Where do you find high paying jobs?

[InvestInLife]

I've been self-employed my whole life in a field that is talent-based and "tough" to "make it" in. I have had some very good years (above 300k) and some very poor years (close to zero), averaging around 100k/yr before self-employment taxes, and with zero benefits. That's not uncommon amongst my peers, although I gather many of them probably make a bit less than that.

I find it amazing when people post here about their jobs that pay over 100k/yr plus benefits, which sometimes even include pensions––and also when these jobs are talked about as if they are common. I'm just curious where and in what fields jobs like these exist. But I've never "really" been an employee, and in addition was under the impression pensions are largely a thing of the past.

My father was self-employed in the same industry I'm in, and said that with all of the ups and downs over time, he would have done better to have just found employment somewhere. I suspect my own story is playing out differently, but every now and then I consider working for someone other than myself. I am graduate school educated with a decade of management experience, and live in the midwest. My clients are frequently senior executives at large businesses. Many of them have a degree in business and climbed the ladder over time. But I get the impression that I work harder and make more than they do (at least in my good years, and much less in my not so good ones).

[beyou]

The grass always looks greener.

And this site is not representative of anything average or normal. But there are many doctors, engineers, and business owners posting the larger numbers. Also some of that is regional, people living in high cost of living areas, where all make more than national averages, does not always mean net is high.

[moneywise3]

There are some professions that are not personality based, most everyone makes the same money there e.g doctors. Others are personality and skill based like engineering. An engineer can make 30k to 30M a year. X years experience as an engineer doesn't guarantee you promotions, raises or a particular salary. In general, don't chase a particular salary. Chase what you're good at and what truly interests you. Money follows.

[Trader Joe]

I've been self-employed my whole life in a field that is talent-based and "tough" to "make it" in. I have had some very good years (above 300k) and some very poor years (close to zero), averaging around 100k/yr before self-employment taxes, and with zero benefits. That's not uncommon amongst my peers, although I gather many of them probably make a bit less than that.

I find it amazing when people post here about their jobs that pay over 100k/yr plus benefits, which sometimes even include pensions––and also when these jobs are talked about as if they are common. I'm just curious where and in what fields jobs like these exist. But I've never "really" been an employee, and in addition was under the impression pensions are largely a thing of the past.

My father was self-employed in the same industry I'm in, and said that with all of the ups and downs over time, he would have done better to have just found employment somewhere. I suspect my own story is playing out differently, but every now and then I consider working for someone other than myself. I am graduate school educated with a decade of management experience, and live in the midwest. My clients are frequently senior executives at large businesses. Many of them have a degree in business and climbed the ladder over time. But I get the impression that I work harder and make more than they do (at least in my good years, and much less in my not so good ones).

I highly recommend that you post and maintain your profile on Linkedin. Recruiters will find you. Additionally take a look at Linkedin. Finally, if you excel in your field your clients will be looking to bring you aboard. Good luck.

[HoosierJim]

With graduate degree you mentioned, look at public school teaching in large cities. Holidays, sick pay, summers off, winter/spring breaks, union contracts - may even allow you to pursue your talent vocation.

A Chicago Public Schools spokesperson said average pay for teachers, without benefits, is $76,000.


Pensions and health care after a full career can be worth around $2,000,000



Compare this to climbing the corporate ladder, 50-70 hour weeks, stress, downsizing, politics, layoffs, competition etc.

[Bacchus01]

I don’t think there is a single degrees professional in our business over thie age of 30 that doesn’t make at least $75K and I’d say 75% are over $100K, with great benefits and a pension.

And this is an industrial company in a LCOL area.

We have mechanical engineers starting out of college at $65K and they are easily at $85k by year 5 and $100K by year 10. Not high tech.

[IngognitoUSA]

If you read ‘blind’, you will be depressed. People make $300k to $800k at FAANG. New grads at Amazon start at $150k total comp.
Or read this levels.fyi

[CorradoJr]

OP, do you mind sharing what field you are in?
I’m guessing the entertainment field (acting?) but maybe I’m way off.

