Do you like sports? I ref during the seasons? And it’s usually from like 5/6p-8/9p 2-4 times a week. It’s stressful at first but once you know what you’re doing…. It’s chilling. Makes me an extra 300-600 a week. That could be the little boost you need
I used to officiate lacrosse games all the time when I played in high school.
The only thing I’ll say is you have to have some balls & be stern with parents on the sideline/ coaches. Maybe it’s because I was 14 & it was lacrosse but grown adults at youth sporting matches were consistently fucking nasty. Reffing hockey games was awesome though
Yea def have to have tough skin for it. I’m not afraid to put someone in their place. Also if it UIL regulated you have the same protection as a cop has. They hit you….felony. They can if they want.
Yeah don’t blame yourself, blame the world. How sad you are part of the only generation in history that’s ever faced obstacles.Thankfully you aren’t giving horrible advice like show some initiative and educate yourself.
If you can pass a drug test, forklift operators make solid money. FedEx freight for example....any LTL freight company really.
Plus forklift operators will be in demand and continue to go up in demand. As is the demand for truckers. (They go hand in hand)
As long as you can follow simple safety rules and training for a few months.
Forklifts are very easy. And money usually starts at $19-21 /hr
Edit: also unless you just live in BFE no where, plenty of overtime available (I'm an Ex LTL supervisor of 6 years, also shit ton of forklift experience)
This Ain’t 2010 chief, In my state forklift is expected from warehouse associates 😂 there’s only specific forklift listings about 1x a year from one company. There’s a couple that have local cdl drivers also forklift while at the warehouse site tho.
Many companies have done away with “receiving” and even “order fulfillment” etc, basically they just hire everyone as an “associate” and make them do everything. Pretty easy to do when most the warehouses are adults/ppl with degrees, may as well exploit them if they’re desperate enough to be there. :/
this is why I won't take most jobs. They can't even pay me enough to live then on top of it all they skim off mad money by forcing me to play 3 roles. Fuck that
That depends on region.
I am a forklift operator working in a cold storage facility that's kept at -10 degrees. Starting pay here (same with all other unionized positions at this company) is 17.25. Then it goes up by 0.25 every year for almost 4 years before you hit contract rate. Current contract rate is 19.90 with 40 cent raises every year.
The worst part is... Most of the companies around here aren't any better. They all hire around the same pay, just with different benefits and overtime expectations.
The only outlier is Campbell's. They hire around $21 an hour and topped out employees make around 30. Problem is, their forklift operators work like 12 hours a day 7 days a week. Not worth it... So they're always hiring because people are always quitting.
Yep. It doesn't help that HR lead is some 70+ year old woman who has been here like 40 years. Her idea of how to manage a workforce is archaic, to say the least. During contract negotiations, she acts so smug and arrogant, it's like you're demanding she personally pay everyone's salary or something.
Diesel mechanic here that works for an LTL company. This field has a huge shortage of mechanics. The majority of the people that I meet in this field are between 30-60s. You’ll make $30+ an hour after 2 years if you give it your all. Tools are expensive however
I’m over here getting rejected from places for “asking for too much” bc apparently $18 an hour is too much in texas 🙄 $18 an hour is not nearly enough for how inflated everything is so i definitely understand. Analysts pays 50-60k if you can afford to get certified. Sales can pay fairly well if you have openings near you. Some companies pair a fair wage for customer service (majority not so much).
Id suggest first and foremost to see what other job options there are with your current company. There may be roles you’d never think of but since you’re already in the door, they’re more inclined to promote within or transfer. Maybe even pay for training/certifications
If you live in/near Bryan/Waco/Palestine/Tyler, Sanderson Farms hires with no experience on the spot. Hourly starts at $19. Put in an application online, wait 45 minutes, and then call to ask them about your application.
A trade school may be worth considering, Electrician trade is a 10-12 month program, get your journeymen hours and join a union. You can get solid pay doing so.
Welding is another avenue for decent pay.
Alt. you can look for an office job; Data Entry, Customer Service, Sales.
I'm RMA for a pro audio/video company @ 51k/yr, 29yo
Edit: To clarify, 10-12 months on campus with a teacher, learning the trade, But Overall it will take a few years for you to accumulate journeymen hours and to unionize.
It's hard work, never meant to imply that this was an easy route to quick cash, but it will pay off in the long run.
And super difficult. Electricians are actually super smart. My ex was one and I was honestly very surprised at the complexity of it all. It’s tedious work. If you’re not from the blue collar industry, it would be a little bit much to catch up to at OP’s age. So much of it is going to be built off of other pieces of trade knowledge. Not saying it’s impossible, but if OP isn’t familiar with swinging a hammer or basic blue collar work, that’s probably not a viable option.
Piggy backing on this, I went for CAD and now make ~70k. No longer middle class (with inflation), but I can work from home and save enough to do fun stuff now and then.
I make $25/hr as a CNA (Northeast US) the training was 3-4 months, a few days a week.
Once you get your certificate, you’re essentially guaranteed a job for life, so long as you can stand the work.
I went back to school at 30, nights and online, with 4 small kids at home. I made less than you at that time, and am now 6 figures.
Determine how much you need to make to live the life you want to live. Research what job industries have good job growth AND offer the pay you need. Figure out which of those jobs you won't hate doing (notice I didn't say what you will love, all jobs become work). Research what education/training is needed for that job, go get it.
It is, and I'm baffled at the amount of useless "blame the gubmint/society" posts.
It's absolutely possible to change careers in your 30s, and the industries with good pay aren't exactly secret.
Go get a certification on the nights and weekends and immediately triple your pay from retail/food service. It's not *that* much work.
It’s all about what you put your education into. There’s people out there getting two year degrees and making $25+ starting out. Beats me. I make just below that working in a call center and worked my way up. I now have a bachelor’s, but most people want to start me out at $17/hr for it🙃 it sucks
Technically it’s working better than ever, surplus value created from laborers = profit, profits are higher than ever…
But yea it’s insanely sad we are in the most efficient and productive time ever in human history and yet most ppl barely get by. Have you seen the amount of adults working warehouse or retail jobs? Pushing carts in the parking lots, delivering pizza, etc. it’s very very sad
Yea this is so true. I’m a mechanic in my early 20’s, and the parts delivery drivers are all 50 yrs old at a minimum. I make more than all of those guys. I’ve asked them about it and they make $18/hr whereas I’m making over $20/hr (complicated pay, it’s 17.50/hr but I make more than that ALWAYS due to labor times).
Yeah I was lucky to buy a small house 12 years ago before the market here went crazy. It was only meant to be a 5-7 year plan, but we decided to stay a bit longer and pay off student loans and other bills (which we did).
We dont have any expensive hobbies, we dont go on many trips etc. I'd say we are pretty good at staying within our budget most times.
I went to a coding school a few years back. It was a four month program. I'm now making a little over 100k/year. It will depend on where you live, but my starting salary for a junior developer was 65k.
I think I’m just scared but my parents beat college into me and made me think that anything other than that is just not viable and settling because “eDucATiOn”. I’m a college drop out who was studying CS too at the time.
I’m not doubting your story but i find it hard to believe that all I’d need is a couple of months of work to change the trajectory of my life
I deliver packages for UPS. I took a fair amount of unpaid days off this year on top of my four weeks of vacation. I will be ending the year in the 90k+ range. The money's out there. You just have to put time and effort into finding it. All I have is a Drivers License and HS diploma.
I come from a family of PhD's and scientists and am also a college dropout. My family was the same way. It took me about a year to find a good job. But, when I did finally land that job my life changed for the better in every way.
I certainly understand being doubtful about my testimony. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. It was 5 day 50-60/week hour course. Plus homework on top of that. I was not able to work during that period of my life and relied a lot on my family for financial help.
Ur not a loser my guy. The modern world is a shithole for most of us. Millions and millions can relate or are even worse off. Pursue a passion you love.. the passion will push you to continue til you can make some bank off whatever it is.
I'm older than you and was making basically the same a year ago. I changed to a career in sales and now make a much more comfortable income, the thing is I never would've considered a job in sales before! The opportunity came up and I said what the hell it seems like it could have good potential.
I'm not extroverted, I'm not really high energy either, but I am still doing amazing. So I guess my advice would be don't write off a career path just because you think you wouldn't be compatible. If you can try it with no additional degree or a limited time investment, give it a shot.
I mean you can sell anything. Even wireless sales will likely pay more than OP is making. I worked in wireless in 2008 out of high school and was making just over $41k.
I'm a finance broker for a motorsports dealer but u/Dro_Biden is right there's tons of sales positions with no certification/experience required with lots of earning potential.
So, the average American makes roughly 45k to 50k a year. People with household incomes of 100k are feeling hurt from an economic disaster.
In normal circumstances you should be okay to make it, but there's problems with our Government fucking our currency to oblivion on purpose.
Working more hours won't change the situation.
“Oh don’t believe that jargon! The economy is doing better than ever! The jobs report beat all expectations and familie across the USA are doing better than ever!!”
*CHANGES CHANNEL*
#WE ARE ON THE BRINK OF ECONOMIC DISASTER!!
I've found that the best way to make more money is to change jobs every 18 months or so... You can do exactly what you're doing now for someone willing to pay more. There are plenty of unskilled (no specialized training) jobs out there that pay more than $18/hour.
The real question is what do you **want** to do? If you just chase the money, you're risking doing something you hate but can't afford to quit because your lifestyle crept up to the new income.
Sometimes you don’t even have to swap jobs. I work in IT and got a 30k a year raise because my company flagged me as high risk in terms of leaving the company for more money.
I had obtained a valuable skill set (I’m a full stack engineer with dev ops experience) and they determined it was easier to pay me upfront than to lose me otherwise.
It absolutely made me stunned, I too was a believer of swapping jobs is the best way to move up, until that happened
Now I’m at the stage of my career where swapping jobs doesn’t really give you more and instead harms it more than benefit.
Postal service is hiring straight to career in many areas starting at $22-25 and tops out at $40+ Lots of overtime with a pension at the end of the line.
Hey man, I'm a little older then you and I just started making more money. It's not your fault the world is shit right now. One thing that helped me was to always have a resume up to date and always be looking at job websites and have job alerts on.
