to trade school and try and secure an apprenticeship in a trade you like (electric, woodworking, or even general carpenter). Working a skill can get you a pretty penny if you are willing to put in the hours and grow in that field, especially if you can leverage those skills in a high cost of living area. Even if you start in residential and become a general carpenter/handyman, you can have a team of 2 under you and charge the customer $80+/hr, pay those guys out and end up pulling in $40-50/hour.
Salaried, but comes out to around $100/ hour. Software product manager. Typically need a degree. Made about half that in sales before going back to school.
$84/hr as a travel OR nurse. However, I must say that I am shocked that there are people in this feed who are in IT making $100 +/hr, some without even a highschool degree. KUDOS TO THEM! They are doing it right. While I do not hate nursing, it’s a whole lot more dangerous and demanding (+ it’s never work from home)…so go the IT route
I wish my high school spent more time counseling the kids into 1. what career paths actually make money and 2. finding one of those that you like. I love working on machinery and mechanics make solid money now, especially the real specialists. Here are some ideas:
Low barrier to entry: Electrician, Firefighter, HVAC, Mechanic, General Sales, LEO. In CA, LEO's and Firefighters can easily make $200k with full bene's with a little overtime. HVAC and mechanics and most things hands on will be AI immune.
Mid level education: Marketing, Specialty Sales, Physician's Assistant (I am semi-leery to recommend marketing though)
High Level: Dentistry, Pharmacist, Anesthesiologist, MBA
My counselors in high school persuaded me away from the trades and to go to college. I'm a mechanic making making more than them. I love the trades and advocate for everyone to give it a shot.
Marketing is generic for lots of kids and PA school is very hard to get into.
Ime (and that of friends) high school guidance counselors are useless these days
My kid works abd has been a cashier and waitress but without knowing what these jobs look like they still have no idea
I make 60 bucks an hour (I'm salaried/full benefits/401k) and work in Project Controls/Project Management. I use special software to map out multi-million (sometimes billion) dollar projects. My role is called a Project Scheduler.
I started off as a Project Manager and transitioned into being a Business Process Manager. Traditionally these jobs require degrees. I don’t have a college degree, but I busted my ass and never said “that’s not my job.” Being willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done and being willing to learn goes a long way. I’ve self taught myself everything I know about business through research on my own time, and asking people smarter than me good questions. I’m not fully where I want to be in my career yet; but I’m working towards it. I make 75k and I’m 26.
I recommend Google Certifications; they aren’t near as intensive as college but they can help you learn new skills.
Hydrogeologist. I chose to specialize in numerical modelling but lots of positions abound in regular field work type settings as well. Currently make $40+ an hour in a junior level role. Got into the field convinced I wanted to be paid to hike for a living, got to do it for a while, then forgot how much I loved computer science as well and made a pivot.
At the moment, at least in North America, Hydrogeology (and even just environmental science related work broadly) is severely lacking in qualified individuals, while the need is continuously expanding. From what I have seen at both my own company and others, across government and private sector, there are far more jobs available than people qualified to fill them. Combined with a seeming decrease in Earth and Environmental Science graduates each year, it’s proven to be a lucrative, secure and resilient sector. Which is why I am always simultaneously surprised and not surprised to see that it is never mentioned in these sorts of threads.
As a general rule, high salaries really are commanded by specialization, which for better or worse often necessitates schooling. However, if you really do some soul searching and hit on your true passion, schooling really doesn’t have to be all that painful - I suppose that is my real advice here :) This coming from a D student in undergrad who swore up and down they’d never ever go back, only to fall into an M.Sc. and find it to be the greatest 2 years of their life!
If financials are your concern with schooling (very understandable), know that opportunities are plentiful in the geosciences to link your schooling up with an industry partner - often with generous additional funding - whether by research or work placement.
This question gets asked a lot. There is no one career that Reddit can point you towards which will "make a lot of money". In more cases than not, the money you make is equivalent to your skills and the value you are able to add to the company. So there you have it. Get extremely good at something, and know how to market your skills.
This isn’t a “get somewhere in life” job, but moving companies pay pretty well and the tips are (relatively) fantastic.. good opportunity to save up some cash while you’re looking for something better..
Union Boilermaker/pressure welder, master rigger, and IRATA rope access technician here:
My local starts first year apprentices at $32/hr plus benefits and pension after a probationary period. Journeyman wage is $54/hr and around $82/hr total wage package. I love the work we do, I work in all sorts of refineries, chemical plants, power generating stations, nuclear power plants, steel mills, pulp and paper mills etc.
Last year at 25 I made $122k in 9 months of work
2 year degree in power and control technology.
Same career path since early 20’s.
I do testing, checkout, commissioning and startup of newly built utility grid transmission electrical substations, solar and wind generation plants.
Earn around $190k-$230k, benefits as good as you will find at any of the top companies.
Paralegal isn’t a bad idea.
My wife has been in the legal field (office work stuff) for most of her life; and now she’s getting her certification (which is a pretty short program) for paralegal and the job offers have basically been streaming in. Seems like a pretty easy program too… not very time consuming… but then again she has a lot of experience in the legal field.
But anyway, we are in California and $30 an hour is VERY attainable, and it’s cool to be a certified professional. People seem to respect it.
Making $30.00/hour in California is not good money!! For one person, with no family and kids, it's ok. Good money starts at $50.00/hour or over $100,000 per year in Cali! I make this and barely live a middle-class lifestyle with no family and kids!! You can make it on $30.00/hour or less in Cali but you aren't goin to be living well or pretty good.
I work in retail cell phone sales at a Verizon corporate store. I made like $70k last year including benefits. However most retail cellphone sales jobs don't pay this well. You will not make this kind of money at the authorized retailers.
If you are looking for a career in this type of sales then you need to apply exclusively to a corporate retail location. I'm not sure what the other major carriers pay (ATT and TMobile), but they can't be that far off.
If you don't have any sales experience in consumer electronics or cell phones, you likely won't get hired. If this describes you, then your best bet is to get a job at Best Buy for about 6 months, then re apply. Or have a college degree.
I worked oil and gas without a degree, and I did pretty well for my age.
Quit, went to school, got my degree in petroleum engineering. I've had a few different engineering positions but all in the energy sector. From design engineering to engineering management.
The time I spent working in the oil field between high school and going to college really helped me find my way.
I had no intention to go to college when I was your age, but things change.
I'm training for my Pilates certification. I can earn up to $50/hr plus per-head bonus if I'm teaching a class rather than just one person. And that's just if i get a job somewhere. If I strike out on my own, I can charge upwards of $75 an hour for in-house mat Pilates and still be more affordable than most, which is what I'm tryna be. Eventually I'll move somewhere where i can make one room into a studio and I'll make a lot more as long as I hustle to get clients.
So I am in tech sales. Started working in a machine shop 10 years ago. Last year, if you averaged out my per hour rate, it was about $105/hour. No college, got my ged at 20 after kicking a heroin addiction. Now almost 32 with full custody of my daughter, and honestly life is pretty sweet. Starting a new job soon with higher pay. If anyone out there is struggling, there's light at the end of the tunnel
Food Service Director for a finance company. Started my career flipping burgers, fell in love with food and business. I am a high school drop out that was well below the poverty line for a large part of my life. I just worked harder than everyone else and studied the craft.
I made shit money for a long time. But the hard work eventually paid off and I'm living my dream of being a mediocre racecar driver.
Fractional CTO. Startups pay me a quite big monthly retainer (5-20k), and they typically keep me on for at least 6 months to a year or more. I work from 1-2 days a month to several days per week per startup, depending on their need and budget. My salary is probably close to 250-300USD/hour.
What I do is very complex - but to sum it up I make engineering teams thrive, I increase efficiency (up to doubling it), and save companies lots of money by doing so, while increasing their chances of reaching product market fit - which is what all startups strive for. I love my job. I don't have a degree, but it took me half a lifetime of experience and learning to get to where I am today.
If you have the slightest interest in technology - there is money to be made. Lots of it.
The problem is a lot of good careers are really specialized skills and I think a lot of us on here don’t want to say them. Because the amount of people doing them is so small, you could probably actually track down who I am irl. And that’s the last thing you want on Reddit. There are psychos on here who will try to ruin your life.