My father was a self-employee professionally trained (Curtis Institute) musician for his career. Growing up I could see it was tough for him, with good years and bad. I never wanted that for myself so I decided to persue a typical 9-5 type job that was stable with benefits. My mother was a teacher and thankfully their finances were very yin/yang.

[mattshwink]

I live in Northern Virginia and work in Washington DC. My wife splits her work between home (65%), Richmond VA (30%) and local office (5%).

DC has tons of jobs. My [new as of Monday] company has three openings on my relatively small contract (15 people). And of course they are trying to backfill me at my "old" job. There is not a day that goes by that I do not get contacted by a recruiter (since I had my resume up recently they still have my info). Most jobs are probably lower paying then I am making, but still lots available (and not enough people to fill them). I work in IT infrastructure and security as a federal government contractor. My wife works in compliance for a major bank. Combined we make a little north of what you make in your good years.

The key I have found is to be flexible. While I usually work a fairly normal schedule there are times where I work longer days/hours to meet a deadline or fix an issue. I find that some folks really bristle against this or feel things aren't there job. Working on new things and pushing things forward has seen my salary almost double in the last 13 years.

[HEDGEFUNDIE]

I don’t think there is a single degrees professional in our business over thie age of 30 that doesn’t make at least $75K and I’d say 75% are over $100K, with great benefits and a pension.

And this is an industrial company in a LCOL area.

We have mechanical engineers starting out of college at $65K and they are easily at $85k by year 5 and $100K by year 10. Not high tech.

+1.

Virtually every company of any size has many, many worker bees making $100k. All that is required is a college degree (in any corporate function, not just engineering) and reasonable diligence in your role. Manager title usually gets you over that threshold, and if you want it, you can generally attain it within 10 years.

[Thesaints]

Median compensation in Silicon Valley is 122k.

[pdavi21]

Mostly people who find these jobs are going to have good behavorial flexibility, networking skills, valued degrees, valued technical skills, or know people where they work. Most of the time you need several of those to break 100k.

Also, a lot of the posts on here are actually fake for one reason or another. Not sure why.

[KyleAAA]

Get an in demand skill in an industry with above average profit margins in a revenue generating unit. Doctor, software engineer, quant trader on Wall Street, etc are all examples.

[delamer]

I live in a HCOL, but not Silicon Valley or NYC level.

If you have a solid math background — even a good undergrad program — you can make $100,000+ by your early 30’s with good benefits. Data analysis is a big thing.

[Jesteroftheswamp]

B2B Sales jobs (SaaS sales, medical device sales, Pharma sales, in particular) commonly pay a great base salary, outstanding commission, and benefits. I’ve been in dental sales the last three years and have made over $100K each year. Going into sales was the best career path I could have chosen for myself.

[Yohanson]

I have no degree and have been making 6 figures for 5 years now. I'm in a technical profession that has me flying every week and I get OT. My flights in first class sipping Woodford Reserve and watching movies is usually on overtime, at least on my way back home. I've also got over 30 years in with one very large corporation. And yes, I still get a pension but they did eliminate it for new hires about 5 years ago.

[toofache32]

There are some professions that are not personality based, most everyone makes the same money there e.g doctors. Others are personality and skill based like engineering. An engineer can make 30k to 30M a year. X years experience as an engineer doesn't guarantee you promotions, raises or a particular salary. In general, don't chase a particular salary. Chase what you're good at and what truly interests you. Money follows.

So medicine requires no skills? Confused because I thought my years of training were to develop skills. I guess it was all just a huge scam by the healthcare system.

Come on man, everyone knows you just woke up one day and you were a doctor. And there was no debt or personal/family sacrifice to obtain this.

[pasadena]

If you read ‘blind’, you will be depressed. People make $300k to $800k at FAANG. New grads at Amazon start at $150k total comp.
Or read this levels.fyi

Don't believe half of what you read on Blind.