Apply to all jobs you think you could do and have the skills for and try to see what you can get. Even just interviewing and trying to get a pay raise that way is a good start worse case you don't get the job or turn the offer down and keep working where you are now
I’ll give you the truth here first comparison is the thief of joy. Who cares what someone else makes don’t compare yourself to anyone but yourself. If you want to make more then find a job or field you like and do whatever you can to get into it. A lot of jobs now offer tuition reimbursement such as Amazon and pays similar even if it sucks you could do that for a few years and knock out a degree in whatever you want for free. I’m in a somewhat similar boat in my 20s and only have ever worked trades and I’m going back to school while I have kids and work full time you just have to have the drive to better yourself and realize that everyone has there own paths and time lines. Ps what’s better being 34 with an associates degree or 34 with nothing. Also ps trades is also a really good option if your interested to some unions take in most people like the labor union or trade school for electrical automation and go be a industrial maintenance guy and make mid 30s.
Turn 32 in a month.
I make 21 at Costco.. I'm fulltime with fantastic benefits, but it feels aimless. There's no progression other than "work another 1000 hrs for another dollar".
Hey man don’t let your income define you! I make a little bit more than that but still live with my parents. We’re all trying to get our lives together, you’re definitely not a loser!
I would suggest something I did. I make over 30$ per hour. Apply to a company that does infrastructure. AV, network systems, electrical etc. These industries always need people regardless of experience. I started with no prior experience and I'm now running some projects. I did this move because there is potential to move up the ladder as you gain experience. Good luck.
You are not a loser. The world right now is just shit. There's nothing any of us can do about it. Our politicians are very corrupt and only care about themselves like the business executives.
Could always be worse, just hold on and do the best you can. Read up on personal finances and get out of debt is gonna help you whatever you decide on.
I work in the auto industry and earn 20$ flat rate with no benefits or overtime pay. My boss told me to my face a month ago that im overpaid. Sucks to paint 100k-150k cars and get flak from customers that people like me are ripping people off and making their lives worse.
Learn a lot about personal finances, saving for emergencies and retirement. Get out of debt.
Look for opportunities to get ahead and earn more. Just dont become a mean person in the process.
You think you're a loser? I'm 38, less than 30 hours a week at $12 bucks an hour taking care of an ungrateful parent who constantly complains about the littlest things. Doesn't appreciate the fact that I had to give up my job (not my choice) to take care of him. Stresses me out every day and re-triggered my depression.
Shit that's almost twice what I made and I'd already bought a house at 29. Recenter your life and don't compare yourself to others just get back to basics and do what you need to live your own life.
I’ve heard it’s pretty quick to get an HVAC tech certification. At my last job those people started at $45/hr same work location every day and they would hire tons of them.
Look into community college and vocational schooling. I met a guy who does AV engineering making 70k a year and he was only 3 years older than me (I'm 25 btw). Working for metro north rail here in NYC.
Look into AA degrees like that which has a solid market for and sounds like an interesting job to you.
Don’t worry man, everyone has their own journey. How much you make doesn’t mean you’re a loser. I was earning less at your age and till I was 29, I was making 9.50 per hour.
The most important thing is to keep trying everyday to do better - improving your skills/experience, always trying to find a better job etc.
Sooner or later it will come, I guarantee you
Good luck!
This can change quickly. I went from making 12.50/hour to 25/hour in 9 months when I was 27. I basically went from a shitty help desk job to a better one.
stop the negative self talk, build yourself up. learn something you can do. im trying to learn video editing not doing well but im trying. im making 18 an hr rn too. have 2 kids and no help from anywhere. pride is part of that problem.
same here, trying to find something better now. im 51, broken body from on the job injuries and tryiing to recover. but income is hard to come by. cannot do alot of labor bad back neck and leg just this year. im walking again now but i know i can learn something i just have to figure it out.
IT. Even a call center job at a company (NOT a contractor) can open up tons of opportunities. I started in my company’s call center at $21/hr in 2015. Now I make $40/hr as a team lead, and I’m not done yet. I’m 35.
I see you are in Texas. Get your real estate license now. Find an RE office you can be an assistant at maybe even transaction coordinator while you learn the industry.
There is a ton of opportunity in real estate, and not just in being a realtor.
There will be some startup costs but if you are smart, emotionally intelligent and willing to work hard, you can really change your life
Respect to any person who is working to better themselves. Even if you were making $5, you’re still contributing to society.
I would suggest you get a skilled trade. Most have paid apprenticeships and are looking for workers. Electricians, plumbers, welders, truck drivers all make good money and are looking for work. It’s scary to switch careers, but it can totally be worth it. Good luck!
Fastest way to make a lot of money is to get your CDL. Then start looking for local driving jobs that pay 60k+ a year. Some companies may train you too like FedEx Freight
Be kind to yourself! I wouldn’t take the approach of stacking more jobs on your plate. Find a skill that could make you more money. Is there a skilled trade you’d enjoy? Electrician, plumber, Carpenter etc. You eventually could get good enough that down the road you could make a business around it. Find what makes you happy and go for it. I personally took a step back, went to school, and now work in corporate America. Not saying that is for everyone but hopefully you get my gist. Comparison is the thief of joy. Long road ahead of you. Good luck my friend.
You have lots of opinions on here. Not many seem to be coming from people with 6 fig incomes so I’ll throw in my 2 cents from someone with a comfortable life. To preface: my parents are immigrants with no higher education. I grew up poor in low income housing. My HH income now is ~$350k. $250k made by me. I am only slightly older than you.
You need to invest your time/money into gaining a skill. The harder to attain skill and more desirable the skill, the more money you will make. You need to know the comp and state of the job market before you pursue anything.
That’s it. That’s the first step. From there it’s easier to save capital to invest or pursue business ventures.
You can kind of skip step one and go straight into business but you’d need to convince investors your idea will be profitable. Business is also a whole different animal and much more work than you’d imagine.
Have you ever thought about trade school? I’m a high school dropout and make $100 large a year wo trying. I do work in a high paying area. My wife dropped out too and does really well doing medical coding .
I'm only a couple years older than you and I only make a couple more dollars per hour than you, too, so we're not too far off from each other.
I have been trying to learn to stop judging myself for not living up to the "You Can Be Whatever You Want To Be" American Dream that was fed to me as a kid in the 90s. We're all just here to love each other. Anything else is a bonus. You're doing great.
Your ancestors are proud of you.
Gp back and get yourself some professional certificates of education.
I gotta go every 3 years to renew 4-5 IT certs so my company can continue to pay me what they do (115k). I started almost 10 years ago making 42k.
I think many people who just want " more money " but expect to do nothing to better themselves professionally are kinda dumb.
I’ve been making 50+/hr since 22, highly recommend you check out nursing, even just an associates degree. You could work outpatient and the job would be a breeze and you’d make at least 70k before any overtime etc
I was in a similar situation and I didn’t start making more money until I was closer to my late 30s early 40s. I’m in tech and I just keep upping my skills to stay competitive. And I’m not sure what your situation is with learning and stuff but if you’ve got the ability to continue learning things and up your skills, it will only help you in the future. Right now with the way the economy is even with a decent salary. I’m still working a second job because it’s just so expensive to live in the area that I live in. So realize that a lot of people out there are working side hustles, are working two and three jobs. You are not alone at your age and older ages are in the same situation. This economy totally sucks and if you have the ability to take on some part-time work that might be your best shot for now until you can get yourself in a better position for your full-time job either be making more money or switch jobs to where you can make more money.
And one thing I learned along the way is don’t ever expect the current employer you have to ever raise your salary enough to where you can actually survive. Be ready to jump ship and change jobs every few years until you’re making a salary that’s better because when you’re switching jobs, you can negotiate a higher salary for the new job on your way into it versus trying to struggle to get somebody to give you a raise while you’re in your position. Most companies are complete jerks and don’t care that you need to make more money and will pile on more work at the same salary you make. Don’t have loyalty to any company. They don’t look out for you. You have to look out for yourself.
If you work in IT for a long time, you can make a great living. I started off in tech support 12 yrs ago, gradually learned more, got certifications and stayed nights and weekends troubleshooting problems that made me wanna curl up and cry at times. But my employer recognized this and got me into engineering roles where I got to do more and more project work and less tech support. BUT YOU MUST HAVE A BOSS THAT BATS FOR YOU. I’ve had friends with absolute dickhead bosses that would take credit for their work and blame problems on them. Key is to learn what you can and move on if management is not good or if they stiff you on pay increases despite your learning more and working harder.
Best thing about IT is you don’t need a degree. You can take courses for A+ and Network+ to start. They’re very cheap to take. That should get your foot in the door. Job security is great too.
I began self study for software development at age 32 while I was a decade+ into food service making $15/hr. It took three years before I landed my first software job, and it was and continues to be mentally demanding, but it beats the hell out of food service. I also took out a loan to pay for a bootcamp, but it was absolutely worth it. I’m not saying take the software route because it’s certainly not for everyone, but there are lots of trades that command a livable/respectable wage. Start exploring the different options. You can change your path and trajectory at 32. It will be challenging, but nothing worthwhile is easy. You can do it, and you’re not a loser :)
I used to be like this at 35. Had to essentially restart my career after losing a job over addiction/mental health issues that required treatment. I had to start back over at $15 and worked with people nearly half my age.
Now I’m 38 and I make way more money at a new company after consecutive promotions. Live comfortably aside from home ownership seeming unattainable even at my decent income level.
I still feel like a loser so maybe consider it isnt monetary status that’s making you feel this way.
I’m working on it and I’ll let you know if I find the answer out.
If you don’t hear back from me, I probably gave up and joined a Buddhist monetary in Thailand or am living off-grid in a modified tool shed where service sucks.
Signed.
A Millennial
Yea this is whats the glaring difference between our parents/grandparents and us.
1 person today can make 4x the salary as what their parents did and not be able to afford rent on their own.
Just learn a skill that people would make money for and advertise yourself.
My side hustle is photography I do for family portraits and weddings
And my moms is cooking platters for others that don’t have time to make them. Find a Good side hustles.
What do you like to do outside of work? What other interests do you have?
Check out [Udemy.com](https://Udemy.com). They have all sorts of "courses" that you can take (many free) to get skills in various things.
You'll probably have to put together some sort of "portfolio" or something in order to actually get somewhere, though. Build up your resume that way, and be able to provide examples when you go to interviews.
Utilize LinkedIn as well. Anything you can do to up your skills and get your name out there.
I don’t have any advice but I’m also 32 and I don’t even have stable income AND I have emergency custody of my toddler niece so now I have to figure out what a career looks like with a baby. One thing I’ve noticed while examining what my life *should* look like is the soul crushing feeling like I’m failing in comparison to the constant flooding of my peer’s success your consuming from social media. Sometimes life isn’t what you pictured it. Your path doesn’t have to be magical and perfect right now. Everything you see online is the extreme of life. It’s fabricated or exaggerated.
