HA! I just did the same and apparently minimum wage when I got my first job was 70 cents more than I got paid at the time. :P
Thank god I went in every day and did my job half-assed
My first job was at a jimmy johns. I was diligent everyday in always looking busy because I didn't want to learn the recipes for the sandwiches. I worked there for 3 months and never made a sandwich.
Same lol. I actually originally thought it was less than what I put to start, but Google says no. So either my memory is faulty or my employer took about half a year longer to update their wages than the state required.
$7 an hour at a local pizza place when I was 16, now $16 an hour as a photographer at 23. Not nearly impressive as most of these comments but I’m trying
Be careful with some of these comments. Anyone can lie. You don't know who is telling the truth here because so far from what I been reading the majority of people here make well over 100k a year but only a small percentage of the population makes that.
There could be a few different reasons for that.
One, the people most likely to respond to this post may be those who feel like they have something to say that others will find interesting--like making 10x now what they were when they started out.
Two, reddit skews toward the college educated demographic. I'm sure the demographics of reddit users don't represent the general US public. In fact, I know for a fact they do not. College educated workers earn more on average.
Three, people with leisure time and constant access to computers are also more online, and those are often white collar workers who tend to earn more in general.
Four, age differences. One person posting could be 45, and another 25. Totally different earning levels based on years of experience.
But regardless, there's not much to be wary of. Some people could be lying, but there are plenty of jobs that pay $100K or more, and most everyone who has one of them started out making little, especially if they started working as teenagers. If people want a job that pays that amount, they can reverse engineer their training and education, obtain the credentials and experience they need, and end up in the same place these other posters have.
That doesn’t sound that exaggerated. Managing a supply chain for a larger business would command that kind of salary (hell there’s tradesmen making that much with putting in tons of overtime).
How much a job pays rarely has to do with how valuable that job is to society and far more to do with how much $$$ it generates for the owners (or how’s much can be skimmed to further enrich said folks)
Local photographers book sessions for $200-400 for an hour photoshoot and like ten digitals. You book a few a week as a side job and can edit quickly, it can be a good gig.
I'm one of those people. But I'm 48. Made $3.25/hr in '89 cleaning up at a saw blade factory.
I'd say it gets better. But honestly, in this new era it may not. I feel like I was born in the nick of time.
Fucking boomers...
One of the reasons that "fucking boomers" are "fucking boomers" is I started my first job at 9 years old for .35 an hour pumping gas. That built to my last year of employment at 50, as a business owner, before chemical exposure 20 years ago put me on permanent disability, I turned 165K. My current job is casual Reddit and we all know how profitable that is... LOL
Social security and pension helps, but I'm nowhere near the earning power I had at 50. Living below 4x federal poverty level makes for good deals on medical too.
And the worst part about that (I'm making the assumption that was about 1968) is that after inflation calculations, the actual minimum wage in todays money is 13.98, almost double todays minimum wage.
65 dollars an hour? Lord have mercy. What do you even do with all that money? Haha I don't know anyone making even close to that. You're easily in the top 1 percent. How long does it take to become an engineer?
How long? Eh, I've been doing it since 1989. You have to buy course books and then pass certification tests. Do it in the following order: CompTIA's A+, CompTIA's Network+. After that, pick if you want to be a server and virtualization guy, or if you want to be a network and firewall guy. Server guys can transition to coders and make $150 an hour. Firewall guys can get into security and make pretty good, too.
Thanks, I'll look into that. That's some serious money right there. How long do those certifications take to complete on average? And do I need to enroll in a college or is it through an online course straight to the point type of deal?
Anything is still attainable but the cost is what you should look at. It took me 10 years of not partying and going out and studying and building my own home labs first with electronics then a virtual machine of the machine I worked on. then PLCs then a first gen Dcs controller. I have a great life and loving family but I sacrificed a lot also to have what I do now. Looking back I wish I had made more time for fun but as someone with a family I’m happy I didn’t.
No, they aren't even close to the 1%, not even in the poorest state. The minimum to be in top 1% is in West Virginia and it takes $133 an hour. In Texas, it takes $308 an hour to make it to the top 1%.
First job $7 at Kmart and currently $26.19 at the attorneys office helping as admin (calls barely come through and I just have to learn where to direct people when they call). Don’t even have a bachelors degree
i started out working at a lumber company, making 7.25 an hour, then started driving the boom truck for said company, delivering drywall, and lumber went to 8 an hour now. im making 28 an hour driving for a concrete company
You definitely will. If no promotions or raises at your current company after 2-4 years move to another carrier and you can probably get a nice bump. That’s what I did.
Absolutely WRECKED. Whenever I see a resume from someone who enter the game in 2019 and is still hungry for the industry I have mad respect for them. Imagine trying to figure things out as the sky is falling? Those people will succeed no matter what as it was like dog years. Things are 95% back to normal don’t let people tell you otherwise.
$3.35 an hour at McDonald's in 1984. In 1986, I moved on to Burger King for $3.40 an hour. :) Now I make $50.51 an hour as a tech writer. All that "job hopping" paid off. LOL!
$5.50/hr in 2007 as a Front End Coordinator at a Grocery Chain
2023 ...$12/hr + gas mileage +tips usually equivalent to $22-25/hr) as a Pizza Delivery Driver
I think it was maybe $5.75 an hour way back in 1992 working as a dishwasher in a restaurant. I'm salaried but hourly it would be roughly $91 an hour (work in IT/systems engineering)
My 1st was when min wage was like $4.25, I think. I actually remember when increased to $5.15. I was working in fast food.
Now $30 as entry level underwriter.
My first job was making $5/hr plus tips as an airport wheelchair pusher back in 2011. I'm now an aircraft mechanic with malikmg $41/hr with a $62/hr top out wage.
3.35 an hour at a pizza place in high school. Not hourly now but if I do the math it’s around 170 an hour. Divide annual income by 11 months (take out time off) and then divide by 40 hours a week.
$10/hr (minimum wage in 2013 when I started working was $9.19/hr)
had plenty of jobs in between, including 1099 and being a business owner. My peak wages for a calendar year was $65,000 (equivalent to $31.25/hr if 40hrs/week). Those days are over.
Now I'm at $22/hr back at a job I was at several years ago... netting half of what I did in the peak wages mentioned previously.
My skills that allowed the $65,000 in a calendar year are actually worth $30-$36/hr aka $62,400 - $74,880 per year) at the top company in the industry, I've been actively applying but they're VERY slow (2-4 months) to respond to applicants and are known for that.
I was like 10 years old and I used to work at a Mobil gas station in Costa Mesa for my mom’s boyfriend. This was back when California had odd/ even gas day. Maybe 1974. I got $1.00 Han hour and lunch. I am currently making $21.40 working for a distribution center in SoCal.
$3.50 at a Shell carwash. I'm getting old as dirt. Finished highschool and went to college. Finish wage was $57/hr and now retired for 3 years. Life is gooooood.
My first job in 2013 was a server making $3.10/hour plus tips.
I got a short lived job as a pharmacy tech that was my first non-serving job (“real wages”) and I was at $11/hour. This was 2016. Shortly after I took a paycut to work in a hardware store as a sales associate making $9.35 an hour.
Now I work at a dog daycare and boarding and training (two different places). One job is $14/hour (started at $9/hour in 2017) and the other is $15.50 (started at $15 in 2022).
My first job was $12 an hour as a project coordinator for a telecommunications company. As of June (since I got laid off), I was making $28 an hour as a resource program specialist teacher. Highest I ever made in my career was $32 an hour as a supplier governance manager. Rather disappointing career compared to a lot of my friends who have skyrocketed past me to $45+ an hour.
$3.15 an hour at McDonalds
$70+ an hour as a Staff Engineer (not including bonus and stock RSU's)
Years ago started a job as a Software Automation Engineer and got stock RSU grants spread out over a 4 year period. At the 4 year mark I had enough stock to cash out and pay off my house.
I swear, if I was a young person in this day and age I don't think I ever could have gotten to where I am now. It's tough for young people out there these days :/
$7.25/hour => $72
(before NYC taxes 🥲)
Started various minimum wage jobs like pet store associate, bookstore cashier…. Starbucks in college paid slightly better I think like $8.25? Then I worked in various offices for $14/hour which was still ridiculously low. I later wanted to enter the medical field so I became a medical assistant, taking vitals, drawing blood, performing EKGs, prepping X-rays, running pee tests and administering flu shots… for $14/hour.
Then I snapped and went to PA school so I’d stop being broke all the time. I could only do it with financial support from family. The sad part is, even though the knowledge required as a PA is way more advanced, I don’t think I work harder now than I did at every other job. Minimum wage is a joke.
2012- 8/hr cashier (6pm-3am 3 nights a week)
2012- 14.42/hr afterschool program teacher
2012- 25/hr afterschool SAT teacher
2013- 36/hr QA engineer
2013- 43/hr junior software engineer
2015- 62/hr software eng
2016- 74/hr senior software eng
…
2023 - 105/hr director of engineering
Ages 22 to 34
Its been a ride
I started at a gas station-grocery store, it had full service, I was only 13, this was back in 1979, gas was only .89 cents a gallon, they started me out at 1.25, three years later I was at 1.50, they started a tire store and moved me there, and then I started making 3.50, turned 18 then quit, went into a factory starting somewhere around 13.00, and now I’m making 15.87, at the factory job I made it all the way to 29.50, but after 34yrs of factory work I went back to retail, sorry for the long answer.
Sounds like my story - $3.35 an hour in '86, in Shreveport, spent 20 odd years working in factories up here in lower Arkansas, 2 different plants closed (one consolidated down to one plant in another town too far to drive to for $6 an hour, second was bought out by a company in the same field). Now, I'm sitting at $15 an hour working ar a small town (18,000 people) bank as switchboard, but COL is a lot cheaper here than in other places - our mortgage is <$ 550 a month.
Considering that this job is the first one I've ever had with paid sick time, now that my MS has progressed to where I NEED a desk job, it's great. Also have dental and eye insurance on both of us. Hubby has Medicare and TriCare for Life, as he's nearly 67. I have TriCare Prime, which is the icky way I can afford to have MS. I have over 120 hours in rollover sick time, and as of this year, 3 weeks of PTO over and above my sick time. People keep asking me why I don't get on Social Security disability, bit I'm only 54, and my job has long term disability at their cost on every employee.
3.26 per hour at Burger King it was increased to 5 per and I was so excited I taped the first 5 dollar per hr pay stub on my closet door. To this day I’m sure they still regret their decision to hire me .
My first job was at a GM and Chrysler dealership as a detailer. I started off at $10.50/hr. I ended up at $12.75 before I left.
My current job is working as a welder at a playground equipment manufacturer. I now earn $29/hr
One thing I learned when seeking different employment is to stop doubting my abilities and to take the leap to try out new things. I kept thinking I would never get the job, considering I had never welded before. Put in effort by learning the basic welding symbols, reading blueprints, and watching vids on YouTube regarding welding basics. Applied at my current job for a welding position. They gave me a couple of thin walled pipe and let me practice before taking their exam. Turned in the exam and turned out I failed because I left too many welds that were too bumpy and high around the curvature of the T joint. However, I was told I could stick around and keep practicing and try the test again, or I could try it again another day. I decided to go back the day after instead so that I could spend the previous night studying a little more. I took the welding exam again and passed. They offered me the job and gave me base pay of $25. Now I'm making $29, and I can stay for overtime as much as I'd like. I'm working 55-60hrs a week. But I'm going to start picking up more hrs real soon. I am seeking to buy a house soon. Had I not taken the risk of trying out for the job, I'd probably be at my old job, which I did not enjoy as much I thought I would have. Although I did enjoy driving and comparing all the different vehicles.
I started working for the government at the base kennels overseas when I was 16. We were paid $2.71 an hour with non-appropriated funds. Hardest job I've ever had physically unless you count the years I've done in behavior classrooms with 10-year-old felons but the best job I ever had! Currently I'm a teacher and after taxes I barely make 30 bucks an hour. That's after 18 years on paper but really 25 years experience.
Retail. $3 per hour. My 1 bdrm apartment was $145 a month. 1974. Now I'm retired. Stopped thinking about hourly wages decades ago when I finally hit 30k a year -- my "end all" goal at the time.
$7.15/hr -> subway sandwich artist
$233/hr -> subway manager (j/k). Would rather not say profession. I'm actually not paid hourly but calculated via how many hrs I work on avg per week (55-60) and subtracted how many weeks I take off per year.
$2 an hour off the books in 1976, I was 12. $85 an hour today, really salaried but that is what it works out to. At my age with all the commitments I have that still feels tight but I'm also trying to get to retirement and saving is a big priority along with being debt free.
I started working during high school in 2003-2004 @ $7.16/hr 30hr weeks. I’m now salaried at $110k which ends up being like $57/hr if I break that down to hourly.
I will add that I was very fortunate to have a family member who was in a position to give me a job at a company in 2008 & I have worked my way up at said company to my current position over the last 15 years.
$3.35 in 1985 for light janitorial duties at a local chain of clothing stores. I made $20/yard cutting grass, too.
Now, I'm an aerospace engineer with 25+ years experience, so I make more than that. Lol
Florida, $4.35 an hour, at a small hole in the wall Italian restaurant. I was both prep cook and dishwasher. This was in 1992-93. Now, currently even though it's salary, it comes out to 27.40, not the greatest but I can at least survive.
My first under the table job was $10/hr when I was helping my mom at her job where I wasn’t an employee at 15. My first real jobs, I was making $9.15 in WA in 2012 as a shuttle driver and German Live Lab student-professor, and $20/session as a private tutor when I was 17/18.
Today, I make $50/hr as a senior project accountant and I’m 28.
My first job (fast food) in 2002 was around $7/hr (I looked up the min wage in my state at that time). Now I make $25/hr as a surgical assistant/histotech.
In 1984, at the age of 13, I hoed weeds in a bean field for $3.15/hr. Now I'm 52, working as an Engineering Technician for NASA, making just under $40/hr.
My first job was $5.25 I think. Dishwasher at a pizza place. Followed by $5.75 maybe as a day camp counselor.
I make roughly $110 an hour today working in pharmaceutical research.
16 years old to 35 years old.
Come to think of it, my calculated wage at 11-13 years old was $1.25 an hour— flat rate to deliver newspapers.
Well. 3.25 a hour opening water sluces on a farm. But that guy never paid me so….
Real job was 4.25. Doing Christmas trees at16 now I’m little over 40 dollar a hour. As a national accountant manager for a security company.
I’m now 48 soooo
Started at $8.00/hr at 17 working as a floor sales associate for a local retail store. $19/hr (+ health insurance, + 120 hours paid leave annually) now as the head of purchasing and inventory for the same store.
First job was a busboy at a pizza place at 15. Started at $4.50/hr.
Today my job title is Manager, Application Development. Making equivalent of about $77/hr.
I'm 27 I don't get an hourly wage as I'm a roofer and my pay is based on how much I get completed in a day but I make roughly $500 per day after all expenses I used to make $16 Hr at 17 then by 21 I was making $27. Now I make $50+.
First job I ever had was at a grocery store. Pay at the time was minimum wage at the time $5.15/hr. Now I make $44.53/hr as a power plant operator, when I top out here in the next year it'll be around $54/hr.
$6.85 working at a short-lived Disney indoor theme park in Chicago. I guess if you break down my salary now to 40 hours/week it's $78 marketing for a tech company
My first job I made $7.25 an hour.
I'm currently in a 6 month internship for volunteer hours to earn a Dental Assistant certification..
So I made more as a 16 year old in 2003 than a 36 year old. But I'm working more hours a week now 😅😭
When I was 12 I used to clean the dining room of my family's coffee shop for $10. It normally took 2 hours. So I guess that's $5/hr.
Now at 32 I'm a union steamfitter apprentice in Philly and I make $43/hr plus $8/hr in my retirement fund and $10/hr in my pension. When I'm done my 5 year apprenticeship in 1.5 years I'll be making about $71/hr plus $14/hr in my retirement and $12/hr in my pension.