[b.lock]

Anecdotally, I broke $100,000 salary when I became a programming manager. I have a degree in computer science from a public university, but not one highly ranked for computer science. I worked in I.T. while I went to school for four years, and then became a programmer when I graduated. After being a programmer for five years and working at four different companies, I was promoted to a manager position and broke $100,000.

[KyleAAA]

If you read ‘blind’, you will be depressed. People make $300k to $800k at FAANG. New grads at Amazon start at $150k total comp.
Or read this levels.fyi

Don't believe half of what you read on Blind.

I can vouch that the comp numbers on blind are generally realistic, but not for any individual claims. Amazon does, in fact, start new grads in the $150k range.

[pasadena]

If you read ‘blind’, you will be depressed. People make $300k to $800k at FAANG. New grads at Amazon start at $150k total comp.
Or read this levels.fyi

Don't believe half of what you read on Blind.

I can vouch that the comp numbers on blind are generally realistic, but not for any individual claims. Amazon does, in fact, start new grads in the $150k range.

I know. But a lot of people there seriously inflate their comp, and a huge part of it is unvested RSUs.

[KyleAAA]

If you read ‘blind’, you will be depressed. People make $300k to $800k at FAANG. New grads at Amazon start at $150k total comp.
Or read this levels.fyi

Don't believe half of what you read on Blind.

I can vouch that the comp numbers on blind are generally realistic, but not for any individual claims. Amazon does, in fact, start new grads in the $150k range.

I know. But a lot of people there seriously inflate their comp, and a huge part of it is unvested RSUs.

IMO stock appreciation is reasonable to count as TC. If it's on my W2, it counts.

[SoonerD]

Deleted duplicate post

[FireSekr]

I work in data analytics. It’s tech related but not exactly a programming type job. Most of our people have undergrad degrees in economics or engineering, not comp sci (although there are a handful). I can’t think of a single person on our team with a graduate degree.

The only people on our team making less than $100k a year have less than 5 years experience. That group represents about 10% of our team.

We do not have pensions but have very cheap healthcare ($40/month for an individual with $1.5k deductible), decent vacation time, 401k etc.

[Glasgow]

Salaries and benefits at FAANG and other high tech companies are comparable (except at Google you can add more fat onto your body). The significant difference is sign-on RSU. Refreshed RSU grant might not be as much compared to sign-on one.
To get consistent high paying job, work in high tech fields/companies or at least operations i.e Operations Manager, Project/Program Manager, Business Development Manager, etc. for the field. Start climbing the rung from, say, operations analyst, operations specialist, operations manager, sr. ops manager, Dir of Ops, Sr. Dir of Ops and, VP of Ops and beyond.

[jharkin]

And this site is not representative of anything average or normal. But there are many doctors, engineers, and business owners posting the larger numbers. Also some of that is regional, people living in high cost of living areas, where all make more than national averages, does not always mean net is high.

This.
The longer you stay here the more you will see it.. People here are WAY above average and many of them just dont realize it, so they fall into the trap of assuming everyone is like them and being this successful is easy for anyone.

FWIW, I am in tech as are others. I have been fortunate to stay steadily employed in this volatile field for 20+ years now, but even in tech I didn't break into the 100k club until my 30s. I know I'm lucky because I lived though the dot com and saw many of my friends get laid off and never get back into the industry. Even recently in these "good years" I see people being laid off and due to age not get back in.

Nobody else in my family ever came close to 100k and in my wife's family only her brother who works in finance does. So to answer your question, no a 100k income is not "easy" or "typical" and even on BH not everyone is so fortunate.

[Bacchus01]

And this site is not representative of anything average or normal. But there are many doctors, engineers, and business owners posting the larger numbers. Also some of that is regional, people living in high cost of living areas, where all make more than national averages, does not always mean net is high.

This.
The longer you stay here the more you will see it.. People here are WAY above average and many of them just dont realize it, so they fall into the trap of assuming everyone is like them and being this successful is easy for anyone.