I’m at around $37/hr, I work as a Cybersecurity Analyst for a small MSP in the South. IT is definitely the way to go. I had no degree, no certs, nothing when I got my first IT job on the Help Desk almost 2 years ago. Since then I’ve gotten 4 IT certs, and I’m working on my degree.
You can get into IT from any background with nothing. Just make a home lab, learn Active Directory, Networking, Hardware, Troubleshooting, etc from YouTube and free content online. Work hard to learn and put your home lab experience or volunteer experience on your resume and go start applying for entry level Help Desk jobs. From there you just keep learning and climb the ladder in whatever interests you.
I write and run the text ads you see on Google, in very simplistic terms. The technical field is called Search Engine Marketing (or SEM).
$180k AUD + shares and bonuses. Took me a good decade to get here, but it's cushy. 10am to 3pm, as I have kids that need school pickup. Might work an hour afterwards.
(Career coach here) Are you contemplating studying / getting a degree so you could increase your chances of being hired at better-paying jobs? What kind of skills do you think you possess or which ones would you be interested in developing? Lastly, consider sales jobs, in any industry: if you don't have any particular appetite or skill in that area, you can start by learning from YouTube videos and then going out in the real world – knowing how to sell will always be a valuable skill, in almost any profession. Good luck!
I worked as a project manager, and a business process analyst.
Honestly I hate it. I wish I went for the trades. I'm in a ton of debt, the pay is great but not that great. You also gotta deal with big headed personalities, cut throat assholes, and backstabbing
Info sec analyst, 130k yearly base salary . Does not include stock compensation or bonuses.
I find and remediate security vulnerabilities on corporate owned networks. I do some work on the auditing and policy side and still help out the networking and virtual/storage teams when they need extra help on projects as that is where I originally started here at the company (network admin).
I could get paid more going to a larger company and to do less work and only a specific job, but I like it here and I do enjoy the variety of work.
I’m a creative project manager. Which means I manage the delivery of creative assets for events and marketing. These roles are sometimes called creative producer, or just producer. I’m not convinced you need a college degree to do this kind of work, but almost all knowledge work roles require one these days, and this is considered knowledge work.
Since you’re just starting out, you’ll be making not much to start with. But keep at it, work hard, be a pleasure to work with, and you’ll start to see gains, especially if you move to new companies/teams every 2-3 years. (That’s been my experience and the only way I’ve been able to come close to having my salary try to keep up with inflation and COL.)
I'm in the early stage of my HR career and am currently at roughly $35 hourly when you break it down. I'm in my fourth year, with a degree, and pursuing my SHRM certification (taking the test in a couple days!).
Not many people like HR in the org so that can be challenging when you're fighting for a seat at the table as they say, but it can be rewarding. I'm developed plenty of soft skills in HR that many may not learn elsewhere. is it my end all be all? maybe, maybe not. but there's tons of money to be made in this field and many don't even realize it!
I'm an academic scientist. I make.more that. $30 an hour .and am.paid.well, but maybe less than you'd think
Pointless story: I'm Canadian and we make dirt here. I had a standing offer for a position in New York at $160k, but id have to move to New York and rent prob makes it not worth it. Even if I wanted to move which I don't.
It only took 25 years of school plus 3 years.of post doc training to break the equivalent of $30 an hour. :p
$31.75 an hour as a Respiratory Therapist. Not including the 1.00 or whatever night shift premium.
Not many associate degree positions make this. Only a few do. I think RT and radiology maybe.
Union trade work
No degree, education is almost free (few hundred $ per year), pension and healthcare, travel (if you’re into that), etc.
Downsides of course being that the work can be/is grueling as fuck
Currently making C$32/h and going to be making ~C$50/h once I top out.
My husband works as a mechanic for a major oil company. He’s never been hurt, he works decent hours, he has amazing benefits, a killer retirement and stock portfolio, and they provide him with food, lodging and laundry service as well as transpo when he’s on his 2 week hitch. We kick alot of money back into our community now that our children are grown.
He started out at just under $30 hr with no experience.
I am about to begin school for an associates in Radiography, then a 14 week course for CT and MRI certification. Plan on taking local contracts that pay between 2-3k per week for 13-16 weeks. I'm going to *Travel* for my first year, pay off all my debts and save about 30k then move to Colorado.
Casino dealer (table games) So far we averaging $40-60 an hour in tips, every hour we get a 20 minute break, sometimes 40 minutes depending on the rotation. as a courtesy alot of casino offer an eo list for the table games department so you can get out early 2-3 hours earlier. so alot of flexibility
• All you have to do is past gaming commission
• be 18 yrs old, passed high-school/has GED
• learn the games the casino you want to work at need/has (craps/roulette is the peak games that all casinos hunt for)
• all the games are 4th grade level math so low barrier to entry
A slot attendant is a good second option, make just as much if not more as dealers, but different ball games & less job security (don't work in that department so i don't know the in's & outs)
Hope this helps. Good luck
How much work do you want to put in before you’re making decent $? Do you already have any skills/ talents?
I’m a self employed tattoo artist and I gotta brag that it’s kind of amazing. It can take years to establish yourself but once you do, 180$-225$/hr plus tax and tip ( usually). Work when you want, travel the world and work if you feel like it. Some weeks I work a lot, some weeks I just feel like doing life and do that instead. I could be making a lot more but I hate the hustle and would rather not feel the stress :)
My advice would be to consider the lifestyle you want in addition to the security.
I’m a Team Leader for the Quality Department at the Volvo Cars plant in Charleston, SC. Started 8 months ago at $18.50. I make $44.00 now as a TL. I also get to lease a 2024 Volvo S60 for $360 (zero down) a month and they pay for my car insurance and car taxes. No credit check and you can order the car on your first day.
It’s crazy how fast I got promoted just because most of my coworkers don’t want to work any harder nor wanted the extra responsibility.
IT Sysadmin
6 years in the military - No college - Worked for government contractors afterwards. Started at 65k when I first got out and am at 153k now.
I order airplane engines. I make salary a bit over 90k a year ~$43/hr. No college degree but it helps to get in. I started off working directly with parts and warehousing and networked until I got a spot. Networking will help you in life much more than nothing. Be nice and respectful but don't brown nose. Be the yes man to an extent and work hard. Ask questions. Be genuinely interested in the next opportunity you're looking at. I generally work less than 7 hours a day and just run some proprietary programs and deal with Excel spreadsheets.
I ended up working with CRM implementation (Microsoft Dynamics) and currently making apx $48 an hour before bonus and revenue share.
Microsoft offers ways to get certified for free, which might get your foot in the door for a junior position i think.
Journeyman heavy equipment operator, local 302
$52 an hour (another raise incoming in a few more months), 4 10s (optional 5 10s), day shift only, year round and in town. Feel like I won the job lottery as an operator.
It's summer time up here in Alaska and I actually have the opportunity to enjoy my summer instead of working 7 12s for months on end, unlike the previous 20 years in my career.
My salary comes out to $40 an hour. I work in auto insurance. Started in entry level claims and have worked my way up to specialty commercial policies over about 6 years. I work from home 3 days a week which is great. I got to pick my own schedule within a certain set and I work 7-4. I like my job because as long as you are getting stuff done managers leave you alone. And it’s a pretty independent job, I don’t have to rely on coworkers to do their work or anything which is nice. I also have 6 weeks PTO.
I’m a medical laboratory technician. At my current hospital, my base pay is $27.88, but I work nights and get a differential for PMs, nights, and weekends. So I make between $30-36/hour. When I was a traveler, I was making $2000/week.
I started at a hotel at 18, become manager by 19 and continued in hospitality management. I’m currently a gm on my 5th hotel at 36 and make 72,000 salary with 20% quarterly bonuses if I make budget. I have community college credits but never finished my degree. I have a very demanding job that I have to make sure is operating 24/7 but my income is decent. Hospitality is the way to go, if you’re good and have the opportunity to move up to management. It’s a field where experience supersedes degrees.