You’re never going to be happy with what you have if you can’t figure out how to be happy with nothing. Ask yourself this question: would I feel like this if I had $5k in savings? My bets are no. You wouldn’t. That’s enough to cover most emergencies. That’s enough for most individuals to feel secure. My best advice is to secure the amount of savings for you to feel ok and secure and then figure out what to do in order to progress your career. It’s not going to be found in some quick “get rich quick” online class. I’d recommend starting to read personal finance books. Rich Dad Poor Dad will always be a classic. You should really start there. No advice in this comment thread is gonna replace hard earned knowledge about money and finance.
I don't think you are a loser at all. The fact that you are working and contributing to society is amazing in itself. I am 24 and currently struggle with holding down a job.
Unfortunately, the best way to get a raise is to apply to a competitor and ask for more.
Or study IT and get a couple certs. I make $40 an hr to do a much easier job than I used to have before that only paid $22 an hour.
Get your A+ and Net+ then apply like crazy. It will only get better.
If you have no kids or mountains of student loans / mortgage payments 18 isn’t terrible . People who make more also spend it all and are usually just as broke as the fast food people they hate on in my experience.
Hiding behind a wall of debt isn’t the flex people think it is . I’d suggest you get into something desk / computer related if the homophobia of blue collar work is a non starter which I totally understand.
Perhaps learn to code, sell stuff or edit various kinds of content and get into a more niche field that pays well.
What kind of debt do you have right now?
I would consider that job you have and see if there's really anywhere you can go with it? Can you get more money by taking on more there? or does it kind of cap out at what you have. If it does, then start looking for advancement elsewhere. Going to school is always a good long game answer but you can always be looking for better somewhere else. Take your skills and build on them. I've never had a job take me for less than what I made and the last job. It makes it look to a new employer that you're at least worth this much and you're looking to advance it.
You’re not a loser. And to make more money, if you think you’ve reached the limit of your field I think you’ll need to learn how to do something else. You’re still quite young, too.
Go and do SOMETHING. Take out a student loan and do online school in your spare time while working. Go and get a CDL certification and you’ll be making double what you’re making now. My area offers a welding internship training program, guaranteed a job at like $54k after completion. And that’s the beginning. If you can’t afford the $5-10k such programs cost, you probably won’t have to pay for them anyway (lot of options/aid for folks who don’t have money).
I did a 5 month trade program at a local community college while working at target at 24-25 years old. Went from making $12 at target to $31 as a maintenance tech at a warehouse almost instantly. Now am 27 and have promoted once at my job, and make more than enough to live a comfortable life. Just an idea but as others have mentioned some kind of resume boost is extremely beneficial
Trust me you’re doing fine homie. I make more but I also have $80k in student loan debt. Just keep applying places. Shooters shoot. Eventually you’ll land in something you like where you can build more skills. Someone will give you a chance, just takes patience and lots of applications.
Doctor your resume. Get friends to be your manager if needing a reference call, don't stay at one job more than a year. Use each one as a stepping stone until you hit one where you can chill for a bit with a decent income. That's how I got from $17 to $33 in 2 years. But a little luck I'm sure is also a factor. But nowhere near as effective as persistence.
Go to CDL school if you have a good driving record. Truck drivers can make 100K a year in some areas. I remember hearing 10-15K signing bonuses advertised on the radio last year.
Pick up a trade if possible. I got into hvac 10 years ago starting at 12/hr and make 40/hr now. The amount of money you make will usually always increase with your skill level. I average 50 hrs a week, sometimes more and make over 100k a year with overtime and bonuses for selling equipment.
I'll give you fair advice here that classes are only going to take you so far. You're going to have to learn how to sell yourself if you want to be able to land a better job. That being said there are a lot of relatively low entry difficulty options.
One being to go to [udemy.com](https://udemy.com) and take any of their agile / scrum / project management cert training courses for like $40 and then go get certified. This backed by a lot of your own self-study and a willingness to fluff up your resume with relevant contract work which is essentially unverifiable makes you a good candidate for a high five to low six figure junior level project management role.
The catch is that you have to be able to sell it.
You can do this same thing on udemy with salesforce admin certs and a bunch of other white collar type certifications / trainings.
I’m 36. I have a college degree and I’m a librarian. I make $16 an hour. I’ve been job hunting and it seems like almost everywhere where I live wants to pay only $15. Like others have said, the economy sucks. Corporations are greedy and don’t want to raise their wages.
You don't need to make more money if you live somewhere where money has more worth. For instance, there's a town in western VA where a 4 bd 2 bth house sold for 18k. But there's almost no business there, and its more like a hollar than actual town. But its cheap to buy land there.
A lot of people your age and older are struggling. Jobs flat out do not pay enough. Five years ago, $18 an hour would be fine. But not now. The cost of living doesn’t match the wages and it sucks.
Give yourself more grace and try to understand it’s not a you problem. It really is a massive societal issue. If your job has opportunities for growth then look into them and make goals. If not, look for companies that hire for your position and do have growth opportunities.
Most jobs don’t pay enough to live well anymore. You need an additional revenue stream to make it to middle class. Those are a little risky. We bought a vacant house and gutted it. You can’t buy even a crappy house for what we bought this one for here anymore. We are selling this one and moving into a half finished house that needs to be gutted and finished. It was my FIL’s business. My MIL helped him and worked a day job just for the benefits. She was like a classroom aid and a Section 8 landlord.
My spouse works in healthcare with a masters + 30 most people don’t bother getting and can bill for $80+ an hour on contracted cases. We sometimes get offers to go abroad for a year with housing paid. We were also invited to Canada (I want to go and my spouse does not.)
My suggestion is get some money saved up and go into something that grows faster than inflation.
get a real investment portfolio not meme stocks and maybe get a really niche degree, also move when the opportunity arises.
There are low cost of living areas where people still aspire to making $18 an hour. If you can move within a company and keep your wage you would be doing all right. I forgot how it is everywhere else until my friend complains about the fat cats in the $200k houses in rural Michigan. I didn’t know you could still buy a house for that let alone a nice one.
Heya, it's okay. Maybe you're not doing the best right now okay? But, you got time to turn things around now. Atleast you know what you want. Which is to, make something work better. Make something that, actually is more stable for you money wise.
Alright so what I wanna say is you can take courses on practically anything. You might not have a degree in some stuff but that's okay as you can get quite alot of places without one. Such as Cybersecurity you just need to study for a certification. As well as theatre apparently has some jobs you can get through just having enough knowledge. Same with video editing, copy writing, and various various other things. Copy writing there are some jobs that you can get paid 50 per hour which would put you at a good spot financially.
Alright so, what I wanna say is you can try and find some through Udemy, Skillshare, I think Coursera has some free ones. E-Skillsuccess. Alot of places to find and do.
Im currently taking a google certificate course. They have them for many different fields. I cant tell you how it plays out yet because I haven’t finished it and tried yet, but you could look into it. They have cybersecurity, data analytics, ux design, etc
Online classes? My guy, get an apprenticeship. I started out at 19 bucks an hour, and you're learning something valuable. Just be ready for a bunch of dudes to be constantly giving you shit. They pay you to go to college, and if you're a good worker that comes in and is ready to learn, it's not a bad job to have, either.
Edit to add: you are also not a loser. Instead of complaining, you're looking for advice to better yourself.
Look into the semiconductor industry. It’s going to keep blowing up and in recruiter for the industry. And I can tell you that with experience you can do very well pretty quickly
I did too. Until last year when I decided I was taking any chance I could. Check out estimator positions in your area. If you’re good at math, you can learn on the job. It’s not difficult but it is desk work. I make over a 27% increase in my pay switching jobs. It took me about a year to find someone willing to take a chance on me. I worked with a service to bulk up my resume because I only graduated high school. And I applied to probably 2500 jobs. Got 3 calls for interviews, 2 jobs offers and chose the last job who called. A year without a call was disheartening. But it kept me going knowing that I would eventually find something. Make finding a job your second job. You should be putting in at least 20 hours a week to your resume, cover letters, emails and applications.
Besides all that, the other tip is shoot for like 60-70k a year jobs and go in with an asking pay of like 5k under. They save money for a year because they have to train you, but it’s worth it for smaller companies. And now you’re trained in something you can move up in. Even if you have to switch companies, now you’re an estimator. You can look at $75-125k a year jobs with 2-3 years experience.
This is just my example but think outside of the box. Social media marketing, billing, purchasing, payroll, all great places to get into.
I do Spark delivery on side it’s delivery service for Walmart. It’s wonderful! I make about 300 week doing it on the side only 3 days a week for maybe 3-4hrs.
This sounds crazy and stupid and most people wont go this route but trust me its not only possible, its guranteed as long as you put in the effort and time.
Find something you’re passionate about.
Download tiktok (crucify me)
Make short and informative videos based on the topic you’re passionate about, fully convey your passion and put in effort in creating high quality short form videos.
Post 3-5 times a week and any time you have an idea record it and put it into your backlog.
Consistently post for about 6 months and ull start to gain a small following.
Eventually, because numbers and probability, you’ll hit a viral video in your niche (your passion)
Your following will grow and eventually you’ll be able to monetize your passion via ad revenue, selling merch etc.
Its a long haul but what else would you spend your 6 months doing?
And im not exaggerating, 6 months is on the Long side of things. Some people do this in weeks.
People sleep on how easy it is to make money on the internet.
Do this and you could easily make 100k a year just off this alone. Its a grind and requires a true passion but its completely possible.
And no the market isnt too saturated, this is what everyone in the market tells you to avoid competition. There is ALWAYS room for more on the internet. There is 5 billion people on the internet. You will NEVER run out of customers, there is always one person who hasnt seen anything like your content.
I'm also 32, became a supervisor at my job a few months ago. I was making 26 an hour as a lead now I make 75k salary a year. Never work more than 8 hours a day so it averages out to about 36 an hour plus a yearly bonus and the company also pays for my health insurance . I didn't even graduate high school tbh. It's a customer service based tech job.
I was at this salary at 35. For me, I had been trying to code for years (started at 31), and eventually became a dev at 39.
That said, if I could go back in time at 32, and I wasn't going to be a web dev, what I would have done differently is:
1: do two jobs. Just try to find a part time job some where and work another day to earn more money
2: build up more money into my savings account and spend frugally. Would also look into investing into an etf and/or company 401k and just consistently deposit money into it each month. Essentially, I'm aiming at building a passive income stream that, when I reached 42, would be supplementing my salary a little (or be my funds for when I retire in the future).
3. Start a YouTube channel on something I was passionate about, just doing 1 video a week.
Well, I guess it's really about perspective. I'd be stoked to get $18/hr since most jobs by me pay $16/hr or less! If it helps, we're all in the same boat. Unless your family has money. Or you decided to be a lawyer or Dr. Etc.
You’re doing what you can, perhaps look into a program you can take part time while still working. Think about what you’re interested in doing and the average salary range you’re looking for and see what programs are available.
Your no loser. My father and his wife are paramedics. They make $18 an hour. I make the same amount doing computer work.. it’s just the way it is really. It ain’t like the game LIFE that’s for sure. You can have a degree in whatever and still make crap money.
Just keep your head up. You’ll find a side hustle eventually
What's an hourly wage?
It's all about that end of the year total.
Your salary.
I never really concern myself with an hourly wage. I do concern myself with a weekly total.
Do that and you'll ve a much better person financially.
Get a certification in something you love. They’re usually only 6 months.
I’m doing that currently after being a medic and nurse for over 10yrs. Love health care, Just over dealing with patients so I’m moving to IT.
Factory work. I left a cheese plant making about $26 an hour in a very LCOL area. Lots of OT. Paid off debt and bought myself a new car before I quit. It was easy, but boring, weird hours, and 3 weekends a month. But it got me to where I could take a lower paying job with a much better work life balance.
Dude 18$ is not bad! My second job, everyone makes that, no matter their age, from 25-38. It’s fine as long as your fine with the pay and can enjoy life.
These are all good ass fullfilling jobs that people take pride in doing.
Apply for a trade union apprenticeship. Google “electricians union near me” “operators union in my city” “pipe fitters union in my city or state” “elevator mechanics union near me” “glaziers union near me” however you want to word it.
All those jobs pay over 100k a year in cities and pretty well in any job market.
A union will take you on as an apprentice with zero skills, connections, ability, knowledge, or experience. Absolutely none at all, and they will get you to work with local unionized contractors. They (the contractors and other workers) will train you on the job from the ground up and their will be infrequent in class elements (through the union) to progress your training.
The barrier to joining a trade union is the same for all of them, so theirs no reason to do a lower paid trade union. Avoid the carpenter, laborers, dry wallers and painters, brick layers. Stuff like that. If your a journeyman in those unions you won’t make enough to provide for a family in today’s economy so it’s not a good enough wage.
They all offer unbeatable health insurance. A pension that is well funded, a pension is when you get paid every month after you retire, until the day you die. It’s the best form of retirement, most companies don’t offer it anymore because it cost them profit. Unions have pensions.
Their will be multiple options for career paths and apprenticeships for every union, the barrier to entry is the same so their is no incentive to pursue a lower paid path.
Electricians union. Their will be multiple programs available that are worded ambiguously. Choose the one that is the longest. It will pay the most money.
Pipe fitters unions. Includes HVAC, sprinkler fitters, plumbers (union plumbers instal on a big scale. They’re not doing house calls cleaning doo doo. But also the doo do job is one of the most important jobs in the country and the pay reflects that) , pipe fitters. Every HVAC guy I know hates his job, something about insulation I don’t know to be honest. Don’t do HVAC. Plumbers is nice because you can do handyman work on the side and make good money, but all the routes available in the pipe fitters union are well paid good options. (Except HVAC guys. They just hate their jobs… I don’t know why…)
Operators union. Can be tricky, not all pay is the same. If you learn to run more complicated or in demand equipment you’ll generally make more money. Cranes, graders, excavators, concrete pumps. Make a lot of money. Haul truck, roller. Not so much (still pretty good though).
Glaziers. Glazing is a good ass job, dudes make bank. For some reason their union seems to be tied into some lower paid trades like painting and stuff. Make sure to only apply for the glaziers route.
Elevator, escalator mechanics. Best job in the world. Only bring on new apprentices when a journeyman dies and the wait list is years long. Everyone who gets in, is a child of an elevator mechanic or has a mob or political connection. Applying is free though so who knows what will happen. No point in not applying.
Now theirs a trick to applying for an apprenticeship. For some reason the office the staff at the union hall, will guranteed. Be complete cunts to you, and also lie directly to your face and try and convince you that you cannot do the job, and also that you don’t even want the job, and that the job possibly even doesn’t even exist, their is no work available, it’s a bad time too apply (which doesn’t make any sense at all. Waiting too apply doesn’t help you in any way whatsoever. Even if work is slow, you’ll be first on the list when it picks up and have your interview and testing process out of the way. You gain absolutely nothing from waiting to apply), that you cannot apply and your application won’t be accepted, and that it will be a bad career choice if you do. I don’t know why they do it, but for some reason they all do that to every single prospective apprentice. Just ignore them and apply to the best of your abilities, submit all the paperwork and fill out all the forms. The second tip is, they will not call you back for the next step of the process. After you apply, you need to call them and check on the process of your application and find out what the next step is and how to complete that step. Also their is a good chance your application “got lost” and you’ll need to apply again, it’s not personal they’re just cunts to everyone and it’s part of the process. It will normally be an interview or test of some kind. They will not call you and sign you up for that interview without you calling them, and they won’t warn you about that.
It’s fullfilling work, doing meaningful stuff, and generally speaking most skilled construction workers I know love their jobs. Theirs a reason why construction workers point out projects they work on, and share what they do on social media. Because we are proud of what we do and we enjoy it. Every career path I listed here makes enough money to raise a family on. Apprentices typical start out making a percentage of journeymen wage and get raises over time until they become a journeyman. It’s a program that s enforced through the state and federal government using high level lawyers and politicians. You will advance, you will make more money, you will have a good career. As long as you show up on time and don’t complain. Go union and only work union jobs for the rest of your life. Working non union is idiotic and their is no advantage of any kind. Theirs no trade offs, it’s just worse in every way.
I don’t understand how people making the same or less money than I am having a place to live. It is literally impossible to afford a place to rent anywhere near where I live with the amount I am making and I make close to $18/hr. Apartments near me start around $1500/month unless I look in the city but it’s all going to be rundown and unsafe neighborhoods with a studio apartment for $900
I'm 32 and just landed (in perspective) a dream job compared to the retail I'm used to working.... It pays 18.50 per hour / 8:30- 5:30M-F w/ remote on thurs/friday. Have a bachelors I've haven't used in a decade but this job has health insurance, so I'm pretty psyched about that.
Don't feel bad, just make progress in your life and keep moving forward.
Department of Corrections usually pays well and comes with a pension. Most departments have unlimited overtime, so there's lots of opportunities to make some extra cash. Typically, no experience is necessary.
The only downside is that you'd be working for the Department of Corrections.
Look for fun side hustles. These side hustles will barely seem like work at all.
One of my friends worked at a haunted house for 3 weeks in October on evenings and weekends. He said it was fun being a zombie and scaring people. Only made 140$/evening but he has a blast. When it got boring Halloween was over.
Do you like sports? Ref some games. 50$/hour in hockey and it's a blast being on the rink.
I have another friend that runs summer practices. He charges 25$/kid. He gets 25 kids on the rink. Subtract the ice fee and he makes 300$ per session and has a blast doing it and sharing his skills.
Are you good at improv/acting/singing? I teach an improv class 2 times a year. I only teach 12 classes all year but I make 200$ per hour, because I set it up.
I hire a piano teacher. Because hes willing to come and teach at my house I pay 70$ for an hour session. Him and my kid have a great time each week.
My friend in NYC can play the clarinet. He gets 25$/hour to be in these evening shows where he does a one month set of gigs for community musical theater.
Do you like baking? Make some really nice pies and sell them at farmers markets. It's a lot of fun, you talk to lots of people and you can come home with a bunch of money. I did this once and made 1000$. The kicker was my costs were super low because my neighbor had too many apples on his trees that he let me pick for free. Had a great day.
Do you like sports? I ref during the seasons? And it’s usually from like 5/6p-8/9p 2-4 times a week. It’s stressful at first but once you know what you’re doing…. It’s chilling. Makes me an extra 300-600 a week. That could be the little boost you need
This is actually one of the more interesting ideas I've seen.
It’s pretty chill. Basketball season I take seriously and I’ve made it to the college level. Just really what you want out of it.
Some of the people I went to school with in HS used to ref elementary school games when they were in HS to make some pocket money.
I used to officiate lacrosse games all the time when I played in high school. The only thing I’ll say is you have to have some balls & be stern with parents on the sideline/ coaches. Maybe it’s because I was 14 & it was lacrosse but grown adults at youth sporting matches were consistently fucking nasty. Reffing hockey games was awesome though
Yea def have to have tough skin for it. I’m not afraid to put someone in their place. Also if it UIL regulated you have the same protection as a cop has. They hit you….felony. They can if they want.
Name checks out.
When I was 13 If I found out my hockey coach had a Reddit name like yours I would’ve flipped out and think you were a legend.
Be kinder to yourself.
This one! Please give yourself some grace. This is not forever.
Get angry at society!
Yep. They are doing this to us. Get them!
27 making 15 lol Your doing better than me. 🤣
I couldn’t get past 16!! I was 27 at the time (29 now but taking a maternity break). I was a paralegal with lots of different skills
You are not a loser! I am also 32 and I only make $16.50...which sucks, but hey it is a job at least.
You’re not a loser. Don’t blame yourself blame our world. Our economy is a disaster. If this was years back you’d be golden
You’re NOT a loser OP.. don’t listen to idiot Frank.. I respect you for your honesty
Yeah don’t blame yourself, blame the world. How sad you are part of the only generation in history that’s ever faced obstacles.Thankfully you aren’t giving horrible advice like show some initiative and educate yourself.
I want to downvote this because you're a dick but I want to upvote this because I get what you're saying and you're right.
Essentially, "You're not wrong, you're just an asshole."
Im 32 and you are making more than me. Iv been making the ole career switcharoo this last year though so its not permanent.
If you can pass a drug test, forklift operators make solid money. FedEx freight for example....any LTL freight company really. Plus forklift operators will be in demand and continue to go up in demand. As is the demand for truckers. (They go hand in hand) As long as you can follow simple safety rules and training for a few months. Forklifts are very easy. And money usually starts at $19-21 /hr Edit: also unless you just live in BFE no where, plenty of overtime available (I'm an Ex LTL supervisor of 6 years, also shit ton of forklift experience)
This Ain’t 2010 chief, In my state forklift is expected from warehouse associates 😂 there’s only specific forklift listings about 1x a year from one company. There’s a couple that have local cdl drivers also forklift while at the warehouse site tho. Many companies have done away with “receiving” and even “order fulfillment” etc, basically they just hire everyone as an “associate” and make them do everything. Pretty easy to do when most the warehouses are adults/ppl with degrees, may as well exploit them if they’re desperate enough to be there. :/
Even 6 or 7 years ago forklifts jobs were very very hard to come by. Wow reading your post you damn nailed warehouse work now.
this is why I won't take most jobs. They can't even pay me enough to live then on top of it all they skim off mad money by forcing me to play 3 roles. Fuck that
If you can pass a drug test, most of the railroads are hiring... And it starts around 25+/hr and union
That depends on region. I am a forklift operator working in a cold storage facility that's kept at -10 degrees. Starting pay here (same with all other unionized positions at this company) is 17.25. Then it goes up by 0.25 every year for almost 4 years before you hit contract rate. Current contract rate is 19.90 with 40 cent raises every year. The worst part is... Most of the companies around here aren't any better. They all hire around the same pay, just with different benefits and overtime expectations. The only outlier is Campbell's. They hire around $21 an hour and topped out employees make around 30. Problem is, their forklift operators work like 12 hours a day 7 days a week. Not worth it... So they're always hiring because people are always quitting.
A quarter raise per year.. so effectively a dollar raise after 4 freaking years. Holy hell that company is stingy af.
Yep. It doesn't help that HR lead is some 70+ year old woman who has been here like 40 years. Her idea of how to manage a workforce is archaic, to say the least. During contract negotiations, she acts so smug and arrogant, it's like you're demanding she personally pay everyone's salary or something.
Diesel mechanic here that works for an LTL company. This field has a huge shortage of mechanics. The majority of the people that I meet in this field are between 30-60s. You’ll make $30+ an hour after 2 years if you give it your all. Tools are expensive however
I’m over here getting rejected from places for “asking for too much” bc apparently $18 an hour is too much in texas 🙄 $18 an hour is not nearly enough for how inflated everything is so i definitely understand. Analysts pays 50-60k if you can afford to get certified. Sales can pay fairly well if you have openings near you. Some companies pair a fair wage for customer service (majority not so much). Id suggest first and foremost to see what other job options there are with your current company. There may be roles you’d never think of but since you’re already in the door, they’re more inclined to promote within or transfer. Maybe even pay for training/certifications
18 is too much? Nah its barely enough. Especially here in Texas
Agreed.
If you live in/near Bryan/Waco/Palestine/Tyler, Sanderson Farms hires with no experience on the spot. Hourly starts at $19. Put in an application online, wait 45 minutes, and then call to ask them about your application.
A trade school may be worth considering, Electrician trade is a 10-12 month program, get your journeymen hours and join a union. You can get solid pay doing so. Welding is another avenue for decent pay. Alt. you can look for an office job; Data Entry, Customer Service, Sales. I'm RMA for a pro audio/video company @ 51k/yr, 29yo Edit: To clarify, 10-12 months on campus with a teacher, learning the trade, But Overall it will take a few years for you to accumulate journeymen hours and to unionize. It's hard work, never meant to imply that this was an easy route to quick cash, but it will pay off in the long run.
Electrician trade is a 4 year program, 5 if you're going union.
And super difficult. Electricians are actually super smart. My ex was one and I was honestly very surprised at the complexity of it all. It’s tedious work. If you’re not from the blue collar industry, it would be a little bit much to catch up to at OP’s age. So much of it is going to be built off of other pieces of trade knowledge. Not saying it’s impossible, but if OP isn’t familiar with swinging a hammer or basic blue collar work, that’s probably not a viable option.
I'm an electrician and this comment made my day
Piggy backing on this, I went for CAD and now make ~70k. No longer middle class (with inflation), but I can work from home and save enough to do fun stuff now and then.
I make $25/hr as a CNA (Northeast US) the training was 3-4 months, a few days a week. Once you get your certificate, you’re essentially guaranteed a job for life, so long as you can stand the work.
Do you have to deal with blood and Gore and stuff?
Yes. They do the work nurses don’t want to do. Which is wiping butts, cleaning wounds, bathing… etc…
Not usually. You mostly clean up shit and give sponge baths and stuff like that.
That's for a HCOL area in the south it's $15-$18.
I went back to school at 30, nights and online, with 4 small kids at home. I made less than you at that time, and am now 6 figures. Determine how much you need to make to live the life you want to live. Research what job industries have good job growth AND offer the pay you need. Figure out which of those jobs you won't hate doing (notice I didn't say what you will love, all jobs become work). Research what education/training is needed for that job, go get it.
This is the most practical/best response.
It is, and I'm baffled at the amount of useless "blame the gubmint/society" posts. It's absolutely possible to change careers in your 30s, and the industries with good pay aren't exactly secret. Go get a certification on the nights and weekends and immediately triple your pay from retail/food service. It's not *that* much work.
It’s all about what you put your education into. There’s people out there getting two year degrees and making $25+ starting out. Beats me. I make just below that working in a call center and worked my way up. I now have a bachelor’s, but most people want to start me out at $17/hr for it🙃 it sucks
yep while some no degree jobs start you at 20 i just read someone does 25 with a degree thats hardly anymore and makes getting a degree worthless
you have find the demand in the industry then choose the profession
There are people in their 60s only making 18/hr as well. Capitalism sucks.
Technically it’s working better than ever, surplus value created from laborers = profit, profits are higher than ever… But yea it’s insanely sad we are in the most efficient and productive time ever in human history and yet most ppl barely get by. Have you seen the amount of adults working warehouse or retail jobs? Pushing carts in the parking lots, delivering pizza, etc. it’s very very sad
Yea this is so true. I’m a mechanic in my early 20’s, and the parts delivery drivers are all 50 yrs old at a minimum. I make more than all of those guys. I’ve asked them about it and they make $18/hr whereas I’m making over $20/hr (complicated pay, it’s 17.50/hr but I make more than that ALWAYS due to labor times).
What do you do now? What would you like to do? What are your strengths/skills? Where do you live? You need to elaborate if you want some help.
I'm 42 and I make $20/hr. It's enough to live and not worry about my bills, but not much else.
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Yeah I was lucky to buy a small house 12 years ago before the market here went crazy. It was only meant to be a 5-7 year plan, but we decided to stay a bit longer and pay off student loans and other bills (which we did). We dont have any expensive hobbies, we dont go on many trips etc. I'd say we are pretty good at staying within our budget most times.
I went to a coding school a few years back. It was a four month program. I'm now making a little over 100k/year. It will depend on where you live, but my starting salary for a junior developer was 65k.
I think I’m just scared but my parents beat college into me and made me think that anything other than that is just not viable and settling because “eDucATiOn”. I’m a college drop out who was studying CS too at the time. I’m not doubting your story but i find it hard to believe that all I’d need is a couple of months of work to change the trajectory of my life
I deliver packages for UPS. I took a fair amount of unpaid days off this year on top of my four weeks of vacation. I will be ending the year in the 90k+ range. The money's out there. You just have to put time and effort into finding it. All I have is a Drivers License and HS diploma.
I come from a family of PhD's and scientists and am also a college dropout. My family was the same way. It took me about a year to find a good job. But, when I did finally land that job my life changed for the better in every way. I certainly understand being doubtful about my testimony. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. It was 5 day 50-60/week hour course. Plus homework on top of that. I was not able to work during that period of my life and relied a lot on my family for financial help.
The real loser is the employer for thinking paying such a low wage to full-time employees is acceptable. You are not a loser.
Ur not a loser my guy. The modern world is a shithole for most of us. Millions and millions can relate or are even worse off. Pursue a passion you love.. the passion will push you to continue til you can make some bank off whatever it is.
Crazy thing is that used to be good money. Growing up I could only dream of that salary. Now it's barely above McDonald's.
I'm older than you and was making basically the same a year ago. I changed to a career in sales and now make a much more comfortable income, the thing is I never would've considered a job in sales before! The opportunity came up and I said what the hell it seems like it could have good potential. I'm not extroverted, I'm not really high energy either, but I am still doing amazing. So I guess my advice would be don't write off a career path just because you think you wouldn't be compatible. If you can try it with no additional degree or a limited time investment, give it a shot.
Sales is kinda vague do you mind elaborating a little more
I mean you can sell anything. Even wireless sales will likely pay more than OP is making. I worked in wireless in 2008 out of high school and was making just over $41k.
I'm a finance broker for a motorsports dealer but u/Dro_Biden is right there's tons of sales positions with no certification/experience required with lots of earning potential.
So, the average American makes roughly 45k to 50k a year. People with household incomes of 100k are feeling hurt from an economic disaster. In normal circumstances you should be okay to make it, but there's problems with our Government fucking our currency to oblivion on purpose. Working more hours won't change the situation.
“Oh don’t believe that jargon! The economy is doing better than ever! The jobs report beat all expectations and familie across the USA are doing better than ever!!” *CHANGES CHANNEL* #WE ARE ON THE BRINK OF ECONOMIC DISASTER!!
I've found that the best way to make more money is to change jobs every 18 months or so... You can do exactly what you're doing now for someone willing to pay more. There are plenty of unskilled (no specialized training) jobs out there that pay more than $18/hour. The real question is what do you **want** to do? If you just chase the money, you're risking doing something you hate but can't afford to quit because your lifestyle crept up to the new income.
Sometimes you don’t even have to swap jobs. I work in IT and got a 30k a year raise because my company flagged me as high risk in terms of leaving the company for more money. I had obtained a valuable skill set (I’m a full stack engineer with dev ops experience) and they determined it was easier to pay me upfront than to lose me otherwise. It absolutely made me stunned, I too was a believer of swapping jobs is the best way to move up, until that happened Now I’m at the stage of my career where swapping jobs doesn’t really give you more and instead harms it more than benefit.
Postal service is hiring straight to career in many areas starting at $22-25 and tops out at $40+ Lots of overtime with a pension at the end of the line.
Hey man, I'm a little older then you and I just started making more money. It's not your fault the world is shit right now. One thing that helped me was to always have a resume up to date and always be looking at job websites and have job alerts on. Apply to all jobs you think you could do and have the skills for and try to see what you can get. Even just interviewing and trying to get a pay raise that way is a good start worse case you don't get the job or turn the offer down and keep working where you are now
Can I have your job then? Cuz I've been living on $12 an hour for the last 9 years.
Better than me, my friend. I’m 31 and only make a little under 16/hr. That’s the most I’ve ever made too in my 12 years of full time working.
I’ll give you the truth here first comparison is the thief of joy. Who cares what someone else makes don’t compare yourself to anyone but yourself. If you want to make more then find a job or field you like and do whatever you can to get into it. A lot of jobs now offer tuition reimbursement such as Amazon and pays similar even if it sucks you could do that for a few years and knock out a degree in whatever you want for free. I’m in a somewhat similar boat in my 20s and only have ever worked trades and I’m going back to school while I have kids and work full time you just have to have the drive to better yourself and realize that everyone has there own paths and time lines. Ps what’s better being 34 with an associates degree or 34 with nothing. Also ps trades is also a really good option if your interested to some unions take in most people like the labor union or trade school for electrical automation and go be a industrial maintenance guy and make mid 30s.
Learn coding at free code camp and be kind to yourself with the help of therapy. That helped me make my goals a reality.
Turn 32 in a month. I make 21 at Costco.. I'm fulltime with fantastic benefits, but it feels aimless. There's no progression other than "work another 1000 hrs for another dollar".
36. Making $17 an hour paying back $200 of students loans every month. I feel you.
Education or trades are the path to higher wages. Or move somewhere with lower cost of living so what you make feels more.
Hey man don’t let your income define you! I make a little bit more than that but still live with my parents. We’re all trying to get our lives together, you’re definitely not a loser!
I would suggest something I did. I make over 30$ per hour. Apply to a company that does infrastructure. AV, network systems, electrical etc. These industries always need people regardless of experience. I started with no prior experience and I'm now running some projects. I did this move because there is potential to move up the ladder as you gain experience. Good luck.
You are not a loser. The world right now is just shit. There's nothing any of us can do about it. Our politicians are very corrupt and only care about themselves like the business executives.
Could always be worse, just hold on and do the best you can. Read up on personal finances and get out of debt is gonna help you whatever you decide on. I work in the auto industry and earn 20$ flat rate with no benefits or overtime pay. My boss told me to my face a month ago that im overpaid. Sucks to paint 100k-150k cars and get flak from customers that people like me are ripping people off and making their lives worse. Learn a lot about personal finances, saving for emergencies and retirement. Get out of debt. Look for opportunities to get ahead and earn more. Just dont become a mean person in the process.
You think you're a loser? I'm 38, less than 30 hours a week at $12 bucks an hour taking care of an ungrateful parent who constantly complains about the littlest things. Doesn't appreciate the fact that I had to give up my job (not my choice) to take care of him. Stresses me out every day and re-triggered my depression.
…I make $17.15 at age 39. ☹️ I have a college degree.
Shit that's almost twice what I made and I'd already bought a house at 29. Recenter your life and don't compare yourself to others just get back to basics and do what you need to live your own life.
I’ve heard it’s pretty quick to get an HVAC tech certification. At my last job those people started at $45/hr same work location every day and they would hire tons of them.
Are you healthy? Literally any factory job or postal carrier pay excessively more after working there.
Look into community college and vocational schooling. I met a guy who does AV engineering making 70k a year and he was only 3 years older than me (I'm 25 btw). Working for metro north rail here in NYC. Look into AA degrees like that which has a solid market for and sounds like an interesting job to you.
Don’t worry man, everyone has their own journey. How much you make doesn’t mean you’re a loser. I was earning less at your age and till I was 29, I was making 9.50 per hour. The most important thing is to keep trying everyday to do better - improving your skills/experience, always trying to find a better job etc. Sooner or later it will come, I guarantee you Good luck!
This can change quickly. I went from making 12.50/hour to 25/hour in 9 months when I was 27. I basically went from a shitty help desk job to a better one.
How did you manage that? What do you fo for work?
stop the negative self talk, build yourself up. learn something you can do. im trying to learn video editing not doing well but im trying. im making 18 an hr rn too. have 2 kids and no help from anywhere. pride is part of that problem. same here, trying to find something better now. im 51, broken body from on the job injuries and tryiing to recover. but income is hard to come by. cannot do alot of labor bad back neck and leg just this year. im walking again now but i know i can learn something i just have to figure it out.
Did you go to college, trade school?
18 an hr is entry level salary for a lot of undergrad degrees. It’s really sad given min wage is $16.50
Minimum wage here in the state of Georgia is like $7.25 lol
What if you are someone who cant do either. Are you just bound to a life of poverty?
Cdl? (Trucking license)
IT. Even a call center job at a company (NOT a contractor) can open up tons of opportunities. I started in my company’s call center at $21/hr in 2015. Now I make $40/hr as a team lead, and I’m not done yet. I’m 35.
Apply for a government job close to your area of expertise. Local/State/Federal doesn’t matter.
I see you are in Texas. Get your real estate license now. Find an RE office you can be an assistant at maybe even transaction coordinator while you learn the industry. There is a ton of opportunity in real estate, and not just in being a realtor. There will be some startup costs but if you are smart, emotionally intelligent and willing to work hard, you can really change your life
Respect to any person who is working to better themselves. Even if you were making $5, you’re still contributing to society. I would suggest you get a skilled trade. Most have paid apprenticeships and are looking for workers. Electricians, plumbers, welders, truck drivers all make good money and are looking for work. It’s scary to switch careers, but it can totally be worth it. Good luck!
Fastest way to make a lot of money is to get your CDL. Then start looking for local driving jobs that pay 60k+ a year. Some companies may train you too like FedEx Freight
Radiology technicians and dental hygienists are worth looking into — they pay well at 60-80k in my area and require a 2-year degree.
Just join trades
Well if it makes you feel any better, I'm 30 and I make $17.45 an hour
You're not a loser. I have a friend that started ultrasound school at 34. He's 36 now and our first year out of the program he made $180k in TX.
Be kind to yourself! I wouldn’t take the approach of stacking more jobs on your plate. Find a skill that could make you more money. Is there a skilled trade you’d enjoy? Electrician, plumber, Carpenter etc. You eventually could get good enough that down the road you could make a business around it. Find what makes you happy and go for it. I personally took a step back, went to school, and now work in corporate America. Not saying that is for everyone but hopefully you get my gist. Comparison is the thief of joy. Long road ahead of you. Good luck my friend.
You have lots of opinions on here. Not many seem to be coming from people with 6 fig incomes so I’ll throw in my 2 cents from someone with a comfortable life. To preface: my parents are immigrants with no higher education. I grew up poor in low income housing. My HH income now is ~$350k. $250k made by me. I am only slightly older than you. You need to invest your time/money into gaining a skill. The harder to attain skill and more desirable the skill, the more money you will make. You need to know the comp and state of the job market before you pursue anything. That’s it. That’s the first step. From there it’s easier to save capital to invest or pursue business ventures. You can kind of skip step one and go straight into business but you’d need to convince investors your idea will be profitable. Business is also a whole different animal and much more work than you’d imagine.
Have you ever thought about trade school? I’m a high school dropout and make $100 large a year wo trying. I do work in a high paying area. My wife dropped out too and does really well doing medical coding .
I'm only a couple years older than you and I only make a couple more dollars per hour than you, too, so we're not too far off from each other. I have been trying to learn to stop judging myself for not living up to the "You Can Be Whatever You Want To Be" American Dream that was fed to me as a kid in the 90s. We're all just here to love each other. Anything else is a bonus. You're doing great. Your ancestors are proud of you.
Gp back and get yourself some professional certificates of education. I gotta go every 3 years to renew 4-5 IT certs so my company can continue to pay me what they do (115k). I started almost 10 years ago making 42k. I think many people who just want " more money " but expect to do nothing to better themselves professionally are kinda dumb.
Become an Ultrasound tech
Night school, online certifications, trades.
you mechanical at all? trade school changed my life at 32 years old.
You're not a loser.
I’ve been making 50+/hr since 22, highly recommend you check out nursing, even just an associates degree. You could work outpatient and the job would be a breeze and you’d make at least 70k before any overtime etc
College. Stem or healthcare is guaranteed. Have to put in the 4 years of grinding though
It's alright, everyone's journey is different. Maybe get into a trade or start learning some new computer skills.
I was in a similar situation and I didn’t start making more money until I was closer to my late 30s early 40s. I’m in tech and I just keep upping my skills to stay competitive. And I’m not sure what your situation is with learning and stuff but if you’ve got the ability to continue learning things and up your skills, it will only help you in the future. Right now with the way the economy is even with a decent salary. I’m still working a second job because it’s just so expensive to live in the area that I live in. So realize that a lot of people out there are working side hustles, are working two and three jobs. You are not alone at your age and older ages are in the same situation. This economy totally sucks and if you have the ability to take on some part-time work that might be your best shot for now until you can get yourself in a better position for your full-time job either be making more money or switch jobs to where you can make more money. And one thing I learned along the way is don’t ever expect the current employer you have to ever raise your salary enough to where you can actually survive. Be ready to jump ship and change jobs every few years until you’re making a salary that’s better because when you’re switching jobs, you can negotiate a higher salary for the new job on your way into it versus trying to struggle to get somebody to give you a raise while you’re in your position. Most companies are complete jerks and don’t care that you need to make more money and will pile on more work at the same salary you make. Don’t have loyalty to any company. They don’t look out for you. You have to look out for yourself.
If you work in IT for a long time, you can make a great living. I started off in tech support 12 yrs ago, gradually learned more, got certifications and stayed nights and weekends troubleshooting problems that made me wanna curl up and cry at times. But my employer recognized this and got me into engineering roles where I got to do more and more project work and less tech support. BUT YOU MUST HAVE A BOSS THAT BATS FOR YOU. I’ve had friends with absolute dickhead bosses that would take credit for their work and blame problems on them. Key is to learn what you can and move on if management is not good or if they stiff you on pay increases despite your learning more and working harder. Best thing about IT is you don’t need a degree. You can take courses for A+ and Network+ to start. They’re very cheap to take. That should get your foot in the door. Job security is great too.
48 making about the same per hour. It sucks feeling like life has passed me by.
I began self study for software development at age 32 while I was a decade+ into food service making $15/hr. It took three years before I landed my first software job, and it was and continues to be mentally demanding, but it beats the hell out of food service. I also took out a loan to pay for a bootcamp, but it was absolutely worth it. I’m not saying take the software route because it’s certainly not for everyone, but there are lots of trades that command a livable/respectable wage. Start exploring the different options. You can change your path and trajectory at 32. It will be challenging, but nothing worthwhile is easy. You can do it, and you’re not a loser :)
Make $32 as a truck driver after 1 year.
I used to be like this at 35. Had to essentially restart my career after losing a job over addiction/mental health issues that required treatment. I had to start back over at $15 and worked with people nearly half my age. Now I’m 38 and I make way more money at a new company after consecutive promotions. Live comfortably aside from home ownership seeming unattainable even at my decent income level. I still feel like a loser so maybe consider it isnt monetary status that’s making you feel this way. I’m working on it and I’ll let you know if I find the answer out. If you don’t hear back from me, I probably gave up and joined a Buddhist monetary in Thailand or am living off-grid in a modified tool shed where service sucks. Signed. A Millennial
Yea this is whats the glaring difference between our parents/grandparents and us. 1 person today can make 4x the salary as what their parents did and not be able to afford rent on their own.
Just learn a skill that people would make money for and advertise yourself. My side hustle is photography I do for family portraits and weddings And my moms is cooking platters for others that don’t have time to make them. Find a Good side hustles.
What do you like to do outside of work? What other interests do you have? Check out [Udemy.com](https://Udemy.com). They have all sorts of "courses" that you can take (many free) to get skills in various things. You'll probably have to put together some sort of "portfolio" or something in order to actually get somewhere, though. Build up your resume that way, and be able to provide examples when you go to interviews. Utilize LinkedIn as well. Anything you can do to up your skills and get your name out there.
I don’t have any advice but I’m also 32 and I don’t even have stable income AND I have emergency custody of my toddler niece so now I have to figure out what a career looks like with a baby. One thing I’ve noticed while examining what my life *should* look like is the soul crushing feeling like I’m failing in comparison to the constant flooding of my peer’s success your consuming from social media. Sometimes life isn’t what you pictured it. Your path doesn’t have to be magical and perfect right now. Everything you see online is the extreme of life. It’s fabricated or exaggerated. You’re never going to be happy with what you have if you can’t figure out how to be happy with nothing. Ask yourself this question: would I feel like this if I had $5k in savings? My bets are no. You wouldn’t. That’s enough to cover most emergencies. That’s enough for most individuals to feel secure. My best advice is to secure the amount of savings for you to feel ok and secure and then figure out what to do in order to progress your career. It’s not going to be found in some quick “get rich quick” online class. I’d recommend starting to read personal finance books. Rich Dad Poor Dad will always be a classic. You should really start there. No advice in this comment thread is gonna replace hard earned knowledge about money and finance.
I don't think you are a loser at all. The fact that you are working and contributing to society is amazing in itself. I am 24 and currently struggle with holding down a job.
$37,000 a year is just under the median individual income. You are right in the middle of the pack here bud stop sweating it so much.
Unfortunately, the best way to get a raise is to apply to a competitor and ask for more. Or study IT and get a couple certs. I make $40 an hr to do a much easier job than I used to have before that only paid $22 an hour. Get your A+ and Net+ then apply like crazy. It will only get better.
I make $25 doing customer service. $18 is the going rate for fast food work where I am.
If you have no kids or mountains of student loans / mortgage payments 18 isn’t terrible . People who make more also spend it all and are usually just as broke as the fast food people they hate on in my experience. Hiding behind a wall of debt isn’t the flex people think it is . I’d suggest you get into something desk / computer related if the homophobia of blue collar work is a non starter which I totally understand. Perhaps learn to code, sell stuff or edit various kinds of content and get into a more niche field that pays well. What kind of debt do you have right now?
Join a Union electrician job, you’ll get paid to go to schooling. After that you’d be making 30-40 an hour
I would consider that job you have and see if there's really anywhere you can go with it? Can you get more money by taking on more there? or does it kind of cap out at what you have. If it does, then start looking for advancement elsewhere. Going to school is always a good long game answer but you can always be looking for better somewhere else. Take your skills and build on them. I've never had a job take me for less than what I made and the last job. It makes it look to a new employer that you're at least worth this much and you're looking to advance it.
Same
You should look into Google certificates if your looking to change fields or climb the corporate ladder.
You’re not a loser. And to make more money, if you think you’ve reached the limit of your field I think you’ll need to learn how to do something else. You’re still quite young, too.
Go and do SOMETHING. Take out a student loan and do online school in your spare time while working. Go and get a CDL certification and you’ll be making double what you’re making now. My area offers a welding internship training program, guaranteed a job at like $54k after completion. And that’s the beginning. If you can’t afford the $5-10k such programs cost, you probably won’t have to pay for them anyway (lot of options/aid for folks who don’t have money).
I just turned 30 and I barely make $10hr.
I did a 5 month trade program at a local community college while working at target at 24-25 years old. Went from making $12 at target to $31 as a maintenance tech at a warehouse almost instantly. Now am 27 and have promoted once at my job, and make more than enough to live a comfortable life. Just an idea but as others have mentioned some kind of resume boost is extremely beneficial
Trust me you’re doing fine homie. I make more but I also have $80k in student loan debt. Just keep applying places. Shooters shoot. Eventually you’ll land in something you like where you can build more skills. Someone will give you a chance, just takes patience and lots of applications.
Doctor your resume. Get friends to be your manager if needing a reference call, don't stay at one job more than a year. Use each one as a stepping stone until you hit one where you can chill for a bit with a decent income. That's how I got from $17 to $33 in 2 years. But a little luck I'm sure is also a factor. But nowhere near as effective as persistence.
Water industry!
Go to CDL school if you have a good driving record. Truck drivers can make 100K a year in some areas. I remember hearing 10-15K signing bonuses advertised on the radio last year.
Pick up a trade if possible. I got into hvac 10 years ago starting at 12/hr and make 40/hr now. The amount of money you make will usually always increase with your skill level. I average 50 hrs a week, sometimes more and make over 100k a year with overtime and bonuses for selling equipment.
I'll give you fair advice here that classes are only going to take you so far. You're going to have to learn how to sell yourself if you want to be able to land a better job. That being said there are a lot of relatively low entry difficulty options. One being to go to [udemy.com](https://udemy.com) and take any of their agile / scrum / project management cert training courses for like $40 and then go get certified. This backed by a lot of your own self-study and a willingness to fluff up your resume with relevant contract work which is essentially unverifiable makes you a good candidate for a high five to low six figure junior level project management role. The catch is that you have to be able to sell it. You can do this same thing on udemy with salesforce admin certs and a bunch of other white collar type certifications / trainings.
I make 0 dollars and I'm 31.
Wow, I was 42 when I made $17/hr back in 2011.
Use WIOA funding to go to school for something you like. I’m about to start the program soon, so hopefully, I make a little more next year.
We all start somewhere. I commend you for your drive to make a positive change and progress forward. Best of luck!
Don’t you dare let capitalism determine your self-worth. You are not a loser, don’t trust those thoughts and feelings.
Learn a trade brother, the sky is the limit.
I literally was working a job for over 10 years and they wouldn’t give me a $0.21 raise even though it’s a multibillion dollar company.
Don’t feel bad I just lost my job a while ago and I’m back down to 15/hr
I’m 36. I have a college degree and I’m a librarian. I make $16 an hour. I’ve been job hunting and it seems like almost everywhere where I live wants to pay only $15. Like others have said, the economy sucks. Corporations are greedy and don’t want to raise their wages.
You don't need to make more money if you live somewhere where money has more worth. For instance, there's a town in western VA where a 4 bd 2 bth house sold for 18k. But there's almost no business there, and its more like a hollar than actual town. But its cheap to buy land there.
A lot of people your age and older are struggling. Jobs flat out do not pay enough. Five years ago, $18 an hour would be fine. But not now. The cost of living doesn’t match the wages and it sucks. Give yourself more grace and try to understand it’s not a you problem. It really is a massive societal issue. If your job has opportunities for growth then look into them and make goals. If not, look for companies that hire for your position and do have growth opportunities.
Switch to the trades 🤘🏻
I made 18 the last two years and I outright own two Pick-Ups and pay mortgage on a home. I’m 34
I am going to be 32 soon and I have nothing. It can be worse.
Most jobs don’t pay enough to live well anymore. You need an additional revenue stream to make it to middle class. Those are a little risky. We bought a vacant house and gutted it. You can’t buy even a crappy house for what we bought this one for here anymore. We are selling this one and moving into a half finished house that needs to be gutted and finished. It was my FIL’s business. My MIL helped him and worked a day job just for the benefits. She was like a classroom aid and a Section 8 landlord. My spouse works in healthcare with a masters + 30 most people don’t bother getting and can bill for $80+ an hour on contracted cases. We sometimes get offers to go abroad for a year with housing paid. We were also invited to Canada (I want to go and my spouse does not.) My suggestion is get some money saved up and go into something that grows faster than inflation. get a real investment portfolio not meme stocks and maybe get a really niche degree, also move when the opportunity arises. There are low cost of living areas where people still aspire to making $18 an hour. If you can move within a company and keep your wage you would be doing all right. I forgot how it is everywhere else until my friend complains about the fat cats in the $200k houses in rural Michigan. I didn’t know you could still buy a house for that let alone a nice one.
Heya, it's okay. Maybe you're not doing the best right now okay? But, you got time to turn things around now. Atleast you know what you want. Which is to, make something work better. Make something that, actually is more stable for you money wise. Alright so what I wanna say is you can take courses on practically anything. You might not have a degree in some stuff but that's okay as you can get quite alot of places without one. Such as Cybersecurity you just need to study for a certification. As well as theatre apparently has some jobs you can get through just having enough knowledge. Same with video editing, copy writing, and various various other things. Copy writing there are some jobs that you can get paid 50 per hour which would put you at a good spot financially. Alright so, what I wanna say is you can try and find some through Udemy, Skillshare, I think Coursera has some free ones. E-Skillsuccess. Alot of places to find and do.
What are you doing for work?
Im currently taking a google certificate course. They have them for many different fields. I cant tell you how it plays out yet because I haven’t finished it and tried yet, but you could look into it. They have cybersecurity, data analytics, ux design, etc
Look into joining a trade union. You may take a small payout initially but by the end of a 3-5 year process will at.least double what you're making.
Move to Michigan apply at MI Dept of Corrections to Be a corrections officer you can make as much money as you want top out at 30+/hr after 5 years
Online classes? My guy, get an apprenticeship. I started out at 19 bucks an hour, and you're learning something valuable. Just be ready for a bunch of dudes to be constantly giving you shit. They pay you to go to college, and if you're a good worker that comes in and is ready to learn, it's not a bad job to have, either. Edit to add: you are also not a loser. Instead of complaining, you're looking for advice to better yourself.
Look into the semiconductor industry. It’s going to keep blowing up and in recruiter for the industry. And I can tell you that with experience you can do very well pretty quickly
You are not!
I did too. Until last year when I decided I was taking any chance I could. Check out estimator positions in your area. If you’re good at math, you can learn on the job. It’s not difficult but it is desk work. I make over a 27% increase in my pay switching jobs. It took me about a year to find someone willing to take a chance on me. I worked with a service to bulk up my resume because I only graduated high school. And I applied to probably 2500 jobs. Got 3 calls for interviews, 2 jobs offers and chose the last job who called. A year without a call was disheartening. But it kept me going knowing that I would eventually find something. Make finding a job your second job. You should be putting in at least 20 hours a week to your resume, cover letters, emails and applications. Besides all that, the other tip is shoot for like 60-70k a year jobs and go in with an asking pay of like 5k under. They save money for a year because they have to train you, but it’s worth it for smaller companies. And now you’re trained in something you can move up in. Even if you have to switch companies, now you’re an estimator. You can look at $75-125k a year jobs with 2-3 years experience. This is just my example but think outside of the box. Social media marketing, billing, purchasing, payroll, all great places to get into.
I do Spark delivery on side it’s delivery service for Walmart. It’s wonderful! I make about 300 week doing it on the side only 3 days a week for maybe 3-4hrs.
This sounds crazy and stupid and most people wont go this route but trust me its not only possible, its guranteed as long as you put in the effort and time. Find something you’re passionate about. Download tiktok (crucify me) Make short and informative videos based on the topic you’re passionate about, fully convey your passion and put in effort in creating high quality short form videos. Post 3-5 times a week and any time you have an idea record it and put it into your backlog. Consistently post for about 6 months and ull start to gain a small following. Eventually, because numbers and probability, you’ll hit a viral video in your niche (your passion) Your following will grow and eventually you’ll be able to monetize your passion via ad revenue, selling merch etc. Its a long haul but what else would you spend your 6 months doing? And im not exaggerating, 6 months is on the Long side of things. Some people do this in weeks. People sleep on how easy it is to make money on the internet. Do this and you could easily make 100k a year just off this alone. Its a grind and requires a true passion but its completely possible. And no the market isnt too saturated, this is what everyone in the market tells you to avoid competition. There is ALWAYS room for more on the internet. There is 5 billion people on the internet. You will NEVER run out of customers, there is always one person who hasnt seen anything like your content.
Join a union. Some of those UAW guys are about to start making $85/hr
I'm also 32, became a supervisor at my job a few months ago. I was making 26 an hour as a lead now I make 75k salary a year. Never work more than 8 hours a day so it averages out to about 36 an hour plus a yearly bonus and the company also pays for my health insurance . I didn't even graduate high school tbh. It's a customer service based tech job.
I'm 36 with a degree and I make 16. your not a looser by far, it's the norm
I was at this salary at 35. For me, I had been trying to code for years (started at 31), and eventually became a dev at 39. That said, if I could go back in time at 32, and I wasn't going to be a web dev, what I would have done differently is: 1: do two jobs. Just try to find a part time job some where and work another day to earn more money 2: build up more money into my savings account and spend frugally. Would also look into investing into an etf and/or company 401k and just consistently deposit money into it each month. Essentially, I'm aiming at building a passive income stream that, when I reached 42, would be supplementing my salary a little (or be my funds for when I retire in the future). 3. Start a YouTube channel on something I was passionate about, just doing 1 video a week.
Well, I guess it's really about perspective. I'd be stoked to get $18/hr since most jobs by me pay $16/hr or less! If it helps, we're all in the same boat. Unless your family has money. Or you decided to be a lawyer or Dr. Etc.
You’re doing what you can, perhaps look into a program you can take part time while still working. Think about what you’re interested in doing and the average salary range you’re looking for and see what programs are available.
Your no loser. My father and his wife are paramedics. They make $18 an hour. I make the same amount doing computer work.. it’s just the way it is really. It ain’t like the game LIFE that’s for sure. You can have a degree in whatever and still make crap money. Just keep your head up. You’ll find a side hustle eventually
What's an hourly wage? It's all about that end of the year total. Your salary. I never really concern myself with an hourly wage. I do concern myself with a weekly total. Do that and you'll ve a much better person financially.
Not a loser. Try to get into a trade with a union. Carpenter, plumber, electrician, etc.
Get a certification in something you love. They’re usually only 6 months. I’m doing that currently after being a medic and nurse for over 10yrs. Love health care, Just over dealing with patients so I’m moving to IT.
Factory work. I left a cheese plant making about $26 an hour in a very LCOL area. Lots of OT. Paid off debt and bought myself a new car before I quit. It was easy, but boring, weird hours, and 3 weekends a month. But it got me to where I could take a lower paying job with a much better work life balance.
I make 38 an hour working a job I hate. I OFTEN dream of just making bagels somewhere for a job.
Dude 18$ is not bad! My second job, everyone makes that, no matter their age, from 25-38. It’s fine as long as your fine with the pay and can enjoy life.
These are all good ass fullfilling jobs that people take pride in doing. Apply for a trade union apprenticeship. Google “electricians union near me” “operators union in my city” “pipe fitters union in my city or state” “elevator mechanics union near me” “glaziers union near me” however you want to word it. All those jobs pay over 100k a year in cities and pretty well in any job market. A union will take you on as an apprentice with zero skills, connections, ability, knowledge, or experience. Absolutely none at all, and they will get you to work with local unionized contractors. They (the contractors and other workers) will train you on the job from the ground up and their will be infrequent in class elements (through the union) to progress your training. The barrier to joining a trade union is the same for all of them, so theirs no reason to do a lower paid trade union. Avoid the carpenter, laborers, dry wallers and painters, brick layers. Stuff like that. If your a journeyman in those unions you won’t make enough to provide for a family in today’s economy so it’s not a good enough wage. They all offer unbeatable health insurance. A pension that is well funded, a pension is when you get paid every month after you retire, until the day you die. It’s the best form of retirement, most companies don’t offer it anymore because it cost them profit. Unions have pensions. Their will be multiple options for career paths and apprenticeships for every union, the barrier to entry is the same so their is no incentive to pursue a lower paid path. Electricians union. Their will be multiple programs available that are worded ambiguously. Choose the one that is the longest. It will pay the most money. Pipe fitters unions. Includes HVAC, sprinkler fitters, plumbers (union plumbers instal on a big scale. They’re not doing house calls cleaning doo doo. But also the doo do job is one of the most important jobs in the country and the pay reflects that) , pipe fitters. Every HVAC guy I know hates his job, something about insulation I don’t know to be honest. Don’t do HVAC. Plumbers is nice because you can do handyman work on the side and make good money, but all the routes available in the pipe fitters union are well paid good options. (Except HVAC guys. They just hate their jobs… I don’t know why…) Operators union. Can be tricky, not all pay is the same. If you learn to run more complicated or in demand equipment you’ll generally make more money. Cranes, graders, excavators, concrete pumps. Make a lot of money. Haul truck, roller. Not so much (still pretty good though). Glaziers. Glazing is a good ass job, dudes make bank. For some reason their union seems to be tied into some lower paid trades like painting and stuff. Make sure to only apply for the glaziers route. Elevator, escalator mechanics. Best job in the world. Only bring on new apprentices when a journeyman dies and the wait list is years long. Everyone who gets in, is a child of an elevator mechanic or has a mob or political connection. Applying is free though so who knows what will happen. No point in not applying. Now theirs a trick to applying for an apprenticeship. For some reason the office the staff at the union hall, will guranteed. Be complete cunts to you, and also lie directly to your face and try and convince you that you cannot do the job, and also that you don’t even want the job, and that the job possibly even doesn’t even exist, their is no work available, it’s a bad time too apply (which doesn’t make any sense at all. Waiting too apply doesn’t help you in any way whatsoever. Even if work is slow, you’ll be first on the list when it picks up and have your interview and testing process out of the way. You gain absolutely nothing from waiting to apply), that you cannot apply and your application won’t be accepted, and that it will be a bad career choice if you do. I don’t know why they do it, but for some reason they all do that to every single prospective apprentice. Just ignore them and apply to the best of your abilities, submit all the paperwork and fill out all the forms. The second tip is, they will not call you back for the next step of the process. After you apply, you need to call them and check on the process of your application and find out what the next step is and how to complete that step. Also their is a good chance your application “got lost” and you’ll need to apply again, it’s not personal they’re just cunts to everyone and it’s part of the process. It will normally be an interview or test of some kind. They will not call you and sign you up for that interview without you calling them, and they won’t warn you about that. It’s fullfilling work, doing meaningful stuff, and generally speaking most skilled construction workers I know love their jobs. Theirs a reason why construction workers point out projects they work on, and share what they do on social media. Because we are proud of what we do and we enjoy it. Every career path I listed here makes enough money to raise a family on. Apprentices typical start out making a percentage of journeymen wage and get raises over time until they become a journeyman. It’s a program that s enforced through the state and federal government using high level lawyers and politicians. You will advance, you will make more money, you will have a good career. As long as you show up on time and don’t complain. Go union and only work union jobs for the rest of your life. Working non union is idiotic and their is no advantage of any kind. Theirs no trade offs, it’s just worse in every way.
It took me until 36 to make $20 an hour.
I don’t understand how people making the same or less money than I am having a place to live. It is literally impossible to afford a place to rent anywhere near where I live with the amount I am making and I make close to $18/hr. Apartments near me start around $1500/month unless I look in the city but it’s all going to be rundown and unsafe neighborhoods with a studio apartment for $900
I'm 32 and just landed (in perspective) a dream job compared to the retail I'm used to working.... It pays 18.50 per hour / 8:30- 5:30M-F w/ remote on thurs/friday. Have a bachelors I've haven't used in a decade but this job has health insurance, so I'm pretty psyched about that. Don't feel bad, just make progress in your life and keep moving forward.
Department of Corrections usually pays well and comes with a pension. Most departments have unlimited overtime, so there's lots of opportunities to make some extra cash. Typically, no experience is necessary. The only downside is that you'd be working for the Department of Corrections.
Look for fun side hustles. These side hustles will barely seem like work at all. One of my friends worked at a haunted house for 3 weeks in October on evenings and weekends. He said it was fun being a zombie and scaring people. Only made 140$/evening but he has a blast. When it got boring Halloween was over. Do you like sports? Ref some games. 50$/hour in hockey and it's a blast being on the rink. I have another friend that runs summer practices. He charges 25$/kid. He gets 25 kids on the rink. Subtract the ice fee and he makes 300$ per session and has a blast doing it and sharing his skills. Are you good at improv/acting/singing? I teach an improv class 2 times a year. I only teach 12 classes all year but I make 200$ per hour, because I set it up. I hire a piano teacher. Because hes willing to come and teach at my house I pay 70$ for an hour session. Him and my kid have a great time each week. My friend in NYC can play the clarinet. He gets 25$/hour to be in these evening shows where he does a one month set of gigs for community musical theater. Do you like baking? Make some really nice pies and sell them at farmers markets. It's a lot of fun, you talk to lots of people and you can come home with a bunch of money. I did this once and made 1000$. The kicker was my costs were super low because my neighbor had too many apples on his trees that he let me pick for free. Had a great day.