FWIW, I am in tech as are others. I have been fortunate to stay steadily employed in this volatile field for 20+ years now, but even in tech I didn't break into the 100k club until my 30s. I know I'm lucky because I lived though the dot com and saw many of my friends get laid off and never get back into the industry. Even recently in these "good years" I see people being laid off and due to age not get back in.

Nobody else in my family ever came close to 100k and in my wife's family only her brother who works in finance does. So to answer your question, no a 100k income is not "easy" or "typical" and even on BH not everyone is so fortunate.

But breaking into the 100s when you were 30s is not the same as those in their 30s breaking 100 now. I broke 100K at age 29 in 2002. But that would be about 150-180 today with inflation.

[randomguy]

IMO stock appreciation is reasonable to count as TC. If it's on my W2, it counts.

It is compensation. There is some question of how repeatable it is. If I join a company at 100k/year with 100k of rsus vesting over 4 years, my compensation might be expected to be like 130k/year. If the stock goes up 4x in 2 years, my compensation is more like 200k. If I was buying a house, I might use the 130k number not the higher one. Bonuses cause similar issues.

But if you ask me what I made last year, I am using the 200k I paid taxes on.

[jayk238]

There are some professions that are not personality based, most everyone makes the same money there e.g doctors. Others are personality and skill based like engineering. An engineer can make 30k to 30M a year. X years experience as an engineer doesn't guarantee you promotions, raises or a particular salary. In general, don't chase a particular salary. Chase what you're good at and what truly interests you. Money follows.

So medicine requires no skills? Confused because I thought my years of training were to develop skills. I guess it was all just a huge scam by the healthcare system.

Perhaps not reading-comprehension based.

Whose are you referring to. Yours? Because he clearly contrasted engineering from medicine as a skills based field. So thats pretty obvious reading comprehension. I think the schadenfreude on this website against doctors (watching others bash on here) and making snide comments is simply telling of the amount of angst and jealousy. Theres a lot of judgement too. It makes me wonder the true intentions behind a lot of participation. Some people should take a mirror to themselves and ask if they are here for genuine advice or to bring others down a notch.

The more of these comments i see, including threads titled x doctor scammed me or why do certain professions make so much more x makes me less and less willing to participate.

[market timer]

There are some professions that are not personality based, most everyone makes the same money there e.g doctors. Others are personality and skill based like engineering. An engineer can make 30k to 30M a year. X years experience as an engineer doesn't guarantee you promotions, raises or a particular salary. In general, don't chase a particular salary. Chase what you're good at and what truly interests you. Money follows.

So medicine requires no skills? Confused because I thought my years of training were to develop skills. I guess it was all just a huge scam by the healthcare system.

Perhaps not reading-comprehension based.

Whose are you referring to. Yours? Because he clearly contrasted engineering from medicine as a skills based field. So thats pretty obvious reading comprehension. I think the schadenfreude on this website against doctors (watching others bash on here) and making snide comments is simply telling of the amount of angst and jealousy. Theres a lot of judgement too. It makes me wonder the true intentions behind a lot of participation. Some people should take a mirror to themselves and ask if they are here for genuine advice or to bring others down a notch.

The more of these comments i see, including threads titled x doctor scammed me or why do certain professions make so much more x makes me less and less willing to participate.

My read of moneywise3's post is that medicine has low variance in compensation for a given skill set, not that medicine does not require skills.

[onourway]

There are some professions that are not personality based, most everyone makes the same money there e.g doctors. Others are personality and skill based like engineering. An engineer can make 30k to 30M a year. X years experience as an engineer doesn't guarantee you promotions, raises or a particular salary. In general, don't chase a particular salary. Chase what you're good at and what truly interests you. Money follows.

So medicine requires no skills? Confused because I thought my years of training were to develop skills. I guess it was all just a huge scam by the healthcare system.

Perhaps not reading-comprehension based.