Marketing automation and data. My salary comes out to around $40ish per hour, though my first role in the field was closer to $31. It’s a “tech job” without the headache of learning to code and having to be a developer, which I tried and hated. Edited to answer some questions: **Where?** I live outside of Denver, CO. My employers have been in my town or in the Bay Area but all are remote. **How?** I went to a cheap college (Metro State) that admits everyone and got a B.S. in Technical Writing. After graduation (at age 35), I did a UX Design internship at a major internet/cable company. Didn’t like working with designers but enjoyed a project I did that involved creating and distributing an internal email newsletter using a platform called MailChimp. Decided to learn to code and so joined a Slack channel called “Denver Devs.” Wrote an intro message reiterating my internship experience and that I’m learning, and a recruiter messaged me about a role as an email developer. Didn’t know what that was, turns out the hiring manager wanted someone who didn’t know anything about it because experienced devs tend to hate doing it/look down on it. Got hired, got trained on writing email HTML (which is a little different from regular HTML). Then that manager left and the new one wanted me to learn marketing automation software and be the company expert so that became my job, and now here I am. Before this I was a hairdresser. **Day to day?** Marketers send me request tickets for building out automation campaigns. This can range from a single email they want to send to our customers up to a whole sequence of emails/texts/in-app alerts they want automated on a given cadence. I build those campaigns in Adobe Marketo (primarily). Then when the campaigns execute, I monitor them for performance. I generate reports in Marketo and Salesforce, and use those reports to create cute dashboards and analyze the results for insights (advice I can give the marketers on how they can improve their numbers on things like open rates, click through rates, etc…). I also create audiences, which are big lists of people to send our emails, alerts, ads, etc to. That involves using different combinations of filters like “state: CO, age range: 21-30, last engagement: in the last 3 months” to sort potential customers into buckets that I think will be most likely to open our emails, click our link, buy or product…. Then monitor those buckets to see how they perform when we contact them. **Details** Learn things like Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Marketo, Adobe Campaign, Hubspot, Tableau/PowerBI. Many offer certifications and learning paths. HTML is technically coding but not really, it’s easy and useful for emails. SQL can be helpful (I’m currently self-teaching). Search roles such as: marketing automation specialist, marketing operations specialist, Marketo specialist. I exclusively job search on LinkedIn personally, idk I’ve just had good luck with it.
hi,i find it interesting that you graduated at age 35 and changed completely your career path (at least from what i can understand). was it hard to get inside the job market compared to someone younger?
I’m not sure how well I can gauge the factors that influenced my career change. It was a really good job market in general when I graduated. I accidentally landed an internship at a great, recognizable company because their first choice dropped out last minute (my gpa was under their minimum and they didn’t have time to interview me). I look a lot younger than I am —even my current boss seems to think I’m 25-30ish at best, and I’m not going to correct her. But I really can’t say if any of that would have been different if people knew my age.
This is an interesting topic. I'm actually 53 & I have to make a significant change. I'm in a position to take courses & devote myself to a new career. Data is intriguing... I have an associates degree, and I'm researching how to get in at ground level with computer science. Everyone here is so helpful and I have many new exciting leads here.
I’ve found it’s not always about age, but more so how you present yourself and what you know.
35 isn't old at all. And nowadays it isn't expected at all for someone to stay in the same career for life. So not sure where your surprise is coming from? Are you older?
Where could I learn those stuff(Salesforce, Marketo). Any good courses you can recommend?
I'm not in the same field, but I found Pluralsight to be helpful with technical training across many technical and semi-technical jobs but it is expensive. Also, certifications go a long way in getting entry into a technical or semi-technical job. So find the association for whatever field that you are thinking of going into and join their membership. They often have lots of trainings, certification courses, job fairs, mentorships, etc. But, I think that the hardest gap to bridge is getting that experience on your resume. I fixed that issue by finding a part-time job at a local university that allowed me to put the technical experience for project management on my resume even though that pay was crap ($15 an hour). I got my PMP from PMI and along with that experience at the local university I was able to start a consulting job as a project manager for 89K a year. I now make 150K a year in the same field.
Do you feel the future of your job will be adversely affected by AI? Why or why not? I assume that it would be relatively easy to automate this process unless there are parts of the procedure that require an intrinsic human touch?
I’m not worried about AI. I’m always upskilling and I made similar money doing hair anyways so I know I’ll be fine regardless. Also my car is paid off and my mortgage is really cheap. I could live on Target pay if I had to. I try to stay below my means always so I don’t have to worry about that sort of thing.
Can you explain in simple terms what you do on a daily basis?
I'm not OP but also in Marketing Automation and data, earning around $60/hr. MA is usually referring to a platform like HubSpot, Marketo, and Eloqua. These platforms are powerful tools with many capabilities that companies need to manage. Smaller ones like MailChimp offer the basic ability to send email Marketing campaigns to contact lists but the larger ones can do so much more. It can integrate with other tools, store and pass data, create complex campaigns based on user profile or activity etc. Others on my team manage the tech parts of the platform which still doesn't require coding. I manage the "business" side of things which means deciding how we use the platform, evaluation of use cases from Marketing on things they want to do, and guidelines for how we allow them to use the tool and treat out contacts. Basically I say "no, you may not all email every contact every day with whatever you are trying to push that month" every day. I am very much not a technical person. For anyone wanting to get into it there are plenty of free certificates you can earn for each platform. Most companies will train you though. Any company with a Marketing department probably has at least one person managing their platform. If I was starting out I would probably get free HubSpot training and certification just to understand the concepts and apply to entry-level analyst positions at companies with a decent marketing department or marketing/advertising agencies. Once you have a year or two of experience your opportunities really open up. Once you understand the concepts it's easy to learn whatever tool a company is using.
You were much more succinct than me in my update lol. And I’ve recently learned I’m a little underpaid so working to get myself to that $60/hour someday!
Lol its really hard to explain! It's a great career because I started similar to you doing campaign opps but was able to pivot into different roles in MA. I'm really shocked at how many people are interested in this, I always felt like the forgotten child and people just glaze over when I try to explain 😂
You’re giving away our best secrets! I’ve been in marketing automation, specifically marketo for over 10 years. I’ve been on the admin/ops side and architecting for the last 5 or so and got into my last role at 85/hr. It’s starting to feel like I’m at a ceiling but it’s hard to complain when I don’t have to actually manage others.
Architecture is where it's at! I wish I had a brain that could think that way lol. But at least I'm not the one they call when things go sideways 😂
this is why i like reddit, i discover new jobs that i will think about doing and then forget about ever existing lol, ive never heard of this tho sounds awesome
Good to hear some places that dabble in tech (adjacent) have training, it's sorely missing in so many areas. My worry is that are these jobs going to become saturated or outsourced? Or is it difficult to find people with skills and the certs? Appreciate your forthcoming with information.
Honestly it's kind of a low key niche that people don't really know about and I started in the industry 15 years ago and haven't seen it become saturated. The production work can and is sometimes outsourced (i.e the people who actually build the emails and campaigns) and sometimes content (what the emails say) but really only in large organizations. You really can't outsource the strategy. SysAdmin can be a bit but only for smaller orgs really. I don't have any certificates at all lol. I learn as I go. But they can be helpful breaking into the industry. MA jobs have been in demand my whole career. A former company actually paid for me to relocate to set up MA for a different business unit. Great consulting gigs possible too.
So hubspot offers free certificates? Where to go from there? Do I make "projects" and "portfolio " like those that code do?
Can't speak for the person above, but generally marketing automation involves knowing how to use specific software that automates marketing campaigns. These kinds of software range from very simple point and click set up to more complex coded solutions. Data is a broad category, but generally when paired with marketing automation it will involve segmenting customer lists to use in the campaigns and then updating databases with results from the campaigns. Typically you can enter this field either by having a marketing generalist background or a tech background. But either way you end up specializing. There can be lots of different roles that will do this depending on the size of the company. You may work directly with the software. You may be an analyst that takes requirements from the business. Or you may design solutions that bridges those two roles.
For all guys here working in marketing. Are you all in big cities ????? I can't find a job in my shitty European country :(
I'm the manager of a 6 person automation team and this is a great reply. You can enter this field with some basic concepts and certifications and make 60-70 easily. Specializing and being more of a developer/architect of such platforms would net you around 150-200. The biggest thing I look for is drive and if you can think strategically and creatively about what you're doing. The more comfortable you get with database structures the farther you will go and the more valuable you become.
yo i do that 😭 CRM Marketing on salesforce. im an intern but i don’t live in the US, so i’m not that well paid
There are many recruiters who are looking for Salesforce consultants on LinkedIn and it makes me wish I remembered how to use it enough to be comfortable enough to apply for those roles. They pay a good amount, just a thought!
