Railroad Machinist. Without OT 85-90k. With OT 110k. Compensation package is very generous, roughly 160k in total. Not to mention, a full federal pension at 60 years old. If you max out at 30 years of service, the pension for you and your spouse is about $7300 a month. I would recommend you consider serving on the railroad, if you can do the work.
Edit: There is a lot of questions flooding in about life on the Railroad. To answer a few questions:
AGE: Most of the men here are getting close to retirement, and a massive changing of the guard is coming in the next two to four years. If you’re looking to get in then I would start building your resume. The average age is probably 48 - 50 years old? I can only really speak from the Craft side as that’s where I’m at.
WORK: I am Turbo Diesel-Electric Locomotive Mechanic and work primarily in a shop. It is not a normal shop, it is a rail yard service center in very large city. The work is anything from changing engines and generators with 30 Ton cranes to troubleshooting air leaks in the middle of yard at 2:30 AM as a train is trying to leave the yard.
DANGER: the first 13 days of April at my company (system wide and not just my specific job) consisted of a fatality, two amputations, two broken legs, and 13 other reportable injuries. It’s the railroad, if you can’t handle it and you’re a liability, the men here will ensure you’re not here for very long.
I had an uncle who worked Rail industry, and he was sitting solidly by the time he passed. It seemed like it really took a toll on him though, so I don’t know that I would consider it genuinely worth it. They working you hard?
Unc was roughly like 75-80. So I guess he had a good lifespan, but his mobility wasn’t all there. He had to use a walker by around age 65 or so I believe.
I'm on the mechanical side and I don't work nearly as hard as I did when I was wrenching on cars. Doubled my best income a year in (after 10 years in the auto field), and I've tripled it since starting 10 years ago (as well as a company truck, month vacation, excellent healthcare)....
The railroad advances slowly, but it's not what it was.
Unless you're a track worker... I feel for those guys.
even if you don't make it to 60/30 and have to go out early on occupational disability is still a hell of lot better than SSI.
it is not hard make over 100k once you reach full pay and stand for good jobs.
worry dolls slap crawl bedroom pathetic ruthless angle homeless observation
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It’s called the Railroad Retirement Board. It replaces your social security and you contribute to you and your wife. Fully funded healthcare for you and your wife at 30 years of service, as well as
expansion escape punch caption advise upbeat deliver dazzling merciful tender
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Agree with the apprenticeship. You start out low, maybe $15 to $18 an hour during your first year, but can go as high as $35 to $60 by the time you hit your 4th year. Especially elevator mechanic apprenticeship, if you can get in.
Dude, get into HVAC. After 5 years, you make $46.50 an hour, and that's right now. They paid for me to go to a trade school for 1 year, I'm in my 2nd year making $22 an hour. Any trade is good work, and it's honestly your only option in the scenario you're describing. There's no quick way if that's what you are hoping for.
You've probably heard it a 1000x times, but here ya go, hard work pays off.
Not any trade. Don’t tell people “the trades”
Being a union commercial HVAC mechanic can do it. Being an elevator technician can do it. There are a trades that can lead to you being prosperous.
Being a dry waller worker will not. Being a guy on a concrete crew will not.
We paint the trades way way to broadly.
I think the point of those trades is eventually you learn how to do the job, you are no longer an apprentice. You either start your own business doing that or you manage a crew/job site.
This is the issue.
A whole lot of broken men who made shit money who drown in whiskey every night becuase they are poor and broken and old.
Don’t worry they were in a “trade”.
It’s a super valuable job. The compensation isn’t worth the anguish. Simple as that.
Fucking HUGE HUGE point here. As someone who spent almost a decade in the construction trades and left for college. Not only to we need to specify what a trade is more narrowly, but we also need to specify a UNION membership. If either one of those things is missing you’re better off going to college no doubt about it.
Saying go into “the trades” is like saying “go into the food business, food business makes a lot of money”
Because that similarly is a mostly dumb thing to say. What food business? What role? Owner or worker? What is the career plan? What is the salary scale? Availability of job openings?
And those answers vary wildly by career and location.
I don’t think you can even do a journeyman in dry walling. I always consider those unskilled trades or such- obviously you can get good at it but do a trade where you get an apprenticeship and education.
Plumber, electrician, mechanic, heavy duty mechanic, pipe fitter, carpenter, etc. they all pay $40/h+ in my area. If you contract your rates will be more like $80-90 and if you run a crew you’ll be billing out your laborers/apprentices etc. and making some money off all of it.
.5% of concrete guys are union at most.
If your advice is “go trade union” always then fine.
But that’s not “trades are always a good job no problem”
The above is my point. Jobs are all different. “Trades” is a HUGE term
Yea you’re right. If you’re talking overall. I would say electrician either non union or union pay very similar. Other trades non union vs union is crazy the difference
It depends on where you go bro, most of the time no you don't and if your fear is really that bad then I'm sure there's another guy in the crew who will go to that site and do the job while you go elsewhere. If this is what you're worried about, then you'll be fine lol.
My husband disagrees, at least when it comes to residential. He was crawling through attics his entire 4 year apprenticeship. He got out of residential so doesn’t have to anymore, but it was a rough time.
But realize he already makes really good money so he needs to find something at least that is a small inconvenience. Not saying that in a negative way it's just a thing we do as humans. Ask your uncle if he'd rather be doing any other trade besides being an electrician and he'll tell you no bc most the other ones require very physical work. Be a tech and 90 percent of your job is diagnosing and problem solving. I poured concrete after highschool and I would never recommend anyone doing that unless you don't wanna walk at 40.
I will say I have a wicked good memory and that has helped when it comes to helping customers with parts. I didn’t come from this field originally (it’s also male dominated) and with time and perseverance I’ve become one of the best in my company.
The work hard and be a good employee is key. I make 97k as a Customer Service manager. Started at the bottom of the Totem Pole at 35k and just kept up with getting excellent year end reviews. Been in a leadership role for 5 years now (7 years total) and am expected to continue to move up.
My friend does this and says he spends most the day on Google ordering parts from manufacturers for the car dealer. Says it's easy work but you do have to be good with customers.
I am in the construction equipment field, this is what my duties entail
•audit our inventory
•Oversee all our stock orders and ensure only parts we need are ordered (corporate processes automatically)
•handle any issues with customers
•oversee employees
•go over monthly numbers (in/out)
•I still do some customer relations
•ensure safety protocols are being followed
I only got promoted in October and there’s still some stuff I haven’t taken over since I was going on maternity leave 4 months later lol
One of my good friends is a highschool drop out, during highschool he was known as the stoner and was very mouthy to teachers/facility. I remember he showed up to school like a month or so of being MIA. A teacher said something along the line of “so weed didn’t work out for ya huh?” He didn’t show up to school again after that day.