I made $8-an-hour teaching maths to elementary and middle school students while I was a college student.
I make a tad under $80k a year as an accountant now.
First job in 1990 at 15. Grocery store 3.85hr. Current job. Diesel mechanic Senior 41.10hr… My wife made 25hr after college as in Business administration. 3 years ago she sold her warrant stock and paid off our house and 2 rentals. She works at a Hospital as a cancer program manager 130k year.
8.15 at Bestbuy, cashier. 2009 age 16.
Averaged 100k or 50 an hour commission only average car audio installer during college 10 years experience.
83k or 40 per hour before bonuses, Electrical Engineer today age 29. 8 months experience out of college.
I'm just impressed everyone seems to remember the exact hourly wage they made at their first job
I googled my states minimum wage for that year lmao.
HA! I just did the same and apparently minimum wage when I got my first job was 70 cents more than I got paid at the time. :P Thank god I went in every day and did my job half-assed
My first job was at a jimmy johns. I was diligent everyday in always looking busy because I didn't want to learn the recipes for the sandwiches. I worked there for 3 months and never made a sandwich.
Same lol. I actually originally thought it was less than what I put to start, but Google says no. So either my memory is faulty or my employer took about half a year longer to update their wages than the state required.
$7 an hour at a local pizza place when I was 16, now $16 an hour as a photographer at 23. Not nearly impressive as most of these comments but I’m trying
You are only 23. Keep going and you'll be good, just dont give up and always learn something new
i started at 8.35 at 17, was at 22.5 last year but changed jobs… at 17 now at 23 but better work-life balance, we keep going!!!
Be careful with some of these comments. Anyone can lie. You don't know who is telling the truth here because so far from what I been reading the majority of people here make well over 100k a year but only a small percentage of the population makes that.
There could be a few different reasons for that. One, the people most likely to respond to this post may be those who feel like they have something to say that others will find interesting--like making 10x now what they were when they started out. Two, reddit skews toward the college educated demographic. I'm sure the demographics of reddit users don't represent the general US public. In fact, I know for a fact they do not. College educated workers earn more on average. Three, people with leisure time and constant access to computers are also more online, and those are often white collar workers who tend to earn more in general. Four, age differences. One person posting could be 45, and another 25. Totally different earning levels based on years of experience. But regardless, there's not much to be wary of. Some people could be lying, but there are plenty of jobs that pay $100K or more, and most everyone who has one of them started out making little, especially if they started working as teenagers. If people want a job that pays that amount, they can reverse engineer their training and education, obtain the credentials and experience they need, and end up in the same place these other posters have.
yea, like the mid west supply chain manager who says he is making $85 an hour, which would be $176,800 a year. Many over exaggerators.
That doesn’t sound that exaggerated. Managing a supply chain for a larger business would command that kind of salary (hell there’s tradesmen making that much with putting in tons of overtime). How much a job pays rarely has to do with how valuable that job is to society and far more to do with how much $$$ it generates for the owners (or how’s much can be skimmed to further enrich said folks)
I didnt even have a paying job at 23 you’re doing great
But I’m sure a lot of people would give up their wages to be your age again!
I was making 11 bucks an hour when I was 23. You're doing great my friend.
I was making the same as you at 23. Now I make significantly more than that. Just keep swimmin'.
You’re also young! You will be making more in no time.
Local photographers book sessions for $200-400 for an hour photoshoot and like ten digitals. You book a few a week as a side job and can edit quickly, it can be a good gig.
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Ouch
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I'm one of those people. But I'm 48. Made $3.25/hr in '89 cleaning up at a saw blade factory. I'd say it gets better. But honestly, in this new era it may not. I feel like I was born in the nick of time. Fucking boomers...
One of the reasons that "fucking boomers" are "fucking boomers" is I started my first job at 9 years old for .35 an hour pumping gas. That built to my last year of employment at 50, as a business owner, before chemical exposure 20 years ago put me on permanent disability, I turned 165K. My current job is casual Reddit and we all know how profitable that is... LOL Social security and pension helps, but I'm nowhere near the earning power I had at 50. Living below 4x federal poverty level makes for good deals on medical too.
Get more schooling. No one makes that without it.
Possibly the only one who is saying the truth
$5.15 working for my dad in high school $45k a year/$22.50 an hour now
$10 an hour working at a gas station. Now $60 an hour as an engineer.
I'm old. $3.25 at an auto parts store. Now $65 as an engineer.
I'm older! Minimum wage when I started was $1.95
I am older still. $1.65 an hour at my first two jobs: nurses aide and greenhouse worker. I retired from $100K with $5000 bonus.
And the worst part about that (I'm making the assumption that was about 1968) is that after inflation calculations, the actual minimum wage in todays money is 13.98, almost double todays minimum wage.
youre a touch older than me then. I started the year they raised it to 2.75.
You are supposed to list current wages for a comparison. Are you still working?
$6.50 at burger king $74 as an engineer manager... In California so it doesn't go far.
What engineering field? I am currently sitting about half that and only 5 years in.
Network.
65 dollars an hour? Lord have mercy. What do you even do with all that money? Haha I don't know anyone making even close to that. You're easily in the top 1 percent. How long does it take to become an engineer?
How long? Eh, I've been doing it since 1989. You have to buy course books and then pass certification tests. Do it in the following order: CompTIA's A+, CompTIA's Network+. After that, pick if you want to be a server and virtualization guy, or if you want to be a network and firewall guy. Server guys can transition to coders and make $150 an hour. Firewall guys can get into security and make pretty good, too.
Thanks, I'll look into that. That's some serious money right there. How long do those certifications take to complete on average? And do I need to enroll in a college or is it through an online course straight to the point type of deal?
A few weeks per certification but most study like nuts and build home labs ensure they know the material
Do you think it’s still as easy to get into as back then?
Anything is still attainable but the cost is what you should look at. It took me 10 years of not partying and going out and studying and building my own home labs first with electronics then a virtual machine of the machine I worked on. then PLCs then a first gen Dcs controller. I have a great life and loving family but I sacrificed a lot also to have what I do now. Looking back I wish I had made more time for fun but as someone with a family I’m happy I didn’t.
I was a network engineer for about 20y. Cloud engineering is much better.
Cool part, you don’t even have to be a guy!
No, they aren't even close to the 1%, not even in the poorest state. The minimum to be in top 1% is in West Virginia and it takes $133 an hour. In Texas, it takes $308 an hour to make it to the top 1%.
First job $7 at Kmart and currently $26.19 at the attorneys office helping as admin (calls barely come through and I just have to learn where to direct people when they call). Don’t even have a bachelors degree
My first job was Kmart too 😂 8 an hour tho
i started out working at a lumber company, making 7.25 an hour, then started driving the boom truck for said company, delivering drywall, and lumber went to 8 an hour now. im making 28 an hour driving for a concrete company
$4.25 as a projectionist at a movie theatre. $125.00 as a chief creative officer.
What a glow up
$5.75/hr operating a Ferris Wheel. A little over $100 an hour now operating a cat herding organization.
I liked the 120/HR 'chief creative officer' / pencil color chooser better. =P
Lol wat... Cat herding ?
I fix problems that the cats cause...aka operations.
That's a good job. 🙃
$8.50/hr working for my dads friend selling ink cartridges. Now I make $30/hr as an architect in training. ETA: first job was in 2009
$6/hr under the table at a locksmith shop in 2013 $27.50/hr now as a cabinet maker
$4.25 at an amusement park 14 years old. 53 an hour as a Director
Hi, fellow director making $53/hr!
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$6.55 in 2008 $30.29 today
$2.30 an hour as an usher at the local movie theater. Today I’m making $21 an hour working as a university licensure officer.
$7.25 at Target to $52 being an Underwriter
I just started in underwriting finally , and I'm antsy to increase my income.
You definitely will. If no promotions or raises at your current company after 2-4 years move to another carrier and you can probably get a nice bump. That’s what I did.
$5.45 to $85 supply chain
Where in supply chain?
Supply chain manager, manufacturing, midwest
Were your supply chains affected by covid and have they returned to normal yet?
Absolutely WRECKED. Whenever I see a resume from someone who enter the game in 2019 and is still hungry for the industry I have mad respect for them. Imagine trying to figure things out as the sky is falling? Those people will succeed no matter what as it was like dog years. Things are 95% back to normal don’t let people tell you otherwise.
Studying supply chain in college rn for this reason exactly
$3.35 an hour at McDonald's in 1984. In 1986, I moved on to Burger King for $3.40 an hour. :) Now I make $50.51 an hour as a tech writer. All that "job hopping" paid off. LOL!
$5 an hour washing dishes, now $55 as a security automation engineer.
$14 or $15 an hour. Now I make nothing an hour because I'm out of work. Most I've consistently made is $17.23/hr.
$3.15 an hour working for an accountant, now $100k+ a year, plus bonuses
$5.50/hr in 2007 as a Front End Coordinator at a Grocery Chain 2023 ...$12/hr + gas mileage +tips usually equivalent to $22-25/hr) as a Pizza Delivery Driver
$2.25 at a country club in 1977. $132.25 now.
I forgot my first pay, Maybe $9.75. Current position is WFH comfy at $32
6.50 an hour, now 42 an hour.
$9.00 an hour working food service at an amusement park. Now, $45 an hour working RE operations at a mall.
First job ever: $5.15/hr minimum wage in high school First career job: $18.27/hr in 2009 Today: $39.42/hr
$3.15 as a retail clerk. $41 as a data analyst.
$4,25/hr washing dishes back in 1995. I havnt been paid hourly since 2005 but i made $174k last year.
Doing what?
I think it was maybe $5.75 an hour way back in 1992 working as a dishwasher in a restaurant. I'm salaried but hourly it would be roughly $91 an hour (work in IT/systems engineering)
My first job was detasseling corn for $1.95/hour. 🤷🏼♀️ I currently make exponentially higher now. 🤣😂🤣😂
My first job was also detassling corn! It was $5.65 an hour when I started.
I hand pollinated corn. I had forgotten all about that. Guessing it was $5.15ish?
$7.25 $31.25 now
$15/hr in 2003 working at a whale watching charter, now $51/hr doing project planning. Finished a bachelors in 2014.
Started at 7.50 Now i make 30 an hour.
When I first had a job I started at $5.65 an hour. Today I make about 65 to $70 an hour.
$30 as a mechanical engineering intern (2021) and $50 as a mechanical engineer
Starting making $7.50 at a small retail store. Making $30 now as a forklift operator. Learning programming currently to change my whole life around
My 1st was when min wage was like $4.25, I think. I actually remember when increased to $5.15. I was working in fast food. Now $30 as entry level underwriter.
My first job was making $5/hr plus tips as an airport wheelchair pusher back in 2011. I'm now an aircraft mechanic with malikmg $41/hr with a $62/hr top out wage.
$20.00 an hour to teach the youth today. This is unacceptable.
Yeah.. 20 an hour / 45k a year, but, where normal people go 365, teachers do 240.
3.35 an hour at a pizza place in high school. Not hourly now but if I do the math it’s around 170 an hour. Divide annual income by 11 months (take out time off) and then divide by 40 hours a week.
Divide your annual by 2080, the number of work hours in a year
$10/hr (minimum wage in 2013 when I started working was $9.19/hr) had plenty of jobs in between, including 1099 and being a business owner. My peak wages for a calendar year was $65,000 (equivalent to $31.25/hr if 40hrs/week). Those days are over. Now I'm at $22/hr back at a job I was at several years ago... netting half of what I did in the peak wages mentioned previously. My skills that allowed the $65,000 in a calendar year are actually worth $30-$36/hr aka $62,400 - $74,880 per year) at the top company in the industry, I've been actively applying but they're VERY slow (2-4 months) to respond to applicants and are known for that.
$6.25 to ~$64 now
I was like 10 years old and I used to work at a Mobil gas station in Costa Mesa for my mom’s boyfriend. This was back when California had odd/ even gas day. Maybe 1974. I got $1.00 Han hour and lunch. I am currently making $21.40 working for a distribution center in SoCal.
Start 4.25 fast food. Now 60 as program director.
$7.25 10 years ago now around $120 before bonus
$12/hr minimum wage at my first job in high school and now $29/hr as an entry level IT service desk analyst at a post-secondary
$10 then $23 now...wish it was more...
$1.25/hour was my first pay. $80.23/hour today.
$3.50 at a Shell carwash. I'm getting old as dirt. Finished highschool and went to college. Finish wage was $57/hr and now retired for 3 years. Life is gooooood.
$5.15/ hour working at McDonald's and $33/ hour as a Sr. PPC Specialist (digital marketer)
8$ back in 2014, 32.75 9 years later.
$7.25 as a bus boy at my college dining court, $38 today as a construction engineer
$7.50/hr as a cashier at Walmart (2008) $28/hr as a Firefighter/Paramedic
4.50/hr packing Gaylord boxes with 80mm pc fans. Yea that took a while. 90/year pew pew engineer.
$9 at a Korean super market. $50 today as a safety specialist
$7.50/hr working at a record store as a teen. Now $66/hr as a consultant 25 years later.
Very first??? Dad owned a small market and paid me 10 cents an hour after school.
5.15 / hr at 16 years old. Salary and commission now, averaging about $67.00 / hour.
First job was a cloud consultant internship at $23/hr and now my FT job is 63k, which is $30/hr as a business analyst.
7.25 /32
My first job in 2013 was a server making $3.10/hour plus tips. I got a short lived job as a pharmacy tech that was my first non-serving job (“real wages”) and I was at $11/hour. This was 2016. Shortly after I took a paycut to work in a hardware store as a sales associate making $9.35 an hour. Now I work at a dog daycare and boarding and training (two different places). One job is $14/hour (started at $9/hour in 2017) and the other is $15.50 (started at $15 in 2022).
$16.75 as a general laborer to $85 as an Air Traffic Controller. $85 is my base pay without OT and any differentials
$7.25 as a teller at a bank in 2014, $21 now in social services in 2023.
My first job was $12 an hour as a project coordinator for a telecommunications company. As of June (since I got laid off), I was making $28 an hour as a resource program specialist teacher. Highest I ever made in my career was $32 an hour as a supplier governance manager. Rather disappointing career compared to a lot of my friends who have skyrocketed past me to $45+ an hour.
$6.75/hr and now I'm at 24.50/hr or so.
$5.65/hr bagging groceries 2005. Now $59/hr as a credit union regulator
$3.15 an hour at McDonalds $70+ an hour as a Staff Engineer (not including bonus and stock RSU's) Years ago started a job as a Software Automation Engineer and got stock RSU grants spread out over a 4 year period. At the 4 year mark I had enough stock to cash out and pay off my house. I swear, if I was a young person in this day and age I don't think I ever could have gotten to where I am now. It's tough for young people out there these days :/
7.25 -> 113
$7.25/hour => $72 (before NYC taxes 🥲) Started various minimum wage jobs like pet store associate, bookstore cashier…. Starbucks in college paid slightly better I think like $8.25? Then I worked in various offices for $14/hour which was still ridiculously low. I later wanted to enter the medical field so I became a medical assistant, taking vitals, drawing blood, performing EKGs, prepping X-rays, running pee tests and administering flu shots… for $14/hour. Then I snapped and went to PA school so I’d stop being broke all the time. I could only do it with financial support from family. The sad part is, even though the knowledge required as a PA is way more advanced, I don’t think I work harder now than I did at every other job. Minimum wage is a joke.
McDonald’s-$6.75, 16 years old. Hazmat Inspector-$25.54, 38 years old
2012- 8/hr cashier (6pm-3am 3 nights a week) 2012- 14.42/hr afterschool program teacher 2012- 25/hr afterschool SAT teacher 2013- 36/hr QA engineer 2013- 43/hr junior software engineer 2015- 62/hr software eng 2016- 74/hr senior software eng … 2023 - 105/hr director of engineering Ages 22 to 34 Its been a ride
I started at a gas station-grocery store, it had full service, I was only 13, this was back in 1979, gas was only .89 cents a gallon, they started me out at 1.25, three years later I was at 1.50, they started a tire store and moved me there, and then I started making 3.50, turned 18 then quit, went into a factory starting somewhere around 13.00, and now I’m making 15.87, at the factory job I made it all the way to 29.50, but after 34yrs of factory work I went back to retail, sorry for the long answer.
Sounds like my story - $3.35 an hour in '86, in Shreveport, spent 20 odd years working in factories up here in lower Arkansas, 2 different plants closed (one consolidated down to one plant in another town too far to drive to for $6 an hour, second was bought out by a company in the same field). Now, I'm sitting at $15 an hour working ar a small town (18,000 people) bank as switchboard, but COL is a lot cheaper here than in other places - our mortgage is <$ 550 a month. Considering that this job is the first one I've ever had with paid sick time, now that my MS has progressed to where I NEED a desk job, it's great. Also have dental and eye insurance on both of us. Hubby has Medicare and TriCare for Life, as he's nearly 67. I have TriCare Prime, which is the icky way I can afford to have MS. I have over 120 hours in rollover sick time, and as of this year, 3 weeks of PTO over and above my sick time. People keep asking me why I don't get on Social Security disability, bit I'm only 54, and my job has long term disability at their cost on every employee.
7.75, mcdicks 2011 0, unemployed 2023 (Hopefully by end of day today:) $60k, company a, 2023
$3.30 vs $30 + benefits
3.26 per hour at Burger King it was increased to 5 per and I was so excited I taped the first 5 dollar per hr pay stub on my closet door. To this day I’m sure they still regret their decision to hire me .
My first job was at a GM and Chrysler dealership as a detailer. I started off at $10.50/hr. I ended up at $12.75 before I left. My current job is working as a welder at a playground equipment manufacturer. I now earn $29/hr One thing I learned when seeking different employment is to stop doubting my abilities and to take the leap to try out new things. I kept thinking I would never get the job, considering I had never welded before. Put in effort by learning the basic welding symbols, reading blueprints, and watching vids on YouTube regarding welding basics. Applied at my current job for a welding position. They gave me a couple of thin walled pipe and let me practice before taking their exam. Turned in the exam and turned out I failed because I left too many welds that were too bumpy and high around the curvature of the T joint. However, I was told I could stick around and keep practicing and try the test again, or I could try it again another day. I decided to go back the day after instead so that I could spend the previous night studying a little more. I took the welding exam again and passed. They offered me the job and gave me base pay of $25. Now I'm making $29, and I can stay for overtime as much as I'd like. I'm working 55-60hrs a week. But I'm going to start picking up more hrs real soon. I am seeking to buy a house soon. Had I not taken the risk of trying out for the job, I'd probably be at my old job, which I did not enjoy as much I thought I would have. Although I did enjoy driving and comparing all the different vehicles.
7.25$ as a produce clerk at kroger Now I’m getting 17.60$ as a Nursing aid. Soon to be closer to 30$ when I finish nursing school.
I started working for the government at the base kennels overseas when I was 16. We were paid $2.71 an hour with non-appropriated funds. Hardest job I've ever had physically unless you count the years I've done in behavior classrooms with 10-year-old felons but the best job I ever had! Currently I'm a teacher and after taxes I barely make 30 bucks an hour. That's after 18 years on paper but really 25 years experience.
Retail. $3 per hour. My 1 bdrm apartment was $145 a month. 1974. Now I'm retired. Stopped thinking about hourly wages decades ago when I finally hit 30k a year -- my "end all" goal at the time.
$7.15/hr -> subway sandwich artist $233/hr -> subway manager (j/k). Would rather not say profession. I'm actually not paid hourly but calculated via how many hrs I work on avg per week (55-60) and subtracted how many weeks I take off per year.
I made R$300/month in my 1st internship in 2008 (Brazil). Which was about 6 USD/hour back then. Today I make about 31 CAD/hour, in Canada.
3.25 at Dairy Queen at 15, 43 at 50.
$6/hr flat at Albertsons Grocery as a bag boy and cart chaser in 2005. Now I'm making $17/hr to grow cannabis for a dispensary.
First job was at an amusement park. $6 per hour. Now I make about $55 per hour. Took 16 years lol
$7.25 at a Delia’s in a local mall I lived near when i was 16. Now making $22.65 working from home as a customer service rep.
£1.25 Irish punt at 16 in 1996 (€1.59), now €13.
McDonald's $5.25 in 1999 - today $24.00 at a distribution center.
7 dollars an hour at a dealership. 40 now in construction.
$2 an hour off the books in 1976, I was 12. $85 an hour today, really salaried but that is what it works out to. At my age with all the commitments I have that still feels tight but I'm also trying to get to retirement and saving is a big priority along with being debt free.
I started working during high school in 2003-2004 @ $7.16/hr 30hr weeks. I’m now salaried at $110k which ends up being like $57/hr if I break that down to hourly. I will add that I was very fortunate to have a family member who was in a position to give me a job at a company in 2008 & I have worked my way up at said company to my current position over the last 15 years.
1999 (16yr old) - $10.50/hr Stockboy at Albertsons. 2023 (40yr old) - apx $53.50 E-8 United States Air Force. (Base Pay + Basic allowance for subsistence + Basic allowance for Housing)
2001 @ 14 5.25 bussing tables while grandma played cards, 2023. RR conductor @ 55.01
I got $10 per hockey game I operated the scoreboard for, games were usually around an hour long
$1.90/hr in 1977.
Started at $4.25 as an ice cream scooper. I'm making $30 as a nurse.
$3.35 in 1985 for light janitorial duties at a local chain of clothing stores. I made $20/yard cutting grass, too. Now, I'm an aerospace engineer with 25+ years experience, so I make more than that. Lol
Florida, $4.35 an hour, at a small hole in the wall Italian restaurant. I was both prep cook and dishwasher. This was in 1992-93. Now, currently even though it's salary, it comes out to 27.40, not the greatest but I can at least survive.
My first under the table job was $10/hr when I was helping my mom at her job where I wasn’t an employee at 15. My first real jobs, I was making $9.15 in WA in 2012 as a shuttle driver and German Live Lab student-professor, and $20/session as a private tutor when I was 17/18. Today, I make $50/hr as a senior project accountant and I’m 28.
First job sonic car hop 5/hr Right not 0/hr because I got let go, however it was 23/hr
My first job (fast food) in 2002 was around $7/hr (I looked up the min wage in my state at that time). Now I make $25/hr as a surgical assistant/histotech.
In 1984, at the age of 13, I hoed weeds in a bean field for $3.15/hr. Now I'm 52, working as an Engineering Technician for NASA, making just under $40/hr.
$10/hour doing construction, but my lowest was $8.15 after that. Make $33 now
My first job was $5.25 I think. Dishwasher at a pizza place. Followed by $5.75 maybe as a day camp counselor. I make roughly $110 an hour today working in pharmaceutical research. 16 years old to 35 years old. Come to think of it, my calculated wage at 11-13 years old was $1.25 an hour— flat rate to deliver newspapers.
.75 cents an hour
7.25/hr in 2010 $69K salary today
Well. 3.25 a hour opening water sluces on a farm. But that guy never paid me so…. Real job was 4.25. Doing Christmas trees at16 now I’m little over 40 dollar a hour. As a national accountant manager for a security company. I’m now 48 soooo
Started at $8.00/hr at 17 working as a floor sales associate for a local retail store. $19/hr (+ health insurance, + 120 hours paid leave annually) now as the head of purchasing and inventory for the same store.
First job was a busboy at a pizza place at 15. Started at $4.50/hr. Today my job title is Manager, Application Development. Making equivalent of about $77/hr.
I'm 27 I don't get an hourly wage as I'm a roofer and my pay is based on how much I get completed in a day but I make roughly $500 per day after all expenses I used to make $16 Hr at 17 then by 21 I was making $27. Now I make $50+.
$3.72/hr doing maintenance on railroad tracks in 1972. Currently making about $70/hr as a cellular immunologist
$4.75/hr bagging groceries $80/hr VP of Operations at a medium sized company
First job I ever had was at a grocery store. Pay at the time was minimum wage at the time $5.15/hr. Now I make $44.53/hr as a power plant operator, when I top out here in the next year it'll be around $54/hr.
7.25/hr in a 7-11 back in 2013, 51/hr as a manager in government now.
$7.25 at Wendy’s. $43 now as a medical operations manager.
7.25 pushing carts are K-Mart to 39.00 as an Operations Manager
$6.85 working at a short-lived Disney indoor theme park in Chicago. I guess if you break down my salary now to 40 hours/week it's $78 marketing for a tech company
$4.25 /hr (Toys R Us) ~$95K salary now
My first job I made $7.25 an hour. I'm currently in a 6 month internship for volunteer hours to earn a Dental Assistant certification.. So I made more as a 16 year old in 2003 than a 36 year old. But I'm working more hours a week now 😅😭
Good luck!
Thanks. I graduate from the program next month, and I'm so ready to get paid 🤪
$5hr working in the warehouse where my mom was the accountant. $150hr now video engineer in AV industry.
When I was 12 I used to clean the dining room of my family's coffee shop for $10. It normally took 2 hours. So I guess that's $5/hr. Now at 32 I'm a union steamfitter apprentice in Philly and I make $43/hr plus $8/hr in my retirement fund and $10/hr in my pension. When I'm done my 5 year apprenticeship in 1.5 years I'll be making about $71/hr plus $14/hr in my retirement and $12/hr in my pension.
$3.25 my first job ever. Now I make 60 to 70 per hour and I'm still struggling in this god forsaken country (US).
7.50 at Burgerking as a cashier, 21 now in AP/AR, 31.25 was my highest as a GM at Dunkin 2 years ago.
$5.25 to $71
Probably $3 or $4 an hour working the cornfields in the summer, late 80s. Now about $45 as an office manager.
$4.25 / hour to about $70 / hour in IT. All the people complaining about how there is no money to be made should read through these responses.
I started at 250 dollars an hour (minimum wage) and now make 1300 an hour as a teacher.
I made $8-an-hour teaching maths to elementary and middle school students while I was a college student. I make a tad under $80k a year as an accountant now.
I think it was $7.25 or whatever NJ minimum wage was at the time. And my hourly pay is about $36 now.
First job in 1990 at 15. Grocery store 3.85hr. Current job. Diesel mechanic Senior 41.10hr… My wife made 25hr after college as in Business administration. 3 years ago she sold her warrant stock and paid off our house and 2 rentals. She works at a Hospital as a cancer program manager 130k year.
£3.50 per hour working at a pound store 😂👍
8.15 at Bestbuy, cashier. 2009 age 16. Averaged 100k or 50 an hour commission only average car audio installer during college 10 years experience. 83k or 40 per hour before bonuses, Electrical Engineer today age 29. 8 months experience out of college.