Whose are you referring to. Yours? Because he clearly contrasted engineering from medicine as a skills based field. So thats pretty obvious reading comprehension. I think the schadenfreude on this website against doctors (watching others bash on here) and making snide comments is simply telling of the amount of angst and jealousy. Theres a lot of judgement too. It makes me wonder the true intentions behind a lot of participation. Some people should take a mirror to themselves and ask if they are here for genuine advice or to bring others down a notch.

The more of these comments i see, including threads titled x doctor scammed me or why do certain professions make so much more x makes me less and less willing to participate.

My read of moneywise3's post is that medicine has low variance in compensation for a given skill set, not that medicine does not require skills.

+1.

[EddyB]

So medicine requires no skills? Confused because I thought my years of training were to develop skills. I guess it was all just a huge scam by the healthcare system.

Perhaps not reading-comprehension based.

Whose are you referring to. Yours? Because he clearly contrasted engineering from medicine as a skills based field. So thats pretty obvious reading comprehension. I think the schadenfreude on this website against doctors (watching others bash on here) and making snide comments is simply telling of the amount of angst and jealousy. Theres a lot of judgement too. It makes me wonder the true intentions behind a lot of participation. Some people should take a mirror to themselves and ask if they are here for genuine advice or to bring others down a notch.

The more of these comments i see, including threads titled x doctor scammed me or why do certain professions make so much more x makes me less and less willing to participate.

My read of moneywise3's post is that medicine has low variance in compensation for a given skill set, not that medicine does not require skills.

+1.

Of course. The OP merely says that medical compensation is “not personality based,” while comp in other fields, like engineering, is more dependent on personality, in addition to skills. The implication is that medicine is certainly skill-dependent. Jayk238 clearly already had an axe to grind, distorting his understanding of the post (and may have offered some support for the claim that personality isn’t a major factor).

[patrocity]

Just to continue the derailed thread... Medicine does have widely varying compensation dependent on self employed vs employed and between subspecialties. As low as low $125k (think super niche academic pediatric) to 7 figure range for private practice surgeon in good payer mix. Personality in medicine may contribute to net worth over a lifetime as those that are more personable tend to get sued less.

In terms of finding a high paying job? I think you can find one in any field if you're willing to move/be flexible. If you MUST live on the coast or in a large metro, then you take what you can get.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a bump in pay of trade type skills that can't be automated (think plumber and electrician).

[OldSport]

And this site is not representative of anything average or normal. But there are many doctors, engineers, and business owners posting the larger numbers. Also some of that is regional, people living in high cost of living areas, where all make more than national averages, does not always mean net is high.

This.
The longer you stay here the more you will see it.. People here are WAY above average and many of them just dont realize it, so they fall into the trap of assuming everyone is like them and being this successful is easy for anyone.

FWIW, I am in tech as are others. I have been fortunate to stay steadily employed in this volatile field for 20+ years now, but even in tech I didn't break into the 100k club until my 30s. I know I'm lucky because I lived though the dot com and saw many of my friends get laid off and never get back into the industry. Even recently in these "good years" I see people being laid off and due to age not get back in.

Nobody else in my family ever came close to 100k and in my wife's family only her brother who works in finance does. So to answer your question, no a 100k income is not "easy" or "typical" and even on BH not everyone is so fortunate.

But breaking into the 100s when you were 30s is not the same as those in their 30s breaking 100 now. I broke 100K at age 29 in 2002. But that would be about 150-180 today with inflation.

$100k in January 2002 is ~$142k now.

I am at ~$160k base now excluding bonuses and benefits. I found hard work and strong results helped get there, but recently it seems very challenging to break above that level adjusted for inflation. The competition and politics seems much more fierce to break above that level.

[A7las]

B2B Sales jobs (SaaS sales, medical device sales, Pharma sales, in particular) commonly pay a great base salary, outstanding commission, and benefits. I’ve been in dental sales the last three years and have made over $100K each year. Going into sales was the best career path I could have chosen for myself.