Dude now runs a dispensary. I hope that that teacher finds out that weed ended up being his go to.
Also cannabis operations here. Started making 15$ an hour doing cbd isolation reactions. One year later the company went under, got bought out by a bigger cannabis company, massive layoffs occurred, but since I had shown to be a hard working employee I was offered a management role in production and quality control. I now make 70k base salary plus quarterly bonuses. Very lucky I was at the right place at the right time.
I’ve noticed that cannabis is 50/50 hardwork and right place right time type circumstances. I’m lucky to be where I’m at, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t out work everyone around me.
I was a cannabis owner/operator. Wen't from 400k on a bad year to negative real quick. It's a tough industry to work in right now if you are not in a mature market.
Program management in high tech industry. Was in IT for a long time before this. No college, self taught, had a few of the big IT networking certs that have since lapsed.
Google has a Coursera program for project management if you want to learn fundamentals. Without practical experience I’d suggest getting that done and then finding some junior project manager or leader roles locally. It can be lucrative in tech or construction.
Community College or Trade Apprenticeship is the way to go. It should be litteraly mandatory for everyone to do this for a year after HS and then they could decide what to do.
they used to have programs at the hs i went to, but cut them out right before i was able to take said classes. they should reintroduce that to public schools everywhere.
I work in residential construction, project manager. Only high school diploma. I'm 39, 21st year in and make 110k. You don't need a degree. I worked in the field 17 years (15 owning my own carpentry business) before going into the management side.
I used to work as an architectural consultant and it wasn’t uncommon to encounter contractors who made more money than I do. But you will never pay me enough to do roof work during Arizona summer.
Wow.....you actually just wrote my post for me lol. 39 y.o in project management, self employed for 15 years off and on (helped out an ownership group for a couple of years in the middle.) 20 years in the same field, now on salary for 100k plus benefits and profit sharing which adds about 1500 monthly. Phone allowance, gas allowance, clothing allowance, expense account.
Find another job. Life is too short to be miserable in what you do. I barely graduated high school and worked sales and banking, never got anywhere. I did a 4 month course, got my state license and became self employed. I work 6 days a week but I like what I do and made $165k last year.
I'm currently working at a warehouse. I don't mind what I do but I work 4 days, 10 hours each. I also have 2 kids, a puppy, and my gf recently had back surgery so it's basically all on me to take care of practically everything. I crack a few beers once I get home and pass out until it's time to go to work again. I definitely need to make more money without stopping my current work because i have so much to provide for
Find a way to deal with it without the crack a few beers part and you'll have already solved two problems; save hundreds of dollars a month on alcohol and not become an alcoholic.
So it’s complicated as each state does their requirements differently but also the same. From a generalized standpoint you typically have to get a license. The only way to get licensed is by working in the field or at the plant for a set amount of time and then take a state test and then you get your base license. After that you then can get further licenses but they also require a set amount of hours. Typically it’s 1-3-5 years for each license and then there’s other speciality licenses that branch off those you can get. There’s a lot of different paths you can go in water. College degrees mean pretty much nothing for plant operations as you still HAVE to have the hours worked to test for the licenses. All college degrees do in water is make you more “management” material but you can get paid really well and never be in management. This is all general water plant operations stuff and there’s multiple other careers that play into that as well like industrial mechanics, industrial electricians, low voltage techs, etc etc, they do different licenses but the gist is the same and pays well for honestly is a pretty easy and relaxed jobs as far as “trades” go. To get into the field most people are literally hired on as trainees and then you have like 1.5 years to get your 2080 hours worked and to pass the state exam. Get your hours and pass the exam and your licensed and golden, can’t pass the exam then your let go, can’t work forever without your own license. The tests are not super hard but if you don’t study the materials you won’t pass, you will have to put effort into learning the information to pass. Most people really struggle with the math as it’s very heavy on geometry figuring out area, flows, and velocity things of that nature. However there’s a lot of study guides and videos that can make it easy even for someone that struggles with math, you just gotta put the time aside to study
Made $88k this year working for an oil & gas service company. It’s not what you think, my work isn’t hard. I sit in a heated (in the winter) and cooled (in the summer) laboratory and tests cement and chemicals. Moving out of that position to get a few months of field experience so I can transition into sales. Working in a degree, currently. Got started in geotechnical engineering testing (asphalt, concrete, soil & aggregates) engineering firms don’t pay well, especially if you aren’t a P.E. or a P.G. Love my company, love what I/ we do and the pay is pretty damn great for an entry level job!
Oilfield is definitely where it’s at for a life hack, especially when you didn’t go to college. I did, but I’m just saying. It’s really useless once you get your foot in the door anyway lol
Definitely. The hardest part about it is actually getting your foot in the door. Took a while to find a position that I was capable of doing that would pay well and give me the opportunity to move up quickly. And, I’m not on a rig working my ass off. Major respect to the people who do though, I’m just a pussy who likes A/C and sleeping in my bed most nights lol
Traffic control for labor union then I went to traffic control in the electrical union. I make 80-100k All depending on how much it rains. All i do is setup road work signs and put out cones and watch traffic all day. some people at my company make 120+ it all depending on how much you want to work.
Nope, all I had to do was just apply for the job. Have a clean driving record,license and a car. I get paid $42 an hour with full benefits retirement,annuity great health insurance.
I make over 80K without a high school diploma, GED, or degree. Not even certifications. I’m a cyber security engineer (92K) and I own a property maintenance business which probably makes more than my cyber job. I work full remote. Been doing this for about 4 years.
How did you get into cyber security without anything? I am really curious cause I’m struggling with an Associates. Not for cyber security but for software engineer.
I was really into hacking back in high school days and I had extensive programming experience all self taught. I started programming when I was 13 ish, and hacking when I was 15. I applied for cyber work when I was around 27 years old and by that point had nearly a decade of self taught experience with a decent self made portfolio. They gave me a shot at a technical interview reviewing logs and I absolutely crushed it. It was too easy to be honest so I moved up fast. I went from jr SOC analyst to senior in about a year and a half, then to SE in about 3 years. My advice is just know your shit. I was able to out perform and value to my team with my extensive background that a lot of with degrees couldn’t.
TL;DR, practice skills and don’t rely on your degree. There are a lot of sweats in the field that never went to school and are really good. Know your shit.
Same. Very similar story. I have been into programming forever. I had fun cracking copy protection out of games as a kid. One personal project was modifying C-based BBS software back in the early 90s. That in turn landed me a job with a company who was doing touch-screen kiosks (think, RedBox way ahead of its time), who wanted to hire a coder who could do a remote access module and interface with peripherals. I learned all sorts of things working for that company, it was miles ahead of things I was learning in college, so I dropped out.