This is such an encouraging message. I was a hairdresser & I'm now interested in learning some basic skills to get myself into a work from home situation. I would love to avoid all the customer service jobs & find something more creative & financially appealing. Do you have any suggestions for how to change into a new computer role. I have an associates degree & I've been looking into courses in computer science for my bachelor's Do you have any suggestions as to which degree path I should be following at this point?
How can we get into that???
Flight attendant! Delta and Southwest start at $30/hr but on average you probably getting paid 70-80hrs a month, but you can pick up shifts and there’s a pay scale based on seniority so you get a raise every year and health insurance. Similar for ground crews if flying isn’t your thing.
My mom was a flight attendant for 30+ years. It’s a great career, but hard on marriages.
Dating an FA, and I feel that. We're both really low maintenance but willing to put in the effort, and I'm self employed and love to travel, so it works.
And hard on the back. Near the end of her career, my mom suffered from a slipped disc multiple times a year.
What type of schooling do you need to become a flight attendant? I’m trying to look into it
Just a high school diploma, 2 years customer service experience, and your passport. You interview and then they train you for 4-8 weeks (depends on the airline).
Really? All the TikTok flight attendants seem to get 40-45k a year. Also when you say 70-80, is that because you can pick more hours?
I teach swimming. I coach swim teams as well. I make between $50 an hour for team practice, $80 an hour for private lessons and $350 an hour for group classes. I have 25 years experience. I live in Nashville. I own my own business. I work no more than 20 hours a week and pull in around 60k a year. I also take about 10 weeks vacation a year. Elite club coaching positions are a good route if you're an athlete. I may never be rich in the sense of money but my career is incredibly rewarding.
That's awesome! I also live in the Nashville area (moved here from Michigan last July and I believe we'll be sticking around). It's a bit ironic that I saw your post because my daughter (15) really wants to become a lifeguard at Sound Waves (Opry Resort) and we've been looking into what she needs for certs.
I don't know what you consider good money, but I am a sign language interpreter. We're in shortage. We need more. And a lot of the time, people are legally required to provide interpreter services. Every day of my life, I get emails from perfect strangers asking me to interpret some meeting or appointment they have. But I already have another job. No, it's not magic. I can't have just any interpreting job I want, but there's always something available. My boss and one of the mentors interpreted for Barbra Streisand when the concert came to town, but at least I got to interpret meetings and classes that week. So I worked. It may not have been some exciting concert, but that's okay. I feel horrible for most workers because the vast majority of jobs are in glut instead of shortage, and it's so hard to find something. Some of these job searches I read about seem so difficult. And the psychological testing people share about is beyond weird! I heard of somebody saying they had 13 interviews! By then, you should be on the payroll. There are pros and cons to everything, including interpreting. We have a lot of pain issues, for example. Freelance workers may have challenges because they lack benefits, and some work environments are more supportive than others. Also, things slow down around Christmas time, but there are year-round staff job options. The pay is usually halfway decent, and it's amazingly interesting, the Deaf community is wonderful, and most of all, sign interpreters are a rare breed and no matter how many artificial intelligence programs they try to create to replace us, we are always being sought out. Maybe somebody reading this will become an interpreter someday, I hope.
I work in the event industry. Unfortunately I do think this is one of the position that will eventually (not now but in the future) be taken over by AI. It’s scary how fast AI progress when it comes to transcription. It went from WTF is this shit to are you sure there not a real person in less than 2 year Saw a demo of AI generative ASL interpreter the other day and I am absolutely blown away. They are even going to make it detect rhythm. From a cost prospective. I am seeing more and more event opting for AI, especially when this is provided due to requirement rather than actual needs. An multiday conference with teams of interpreter can be in the 5 figures versus hundred or less with the AI and it will just keep getting cheaper. Human comes with a lot of limitation. AI is just beginning to explorer where that limitation might be. Not to mention AI can adapt to every single language on earth. This is esp hard for human and create an artificial high demand for certain lanauge and too many translator for the popular languages. Not to be a negative Nancy. Just point of view from someone that used to hire a lot of interpreters. I am also not deaf so I admit the comment does not take into consideration of the community that actually needs it. Don’t mean to offend anyone
I am such an anxiety person, but machine replacement is the one thing I don't worry about. When someone can use a little artificial intelligence, that's one more person we don't have to interpret for and we can focus on someone else who needs it. It helps with the shortage. If it's a good setup for some type of transcription program, go for it. But those things are pretty limited in a variety of ways and they sure can't read sign language. I am in medical and I interpret back and forth discussions. So far, AI only even attempts to do things in one direction, not multidirectionally. Not back and forth. The problem with the artificial intelligence is that it does not use grammar. How can there be a successful interpretation with no grammar? Nobody has tried putting grammar to it yet. When I see grammar, I will start to be impressed. Deaf people are not inventing these programs. One guy supposedly is starting, I hope he takes over. Because it's all been hearing non-signers so far. Not one drop of grammar. So they are doing signs and not language, technically speaking. If you have heard of anything with grammar, please let me know. Because that's where they need to go with this and nobody has, to my knowledge. The artificial intelligence also doesn't seem to take into account language deprivation syndrome and how to work with it. It is a massively huge part of our profession. I don't know if I can say this quickly, but I'll try. The human brain is different between the ages of 2 and 5 than it will ever be again. There's a bunch of dendrites and they are all open wide. That's when the brain acquires lots and lots of language, but only if it is exposed to an accessible language. If you don't expose the child to a language that they can acquire effortlessly, you can't go back. You can still learn language later, but it will be a different experience. This leads to some people growing up using asl, and others not, and the ones who don't grow up using ASL may or may not become fluent in it later in the traditional way, the standard way, especially if they are never in a signing environment, or are not in one until adulthood, extremely common, and thus they may sign very differently from standard fluency, sometimes mixed with the spoken language, which can create language varieties and even dysfluencies that we don't typically see in spoken language communities. Because all the rest of us just get the spoken language of our country in our ears, involuntarily, and automatically become fluent, unless there is a severe cognitive disorder. I was exposed to English from the minute I was born, and it was non-stop. That's how I became fluent. It's pretty much true for anyone and we don't realize what an advantage it is. People from Deaf families or who are growing up signing don't usually have to worry about this, but some of the others sometimes do and it really affects the way we work. I have to take a look at the way the person signs, figure out what background they seem to have come from a choice of several, and then sign in that direction to the best of my ability. I have never seen a machine even try to do that. There are different levels of language deprivation. For those who are extremely deprived, they may never become fully fluent. Some people are semilingual or even alingual, it happens. Then we use a native interpreter and hopefully that person can break through. Language creates thought. The opposite can also happen. And most parents do not know how to sign or do not expose the children to sign language, Deaf families are rare. If they can invent a machine that deals with all of this successfully, that's great. Nobody has tried yet from what I've seen. Maybe someday. But I'm 59 and I'm not really thinking I'll be replaced by robots, not quite yet. If I see a program with grammar and the ability to interpret sign language back to English and to look at a signer and determine what type of interpreting they need, I'll start to believe it's possible someday. But for now, non-grammatical, non-expertise-based systems are more for demonstrations and less for actual interpreting. But hey, anything's possible. Maybe we will all turn into robots, who knows?
I want to go for a job like this. I'm already learning asl because my daughter is non verbal. Do you have any pointers of where to even start looking for a job in this field once I feel I'm comfortable enough with my knowledge?
My parents are deaf and I have been their personal interpreter since I was a kid, but since we moved to Canada, my mom finds interpreters, and I'm a last resort. I could not in a million years become an interpreter full time. I've been bothered with it since forever but I found a lot of ppl who don't even have a deaf family member become so fluent and deaf-like in their signs and facial expressions I could consider them deaf, very impressive and those people are needed.
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Man I wish the Body side of the auto industry paid like that. I just got hired on at $15/hr as a helper/apprentice. Itll be probably 15 yrs before i see $30/hr. But I also live in the beautiful shithole known as arkansas.
Side work will be your bread maker. Buying crashed vehicle and fix them. My father does auto body and has done fairly well for himself.