+1

Medical device and software sales has been great for me. Above average base salary, great benefits, tons of autonomy, work from home etc.

It is high stress but I make well north of 100k in my late 20s.

[HawkeyePierce]

There's a tier of tech companies just below the FAANGs that pay almost as well. Twitter, Uber, Airbnb, Adobe, Pinterest, Stripe, Microsoft, Salesforce, Dropbox, and many more. Added up that's tens of thousands of engineering jobs and increasingly they're hiring in markets outside the SF Bay Area. Seattle, Denver, Austin and remotely.

I can vouch for the data on levels.fyi. While any individual data point might be suspect, I work for one of the companies on their list and the overall average looks about right. My career plan is to climb the engineering ladder in this industry (staff engineer and beyond). Compensation can break the $500k mark in those positions, though there aren't many available. We have X000 engineers and less than 10% are promoted to staff. Only about 1% get beyond that.

At least in my experience, these positions can be low stress relative to the pay. I enjoy getting to shut off when I leave the office at 5.

[White Coat Investor]

Mostly people who find these jobs are going to have good behavorial flexibility, networking skills, valued degrees, valued technical skills, or know people where they work. Most of the time you need several of those to break 100k.

Also, a lot of the posts on here are actually fake for one reason or another. Not sure why.

What? What's the incentive?

[Oblivious]

Spent years upon years training to gain a very specialized skill set. Gaining this skill set meant sacrificing my 20s to become a credentialed actuary. It's a skill set that the market pays 6 figures for. There's a huge difference between 100k vs 200k vs 400k though. This board attract more people that have extra discretionary income and are unsure on what to do with it.

I don't think I'd recommend a person become an actuary after going through it, there seems to be better paths to getting a high paying job.

[danaht]

Sometimes it depends on the company you work for.
For instance - in this article they list the average pay for airline mechanics in 2017:
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm ... sure-sides
In the article - they mention the top paying company is Southwest - with an average pay of $117,936. The lowest payer is United at $49,607. Also it's worth mentioning that the Southwest mechanics are voting right now on a 20% pay raise + a large bonus. So - there probably is going to be a much bigger pay difference between mechanics working at United and Southwest. So, you should research how much companies pay - and try to get a job with the companies that pay the best.

[IngognitoUSA]

There's a tier of tech companies just below the FAANGs that pay almost as well. Twitter, Uber, Airbnb, Adobe, Pinterest, Stripe, Microsoft, Salesforce, Dropbox, and many more. Added up that's tens of thousands of engineering jobs and increasingly they're hiring in markets outside the SF Bay Area. Seattle, Denver, Austin and remotely.

I can vouch for the data on levels.fyi. While any individual data point might be suspect, I work for one of the companies on their list and the overall average looks about right. My career plan is to climb the engineering ladder in this industry (staff engineer and beyond). Compensation can break the $500k mark in those positions, though there aren't many available. We have X000 engineers and less than 10% are promoted to staff. Only about 1% get beyond that.

At least in my experience, these positions can be low stress relative to the pay. I enjoy getting to shut off when I leave the office at 5.

I did not think it was possible to break $500k in non HFT tech but the numbers truly surprise me.

[Traveler]

I am a senior marketing manager at a non-IT Fortune 50 company and have been making more than $100K since I started with them almost ten years ago. I graduated with an MBA in 2001 from a top 50 program which is what changed my income trajectory. I doubled my salary from before getting an MBA with the starting salary of my first post-MBA job.

At my current company, benefits are pretty good and include low cost health plans, average paid time off (I get five weeks), average 401K match (3.5%) and a contribution to a retirement account (7% of base + bonus, defined contribution, not defined benefit). Pay includes base plus a 30+% bonus target.

I live in a MCOL city. I wouldn't move to a higher COL city unless I got a significant pay increase. For example, I wouldn't move to NYC or the Bay Area, without at least doubling my total compensation and I highly doubt any company would pay me that for a similar position.