I did a ton of side jobs for people too. Starting with home users who needed help, which lead me to a lot of small businesses. Setting up Microsoft windows domains, databases, etc. Probably should have taken MCSE courses at some point around here as I would have saved myself a lot of self-induced headaches, but never got around to it. But, it was good contract money. I stayed active in software development too, working on open source projects.
In 2008, a friend of mine worked at Symantec, and told me about an opening. I told him I didn't think I was qualified, I didn't have a degree or formal training. He told me to put my resume together anyway and see what happens. Got hired, they liked my broad spectrum of real world knowledge, especially with small business. My career skyrocketed beyond my wildest expectations from there.
I have my degree but got hired at my current place prior to completing it, and it has never been considered for my promotions as I’m in sales, but got my degree in accounting.
Currently senior director est 300k w/ bonuses this year after about 8 years experience in the field.
Sales is a great way to make good money quickly, and provides a ton of transferrable skills. Also, nearly every company has a sales department, so you can traverse industries seamlessly, and work for some really cool companies.
You can make $100k doing anything if you dedicate yourself to it. I have a friend that started working at McDonald’s at 15 and never left. She retired as a senior manager.
Personally I started as an intern at a tiny newspaper making like $4.00 an hour. Worked my way up to VP and now I’m in printing. I have a very large salary and bonus.
Find something you like and work your way up.
A friend I grew up with worked McDs for many yrs as a mamager. Left to be a UPS driver. Got fired for getting 2 DUIs. Went back to McDs and is now set to retire with 8yrs.
Both of his older brothers worked their way up at McDs and retired. One of them a bigtime district manager in corporate
People work and retire from McDs. It doesnt run itself
Store manager for one of the big 3 wireless carriers in the US. Pays ridiculously well, over 6 figures last year in a rural town where the median income is 25K for an individual and about 66K combined for a household.
My girlfriend is an ER nurse so together we’re beyond well off, all without a degree - just a willingness to learn, adapt, and sell (not so much selling now as that’s my assistant managers responsibility where my role is more focused on operations).
Going back to school to get a degree 10+ years after graduating high school.
For those curious,
Sales Associates make about $50-65K.
Assistant Managers make about 65-85K.
Store Managers make about 80-120K.
My husband works in the automotive industry as a service manager and is on track to make over 400,000 this year. He was I. The military for a few years and started at a tire store and worked his way up.
Hold up, service managers at dealerships can make 400k?!
What is that position? Do they manage the entire service organization (advisors, mechanics, parts, etc)? Or?
I work at the highest paying university in NYC and I make 65K. It's best job I've ever had - work/life balance, strong union, lots of paid vacation, flex time, pension. I'm extremely lucky to have gotten this job but no, most admin roles that do not require a 4 year degree do not pay what you are suggesting.
Dang I’m in a senior admin specialist role at a college and make no where near that 😭 Our max rate for our grade is lower than your min rate at step 1.
Railroad. I make $180k. My best year I made $340k as a director after bonuses and back pay. Just worked my way up. I also work 60 to even sometimes 80 hours a week. I do have technical degrees and a license through a clep test that equals a 6 year degree in electronics. My parents owned a military defense company. I worked there so my resume was perfect for the railroad I work for. They hired me over people with degrees because they know I can’t go anywhere else.
My sister in law is a urologist. She was in school until she was 32. She makes $640k a year. Has about $600-700k in student loan debt. My wife is a lawyer. My wife makes $170k - she has about $300k left in student loan debt.
If you can get into some sort of electrical, hvac or plumbing thing. You’ll get paid to apprentice. All these professions the average age is around 50-55 now. These people will be retiring soon. Which means all that work will be ripe to pick. You’ll be making $200k a year w in the next 5-6 years debt free.
I make 150k before the tax man.... nothing beyond high-school and I'm a recovered Opiate addict. I own a farm (not my source of income) with a 20 year old 2600 sq ft home. I started out turning a wrench, worked my ass off, and eventually became upper management. For context, I worked after High-school, for ten or so years. Had 7 years of hard drug use in that time till i was 28, fully cut that out of my life. 10 years later I'm where I'm at now. My point is opportunity and hard work trump a lot of what life throws at you. I wouldn't say I'm anything special, as in I don't have some special trait that puts me above any other moderately intelligent person.
My friend dropped out of college (twice) and got a job in customer service. They took a few certification tests, which were paid for by their employer, and moved on up, soon going into tech support. They got their CCNA and started in IT/networking. All the cert study material they said was free off YouTube or given to them by coworkers. They make over 80k and own a house (very low COL state, granted).
However the other part of the equation, much as people dismiss it, is dumb luck. Right place, right time, right connections, etc. And the job market has changed a lot since then, so I can't say it's fool proof by any stretch. But yes people with only a HS diploma can make a decent living. They told me their certs were as good if not better than degrees in many situations, but I take that with a grain of salt
I was making $100k as a waiter when the pandemic hit.
Now I make a lot more as a roofing contractor.
Just learn to do a boring but necessary thing really well.
Just a few simple steps:
Step one: have a global pandemic decimate your industry.
Step two: accept the door to door roofing sales gig you’re randomly offered out of desperation.
Step three: realize you absolutely SUCK at door to door sales
Step four: Suck it up, grind through a few thousand doors until you slowly start to get better.
Step 5: Well damn it’s been a year and suddenly you’re one of the top sales guys at the company (which is CRAZY).
Step six: Eventually realize that this company, as much as you love them for teaching you something new, doesn’t care about installing a good roof. This begins to keep you up at night, because your background in the restaurant industry has made you actually give a damn about the customer experience.
Step seven: Come to the realization that the only way to ensure you deliver a good roofing experience is to control it from beginning to end.
Step eight: You make the single most terrifying decision of your life. You quit the job that brought you out of despair and desperation and strike out on your own with a contracting license.
Step nine: Profit?? (I dunno I’m six months in and doing pretty well, I’ll update you in a few years 🤷♂️)
40 hr week . 1(5day) week then 1 (4day work week) totaling 80 hrs. Weekends off. No degree. Hvac technician becoming chiller tech. 114400.00 before taxes with no overtime.
I’m 25, no college. I’ll break 100k this year working in a power plant as an ops and maintenance technician. I work 14 days a month (12hr shifts), but when we go on outage twice a year for a month each I work 5-6 days a week and rake in the overtime. Also get a 10% bonus every April, and a 3-5% raise every December.
Not me but my wife. She worked her way up the retail ranks after high school, bounced around some different companies getting promotions and got a store manager position then and it took awhile but eventually she became a district manager of her current company where she oversees all the stores in her region. She would tell you the money is good but her Work life balance could be better, a lot of travel and driving. Makes ~125k
I do F&I in a motorcycle dealership. Raked in over 100k the last few years. Get to sell toys I'm passionate about every day. (No college at all)
As other have said any trade skill can make you over 100k a year after awhile.