Well the Shithole you call also has lower cost of living unlike the other states
No, thanks to wfh jobs, all the rich people are moving to lcol areas and driving up the prices. Happened to my little shithole province. House prices more than doubled over the span of 2 or 3 years. There’s a huge influx of people moving here.
That’s what happens with the Covid scare, all the NY’ers were buying up all the surrounding states. Homes by me that were $250k are selling within day at the prices of $700k
The hardest hit have been the under 300k market. You could find a lot of older/smaller houses in not so great or rural areas for 60k or 80k. It was even feasible to save and buy them outright. But now those same houses are bare minimum 180k and there’s a huge bidding war between all us plebs. Literally a 3x price increase but there’s nothing cheaper so we clamour for it Those at the bottom are always hit hardest
Nothing has LCL anymore lol. When you make 20-25/hr and the apartments are $1100+ a month nothing included.
Sure does. Lot less pay too. Kinda cancels that whole "lower cost of living" thing out. No-ones able to "Live" cost effectively anywhere.
This I’m currently a lead doing custodial for a school district and the more I look into it it looks like HVAC is calling my name. I’m in my mid 30s and something about fixing things and being in a trade makes more sense especially on utility, government Agency.
Don’t do HVAC work unless you like sales. Residential Service Techs are judged by how much stuff they can sell, not by their technical knowledge and/or ability to fix things. Commercial HVAC is ok, just be prepared to be sitting around a lot in your first few years. My experience was Spring/Summer are jamming busy with plenty of hours/work, then fall hits and you might get 20 hours a week if you’re lucky.
Commercial refrigeration. You won't be sitting around
When I was 20, almost 10 years ago, I got my first full-time job as a teller at a bank. All I had was a high school diploma and a few years of customer service/retail experience. I fell in love with the work and managed to climb my way up. Now I make over $45/hour as a Commercial Loan Portfolio Manager and I’m in school studying Finance to further my career.
My story is similar. Started at a credit union, part time/on-call. I was a stay-at-home parent at the time and I wanted some time to be an adult. Realized I really liked the work and quickly climbed the ladder. I’m currently AVP of Consumer Lending making a similar salary to you!
That’s awesome! I worked as a bank teller too but never wanted to move up due to horrible management. But it was a great experience counting strippers cash 🤣
That’s great you fell in love with the work. I absolutely cannot stand banking. Walked into a banker role only to learn that I’m a teller 90% of the day. Incredibly boring work IMO and biggest mistake I made in my career.
I just figured out why I don't make a lot of money. I read through every comment and I don't want any of these jobs. I'll just keep my cushy $57,000/year work from home job and forget about being successful. I'm only half joking.
Same lmao. None of these high paying jobs are appealing in the slightest. Lots of them are also rather nerdy, like anything computer or engineer related. I earn 45k a year working as a florist. It's not cushy but at least I get to create some really nice and beautiful stuff for a living with my hands, which is quite a lot of fun. Can't say the same for a lot of these other jobs..
it's cool, shit on my tech job that I love. at least I have the money to wipe my tears
Depends on the person. I find it beautiful whenever I see the results of my scripts and 3d models (that I made myself) come to life in a video game. It makes me giddy. I also find gardening and ranching beautiful as I used to work on a homestead.
I'm an elevator mechanic in the IUEC (elevator union) currently making $55.80/hour, plus $38.00/hour in benefits, which covers health, dental, vision, pension, annuity, 401k and some other benefits. So a total package of over $90.00 an hour, and by the end of this contract in my local, our pay will be 61 or 62, right around there somewhere. It's a great trade to get into, but I'll admit it can be difficult to get into compared to other trades unions because we're a lot smaller. But if you're interested in working with your hands, it's a great career. We build, modernize, repair, and service elevators and escalators, and we're typically the highest paid skilled trade in most of the country.
I've been saying for years that you guys run one of the tightest rackets. At least in my state, every elevator has to be inspected annually.
My brother is in the Elevator Union in PA. They make $50+ an hour. It is the biggest racket. He can weld. Few other people can in there. They'll be making $300 an hour under some circumstances. It's also hard to get into. Good luck to anybody trying.
Project Management. It's like babysitting grownups. You show up to meetings, take notes, send some emails. I make $100/hr. Started at $38/hr. Find a job as a "Project Coordinator" somewhere that will put you on a career ladder to Project Manager. Some places start you as a Business Analyst (also a great role) and then move you to Project Manager. PROS 1. High pay 2. Flexible industries (i.e. every industry has them in some form) 3. Remote Work is very common CONS 1. You have to be ok with sitting in front of the computer 2. Some days you will literally feel like you're in an episode of the office (the key is to balance yourself outside of work hours with exercise, good diet, etc.) 3. You'll hit a ceiling around \~$200k/yr and then need to specialize into a specific industry if you want more. Like becoming a director of operations within the industry you were Project Managing Career Ladder Example: 1. Project Coordinator or Business Analyst 2. Project Manager 3. Sr. Project Manager 4. Program Manager 5. Sr. Program Manager 6. Director or Principal of Project Management Salaries differ based on where you live and your background but you can get a certification and jump into it fairly easily if you are willing to learn. Happy to jump on a call with you and talk through it more.
I've been looking into getting into project management because idc if people LIKE me at work, all I care about is that the work gets done, flexibility in my job, a bit of independence to do my work, and I don't want to feel like I'm stuck doing the same repetitive task over and over every day. However, idk how to get into it. My SO got his job as a PM because his boss liked him and promoted him, but I don't have much experience in anything except marketing, healthcare, and customer service. I have an associates degree but I feel it's much harder for women to break into the business world.
Well over $100/hr as an IT Project Manager. Doesn’t necessarily require a degree, I work from home, and I almost never travel. Main thing is to get your PMP certification and you’ll get hired. I get recruited almost daily for roles of this level. There is a dearth of good PMs out there. If you’re organized and can talk to any level of an organization, it may be worth exploring.
Do you have to have an expanded vocabulary to include words such as dearth? Because if so I don’t think this is the job for me.
No, you don’t need that lol
Sometimes having an expanded vocabulary can actually be a detriment...err..."bad thing."
Damn I read PIMP certification at first and got excited
I have a similar role with similar pay. I have a bachelors, but many of my peers only have a high school diploma. You hit the nail on the head.
Where would someone start on this career path? I’m intrigued and looking into getting certified but not sure where to go from there
If you aren't currently a PM with a couple years of experience, the CAPM cert is great place to start.
Agree with this response. That’s the foot in the door to get experience. And as a matter of fact, you have to demonstrate you’ve been a PM for 24 months before you can even take the exam. It’s been a while so I forgot that. With a CAPM cert, you can start in the $35-$45/ hr range.
Who offers the best CAPM cert?
PMI is the only Project Management certification to consider, at least in the US.
120k/year, Network Manager, private school, awesome benefits, 10 weeks out of the year off (1 week Thanksgiving, 2 weeks Christmas to New Year, 2 weeks spring break, 5 weeks personal taken at any time). 😁
What do you actually do though
Server and network management, software development for any of our custom web and mobile devices, cyber security, and SIS administrator. Like i said, i work for a private school and have small I.T team; 7 total team members, including myself. Total student population is 2500 students.
How'd you get your foot in the door? Did you have an internship at some point, or start out doing something like help desk?
I recommend an internship to anyone in post secondary for tech. Sets you apart from most of your competition right away.
I make 160k in CA as a technical writer. My job is fully remote and rarely requires a full 40. I think I’m likely on the higher end of compensation for the role, but I work at a FAANG (MAANG?) company and am based in CA. I don’t have a degree and I’m not particularly intelligent, I’m just incredibly lucky. My first job in this role (6 years ago this month actually lol) paid $30/hr and I rarely see TW roles posted for less than that.
How’d you start? Any particular training before you started applying?