[stoptothink]

I don’t think there is a single degrees professional in our business over thie age of 30 that doesn’t make at least $75K and I’d say 75% are over $100K, with great benefits and a pension.

And this is an industrial company in a LCOL area.

We have mechanical engineers starting out of college at $65K and they are easily at $85k by year 5 and $100K by year 10. Not high tech.

I work in the science department of a 4,000+ employee company that has over 35% marketshare in its niche market (annual revenue >$5B). There are over 100 "scientists" here, about a dozen PhDs and countless MS'. My boss (the Chief Medical Officer) and myself are the only ones making over $100k a year. We are starting analytical chemists and microbiologists at $38k-$45k. Two years ago I had to fight to offer a rock star (valedictorian at local university with several publications involving a totally new in silico research methodology before the age of 20, who is headed to Johns Hopkins in the fall to start PhD in biotech) $48k. Most of my PhD colleagues, who are directors/senior directors of large QA/QC labs, manage product formulation, etc. are making $70k-$90k and these are people with a decade or more of experience. We often have 100+ applicants whenever a position opens up in our department. This is a MCOL area that has the fastest growing economy in the country.

...then I go down the street to my wife's data security company, where she has colleagues with no formal education, no professional certifications, almost no work experience outside of call centers, who are the furthest thing from "go-getters" I have ever met, who are making more than I am doing in-bound sales.

[White Coat Investor]

Personality in medicine may contribute to net worth over a lifetime as those that are more personable tend to get sued less.

What? It is EXCEEDINGLY rare for a physician to pay out of pocket for a malpractice settlement or judgment. It certainly has no broad effect on physician net worth.

In a typical lawsuit, the physician pretty much functions as a defense witness for the insurance company.

[White Coat Investor]

There are some professions that are not personality based, most everyone makes the same money there e.g doctors. Others are personality and skill based like engineering. An engineer can make 30k to 30M a year. X years experience as an engineer doesn't guarantee you promotions, raises or a particular salary. In general, don't chase a particular salary. Chase what you're good at and what truly interests you. Money follows.

So medicine requires no skills? Confused because I thought my years of training were to develop skills. I guess it was all just a huge scam by the healthcare system.

Perhaps not reading-comprehension based.

Whose are you referring to. Yours? Because he clearly contrasted engineering from medicine as a skills based field. So thats pretty obvious reading comprehension. I think the schadenfreude on this website against doctors (watching others bash on here) and making snide comments is simply telling of the amount of angst and jealousy. Theres a lot of judgement too. It makes me wonder the true intentions behind a lot of participation. Some people should take a mirror to themselves and ask if they are here for genuine advice or to bring others down a notch.

The more of these comments i see, including threads titled x doctor scammed me or why do certain professions make so much more x makes me less and less willing to participate.

My read of moneywise3's post is that medicine has low variance in compensation for a given skill set, not that medicine does not require skills.

I used to think that way, but having met a lot more doctors now and peered into their finances, I am much more impressed with the intraspecialty differences in pay than the interspecialty ones. I know both family practice docs and psychiatrists that have earned 7 figures in a year. Yet some in their field earn $100-150K working full time.

[fastrak99]

Even though I have an advanced degree - I learned early on between my personality, politics and long hours to be put in - 100K in any 'traditional' route was a no-go.

I realized that 100K / year (goal over a decade ago) was to figure out a way to sell 6 'trinkets' a day for $50 each. A trinket could be anything - an article of clothing, an e-book, or a weight loss supplement. Preferably with high-margins. With so many ways to market today, some of which are free - there is no excuse. Between adwords, ebay, amazon, instagram, youtube and counting - there will always emerge ways to sell what you got. And I also learned very very early on (when I was 14 selling on ebay) - people will literally buy ANYTHING for the right price.