Ask yourself this... "What would I pay myself 100k per year to do?"
If you were a business owner or customer, what skill set of yours is valuable enough to justify that pay? If you don't currently have one, you will have to learn one whether it's IHL, Military, Trade school... OJT...
I got lucky, got into sales at a salesforce startup which paid pretty low (about 35k) but used that software side and another connection to get into software testing. From there got into a corporate role doing software testing and worked my way up to QA supervisor where after bonus I first hit 100k. Then transitioned into IT project management and now make about 116 after bonus.
Along the way I got my salesforce administrator certification and the PMI-ACP (prior to making 100k).
I did finally complete my bachelors recently, in fact with some extra classes 3 weeks before my first baby.
I got my associates degree the month I was turning 29. However before that I made $120-$150k.
Get in a trade.
And before anyone bashes me, calls me luck or $h!t talks me I work seven days a week 8 hours a day minimum usually 10-12 hours a day.
I only have a HS diploma. I'm in electrical supplies sales (inside sales) at a desk, answering emails and taking orders over a phone. I DO NOT COLD CALL, I don't go looking for sales. I only help customers who already know what they want and come to me for it. I make 140k/yr pretax. Started in my late 20s now I'm approaching 40. Sales is the way. Being a "people person" makes it easier.
Software engineer and started my own tech consulting company. I've never set foot into a college and now I'm on a college curriculum advisory board and give input on coursework for one of their tech programs. Everyone there just assumes that I went to college because of my elevated work position. They didn't ask, so I didn't tell.
Wasn’t able to afford finishing my engineering degree. Only had two years and had to drop. Summer between semesters I worked for an electrician and when I dropped out of college I decided to work towards an electrical license.
18 months later I was a master’s licenced electrician. Worked a few more years for the man and then quit to start my own business. I was young and after going through a divorce pretty much lost everything.
I took a job for a chemical plant nearby that needed an electrician and also had experience with automation systems (which I used to do for the other electrician and for myself).
15 years later I am considered a Automation Engineer/ Process Controls Manager .
I make about $165k/yr salary +20% bonus.
It’s not bad for a mostly 8hr/day 5 days/week job with only having to travel 3 or 4 times a year for a week or so.
It’s not bad for an area where the median household income is $40k/yr.
Union elevator mechanic. On track to make 150k this year with minimal OT and I live in a low cost of living state. I’m 31 and have been in the trade for 8 years. Great benefits with full pension at 58. Total package is about 111 dollars an hour
Nothing special but you need to be able to think on your feet and make decisions when you're out alone, work well under pressure and being relatively tech minded helps (you'll want to be able to demonstrate these things during your interview). Spectrum is an awesome company and takes very good care of us.
Railroad Machinist. Without OT 85-90k. With OT 110k. Compensation package is very generous, roughly 160k in total. Not to mention, a full federal pension at 60 years old. If you max out at 30 years of service, the pension for you and your spouse is about $7300 a month. I would recommend you consider serving on the railroad, if you can do the work. Edit: There is a lot of questions flooding in about life on the Railroad. To answer a few questions: AGE: Most of the men here are getting close to retirement, and a massive changing of the guard is coming in the next two to four years. If you’re looking to get in then I would start building your resume. The average age is probably 48 - 50 years old? I can only really speak from the Craft side as that’s where I’m at. WORK: I am Turbo Diesel-Electric Locomotive Mechanic and work primarily in a shop. It is not a normal shop, it is a rail yard service center in very large city. The work is anything from changing engines and generators with 30 Ton cranes to troubleshooting air leaks in the middle of yard at 2:30 AM as a train is trying to leave the yard. DANGER: the first 13 days of April at my company (system wide and not just my specific job) consisted of a fatality, two amputations, two broken legs, and 13 other reportable injuries. It’s the railroad, if you can’t handle it and you’re a liability, the men here will ensure you’re not here for very long.
I had an uncle who worked Rail industry, and he was sitting solidly by the time he passed. It seemed like it really took a toll on him though, so I don’t know that I would consider it genuinely worth it. They working you hard?
I was a train conductor for 4 years. It’s just a lot of walking and quite a bit of downtime. Other than them fucking rocks it was a pretty sweet gig.
Fucking rocks?
it gets lonely on the railroad
Stupid sexy granite
Never take your sex life for granite.
They're hard for ever, it's a no-brainer
He had a very calloused penis
If you don’t mind me asking, how old was your uncle when he passed away?
Unc was roughly like 75-80. So I guess he had a good lifespan, but his mobility wasn’t all there. He had to use a walker by around age 65 or so I believe.
My friend’s dad did this for a living. Financially set in retirement but can’t hear a thing.
I'm on the mechanical side and I don't work nearly as hard as I did when I was wrenching on cars. Doubled my best income a year in (after 10 years in the auto field), and I've tripled it since starting 10 years ago (as well as a company truck, month vacation, excellent healthcare).... The railroad advances slowly, but it's not what it was. Unless you're a track worker... I feel for those guys.
It’s tough getting 30, but it’s worth the reward!!!!
Isn’t that the truth. Keep your head on a swivel.
even if you don't make it to 60/30 and have to go out early on occupational disability is still a hell of lot better than SSI. it is not hard make over 100k once you reach full pay and stand for good jobs.
worry dolls slap crawl bedroom pathetic ruthless angle homeless observation *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It’s called the Railroad Retirement Board. It replaces your social security and you contribute to you and your wife. Fully funded healthcare for you and your wife at 30 years of service, as well as
expansion escape punch caption advise upbeat deliver dazzling merciful tender *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
2nd this even as a track laborer (have low seniority) my base no OT is 75K last year I made $113K
How do you get into this field?
Take the nearest train
That tracks.
Midnight one? Going anywhere?
Or just follow the tracks...
I ended up falling into the Rail industry. I work IT for a locomotive manufacturer.
Maxed out my tier 1 and tier 2 the last 2 years!
NY signal maintainer. Same.
Any apprentice trade job will get you there if you put in the effort. Sales too if you good and making friends and presentable.
Agree with the apprenticeship. You start out low, maybe $15 to $18 an hour during your first year, but can go as high as $35 to $60 by the time you hit your 4th year. Especially elevator mechanic apprenticeship, if you can get in.
Lots of ups and downs in that industry, I hear
Dude, get into HVAC. After 5 years, you make $46.50 an hour, and that's right now. They paid for me to go to a trade school for 1 year, I'm in my 2nd year making $22 an hour. Any trade is good work, and it's honestly your only option in the scenario you're describing. There's no quick way if that's what you are hoping for. You've probably heard it a 1000x times, but here ya go, hard work pays off.
Idk I heard that job blows! 🥁 Edit: dude.. we're making puns. JOKES... why are responding like this?
It can get hot too
Yeah but sometimes its pretty chill too.
You and your buddys can vent afterwards about the boss too
As long as he doesn't show up to the bar and put a damper on things.
But refrigerants are Freon Wednesdays.
Not any trade. Don’t tell people “the trades” Being a union commercial HVAC mechanic can do it. Being an elevator technician can do it. There are a trades that can lead to you being prosperous. Being a dry waller worker will not. Being a guy on a concrete crew will not. We paint the trades way way to broadly.
I think the point of those trades is eventually you learn how to do the job, you are no longer an apprentice. You either start your own business doing that or you manage a crew/job site.
Or you continue working for other people well into your 50s while addicted to menthols and crack. Oh don’t forget the fucked joints.
And the 24 ounce lunch breaks.
This is the issue. A whole lot of broken men who made shit money who drown in whiskey every night becuase they are poor and broken and old. Don’t worry they were in a “trade”. It’s a super valuable job. The compensation isn’t worth the anguish. Simple as that.
There isn't nearly enough work for that to be what happens with everyone.
Fucking HUGE HUGE point here. As someone who spent almost a decade in the construction trades and left for college. Not only to we need to specify what a trade is more narrowly, but we also need to specify a UNION membership. If either one of those things is missing you’re better off going to college no doubt about it.
Saying go into “the trades” is like saying “go into the food business, food business makes a lot of money” Because that similarly is a mostly dumb thing to say. What food business? What role? Owner or worker? What is the career plan? What is the salary scale? Availability of job openings? And those answers vary wildly by career and location.
I don’t think you can even do a journeyman in dry walling. I always consider those unskilled trades or such- obviously you can get good at it but do a trade where you get an apprenticeship and education. Plumber, electrician, mechanic, heavy duty mechanic, pipe fitter, carpenter, etc. they all pay $40/h+ in my area. If you contract your rates will be more like $80-90 and if you run a crew you’ll be billing out your laborers/apprentices etc. and making some money off all of it.
This is not true at all. Union drywaller and union concrete worker do very well. With OT easily 80k minimum
.5% of concrete guys are union at most. If your advice is “go trade union” always then fine. But that’s not “trades are always a good job no problem” The above is my point. Jobs are all different. “Trades” is a HUGE term
Yea you’re right. If you’re talking overall. I would say electrician either non union or union pay very similar. Other trades non union vs union is crazy the difference
Electrician apprentice here, making 20/hr as a first year. Should be 50+/hr by year 5
Do you have to deal with tight or confined spaces?
It depends on where you go bro, most of the time no you don't and if your fear is really that bad then I'm sure there's another guy in the crew who will go to that site and do the job while you go elsewhere. If this is what you're worried about, then you'll be fine lol.
My husband disagrees, at least when it comes to residential. He was crawling through attics his entire 4 year apprenticeship. He got out of residential so doesn’t have to anymore, but it was a rough time.
My uncle does commercial and he thinks it’s worst cause they have to work in the winter in commercial buildings that don’t have heat hook up yet.
But realize he already makes really good money so he needs to find something at least that is a small inconvenience. Not saying that in a negative way it's just a thing we do as humans. Ask your uncle if he'd rather be doing any other trade besides being an electrician and he'll tell you no bc most the other ones require very physical work. Be a tech and 90 percent of your job is diagnosing and problem solving. I poured concrete after highschool and I would never recommend anyone doing that unless you don't wanna walk at 40.
This is the way. I didn't even finish high school and now make 100k a year. PS I am old.
You might be old but you’ve definitely built a life you can be proud of and I salute you for sticking to the grind and experiencing it pay off!
85K here and I am a parts supervisor. Just worked hard and was a good employee. I’ve been rewarded
You're probably smarter than you're giving yourself credit for.
I will say I have a wicked good memory and that has helped when it comes to helping customers with parts. I didn’t come from this field originally (it’s also male dominated) and with time and perseverance I’ve become one of the best in my company.
As someone like agitated, I can say that I’m certainly not lol it’s working hard, showing up on time, having a good attitude and networking.
The work hard and be a good employee is key. I make 97k as a Customer Service manager. Started at the bottom of the Totem Pole at 35k and just kept up with getting excellent year end reviews. Been in a leadership role for 5 years now (7 years total) and am expected to continue to move up.
What exactly does a parts supervisor entail daily work wise?
My friend does this and says he spends most the day on Google ordering parts from manufacturers for the car dealer. Says it's easy work but you do have to be good with customers.
Sounds like easy work, can translate my military experience to it when I get out lol
I am in the construction equipment field, this is what my duties entail •audit our inventory •Oversee all our stock orders and ensure only parts we need are ordered (corporate processes automatically) •handle any issues with customers •oversee employees •go over monthly numbers (in/out) •I still do some customer relations •ensure safety protocols are being followed I only got promoted in October and there’s still some stuff I haven’t taken over since I was going on maternity leave 4 months later lol
High school graduate and multi time college drop out here. I broke six figures last year in cannabis operations.
One of my good friends is a highschool drop out, during highschool he was known as the stoner and was very mouthy to teachers/facility. I remember he showed up to school like a month or so of being MIA. A teacher said something along the line of “so weed didn’t work out for ya huh?” He didn’t show up to school again after that day. Dude now runs a dispensary. I hope that that teacher finds out that weed ended up being his go to.
Atleast he use his skill to make money.. Street smart
Also cannabis operations here. Started making 15$ an hour doing cbd isolation reactions. One year later the company went under, got bought out by a bigger cannabis company, massive layoffs occurred, but since I had shown to be a hard working employee I was offered a management role in production and quality control. I now make 70k base salary plus quarterly bonuses. Very lucky I was at the right place at the right time.
I’ve noticed that cannabis is 50/50 hardwork and right place right time type circumstances. I’m lucky to be where I’m at, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t out work everyone around me.
Right place and right time was pulling tarp in the green rush traditional market 😂
Life is 50/50 hard work and right place right time.
My hero.
I was a cannabis owner/operator. Wen't from 400k on a bad year to negative real quick. It's a tough industry to work in right now if you are not in a mature market.
Program management in high tech industry. Was in IT for a long time before this. No college, self taught, had a few of the big IT networking certs that have since lapsed.
How did you self teach? I’m having a problem finding where to start
Google has a Coursera program for project management if you want to learn fundamentals. Without practical experience I’d suggest getting that done and then finding some junior project manager or leader roles locally. It can be lucrative in tech or construction.
I probably wouldn't try to go into IT at the moment. It's flooded with people trying to career chang into it.
This has also been my drawback, scared to put in all the work and not get a job
Go to community college it’s the best way to learn, I tried on my own but it’s harder to do so when you have so many questions you want answered
Community College or Trade Apprenticeship is the way to go. It should be litteraly mandatory for everyone to do this for a year after HS and then they could decide what to do.
they used to have programs at the hs i went to, but cut them out right before i was able to take said classes. they should reintroduce that to public schools everywhere.
I do industrial maintenance in a power plant. $106k last year, should get up to $115-120 this year.
What state are you in?
I work in residential construction, project manager. Only high school diploma. I'm 39, 21st year in and make 110k. You don't need a degree. I worked in the field 17 years (15 owning my own carpentry business) before going into the management side.
I used to work as an architectural consultant and it wasn’t uncommon to encounter contractors who made more money than I do. But you will never pay me enough to do roof work during Arizona summer.
Wow.....you actually just wrote my post for me lol. 39 y.o in project management, self employed for 15 years off and on (helped out an ownership group for a couple of years in the middle.) 20 years in the same field, now on salary for 100k plus benefits and profit sharing which adds about 1500 monthly. Phone allowance, gas allowance, clothing allowance, expense account.
I’m on track to make 200k this year. I’m in tech sales
Is it hard to get to that? I’m always worried I’ll never sell anything lol
It’s stressful- you have quotas to meet quarterly. If you have the personality you can make buck.
My husband’s best friend is in tech sales and makes $500k a year. He’s also an alcoholic. The job and family stress have created a monster.
I feel like I'm headed down this road making a fraction of that...
Find another job. Life is too short to be miserable in what you do. I barely graduated high school and worked sales and banking, never got anywhere. I did a 4 month course, got my state license and became self employed. I work 6 days a week but I like what I do and made $165k last year.
I'm currently working at a warehouse. I don't mind what I do but I work 4 days, 10 hours each. I also have 2 kids, a puppy, and my gf recently had back surgery so it's basically all on me to take care of practically everything. I crack a few beers once I get home and pass out until it's time to go to work again. I definitely need to make more money without stopping my current work because i have so much to provide for
Find a way to deal with it without the crack a few beers part and you'll have already solved two problems; save hundreds of dollars a month on alcohol and not become an alcoholic.
4 month course in what? Sounds like you gravitated towards real estate or insurance based on having to take a state test?
I’m an electrologist.
Having the personality is very important. Wish I had the personality
Same. Sales. No formal education. Hardware, tech sales, working for a manufacturer/big global brand. I avg around 160k USD/year
I believe water treatment is one of the big ones if you don’t have college.
Yes. 109k was my biggest year. Didn't finish year 10
I work on Water Quality Analyzers at water treatment and distribution plants. We work 4 10s, a ton of benefits, and base salary is 80k.
Absolutely water treatment. Know a person wfh did a few meetings a day and was at $230k
How does water treatment work?
So it’s complicated as each state does their requirements differently but also the same. From a generalized standpoint you typically have to get a license. The only way to get licensed is by working in the field or at the plant for a set amount of time and then take a state test and then you get your base license. After that you then can get further licenses but they also require a set amount of hours. Typically it’s 1-3-5 years for each license and then there’s other speciality licenses that branch off those you can get. There’s a lot of different paths you can go in water. College degrees mean pretty much nothing for plant operations as you still HAVE to have the hours worked to test for the licenses. All college degrees do in water is make you more “management” material but you can get paid really well and never be in management. This is all general water plant operations stuff and there’s multiple other careers that play into that as well like industrial mechanics, industrial electricians, low voltage techs, etc etc, they do different licenses but the gist is the same and pays well for honestly is a pretty easy and relaxed jobs as far as “trades” go. To get into the field most people are literally hired on as trainees and then you have like 1.5 years to get your 2080 hours worked and to pass the state exam. Get your hours and pass the exam and your licensed and golden, can’t pass the exam then your let go, can’t work forever without your own license. The tests are not super hard but if you don’t study the materials you won’t pass, you will have to put effort into learning the information to pass. Most people really struggle with the math as it’s very heavy on geometry figuring out area, flows, and velocity things of that nature. However there’s a lot of study guides and videos that can make it easy even for someone that struggles with math, you just gotta put the time aside to study
What does one even do to make money in this field? Is it the sales side or working at a treatment facility?
I’d treat some water for money.
Working in the facility. Operations.
IT and/or IT Management. I do have an A.A.S. from the community college, but has not mattered at all.
Made $88k this year working for an oil & gas service company. It’s not what you think, my work isn’t hard. I sit in a heated (in the winter) and cooled (in the summer) laboratory and tests cement and chemicals. Moving out of that position to get a few months of field experience so I can transition into sales. Working in a degree, currently. Got started in geotechnical engineering testing (asphalt, concrete, soil & aggregates) engineering firms don’t pay well, especially if you aren’t a P.E. or a P.G. Love my company, love what I/ we do and the pay is pretty damn great for an entry level job!
Oilfield is definitely where it’s at for a life hack, especially when you didn’t go to college. I did, but I’m just saying. It’s really useless once you get your foot in the door anyway lol
Definitely. The hardest part about it is actually getting your foot in the door. Took a while to find a position that I was capable of doing that would pay well and give me the opportunity to move up quickly. And, I’m not on a rig working my ass off. Major respect to the people who do though, I’m just a pussy who likes A/C and sleeping in my bed most nights lol
Traffic control for labor union then I went to traffic control in the electrical union. I make 80-100k All depending on how much it rains. All i do is setup road work signs and put out cones and watch traffic all day. some people at my company make 120+ it all depending on how much you want to work.
Any specific places to look for work like this I have some experience in traffic control but never knew about this type of work getting paid like that
Local unions in your area. I’m in CA
This sounds too good. Is the Union really hard to get into?
Nope, all I had to do was just apply for the job. Have a clean driving record,license and a car. I get paid $42 an hour with full benefits retirement,annuity great health insurance.
I make over 80K without a high school diploma, GED, or degree. Not even certifications. I’m a cyber security engineer (92K) and I own a property maintenance business which probably makes more than my cyber job. I work full remote. Been doing this for about 4 years.
How did you get into cyber security without anything? I am really curious cause I’m struggling with an Associates. Not for cyber security but for software engineer.
I was really into hacking back in high school days and I had extensive programming experience all self taught. I started programming when I was 13 ish, and hacking when I was 15. I applied for cyber work when I was around 27 years old and by that point had nearly a decade of self taught experience with a decent self made portfolio. They gave me a shot at a technical interview reviewing logs and I absolutely crushed it. It was too easy to be honest so I moved up fast. I went from jr SOC analyst to senior in about a year and a half, then to SE in about 3 years. My advice is just know your shit. I was able to out perform and value to my team with my extensive background that a lot of with degrees couldn’t. TL;DR, practice skills and don’t rely on your degree. There are a lot of sweats in the field that never went to school and are really good. Know your shit.
Very cool! Especially without even the base of high school degree- you almost never here about such a major rise without it in the present day.
Thank you, I’m fortunate for sure.
Same. Very similar story. I have been into programming forever. I had fun cracking copy protection out of games as a kid. One personal project was modifying C-based BBS software back in the early 90s. That in turn landed me a job with a company who was doing touch-screen kiosks (think, RedBox way ahead of its time), who wanted to hire a coder who could do a remote access module and interface with peripherals. I learned all sorts of things working for that company, it was miles ahead of things I was learning in college, so I dropped out. I did a ton of side jobs for people too. Starting with home users who needed help, which lead me to a lot of small businesses. Setting up Microsoft windows domains, databases, etc. Probably should have taken MCSE courses at some point around here as I would have saved myself a lot of self-induced headaches, but never got around to it. But, it was good contract money. I stayed active in software development too, working on open source projects. In 2008, a friend of mine worked at Symantec, and told me about an opening. I told him I didn't think I was qualified, I didn't have a degree or formal training. He told me to put my resume together anyway and see what happens. Got hired, they liked my broad spectrum of real world knowledge, especially with small business. My career skyrocketed beyond my wildest expectations from there.
I have my degree but got hired at my current place prior to completing it, and it has never been considered for my promotions as I’m in sales, but got my degree in accounting. Currently senior director est 300k w/ bonuses this year after about 8 years experience in the field. Sales is a great way to make good money quickly, and provides a ton of transferrable skills. Also, nearly every company has a sales department, so you can traverse industries seamlessly, and work for some really cool companies.
Union electrician. 150-200k
Fucking WHERE
San Francisco San Mateo Santa Clara
Theres a lot of different apprenticeship offered but in your case, just google electrician apprenticeship or IBEW near me.
You can make $100k doing anything if you dedicate yourself to it. I have a friend that started working at McDonald’s at 15 and never left. She retired as a senior manager. Personally I started as an intern at a tiny newspaper making like $4.00 an hour. Worked my way up to VP and now I’m in printing. I have a very large salary and bonus. Find something you like and work your way up.
I've never heard anyone retiring from McDonald's, that's a first
A friend I grew up with worked McDs for many yrs as a mamager. Left to be a UPS driver. Got fired for getting 2 DUIs. Went back to McDs and is now set to retire with 8yrs. Both of his older brothers worked their way up at McDs and retired. One of them a bigtime district manager in corporate People work and retire from McDs. It doesnt run itself
It doesn’t run itself….*yet*
I assume they found a way into corporate
My friend started working at Chuze. He’s almost a GM been there almost 6 years now.
Store manager for one of the big 3 wireless carriers in the US. Pays ridiculously well, over 6 figures last year in a rural town where the median income is 25K for an individual and about 66K combined for a household. My girlfriend is an ER nurse so together we’re beyond well off, all without a degree - just a willingness to learn, adapt, and sell (not so much selling now as that’s my assistant managers responsibility where my role is more focused on operations). Going back to school to get a degree 10+ years after graduating high school. For those curious, Sales Associates make about $50-65K. Assistant Managers make about 65-85K. Store Managers make about 80-120K.
Truck Driver, 4 days on, 2 days off. 12-14 hr workday. $105,000
With a CDL?
Yes, CDL A.
I’m a musician. $90 per hour teaching piano lessons $500/minimum per performance I made $105k last year
Air Traffic Control
Trades. Pick one. Apprentice and live a decent life
Self-taught software developer
Playing video games. 85k
You stream video games? Or play video games professionally on a team? Also what game if playing professionally.
No, he’s just getting a crazy check and plays video games everyday 😂
My husband works in the automotive industry as a service manager and is on track to make over 400,000 this year. He was I. The military for a few years and started at a tire store and worked his way up.
Hold up, service managers at dealerships can make 400k?! What is that position? Do they manage the entire service organization (advisors, mechanics, parts, etc)? Or?
Admin assistant at a University
I work at the highest paying university in NYC and I make 65K. It's best job I've ever had - work/life balance, strong union, lots of paid vacation, flex time, pension. I'm extremely lucky to have gotten this job but no, most admin roles that do not require a 4 year degree do not pay what you are suggesting.
Dang I’m in a senior admin specialist role at a college and make no where near that 😭 Our max rate for our grade is lower than your min rate at step 1.
NYS Court Officer. After 9 years on the job you make over 6 figures
scammed my way into an engineering position that doesn’t actually require much “engineering”.
None of the engineers at the plant I work at do any engineering. Unless all an engineer does is order new equipment or process improvements.
Railroad. I make $180k. My best year I made $340k as a director after bonuses and back pay. Just worked my way up. I also work 60 to even sometimes 80 hours a week. I do have technical degrees and a license through a clep test that equals a 6 year degree in electronics. My parents owned a military defense company. I worked there so my resume was perfect for the railroad I work for. They hired me over people with degrees because they know I can’t go anywhere else. My sister in law is a urologist. She was in school until she was 32. She makes $640k a year. Has about $600-700k in student loan debt. My wife is a lawyer. My wife makes $170k - she has about $300k left in student loan debt. If you can get into some sort of electrical, hvac or plumbing thing. You’ll get paid to apprentice. All these professions the average age is around 50-55 now. These people will be retiring soon. Which means all that work will be ripe to pick. You’ll be making $200k a year w in the next 5-6 years debt free.
I make 150k before the tax man.... nothing beyond high-school and I'm a recovered Opiate addict. I own a farm (not my source of income) with a 20 year old 2600 sq ft home. I started out turning a wrench, worked my ass off, and eventually became upper management. For context, I worked after High-school, for ten or so years. Had 7 years of hard drug use in that time till i was 28, fully cut that out of my life. 10 years later I'm where I'm at now. My point is opportunity and hard work trump a lot of what life throws at you. I wouldn't say I'm anything special, as in I don't have some special trait that puts me above any other moderately intelligent person.
Strength of will. it takes a LOT of that to turn away from opiates. One of my brothers made it out, the other did not.
UPS and USPS
do felonies 10 years ago disqualify employment?
Garbage man... 90k last year with some OT vendors and pension also. Could have worked more if I worked more
I'm in the waste management business. Everybody immediately assumes you're mobbed up. It's a stereotype. And it's offensive.
I also could’ve worked more if I worked more. Small world.
My friend dropped out of college (twice) and got a job in customer service. They took a few certification tests, which were paid for by their employer, and moved on up, soon going into tech support. They got their CCNA and started in IT/networking. All the cert study material they said was free off YouTube or given to them by coworkers. They make over 80k and own a house (very low COL state, granted). However the other part of the equation, much as people dismiss it, is dumb luck. Right place, right time, right connections, etc. And the job market has changed a lot since then, so I can't say it's fool proof by any stretch. But yes people with only a HS diploma can make a decent living. They told me their certs were as good if not better than degrees in many situations, but I take that with a grain of salt
Go get your CDL and work in trash. Your gonna work your ass off but it will be 100k
I was making $100k as a waiter when the pandemic hit. Now I make a lot more as a roofing contractor. Just learn to do a boring but necessary thing really well.
How do you become a roofing contractor, after being a waiter?
Just a few simple steps: Step one: have a global pandemic decimate your industry. Step two: accept the door to door roofing sales gig you’re randomly offered out of desperation. Step three: realize you absolutely SUCK at door to door sales Step four: Suck it up, grind through a few thousand doors until you slowly start to get better. Step 5: Well damn it’s been a year and suddenly you’re one of the top sales guys at the company (which is CRAZY). Step six: Eventually realize that this company, as much as you love them for teaching you something new, doesn’t care about installing a good roof. This begins to keep you up at night, because your background in the restaurant industry has made you actually give a damn about the customer experience. Step seven: Come to the realization that the only way to ensure you deliver a good roofing experience is to control it from beginning to end. Step eight: You make the single most terrifying decision of your life. You quit the job that brought you out of despair and desperation and strike out on your own with a contracting license. Step nine: Profit?? (I dunno I’m six months in and doing pretty well, I’ll update you in a few years 🤷♂️)
Union carpenter made 165k last year
[удалено]
40 hr week . 1(5day) week then 1 (4day work week) totaling 80 hrs. Weekends off. No degree. Hvac technician becoming chiller tech. 114400.00 before taxes with no overtime.
Forklift operator 55 hours a week approximately 85k a year. Easy work on phone half the time.
Sales can work but its terrible for your mental health
I’m 25, no college. I’ll break 100k this year working in a power plant as an ops and maintenance technician. I work 14 days a month (12hr shifts), but when we go on outage twice a year for a month each I work 5-6 days a week and rake in the overtime. Also get a 10% bonus every April, and a 3-5% raise every December.
Not me but my wife. She worked her way up the retail ranks after high school, bounced around some different companies getting promotions and got a store manager position then and it took awhile but eventually she became a district manager of her current company where she oversees all the stores in her region. She would tell you the money is good but her Work life balance could be better, a lot of travel and driving. Makes ~125k
Not me but my sailors are Navy Nukes and make above that at E-6 with ~5 years.
I deliver bread, merchandise it, and write orders. Low six figures
I do cyber security and do well for myself. I’m a good talker.
Supervisor for a Transportation Company plus Disability from my prior Military service
Program Manager in Tech. I make 170k + a 20% bonus. I’m not in software but understand enough. It’s a great career & challenging in the best way.
I do F&I in a motorcycle dealership. Raked in over 100k the last few years. Get to sell toys I'm passionate about every day. (No college at all) As other have said any trade skill can make you over 100k a year after awhile.
You know what.. I ride, I love motorcycles and I never thought of that. I don’t know why
Im on my way to that goal I'm doing reselling and online business
Ask yourself this... "What would I pay myself 100k per year to do?" If you were a business owner or customer, what skill set of yours is valuable enough to justify that pay? If you don't currently have one, you will have to learn one whether it's IHL, Military, Trade school... OJT...
Sales. Started at the bottom in retail, got promoted every 18 months for 10 years. Make as much as my hudband, he’s an engineer.
I got lucky, got into sales at a salesforce startup which paid pretty low (about 35k) but used that software side and another connection to get into software testing. From there got into a corporate role doing software testing and worked my way up to QA supervisor where after bonus I first hit 100k. Then transitioned into IT project management and now make about 116 after bonus. Along the way I got my salesforce administrator certification and the PMI-ACP (prior to making 100k). I did finally complete my bachelors recently, in fact with some extra classes 3 weeks before my first baby.
I got my associates degree the month I was turning 29. However before that I made $120-$150k. Get in a trade. And before anyone bashes me, calls me luck or $h!t talks me I work seven days a week 8 hours a day minimum usually 10-12 hours a day.
I only have a HS diploma. I'm in electrical supplies sales (inside sales) at a desk, answering emails and taking orders over a phone. I DO NOT COLD CALL, I don't go looking for sales. I only help customers who already know what they want and come to me for it. I make 140k/yr pretax. Started in my late 20s now I'm approaching 40. Sales is the way. Being a "people person" makes it easier.
Tech... Study on your own, get some certs, volunteer your services to a local nonprofit for resume material.
Software engineer and started my own tech consulting company. I've never set foot into a college and now I'm on a college curriculum advisory board and give input on coursework for one of their tech programs. Everyone there just assumes that I went to college because of my elevated work position. They didn't ask, so I didn't tell.
Technically I have a degree in applied science, but I got it through my apprenticeship. Commercial and industrial HVAC
If your are mechanically inclined or think you may become so....You must apply for, Be accepted., then complete a Union technical Apprenticeship...
Over 200K, NO high school diploma. No BS. Production to supervisor to department manager to upper management.
Wasn’t able to afford finishing my engineering degree. Only had two years and had to drop. Summer between semesters I worked for an electrician and when I dropped out of college I decided to work towards an electrical license. 18 months later I was a master’s licenced electrician. Worked a few more years for the man and then quit to start my own business. I was young and after going through a divorce pretty much lost everything. I took a job for a chemical plant nearby that needed an electrician and also had experience with automation systems (which I used to do for the other electrician and for myself). 15 years later I am considered a Automation Engineer/ Process Controls Manager . I make about $165k/yr salary +20% bonus. It’s not bad for a mostly 8hr/day 5 days/week job with only having to travel 3 or 4 times a year for a week or so. It’s not bad for an area where the median household income is $40k/yr.
Union elevator mechanic. On track to make 150k this year with minimal OT and I live in a low cost of living state. I’m 31 and have been in the trade for 8 years. Great benefits with full pension at 58. Total package is about 111 dollars an hour
Spectrum Field Tech
How is it? I’m a mechanic and don’t make anywhere close to that. I feel i could do this, do you need to have anything special to get hired?
Nothing special but you need to be able to think on your feet and make decisions when you're out alone, work well under pressure and being relatively tech minded helps (you'll want to be able to demonstrate these things during your interview). Spectrum is an awesome company and takes very good care of us.
I do sales for a custom integrator, about $150k this year and should be getting close to 200 next year
Im an erp functional consultant. Make 6 figures