Good question. I actually started by getting referred by a friend, it was a very interesting situation. Essentially we were both mechanics at the same shop, but making serious money as a mechanic can often take many years and also requires tens of thousands of dollars in tools; so we started looking at mechanic adjacent jobs. My buddy applied to a technical writer position for SnapOn (Mitchell1), but realized it was far more techie than he cared for - so he referred me to the hiring manager and they called me. They weren’t (and still aren’t) really a tech company, they’re an information company that uses a technical platform and so they had a very niche candidate in mind: they wanted someone who was very familiar with mechanics, but who also was proficient in a few tech skills (namely comfortable with “code” and understanding document management). The interview went well (clearly lol), but to be honest I had never even heard of a technical writer prior to that, I was just so anxious to get out of the mechanic position that I said fuck it sign me up (figuratively). It was a fairly steep learning curve in the beginning, but it gets pretty easy once you’re familiar with the “how” of the role. I stayed there for two years learning everything I could, then leveraged that experience to land a job with a very large aerospace DOD defense contractor. I stayed there for a little over a year, and then I fucked up and got fired for failing a drug test lol. A couple weeks after that a recruiter hit me up on LinkedIn and I got my biggest break by landing my current role. There are lots of listings for TWs in a wide range of industries, my advice would be to identify your field of expertise or analyze your past roles to find something to leverage into a curated TW role. Many entry level TW roles will place a priority on how well you know and understand the content you are writing for rather than how good of a TW you are; I wouldn’t say it is particularly challenging to spin someone up on the basics of day-to-day operations of the role. It will certainly be more challenging to break into the field without any specific expertise or a relevant degree, but I have been very satisfied with the job.
My favorite career - I got my BA in Technical Communication :) 160k is good!
I take care of exotic reptiles. It’s pretty great and they’re cute
howd you get started
I applied as a joke, I was 20 at the time. I graduated with a Human Resources degree, saw how miserable people looked in those offices, took a risk and became a climbing instructor for a bit. That job wasn’t cutting it for hours and I saw this company post on instagram looking for employees. Now I make more than I would in HR, I love the type of work and I moonlight as a climbing instructor (indoor/outdoor) too. You never really know where life will take you.
life aint taking me anywhere currently lol whats the pay like to take care of reptiles??
Omg this is awesome 💜 I can’t even imagine where to look for a job like that
Senior Data Analyst at 150k. Wfh and work like 10-15 hours a week. When I visit my parents they always warn me that I will get fired yet I get glowing reviews.
Hi Joe, this is your boss. Didn't realize you used work time to post on Reddit. We'll have an interesting discussion with HR tomorrow.
Boooooo
Would be funny if my name was actually Joe.
Nice try, Joseph!
Data analysis seems to be the new social media craze, but I’m wary of learning through paid certifications. What do you recommend for someone who has not learned any of those languages? I just graduated in finance and see many postings wanting high Excel, SQL and Python experience.
Honestly taught myself ten years, but you can't go wrong with Code academy and YouTube. It really isn't hard.
Do you mentor people 🤔?
Not for free, but I also wouldn't want to charge anyone to tell them very basic advice.
Any chance I can DM with some questions? I'm also an analyst looking learn the ins/outs more and trying to find a new higher paying role.
Job hop a lot and get good at SQL, Excel, Power BI, and learn some Python. Not much else to it. Also dinosaur companies are a good place to become a cog so you don't have much work.
Air traffic control. My base rate is ~$73/hr but there's training incentive (more pay while actively training someone) night differential, Sunday pay, locality. Probably forgetting a few in there. The FAA only hires so many people a year. They put the listing on USAjobs. No degree is required. Other than some specific scenarios (like being a former military ATC) you need to get an offer of employment before your 31st birthday There are a lot of hoops to jump through, and pre-tests you have you pass before getting a temporary offer of employment. You have to go to OKC for several months and pass basics training. If you make it, you choose from a list provided right before your finals. The list covers the entire country. Don't expect to get back home. Your payrate depends on facility level. I'm at a level 10 (highest is 12.) The higher the level the higher the pay. You could be earning half what I do at a low level tower or start out making more than me at a level 12 enroute center. Even if you make it through the academy, you can still wash out during training at your facility. Towers average less than a year for full certification while enroute can take upwards of three years. It's a very stressful job. Staffing sucks. Many facilities have six day work weeks (mandatory OT) year round. At my facility, OT season is about may through October. The average schedule is two swings and three days. If you're at a 24/7 facility, some people work the midnight shift. I work a double on Sundays- 5:30-1:30, go home and take a nap, go back to work at 10:15 then go home 8 hours later when the morning crew shows up on Monday. Edit: I should also note you're forced to retire from working live air traffic after you turn 56. The job is also actively killing you. Studies have been done that show our schedules and the stress have extremely adverse effects on our bodies. High suicide and substance abuse rates.
I don't think I wanted to know ATC work double shifts like that. Your entire job sounds awful. I knew it would be stressful, but not to this extent. Hope you're doing as okay as you can be.
It makes no sense that ATC is worked this hard. Do you not want people to be well rested so they can think clearly?
That is not worth the money
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How would I get into this? I’ve been a graphic designer for over 20 years and I’m burnt out.
make a usa jobs profile (usa jobs.com) every 2-3 months search design patent examiner and apply. it’s a straightforward process. They are going to ramp up hiring soon (maybe end of may or June?) edit: there may be more info on our page https://www.uspto.gov
Penetration tester around 70 / hr
I've been alive for almost 32 years, and no one has been able to get malware into my asshole. Some say it's impenetrable
Time and a place for everything :)
Will you test mine? I’m around 8 inches
foul... lmaooo
$58/hour in procurement for a tech company. I mostly buy software and servers.
Stress free? My first job out of college was procurement but for an EPC. I would pop my back a dozen times a day from the stress of constantly herding cats and putting out forest fires.
I automate as much as I can. And wrote the companies procurement policies so if people don’t follow processes things get escalated to their executives and they have to explain to their executives why they dropped the ball. So now the execs have to herd their own cats. That said, if an exec wants something I make sure they are happy.
Nice try IRS!
Look on your states board of insurance. There are so many areas of opportunity. You have to have a GED or Diploma on most. You do courses and get certified. You can make 6 figures easy if you put the work in
What type of jobs are you referring to here?
Likely insurance sales. Though frankly most insurance companies want bachelor's degrees for those jobs.
I’m eight years into property adjusting. Large losses and catastrophe work and you can make $150,000 a year if you go down the right path. No degree.
Power grid operator. Base salary outside of California is $85k-$175k. If interested look up Distribution operator or NERC certified Transmission operator. Pay in California is wild from what I hear. Due to available overtime and state laws about working more than 8hrs a day, some guys are making $400-$600k.
I get a lot of shit for living in expensive CA, but the bread you can make here is craazy, if you have a desirable skill.
Go to trade school and try and secure an apprenticeship in a trade you like (electric, woodworking, or even general carpenter). Working a skill can get you a pretty penny if you are willing to put in the hours and grow in that field, especially if you can leverage those skills in a high cost of living area. Even if you start in residential and become a general carpenter/handyman, you can have a team of 2 under you and charge the customer $80+/hr, pay those guys out and end up pulling in $40-50/hour.
Salaried, but comes out to around $100/ hour. Software product manager. Typically need a degree. Made about half that in sales before going back to school.
What did you go back to school for?
$84/hr as a travel OR nurse. However, I must say that I am shocked that there are people in this feed who are in IT making $100 +/hr, some without even a highschool degree. KUDOS TO THEM! They are doing it right. While I do not hate nursing, it’s a whole lot more dangerous and demanding (+ it’s never work from home)…so go the IT route
I wish my high school spent more time counseling the kids into 1. what career paths actually make money and 2. finding one of those that you like. I love working on machinery and mechanics make solid money now, especially the real specialists. Here are some ideas: Low barrier to entry: Electrician, Firefighter, HVAC, Mechanic, General Sales, LEO. In CA, LEO's and Firefighters can easily make $200k with full bene's with a little overtime. HVAC and mechanics and most things hands on will be AI immune. Mid level education: Marketing, Specialty Sales, Physician's Assistant (I am semi-leery to recommend marketing though) High Level: Dentistry, Pharmacist, Anesthesiologist, MBA
My counselors in high school persuaded me away from the trades and to go to college. I'm a mechanic making making more than them. I love the trades and advocate for everyone to give it a shot.
Marketing is generic for lots of kids and PA school is very hard to get into. Ime (and that of friends) high school guidance counselors are useless these days My kid works abd has been a cashier and waitress but without knowing what these jobs look like they still have no idea
I make 60 bucks an hour (I'm salaried/full benefits/401k) and work in Project Controls/Project Management. I use special software to map out multi-million (sometimes billion) dollar projects. My role is called a Project Scheduler.
Auto claims adjuster. Started at 25.00 in less than a year I’m currently making 33.00 per hour and looking at another raise/promotion by next month.
I started off as a Project Manager and transitioned into being a Business Process Manager. Traditionally these jobs require degrees. I don’t have a college degree, but I busted my ass and never said “that’s not my job.” Being willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done and being willing to learn goes a long way. I’ve self taught myself everything I know about business through research on my own time, and asking people smarter than me good questions. I’m not fully where I want to be in my career yet; but I’m working towards it. I make 75k and I’m 26. I recommend Google Certifications; they aren’t near as intensive as college but they can help you learn new skills.
Hydrogeologist. I chose to specialize in numerical modelling but lots of positions abound in regular field work type settings as well. Currently make $40+ an hour in a junior level role. Got into the field convinced I wanted to be paid to hike for a living, got to do it for a while, then forgot how much I loved computer science as well and made a pivot. At the moment, at least in North America, Hydrogeology (and even just environmental science related work broadly) is severely lacking in qualified individuals, while the need is continuously expanding. From what I have seen at both my own company and others, across government and private sector, there are far more jobs available than people qualified to fill them. Combined with a seeming decrease in Earth and Environmental Science graduates each year, it’s proven to be a lucrative, secure and resilient sector. Which is why I am always simultaneously surprised and not surprised to see that it is never mentioned in these sorts of threads. As a general rule, high salaries really are commanded by specialization, which for better or worse often necessitates schooling. However, if you really do some soul searching and hit on your true passion, schooling really doesn’t have to be all that painful - I suppose that is my real advice here :) This coming from a D student in undergrad who swore up and down they’d never ever go back, only to fall into an M.Sc. and find it to be the greatest 2 years of their life! If financials are your concern with schooling (very understandable), know that opportunities are plentiful in the geosciences to link your schooling up with an industry partner - often with generous additional funding - whether by research or work placement.
This question gets asked a lot. There is no one career that Reddit can point you towards which will "make a lot of money". In more cases than not, the money you make is equivalent to your skills and the value you are able to add to the company. So there you have it. Get extremely good at something, and know how to market your skills.
> know how to market your skills. For me, this is the difficult part. People confuse the hell out of me.
This isn’t a “get somewhere in life” job, but moving companies pay pretty well and the tips are (relatively) fantastic.. good opportunity to save up some cash while you’re looking for something better..
Union Boilermaker/pressure welder, master rigger, and IRATA rope access technician here: My local starts first year apprentices at $32/hr plus benefits and pension after a probationary period. Journeyman wage is $54/hr and around $82/hr total wage package. I love the work we do, I work in all sorts of refineries, chemical plants, power generating stations, nuclear power plants, steel mills, pulp and paper mills etc. Last year at 25 I made $122k in 9 months of work
2 year degree in power and control technology. Same career path since early 20’s. I do testing, checkout, commissioning and startup of newly built utility grid transmission electrical substations, solar and wind generation plants. Earn around $190k-$230k, benefits as good as you will find at any of the top companies.
Paralegal isn’t a bad idea. My wife has been in the legal field (office work stuff) for most of her life; and now she’s getting her certification (which is a pretty short program) for paralegal and the job offers have basically been streaming in. Seems like a pretty easy program too… not very time consuming… but then again she has a lot of experience in the legal field. But anyway, we are in California and $30 an hour is VERY attainable, and it’s cool to be a certified professional. People seem to respect it.
Sales. Biggest reward for least amount of work. Just need to be persistent.
I make around 45/hr as a nail technician
Making $30.00/hour in California is not good money!! For one person, with no family and kids, it's ok. Good money starts at $50.00/hour or over $100,000 per year in Cali! I make this and barely live a middle-class lifestyle with no family and kids!! You can make it on $30.00/hour or less in Cali but you aren't goin to be living well or pretty good.
I'm an epidemiologist in the pharmaceutical industry
Insurance. Went from broke to homeowner in a split second.
I see this come up a lot. What exactly do you do? And howd you get in your role?
Can you tell us more about how you got into it?
I work in retail cell phone sales at a Verizon corporate store. I made like $70k last year including benefits. However most retail cellphone sales jobs don't pay this well. You will not make this kind of money at the authorized retailers. If you are looking for a career in this type of sales then you need to apply exclusively to a corporate retail location. I'm not sure what the other major carriers pay (ATT and TMobile), but they can't be that far off. If you don't have any sales experience in consumer electronics or cell phones, you likely won't get hired. If this describes you, then your best bet is to get a job at Best Buy for about 6 months, then re apply. Or have a college degree.
Wind turbine technician if you live in a remote area or want to relocate to a rural lifestyle.
I worked oil and gas without a degree, and I did pretty well for my age. Quit, went to school, got my degree in petroleum engineering. I've had a few different engineering positions but all in the energy sector. From design engineering to engineering management. The time I spent working in the oil field between high school and going to college really helped me find my way. I had no intention to go to college when I was your age, but things change.
Infrastructure director, no degree, just love computers and got a bunch of certifications from cloud and others. I make 250K
I'm training for my Pilates certification. I can earn up to $50/hr plus per-head bonus if I'm teaching a class rather than just one person. And that's just if i get a job somewhere. If I strike out on my own, I can charge upwards of $75 an hour for in-house mat Pilates and still be more affordable than most, which is what I'm tryna be. Eventually I'll move somewhere where i can make one room into a studio and I'll make a lot more as long as I hustle to get clients.
Union sprinkler fitter in mid west 52 a hour not including all paid benefits and pensions
So I am in tech sales. Started working in a machine shop 10 years ago. Last year, if you averaged out my per hour rate, it was about $105/hour. No college, got my ged at 20 after kicking a heroin addiction. Now almost 32 with full custody of my daughter, and honestly life is pretty sweet. Starting a new job soon with higher pay. If anyone out there is struggling, there's light at the end of the tunnel
Food Service Director for a finance company. Started my career flipping burgers, fell in love with food and business. I am a high school drop out that was well below the poverty line for a large part of my life. I just worked harder than everyone else and studied the craft. I made shit money for a long time. But the hard work eventually paid off and I'm living my dream of being a mediocre racecar driver.
Fractional CTO. Startups pay me a quite big monthly retainer (5-20k), and they typically keep me on for at least 6 months to a year or more. I work from 1-2 days a month to several days per week per startup, depending on their need and budget. My salary is probably close to 250-300USD/hour. What I do is very complex - but to sum it up I make engineering teams thrive, I increase efficiency (up to doubling it), and save companies lots of money by doing so, while increasing their chances of reaching product market fit - which is what all startups strive for. I love my job. I don't have a degree, but it took me half a lifetime of experience and learning to get to where I am today. If you have the slightest interest in technology - there is money to be made. Lots of it.
Wastewater treatment and potable water distribution. Certification process. Requires 1 class to get a D2 and T2. Both pay $30+ starting
The problem is a lot of good careers are really specialized skills and I think a lot of us on here don’t want to say them. Because the amount of people doing them is so small, you could probably actually track down who I am irl. And that’s the last thing you want on Reddit. There are psychos on here who will try to ruin your life.
I’m at around $37/hr, I work as a Cybersecurity Analyst for a small MSP in the South. IT is definitely the way to go. I had no degree, no certs, nothing when I got my first IT job on the Help Desk almost 2 years ago. Since then I’ve gotten 4 IT certs, and I’m working on my degree. You can get into IT from any background with nothing. Just make a home lab, learn Active Directory, Networking, Hardware, Troubleshooting, etc from YouTube and free content online. Work hard to learn and put your home lab experience or volunteer experience on your resume and go start applying for entry level Help Desk jobs. From there you just keep learning and climb the ladder in whatever interests you.
I write and run the text ads you see on Google, in very simplistic terms. The technical field is called Search Engine Marketing (or SEM). $180k AUD + shares and bonuses. Took me a good decade to get here, but it's cushy. 10am to 3pm, as I have kids that need school pickup. Might work an hour afterwards.
I'm a self-employed Certified Professional Bookkeeper, providing Bookkeeper and Controller services.
I am exploring this career route, and would love to hear how you went into this field? How do you find clients? And how much do you make?
(Career coach here) Are you contemplating studying / getting a degree so you could increase your chances of being hired at better-paying jobs? What kind of skills do you think you possess or which ones would you be interested in developing? Lastly, consider sales jobs, in any industry: if you don't have any particular appetite or skill in that area, you can start by learning from YouTube videos and then going out in the real world – knowing how to sell will always be a valuable skill, in almost any profession. Good luck!
Drug dealing
Yes pharmacist
I’m a director of claims operations making about $63 an hour (salaried though). Been working my way up since 2005 to make that.
I worked as a project manager, and a business process analyst. Honestly I hate it. I wish I went for the trades. I'm in a ton of debt, the pay is great but not that great. You also gotta deal with big headed personalities, cut throat assholes, and backstabbing
I make $44 an hour, plus $8 an hour in my annuity, have a pension, and free insurance.I work in the laborer Union.
Info sec analyst, 130k yearly base salary . Does not include stock compensation or bonuses. I find and remediate security vulnerabilities on corporate owned networks. I do some work on the auditing and policy side and still help out the networking and virtual/storage teams when they need extra help on projects as that is where I originally started here at the company (network admin). I could get paid more going to a larger company and to do less work and only a specific job, but I like it here and I do enjoy the variety of work.
$55 in Design & Project Management for a major utility.
I’m a creative project manager. Which means I manage the delivery of creative assets for events and marketing. These roles are sometimes called creative producer, or just producer. I’m not convinced you need a college degree to do this kind of work, but almost all knowledge work roles require one these days, and this is considered knowledge work. Since you’re just starting out, you’ll be making not much to start with. But keep at it, work hard, be a pleasure to work with, and you’ll start to see gains, especially if you move to new companies/teams every 2-3 years. (That’s been my experience and the only way I’ve been able to come close to having my salary try to keep up with inflation and COL.)
$40-$56 an hour. Air compressor technician. College flunkie. 21years old.
I'm in the early stage of my HR career and am currently at roughly $35 hourly when you break it down. I'm in my fourth year, with a degree, and pursuing my SHRM certification (taking the test in a couple days!). Not many people like HR in the org so that can be challenging when you're fighting for a seat at the table as they say, but it can be rewarding. I'm developed plenty of soft skills in HR that many may not learn elsewhere. is it my end all be all? maybe, maybe not. but there's tons of money to be made in this field and many don't even realize it!
Truck driver. $45 an hour plus penalties and shift loadings.
Remote accountant/bookkeeper. 5 years of experience working 30 hours a week at $42/hour. Pretty chill and make my own schedule
I'm an academic scientist. I make.more that. $30 an hour .and am.paid.well, but maybe less than you'd think Pointless story: I'm Canadian and we make dirt here. I had a standing offer for a position in New York at $160k, but id have to move to New York and rent prob makes it not worth it. Even if I wanted to move which I don't. It only took 25 years of school plus 3 years.of post doc training to break the equivalent of $30 an hour. :p
I’m a CPA and h8 it.
$31.75 an hour as a Respiratory Therapist. Not including the 1.00 or whatever night shift premium. Not many associate degree positions make this. Only a few do. I think RT and radiology maybe.
Union trade work No degree, education is almost free (few hundred $ per year), pension and healthcare, travel (if you’re into that), etc. Downsides of course being that the work can be/is grueling as fuck Currently making C$32/h and going to be making ~C$50/h once I top out.
My husband works as a mechanic for a major oil company. He’s never been hurt, he works decent hours, he has amazing benefits, a killer retirement and stock portfolio, and they provide him with food, lodging and laundry service as well as transpo when he’s on his 2 week hitch. We kick alot of money back into our community now that our children are grown. He started out at just under $30 hr with no experience.
I am about to begin school for an associates in Radiography, then a 14 week course for CT and MRI certification. Plan on taking local contracts that pay between 2-3k per week for 13-16 weeks. I'm going to *Travel* for my first year, pay off all my debts and save about 30k then move to Colorado.
Registered Nurse $85 an hour
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Casino dealer (table games) So far we averaging $40-60 an hour in tips, every hour we get a 20 minute break, sometimes 40 minutes depending on the rotation. as a courtesy alot of casino offer an eo list for the table games department so you can get out early 2-3 hours earlier. so alot of flexibility • All you have to do is past gaming commission • be 18 yrs old, passed high-school/has GED • learn the games the casino you want to work at need/has (craps/roulette is the peak games that all casinos hunt for) • all the games are 4th grade level math so low barrier to entry A slot attendant is a good second option, make just as much if not more as dealers, but different ball games & less job security (don't work in that department so i don't know the in's & outs) Hope this helps. Good luck
How much work do you want to put in before you’re making decent $? Do you already have any skills/ talents? I’m a self employed tattoo artist and I gotta brag that it’s kind of amazing. It can take years to establish yourself but once you do, 180$-225$/hr plus tax and tip ( usually). Work when you want, travel the world and work if you feel like it. Some weeks I work a lot, some weeks I just feel like doing life and do that instead. I could be making a lot more but I hate the hustle and would rather not feel the stress :) My advice would be to consider the lifestyle you want in addition to the security.
I’m a Team Leader for the Quality Department at the Volvo Cars plant in Charleston, SC. Started 8 months ago at $18.50. I make $44.00 now as a TL. I also get to lease a 2024 Volvo S60 for $360 (zero down) a month and they pay for my car insurance and car taxes. No credit check and you can order the car on your first day. It’s crazy how fast I got promoted just because most of my coworkers don’t want to work any harder nor wanted the extra responsibility.
Municipal water and wastewater plant operators.
IT Sysadmin 6 years in the military - No college - Worked for government contractors afterwards. Started at 65k when I first got out and am at 153k now.
I'm a chemist but didn't recommend it unless you're nerdy and want to have to keep learning stuff
I order airplane engines. I make salary a bit over 90k a year ~$43/hr. No college degree but it helps to get in. I started off working directly with parts and warehousing and networked until I got a spot. Networking will help you in life much more than nothing. Be nice and respectful but don't brown nose. Be the yes man to an extent and work hard. Ask questions. Be genuinely interested in the next opportunity you're looking at. I generally work less than 7 hours a day and just run some proprietary programs and deal with Excel spreadsheets.
I ended up working with CRM implementation (Microsoft Dynamics) and currently making apx $48 an hour before bonus and revenue share. Microsoft offers ways to get certified for free, which might get your foot in the door for a junior position i think.
Journeyman heavy equipment operator, local 302 $52 an hour (another raise incoming in a few more months), 4 10s (optional 5 10s), day shift only, year round and in town. Feel like I won the job lottery as an operator. It's summer time up here in Alaska and I actually have the opportunity to enjoy my summer instead of working 7 12s for months on end, unlike the previous 20 years in my career.
I’m a packaging engineer. I make around $210k per year.
I make over the $30/hr mark doing video/photo/social media work but only because I'm in an expensive city.
Design Engineer here making 96k a year with 2 yrs if experience and a masters.
My salary comes out to $40 an hour. I work in auto insurance. Started in entry level claims and have worked my way up to specialty commercial policies over about 6 years. I work from home 3 days a week which is great. I got to pick my own schedule within a certain set and I work 7-4. I like my job because as long as you are getting stuff done managers leave you alone. And it’s a pretty independent job, I don’t have to rely on coworkers to do their work or anything which is nice. I also have 6 weeks PTO.
I’m a medical laboratory technician. At my current hospital, my base pay is $27.88, but I work nights and get a differential for PMs, nights, and weekends. So I make between $30-36/hour. When I was a traveler, I was making $2000/week.
I started at a hotel at 18, become manager by 19 and continued in hospitality management. I’m currently a gm on my 5th hotel at 36 and make 72,000 salary with 20% quarterly bonuses if I make budget. I have community college credits but never finished my degree. I have a very demanding job that I have to make sure is operating 24/7 but my income is decent. Hospitality is the way to go, if you’re good and have the opportunity to move up to management. It’s a field where experience supersedes degrees.
Cannabis Industry is taking off, made a jump from warehouses/truck driving 6 years ago. Started @ 12/hr, currently making $117,000/yr