It did not take me very long how to make that happen, and cross the $100K barrier, all while working a corporate job at the time (which I since long left). The great part is if you can figure out a way to sell 6 trinkets a day, the upside is unlimited after that - and you can rinse and repeat as many times as necessary to get the paycheck you desire.

Fighting the corporate hierarchy or getting countless years of education upon education just to put in 60+ hours for a chance to earn a 100K paycheck was way out of reach for me, but I know plenty with NO education selling 'trinkets' online making well past 6 figures.

[ETadvisor]

The grass always looks greener.

And this site is not representative of anything average or normal. But there are many doctors, engineers, and business owners posting the larger numbers. Also some of that is regional, people living in high cost of living areas, where all make more than national averages, does not always mean net is high.

+1000 My college room mate moved to California with a Computer Science degree. He earns a nice 6 figure salary and knows the market will pay 30% less back home. Everything is relative and the trade-off is his mortgage is X time more but likes the fact he earns 6 figures even if artificially inflated.

[F150HD]

With graduate degree you mentioned, look at public school teaching in large cities. Holidays, sick pay, summers off, winter/spring breaks, union contracts - may even allow you to pursue your talent vocation.

A Chicago Public Schools spokesperson said average pay for teachers, without benefits, is $76,000.


Pensions and health care after a full career can be worth around $2,000,000
...

Compare this to climbing the corporate ladder, 50-70 hour weeks, stress, downsizing, politics, layoffs, competition etc.

Have you ever spent any time in an Urban classroom? talking public school in a major City.

[HEDGEFUNDIE]

There's a tier of tech companies just below the FAANGs that pay almost as well. Twitter, Uber, Airbnb, Adobe, Pinterest, Stripe, Microsoft, Salesforce, Dropbox, and many more. Added up that's tens of thousands of engineering jobs and increasingly they're hiring in markets outside the SF Bay Area. Seattle, Denver, Austin and remotely.

I can vouch for the data on levels.fyi. While any individual data point might be suspect, I work for one of the companies on their list and the overall average looks about right. My career plan is to climb the engineering ladder in this industry (staff engineer and beyond). Compensation can break the $500k mark in those positions, though there aren't many available. We have X000 engineers and less than 10% are promoted to staff. Only about 1% get beyond that.

At least in my experience, these positions can be low stress relative to the pay. I enjoy getting to shut off when I leave the office at 5.

I did not think it was possible to break $500k in non HFT tech but the numbers truly surprise me.

It’s all about the stock.

Here is one example: TWLO.

Two years ago the stock was at $30. Today it’s at $130.

Let’s say two years ago, you joined just out of college in a non-engineering role. For example, Sales Operations Analyst.

Your starting comp is $65k base with $60k RSUs vesting over four years ($15k per year).

Two years later, even with no promotions or raises, this person is making $130k (the $15k stock turned into $65k).

It gets even better. Many tech companies in the Valley offer two-year lookbacks on their ESPP. So this person is locking in a stock price of $25.50 ($30 - 15%), then sells at $130. Let’s say this person contributes $10k into the ESPP, then he/she is earning $40k in gains.

So $65k base + $65k RSUs + $40k ESPP gains = $170k. For a kid two years out of college with a liberal arts degree.

[pdavi21]

Mostly people who find these jobs are going to have good behavorial flexibility, networking skills, valued degrees, valued technical skills, or know people where they work. Most of the time you need several of those to break 100k.

Also, a lot of the posts on here are actually fake for one reason or another. Not sure why.

What? What's the incentive?

I don't know. I think sometimes Recruiters are floating their job offers or something to see what people think. Sometimes they may be trolling or selling something. Or they could just be lying to inflate their online ego. Really, what would be the incentive for telling the truth?

EDIT: Not saying it's impossible to get mid six figure jobs even at a large company, just saying even though these jobs exist, people (or even bots) sometimes lie about having them.

It's like an attractive profile picture, and it's really an old fat guy. People on this site like bragging about how much money they make, have, and save, how well their investments do, how awesome their tax strategies are, etc.

[dknightd]

:lol: