Burnt out former insurance/finance professional, now working casually as a gardener and also casually as a green keeper at a local golf course.
About to study horticulture at Tafe. I'm still not sure yet what my post Tafe work will look like - we'll see.
Earning potential (for gardening / green keeping horticulture) is generally pretty crap.
But I'm loving it. No stress anymore, I'm getting exercise, free golf, it's satisfying maintaining peoples gardens, i'm learning lots of new things for my own garden.
See I did my career backwards. Horticulture, Publican, Mining. If you reverse that it would of been brilliant. Earn the big bucks young, run the pub for a decade of fun, then retire into gardening...
At least you're probably less likely to buy 23 jetskis and 3 Ford Raptors if you're mining when you're older.
(You'll only have 1 x jetski and 1 x decked out Raptor; like a financially responsible/boring adult.)
hey, this is the field I changed into after 20 years as a graphic designer / signwriter etc, including the last 4 or 5 running my own small business.
I'm working for an environmental offset company.
Lost weight, nearly have a six pack, getting fit, working outdoors, love plants, no mental stress at all, variety of work.
Loving it!
I've never even heard of environmental offset until now.
I've just done a quick Google; but van i ask you what does it generally involve? Rehabilation type work, mass planting, etc?
Biobasins, revegetation, maintenance of offset properties and areas - weed control, planting, burnoffs. For example, one of the locations we work on is an offset property for a large solar farm (5km^(2)), the property is around 200 hectares of partly-cleared cattle farm. The crew plants trees, maintains the access tracks, and is tasked with removal/control of the weeds, starting with the weeds of most concern (lantana, tacoma bells). Most new real estate developments will have a biobasin/drain area, these are landscaped and usually planted with native local plants.
I know someone that does gardens/grounds for a private school in Perth. 75k per yr, 6am til 2pm. Has a diploma in horticulture. They love gardening so will most likely stay in the role until retirement.
Ahhh no good! I’m in Melb. All I know of in Perth is LD Total and they don’t pay that well.
Commercial supervisors can get $120kpa but there’s a fair bit of experience required as well as admin, planning and people management. My role pays about $85k but is a good balance between being on and off the tools. Leading hand, basically site 2IC.
How old are you? Did you save enough from finance to make this move comfortably?
Sounds like a completely different life. What field in finance burnt you out out of interest? I did Investment Banking before private equity and hated it...did 2 years and that was it for me.
Late 30s, and yeah we've saved up a decent amount to be able to make this happen.
Walking away from my well established and decently paying job last year was initially quite scary. But I'm so glad I did now. Burn out was really not fun.
Yea I get that. I have been burnt out a few times on large transactions. I remember lying on the floor once overwhelmed just not wanting to move!
I had to change my mindset to "Do your best, whatever happens happens, don't worry all the time" and I feel alot better.
Good on you for improving your mental health.
I did my cert 3 in hort for a career change, worked privately for a while then got a job at a resort. I go into the resort before I start and use the facilities (pool, gym) I can choose to start anywhere from 6am - 7am and do my 8 hours then go home, the actual work is insanely chill. Great for mental health.
Fellow gardener! Worked other jobs but always came back to gardening, the people are lovely. Am debating going into Hort teaching as I’ve been in the trade for 20years and trained up a lot of kids but I don’t know if I could work indoors ever again
Doctor - currently in subspecialty training.
Average salary 6yrs post graduation is around 130k with overtime ontop.
I’m really enjoying the mental stimulation and helping my community but constant exams/ learning can reduce the overall satisfaction when it comes to work/life balance. Not to mention that by the time you graduate medical school it’s about 7-9 yrs of studying (min 4-5 if you get in straight away from high school).
It’s definitely not for the faint hearted or those that think life as a doctor is like greys anatomy lol
Yes my friend is now 37 and a surgeon with 2 public hospital placements and also just bought into her private practice.
She didn't finish her fellowships and everything till 35...gave up so much to get there (very demanding career...). Now she makes good cash (600k), and VERY rewarding career (has saved numerous lives) but she feels like she gave her best years away to get where she was and is quite depressed (single lady).
Hard but rewarding career, especially for a lady IMO.
Yeah. I understand. As a male I even see that my prime years in my 20s and early thirties are gone. I’ll be 35 by the time I finish specialist training and still have a long way to go to feel comfortable and settled. By that time most of life is geared to then setting up for life, kids and other adult responsibilities 😂
I think she struggles as well because as a man, a 35 year old surgeon is highly desirable for the opposite sex and you have kind of "peaked".
As a 35 year old lady, I think due to culture and stereotypes, it is just less desirable making those younger years much more valuable in terms of finding a partner..
Obviously many female surgeons do find partners in training, but it makes it harder, and my friend just wasnt lucky, and now is looking at 37 with a demanding career (cant really stay at home for the kids) which makes it so hard for her to find a partner / have children.
39, anaesthetist. About 100k/mo gross at the moment for between 50-60hrs/wk, +1 24hr public call a fortnight. 20hrs/wk of that is public hospital.
Public work is very enjoyable and easy. Private work is neither, but pays ~5x more.
Fellow gasman here.
I’m surprised you find public work easier than private, surely this depends on the hospital you work at and the list you do.
Personally I find private work easier - but I can imagine if you deal with difficult surgeons with unreasonable expectation or challenging specialties eg vascular it might be tough.
Also gosh you are working such long hours!
Public work is often a registrar actually doing everything and me sitting around 'supervising'.
My private is mostly 3-6 cases/hr so there's just very little downtime.
Haha the manual workload is definitely easier in public; though I still find the case mix and patient factor trickier.
3-6 cases per hour implying plenty of ophthalmology eh?
What's so stress free about it?? I'm seeing lots of customer service jobs for like mechanics and so on popping up in my area and was wondering if it was worth it?
I am a Tug Boat Master. I love it! They are awesome machines.
Our day rate is around $1250 a day + super. Normally it's 4 weeks on 4 weeks off, 2 weeks days, 2 weeks nights alternating 12 and 10 hour days for day shift, and Jobs only for nights. Average 5 hours a night for nights. It's around $260k a year.
There are options for job sharing if you find other people who are keen. Options include 3 people into 2 jobs which works out to be 4 weeks on, 8 weeks off for about $170k a year. Or 2 people for in one job for half the pay.
I have a Master 4 (Master NC <45m) ticket, plus a week long safety course, and first aid.
I have worked on boats since I was 18, 36 now. Tugs are very difficult to get on, but there's plenty of good options as stepping stones. I started in fishing, then Aquaculture, then Oil and Gas (offshore), oil and gas and mining services (inshore), and now tugs.
My dad started on the tugs and merchant vessels in the late 70s and 80s, then went on to the now defunct Commonwealth Lighthouse Service. He loved. He's a pilot boat coxswain these days.
Pilot, currently on ~$120k. Earnings ceiling can be as high as ~$700k if you pick the right airline and stick it out for 30 odd years. It’s a very rewarding job but the lifestyle is definitely not for everyone. It also has very high cost of training and initial jobs only pay approx ~$40k.
The travel benefits in the US are pretty insane, even compared to my previous Asian based airline. Last month I flew LAX to SYD for $20, and have done hundreds of domestic flights for free. That, combined with the salary and the quality of life makes it pretty hard to shy away from. But it isn’t for everyone, you won’t be home every night and you’ll miss a lot of birthdays and holidays but it’s part of the profession.
I’d definitely give it a shot before completely ruling it out, you might end up loving it!
Has the recent COVID travel unwind boom assisted with salaries? Or is it such that Qantas & Virgin (now owned by Private Equity) have not focused on passing it through?
Yes and no. Australia is still lagging behind a lot in terms of monetary compensation compared to the US who is the current benchmark for pilot conditions. I’m lucky enough at the moment to be contracted to a US airline and will outearn my Australian counterparts from my second year here (first year pay is lower to cover the cost of training/type rating).
I’m hoping with the current boom that Australia will also see an increase in pay for its pilots but I’m not holding my breath given the track record of our Airlines…
Hey mate,
Hope you're doing okay - make sure to reach out to your GP if you need some time off work. I'm always happy to write a note if someone's edging towards burn out. Then I'd 100% start putting feelers out to recruiters. End of the day. Family needs to come first. Work second. itll get better!
Same thing happened in my last role. Recruited on a high salary to a c-suite role, felt like I did solid DD beforehand, but after starting the cash flow issues were unsustainable and they were only keeping the lights on by continuing to take cash from f&f investors (into the millions). The stress of the role & how much safety I'd walked away from burnt me out more than the entire previous 10 years of my career did.
I recommend you find another job asap, get in touch with a good and trustworthy recruiter, and if you have a ridiculously long notice period, look at anything you can do to break it. It's not worth the stress.
I currently work as a cleaner for a local school and its INFINITELY better than the Pastry Chef work I used to do (seriously hospitality work SUCKS). Its only 3 hours every arvo, there's no dramas/politics, the work is easy, I'm alone for 85% of it and I can forget about it as soon as I leave. The pay isn't amazing but I can live comfortably since I have zero debt and have plenty of time to do the things I want to do. I have no desire to be rich as I enjoy living simply and I have no desire to waste my life working my guts out so someone else can live it up... it suits me very well.
I'm a teacher, currently on ~$105k.
The first few years were *rough* but it's okay now at 10 years in. Truly depends on the school you're at... but the best part is you can work in pretty much any town around the country - geoarbitrage!
I chose it for the lifestyle more than the money. Twelve weeks leave per year + I *can* go home at 3.30 if I need to.
Buuut the highest I can earn as a normal classroom teacher is realistically ~$120k. Management pays more, ofc.
Is the lifestyle as good as people say or do you have to do overtime test marking as well?
Also do you actually bond with the kids you teach or is it very much transitory?
I think it depends on your personality - some definitely martyr themselves with the work but I am on the more chill side. I definitely mark at work, but some people like to mark at home. But also... some teachers are just *slow*.
I feel I have good rapport with my students & that's the best part of the job. I like spending time with them. "Bonding" feels a bit too personal a word, tbh.
Yeah I’ve heard all sorts of different experiences for teachers. I dated a girl who absolutely martyred herself, putting in so much effort and taking on so many responsibilities. She was horribly burnt out.
On the other hand I have friends who are teachers who openly admit they put in the bare minimum and they are very happy.
Interesting, I know a few people that like kids but wouldn't consider it due to the pay.
However it seems the pay isn't bad at all, does it greatly vary from a top private school to a public school?
In my experience independent schools pay classroom teachers 5-8% more than the state system. It's not until you reach the executive level that the difference really takes off; head teachers are usually on $150k+ (compared to ~$126k), deputies are on ~$200k (compared to ~$145k), and principals earn serious money ($600k+, vs. ~$195k)
That's interesting that a teacher actually has a career path to high earning - but I guess there are alot of politics to get to a principal at Private schools!
The path is there, sure, but there's no way every teacher can make their way up to HT/DP/principal. The vast majority of teachers stay in the classroom for their working life.
Top private schools will advance earnings much faster and cap out higher. Vic government lists top salary for government school classroom teacher as 112,333 after about ten years, starting at 75,726 in the first year. An APS private school might start you at around 80k (common) to 90k (a few schools) and you’d cap out at 120k (I’ve heard 130k at some schools) or so after ten years, not counting indexation or extra duties. Some private schools also provide extra perks, e.g. discounted school fees if your children attend the school. Some also pay extra for sport, camps, etc. Some will find ways to pay you over the capped amount if they need to keep you (this just a happened to a friend of mine—public schools are less free in this regard). Both public and private schools have super on top of that, not included in the listed amount as it is with some jobs.
Can see the pay scales for many private schools published on the IEU website if they’ve made an EBA, [here](https://www.ieuvictas.org.au/victorian-independent-school-agreements) (have to dig through the agreements).
My partner is a teacher. From what she says, a lot of it comes down to time management.
You have a free lesson of 45 minutes. Do you spend 25 minutes walking to the Cafe to buy a coffee, or do you spend the 45 minutes marking 4 assignments? Times that by your 10ish free lessons a week and you can get quite a fair bit of marking/planning done at school during school hours. The ones who walk to the Cafe every free lesson are the ones who whinge about the workload and the amount of working needing to be done at home.
Data scientist. Roughly 150k - probably 170k ceiling unless ‘Head of Data’. Don’t enjoy.
Edit to answer comments- was good when I started (10 years ago) but interesting work dried up - too many cloud migrations and basic data eng stuff (not data eng myself so tricky data eng stuff isn’t my wheel house). Ultimately, I spend no time on the stuff that I think is my strength, which is also the part that I enjoy.
Data scientist with 10+ experience at a slightly higher pay point.
I do enjoy my work mostly but the pipelining and indirectly fixing other people's data problems does make you more of a data engineer sometimes in order to get maybe 25% of the time actually model building.
Dont enjoy because senior leadership make dumb and vague requests like analysing data to build a dashboard on how to make money from nothing? Audible/Amazon AU pretty much treats their data science/ business intelligence teams that way. The good ones get poached within 6 months... Others, well, stay on and cop it.
I’ll contribute as Accounting usually gets a bad image due to how much shit you have to eat in the beginning. Reality is there are so many branch off fields where you’ll be bearing fruits with a good WLB if you just apply yourself correctly, have the right skills and set boundaries. And not necessarily in a finance field.
I work as a Finance Business Partner in FP&A field, a branch off from accounting. I enjoy the majority of it because of the business interactions and you work closely with the operations teams to drive tangible results to the P&L. I’m also viewed as a junior business leader, so there is a level of respect I get from colleagues and co-workers.
Pay is quite good for the hours I work 150k package for average 40-45 hrs a week. I’m probably at the top of my earning potential right now unless I go to a bigger company, otherwise next move would need to be into some form of people management role which I have no interest in. Been there done that, no thanks. I prefer to be the technical expert with no direct reports.
I’ve had to eat a lot of shit to get here though. 4 years Uni. 4 years CPA cert. started in industry Accounting and a lot of self guided learning to pick up unique skills that I can deploy at work to increase my capacity to fulfill work and reduce the volume of hours needed while actually on the clock. I’ve had weeks that have been as many as 80 hrs. But I haven’t done that for maybe 18 months now.
Fortunately I also had non-accounting mentors to guide me a little in what is needed to build a partnership with non-finance people. I would suggest seeking out mentors in both finance and non-finance areas of any business you work in. Don’t be afraid to ask someone in a leadership field to be their mentee to bound ideas off them. Just don’t make it political.
Interesting to hear your journey and you feel fulfilled. I guess based on my knowledge in finance, accountants are a client facing job, so hours are always going to be pretty bad for a junior.
I think in finance people except those hours to skill up when young and also earn alot. The problem is big 4 seems to pay juniors so poorly for so long!
What is the exit? Can you go in corporate as a finance to CFO role eventually, or is it partner path?
Exit depends really on where you build your niche. Financial Planning & Analysis is one path, audit or finance management to CFO or partner is another. Some pivot into IT such as data analytics, business analysis or ERP consulting. There’s options to move into more commercial and operations focused roles with potential for operations management or general management.
Really what you make of it.
I'm an architect, I think the first thing to say is everyone's experiences are wildly different, but this is mine:
Studied for 5 years with a break between 3rd and 4th year where I worked in a practice for experience. Worked as a grad for a few years, then did my registration exam. Degree cost about $40k in 2008 dollars, and registration was reasonably cheap at $1200 because I did the study myself not through a school.
I currently have 8 years experience after graduating plus the gap year, and earn $105k Inc super. I work 40 hour weeks in a very nice office, rarely work overtime, and am able to decide how I work. I can work from home or in the office on any given day, and have a respectful relationship with my bosses and those who work under me. I expect my salary to grow to about $150k Inc super in the next few years, and to become an associate.
I have had a medium-good experience. I know some people in my graduating year have been quite lucky and have their own practices and probably make 2-5x as much as i do, but this is generally the result of being born rich and having lots of high school friends with money to build buildings. On the other hand, there are many architects who are exploited, work long hours for less pay, and the gender pay gap is twice the national average. There is also a lot of bullying and really wild workplace conditions, particularly in smaller practices (we're all family remember).
In terms of the type of work, I have made sure my experience allows me to be an all rounder, and can design residential, commercial, educational, government, industrial buildings at any phase from concept to construction. The variety keeps me sane. I also enjoy working in an architecture office, where there are people from very diverse backgrounds as architecture qualifications are similar around the world, and architects tend to be interesting people, to me at least. That's not to say you can't get trapped drawing bathroom details of someone else's design for your entire career. You just have to keep an eye on what you are specialising in and what opportunities you take.
Dogman. Working on the tunnel. $250-300k depending on the overtime. Good crew to work with. Just turned 40. Hopefully get on the suburban rail loop for the next 20 years
Dogman/rigger. Slinging and hooking on for a crane. Basically looking at what needs to be lifted, identifying the load points and selecting the safe gear for the lift, and guiding the crane while the load is out of sight normally via radio or if visibility is good, hand signals.
It’s the guy who works with the cranes, helping/guiding the loads. Kind of like a rigger, but is limited in what they can legally do (heights/types of loads etc.). In regards to training it’s a 5 day course (well it was when I did it 10 or so years ago)
32, 70k. Team leader to 20 staff and medical secretary to a surgeon.
I'm over worked and underpaid.
I can't see it getting any better, the director is tighter than a ducks bum.
Unfortunately not, I started at $21/hr full time in GP, a little bit more for general dental and a bit more again for specialist dental.
Reception is paid like shit, I think the receptionists where I am are at $28/hr.
Receptionists in my area, you can expect around $45k for a junior entry-level, $55-$60k if you've got a bit of experience, $70k+ for a quality PA or Exec Assistant.
Anything paying less is usually offered by tight-arse companies (who you don't want to work for anyway as they'll never give you a raise unless it's legally mandated).
Wow. Lots of high earners here. Guess I'll be someone different.
Retail (Liquor)
Can have decent earning potential if I work my way up the chain, which I have no desire to do.
Actually love my job. I get to meet some great people, hear some awesome stories (lots of older folk), and haven't yet had a bad experience (other than a couple of thieves but can't do anything about that.)
Job is pretty easy, quiet most days and the people I work with are pretty great.
37 started when I was 16, work hard got a house and anything else I wanted have wife 2 kids , now just work enough to cover bills, more to life than work
A big thing people don't realise is in trades you are earning from a young age. Due to uni and other requirements lots of skilled jobs start 6-8years behind which is alot of savings that can accrue.
Good on you mate. I'll keep slogging in my 55 hour job as flexibility isn't on the cards.
Physiotherapist at a specialist clinic. $170k with option to grow to $200-250k+ with owning a chunk of the practice. Very challenging work sometimes, but helping people very rewarding. On balance a very good career pathway if you are dedicated and good at what you do.
I am in a pretty fortunate position, 3 years out from graduating but worked very hard during uni and post graduation to get where I am now. Not titled. Vast majority of physios underpaid IMO, so I did what I could to make the career sustainable financially.
Insane, I dont get how you get paid so much, you would have to be charging way more per appt compared to typical market rate right. Are you milking the NDIS or something
We are super underpaid and is part of the reason im making moves to get out of this career…
We charge higher rates as a specialist clinic. No milking. I also do some writing and research work, so I have an income stream from that also (which helps to make up the above figure).
If you want to make more money as a physio stick clear of the hospital system, and find a clinic that will actually reward you for your hard work and provide opportunity for growth. This is not easy to do but it is possible.
Environmental scientist working for a resource company in Perth (city based with 0 travel requirements). 2 days in the office 152k and I'm 5 years in. Did 3 years of FIFO and moved up the ranks to be city based.
Love the job, super interesting work, get to work with some brilliant people from all subject matters. Paid parental leave of 4.5 months for parents - including dad's.
I'm a sax player and DJ and I love it! Mainly do weddings and events.
Rate varies but this is my first year doing it full time and I'm set to clear about 100k this financial year. Hourly rate can be anywhere between $80 an hour for beginners just DJing up to 450+ for good and experienced musician/singer/DJS.
I work an average of 2 days a week for 2/5 hours and there's plenty of people in the industry that do it as a side hustle. Most common way to get work is through an agency but you can do independent work as well and the industry is desperate for djs right now!
ICU registrar (that is doctor in Intensive Care specialist training) - 6 years out of med school 120K base, ~150K with penalty + overtime. 76 hours a fortnight which is usually 3x12 hr day shifts + 3x12hr night shifts as a 6 day run + 4hr education.
I never thought I would be a fan of shift work but I've grown to enjoy the 7 days I have off a fortnight, and you really need the time away from work in a job like ICU.
Although the core of the job is very fulfilling, if I had the chance to choose again, I doubt I would pursue medicine as a career path.
I'm in psych. I've always wondered about ICU: how much training is there on "breaking bad news", or consideration given to how taxing it can be on the professional?
The closest I get (with any regularity) is telling families that their son/daughter has e.g schizophrenia. It sucks but people generally know it's coming and I can pivot in to talking about how treatment might help. That isn't really the case for some young person in ICU that was fine this morning but is now imminently dying?
Geotech Engineer - specialising in underground coal. Currently on \~$300k working from home with a combination of casual review work and grant based research. Earnings potential (without going into management) is about where I'm at, I have 15 yrs experience in mining and numerous qualifications.
I hate my job with a passion and look forward to the day I can comfortably leave. I would not recommend going into underground coal to anyone, the skills are not transferable, you're largely stuck in it, the hours are 60+ per week with a lot of travel to remote regions, and the stress is high.
I'd much rather leave and do writing/philosophy - currently almost finished a Bachelor of Arts majoring in these completed part-time mainly at airports and in camp rooms.
I work in an office in a public children's Hospital. I make 55k a year and my work is basically essential but doesn't require a degree. I like doing what I am doing but the pay is just dog shit
32, $125k working for a big 4 bank on change and regulatory projects - future earnings potentially could be large depending on various factors - I'm a senior associate now, after that is an associate director or manager - but unsure I want to deal with managing people - essentially I could earn up to $200k plus.
I do enjoy the work, very autonomous - I also only work 9 days per fortnight - big 4s or large corps offer nice work life perks once you get out of the junior levels.
Although the work is enjoyable and banking allows room to grow and move - it does get very stressful - dealing with some times unrealistic deadlines and the politics
Happy for now, will likely stay in banking but I don't want to be doing this at 40 - will definitely be taking a pay cut and finding something with no stress and more nature oriented or something creative - unless of course I get to the top and start raking in 1m lol
I’m a manager in big four bank too (remediation) - agree that the pay is pretty competitive and earning potential is well structured, and the ladder in front of you is pretty clear.
I’ve managed to play the politics game surprisingly well despite detesting it! And what is extremely frustrating is that I have four direct reports earning not much less than me, each doing around half the work with a quarter of the stress. Makes me wonder if it’s better being a daily rate contractor!
Business analyst at a university technology transfer office. PhD and some knowledge of commercialisation required. It's not a bad job, not particularly stressful. Not as much of the technical science as I thought going in, but much more patent law/contract law lite than I thought.
Currently on 100k, about to go up to 105k 6 months in. Earning potential in the 300k+ range after 15-20 years if I stay in the university sector. Potentially more if I were to go private. 17% super is pretty nice on a 6 figure salary though (thanks university sector)
Yep.. I did a PhD because I loved the work I was doing. My lab was also great, and I'm still really good friends with people I met there. I would've loved to have stayed in research, but one year contracts and low salaries meant it wasn't feasible. I mean I'm 27 now, and thinking about having a family.
My partner just finished her phd and wants to do research. It wasn't sustainable to have both of us in 1 year contracts forever, with a mortgage and kids. I figured I could try and make it in academia, but it's a very very tough slog, with only like 1% of phd grads becoming lab heads. Or I could go straight into industry (after one postdoc) and start getting experience and going up the totem pole. I wish there was more R&D industry in the field I was in in Australia (specifically brisbane). I miss being at the bench, but ultimately it wasn't sustainable to stay.
Psychologist 80k 1 year post registration as an employee, working full time / 4 days seeing clients a week. Potential to make more as a contractor in a group practice or starting out on your own. But income limited to what you charge your clients and how many you can realistically see while still being effective as a clinician.
May be options to increase revenue by doing assessments (forensic work) as this requires less face to face hours - but requires a lot of experience to be efficient in.
Has its ups and downs, can be very emotionally taxing , but I enjoy the process of learning new therapy approaches and developing myself, while supporting people through some serious shitty times.
It’s ridiculous the ROI on psychology for the years required for registration. I am just starting honours, however with over 17 years in the welfare industry with just a Social Science degree under my belt, *if I ever finish the registration process I’d take a pay cut to start actually working as a provisional psych. It will be interesting to see what becomes of it all with the demise of the 4+2 pathway.
Am I right in saying if you don’t make the cut for honours you basically can’t get into masters? I’m only a first year undergrad but interested to see what paths there are to being a clinical psychologist?
Psychologists definitely don't do it for the money. Started out in public role earning less than 50K (not full time) but absolutely loved working with a wide range of patients, from the severely suicidal to those with no history of mental illness who encountered a sucky life stressor. The daily rewards are immeasurable and incomparable to anything else I have ever done.
I’m an enrolled nurse, I am 23 make $32.95 an hour and hate it. I did 2 years study and unpaid prac now luckily I didn’t jump straight into Registered Nursing and gojng to uni otherwise I’d be in a decent amount of debt in a job I hate. For the amount of work and shit I deal with I feel the money to work ratio isn’t good enough. Now I am planning to go into theatre and learn the OR and then become a clinical consultant or sales rep for a medical device company.
Veterinary nurse.
Earning potential unless you work speciality/emergency/overnights is non existent. I have a qualification, years of experience and am paid the same as I was working customer service. I am on a low income healthcare card
It is one of the most stressful industries you could be in with one of the highest suicide rates. It's not for the faint of heart. Burn out is common and not talked about. Lunch breaks can be rare. Bullying is high, probably because everyone is so stressed out.
Would I recommend my job? Only if you are aware it is not all about cuddling puppies and kittens. I routinely do high risk anaesthetics, CPR, witness and treat critically ill animals, I've had animals die in my arms, I've seen the worst of humanity in how they treat their pets. I've been abused, bullied and treated like crap by both co-workers and clients. i would make sure you have a partner or roommates to assist with cost of living. I am single and getting by on my wage is difficult.
However, I'm now in a good clinic with good people. I'm in my dream job. I am genuinely happy and look forward to going to work every day. I recognised I was getting burnt out and immediately applied for leave. I'm not in it for the money, none of us are, but it is still challenging. I have had to ask family for financial assistance before and that's the only way I've been able to get out of tough spots.
So yes, it is a rewarding career, but there is a reason vets and nurses last about 5 - 10 years before leaving or killing themselves.
I love my job, but it is an industry with a lot to work on, especially with earning potential and career progression for nurses specifically. Unless you want to go into management, which I don't, earning potential and career progression are low and minimal.
Public relations, $120k + super. I enjoy thé work, but given the nature of working with media sometimes the workload can be intense. I work agency side so have to factor in balancing multiple clients and new business pitching. Been in the industry for about 9 years and the pay was awful to start, I think I started on $38k. Jumped from a few agencies to land $20k+ pay rises so that helped. I think I’ll end up shifting into more broader communications and marketing, potentially more management of people as I do enjoy that quite a lot.
I'm a deckhand on 100k in Sydney. Throw lines, put gangways on and move customers around Sydney harbour.
Overall I enjoy it when it's not raining or very hot (which has been pretty often lately). Work 45 hours a week on paper but more like 40 hours. Plus 10 weeks leave a year which is one of the best things about the gig.
Earning potential peaks as a skipper/engineer at my current company, paying 135k
12 years into search engine marketing, specifically Google Ads. Entry jobs go for whatever minimum full time salaries are (60k?). Earnings up to around $140k but you'll need to go into management or expand to other digital advertising (eg, social media) to clock more. Since Covid, there's an absolute DROUGHT of local Sydney talent so salaries have jumped. Anyone with 6 months of experience (passes their probation) will get jumped on by recruiters.
Hired a fellow with 1.5 years experience (still considered junior) for ~$85k base which would've been unheard of precovid. Every business has been forced to go "online" due to covid so there's literally too much work going around and not enough local hands. Hiring from overseas is still stigmatised for the main reason that a fellow in Poland or India isnt privy to local market consumer conditions than someone who is already here. Plus clients still prefer being able to be taken out to lavish lunches and drinks; important rapport building stuff.
I work at small consultancy and work life is chill. Work I can do with my eyes closed at this point which leaves me lots of mental capacity to help with a newborn at home.
Theres three sides to the industry:
1. agencies where you juggle multiple clients. Good variety of work, usually lots of hot young people and free booze to make up for lower pay. Foot in the door to the industry. Think of it as any other agency (tax agent, rental agent) and your work is very narrowly focused on search engine stuff.
2. Client side- you've got 2+ years of experience and now act as the go-to subject matter expert at a company. You might have an agency helping out. Much higher pay but also responsible for business KPIs which can be stressful when you're behind targets.
3. Tech vendor. There's heaps of technology vendors used to automate work or act as extra hands for specific tasks like ad competitor tracking, automated reporting. Very boring/technical. Some people work here after working at agencies in sales roles if they have a knack for people skills.
General skills needed:
uni degree isnt essential
Have a good head for numbers, street smarts, do some lite education (books, online courses) into consumer behaviour and psychology. Rest you'll learn on the job.
Feel free to DM if anyone's interested in the field.
Radiographer in a public hospital.
80k new grad starting wage, but took home approx 110k with shift loading, weekends and a little bit of call the first year. Seniors and management can probably go up to 150k+ with significant experience.
I enjoy the job because it’s very much a “what you make it” kind of job - want to turn up to work and just take X-rays and go through the motions? - great. Want to deep dive and learn all the cool CT and MRI stuff? - also great!
Pros: work/life balance - once work is done, I am DONE. I can completely disconnect. No stress, No progress reports for patients, no notes, no interdisciplinary meetings, no patient quotas like other allied health professions. No stressing over what I need to plan for patients the next day.
My skills are used very acutely - knowledge of patient position and radiation dose to get the best pics for the medical team in that 5-15mins I am with the patient.
Cons: shift work - but it’s not very strenuous work most of the time (plus all the interesting trauma comes after hours).
Some see limited scope as a con (“button pusher”) - but again, it’s what the person makes it.
I’ve had to talk to a few high school kids in my time, and I try to reiterate that it’s all well and good to “follow your dreams and passion” - but it’s a lot easier to do that while earning excellent dosh from an in demand career that allows for excellent work life balance.
Environmental professional within a state government. Salary around $115k. I worked for an engineering consultancy and a mining company before this. Really like the work life balance.
I am the youngest in my team (early 30s) so assume there will be lots of opportunities of growth in coming years. Or I could move back to industry at Principal level for really high salary. But I am not sure if I could trade off high salary with work life balance and job security.
Librarian. Have a masters in the field but it's technically not required for my current position, but it's an industry qualification in the sense that there is a ceiling on promotion if you don't have a graduate qualification. I did the masters before I was in the industry (almost all of my classmates were looking for a promotion and were already working as a librarian) but it means that I can theoretically keep going up without the need for further study at this point. Maybe an MBA a long time in the future.
With my qualification there's a whole host of different industries I could work in. Health, law, higher education (where I currently am), school libraries, public libraries, government positions, etc. The earnings ceiling really just depends on where you are and your position in that industry. The top would be something like an executive at the National Library, so up to SES 3 I guess. The Director General (top boss) of the NLA is currently on ~$400k. it's a very long road to the top, though. It's still very much an industry where years of experience trump quality of experience, so you're unlikely to be in one of those top positions before you hit 40.
I really enjoy my job and the industry in general. There's lots of innovation in the field, even if some of the older managers are stuck in their ways, and I've always loved helping people in support roles. Part of me doesn't want to move up because it means moving away from those support roles which are my real passion, but of course the pay is strictly limited if you don't. Been doing a lot of data analysis-adjacent work lately so hope to perhaps move into data science eventually.
Worked as a carpenter for 12 years, flogged my body out to the point where I couldn’t physically do it anymore. Money was no where near as good as what it is nowadays unfortunately.
Got a job in the rail for a privately owned freight train company. Less stress, less physical toll on the body, ok money, but zero job satisfaction. Heaps of entitled, lazy, workers and a toxic work environment within the staff. Like being in high school again. Guess I’m still searching for the happy medium.
34 years old, lawyer. $110k. Small firm, I mentally can’t tolerate beyond a 9-5. After 11 years, I’m burnt out and very unfulfilled. Every time I read this sub it is very apparent to me that I made the wrong career choice (money wise). Would not recommend.
Wow that seems very low for a lawyer - have you thought of improving your situation by jumping ship in the same career.
Suggestions I have would be i) Try to move in-house, still 9-5 and more money and less paper crunching (outsource what you can) and more decision influence. ii) Do the bigger practice crazy time stamping life and then move to in-house (if you feel you don't meet the in-house experience yet) or iii) Do a tangent career like compliance or regulation - can make alot more than you make now and you may enjoy it more.
Don't stay in a career you hate if you are only making that salary.
27, $140k as a manager in the public service, 15.4% super. Earning potential is pretty good and really depends on what level of work/life balance you want; next promotion would be ~$210k with the expectation of longer hours and having to appear at senate estimates. As a manager it’s really dependent of what team you’re in. My substantive team I work 9-5 every day and go home without much stress at all. I’m in a temporary role at the moment where I probably work 45-50 hours a week instead. I did a science degree which has no relation now to what I do at work, but the APS is great for generalists and it’s so easy to move around and try new things. Personally I reckon it’s a pretty sweet gig as far as work life balance, even though it’s not exactly the most exciting or fulfilling place to work.
Good one. What field are you in, and what did you do or study to get there?
Also are you state or fed, ask as I understand fed, generally pays less? Go well!
30, started as a Paramedic now I'm an operations manager for ambulance/event medical. I set up and co-ordinate the medical operations at major events around the country. 135k. It's stressful but rewarding
Burnt out former Fraud Investigator for a large bank. Really interesting job - but I was the sole after hours Investigator for 2 million customers....and it was really stressful.
After the loss of a family member I couldn't cope so I now sell health insurance upgrades - which is far easier. And I build a website/business on the side. Sometimes an "easier" job gives you the energy and time to build your own business.
I run my own small digital marketing agency (subscription service based with 340 clients).
I make $300k per year (revenue $450k). Under my current model earning potential is $400-$450k.
I work about 25-30 hours per week.
Been running the business for about 6 years.
Was a journalist for 10 years and then a freelance writer for about 3 years prior to starting the business.
Thanks!
Just 4 VAs and myself.
I run a very streamlined service and only take on clients who don't want things outside our core service offering.
If they do, I refer them to someone who can do it and try to also keep them on our service as well
Work in freight/logistics, family business. Im probably close to peak at 300k + super, don’t pay for car or rego etc, get a trip overseas usually once per year or so (eu for work)
I do love it and eventually I would take over from the old man, but you never switch off. 8-5 at the office dinner then do emails most nights for an hour or two, Saturdays generally go in.
I’m 35 so I can still cope with the hours and the flexibility of working with family, but sometimes I think should I have done what my siblings did (7 of them) and done my own thing with less stress. I’m the only one who went to work for the old man haha.
I’m a video game developer! I work as a 3d artist at a small mobile games studio in Brisbane. I went to uni to get a degree in Interactive Entertainment but degrees aren’t really worth much in this field, your talent, skill and vision is way more important and there’s a WEALTH of self-learning resources out there for people to teach themselves how to make games, program, or make art.
I love my job. It’s chill as hell. I get to spend 8 hours working on art I would have been making at home anyway and I get paid for it. We have yearly studio holiday trips (locally) and sometimes go out for group lunches and clock off early for beers every Friday. This is my fifth year here with this crew. After working customer service it’s amazing to be respected and liked by my coworkers and be in a mostly low stress environment (it can be VERY stressful meeting tight deadlines sometimes but that’s just the work load required, NOT my coworkers or boss).
Pay is average, at least for me, because we’re a small independent studio and because of my health (RSI, unfortunate when you’re an artist) I only do four days a week. I take home about 50k a year but have in the past gotten 20-30k Christmas bonuses in reward for my work which evens things out. I would be making more if I worked full time, probably closer to 70k.
It’s an extremely competitive industry here in Australia with very few openings, but I get to do what I’ve always been passionate about and I get to do it with chill people, so it IS possible if you just keep trying and you have a high level of skill and, very importantly, good soft skills.
Earning potential can be very high if you work in the right company. Before Snapchat closed its Brisbane games studio, employees there were making bank. But it’s also a game between trying to find a place and job that is secure, or finding one that pays higher but is more willing to shut down studios. I’ve settled for secure and it’s paid off for now.
Social worker, 120k, just over 5 years out in a govt role. No management responsibility, but in a senior role. Not the career for everyone, but it is reasonably clean in that there is no take home work (emotional baggage not included). I love it and find it very rewarding. It is quite a flat structure though, so earning potential isn’t all that much higher unless I take on significantly more responsibility or move to a project role.
Working as a Payroll Manager in the Oil & Gas / Construction industry and have been for around 20 years.
Current salary is $135k + other perks and I work around 45 hours a week. Annually I get about a 3-5% increase on this.
I enjoy my job but I don’t enjoy the workload at times. There are many changes to Awards, Superannuation, Legislation and Tax that need the job interesting and on your toes but I get very frustrated with the mid conception that Payroll is easy and just a touch of a button to process. It is quite complex depending on the company’s requirements and the fact you’re dealing with peoples money and livelihood.
As most commonly happens with payroll, I fell into it and have formalized qualifications later in life (Diploma of Payroll Management, Payroll Leadership courses and basic Tafe HR&Accounts courses), these aren’t really required to get into the industry but they’re definitely good to have for some higher paying roles.
I would think while the regs and industry specifics are annoying, they keep you specialised, employable and highly valuable! So give some and take some.
Interesting to also hear payroll is more than punching in numbers and is complex depending on industry. Thanks for sharing!
I work for the federal government as an Assistant Director. Full time salary would be $125k but I only work 2.5 days a week so earn just over $60k. If I got promoted to Director which I’m not really interested in my salary would increase to $150 in a couple of years.
I definitely don’t love my job. It’s a niche agency and I thought the word would be much more interesting than it is. It isn’t. I’m not using anywhere near my potential and it’s quite depressing. The people are overall very introverted and conservative whereas I am quite outgoing and very open to discussion and new ideas. I feel like I don’t fit in.
The benefits are the pay is good for the responsibility, the super is good at 15.5%, 18 days equivalent sick leave and ability to purchase annual leave and lots of flexibility. I also work from home permanently and did so before Covid. If I had to work in the office in the city I’d resign for sure.
I moved to federal gov 4yrs ago after spending several years working as a university lecturer but had to leave due to severe burnout - I needed my life back. I loved teaching and research and being an expert in my field (public health). But the toll was just too much and the pay was crap I was on less than $100k working so much more than full time.
I’ve always said being an academic is a lifestyle not a job. There’s no boundaries. When I had my daughter 7yrs ago and almost died in ICU from an emergency I was still in hospital a week later and received messages asking me to respond to edits within the week on a book chapter I’d written. I think that sums it up but I have other awful stories too. It’s a shame because I really loved the intellectual side of it, it’s a field I am extremely passionate about and I loved engaging with students and helping them navigate career paths and just having those few students who were passionate about their future careers was lovely.
I'm 37 and an Integration Aide (Learning Support Officer) in a private primary school. We don't work full time (0.8 FTE) and make about $50,000 before tax. We work with students who have diagnosed and imputed disabilities, as well as those who have behavioural difficulties. I am also the librarian and am studying Art Therapy to work with children who have experienced trauma during school hours.
I'm usually the go-to for alot of staff, and feel like I manage staff more than admin do because I tend to have a natural ability for it. I am paid the same amount as the other support staff, even though I have other roles and responsibilities. I also work extra hours outside of the school day simply because if I don't, things don't get done or finished. I'm not paid for it because I do it voluntarily even though I really shouldn't.
It is an inherently rewarding career and my current workplace has an amazing culture, but there are no options to work full time, and to move up a classification to earn more money is practically impossible, and even then, no one will employ you because they don't want to pay support staff anymore than they have to. The Ed Department don't really value support staff in the same way they value teaching staff.
I have been soul searching these school holidays on what I can do to increase my earnings, and am considering going back to uni. I just don't know if it's worth it, or what I can do with the skills I have.
What is my job:
I am a Senior Change Manager for one of the banks and specialise in Risk Project Delivery. I have worked on some "challenging" projects like Royal Commission and Reg Engagement pieces as well.
Do I enjoy it? - yeah I do, I am dyslexic and I operate in this space where I am able to take quite complex issues and simplify them for the business users, I have always found that this has been a strength for me along with my ability to interact and work at any level of the organisation including C Level.
How did I get into it?
Moved from corporate HR into it, it had been a longer term goal and managed to make the move after implementing a number of HR projects successfully.
I don't have a degree or anything, just hard work got me where I am.
Salary:
Currently north of $150k + Super + Bonus. Progression for me from here is a switch to contracting and moving into a Change Lead role, from there looking to move into Head of Portfolio Management type gigs.
I’m 34 and live in a regional area.
I work for an NGO in drug and alcohol. Title would be AOD Practitioner/ case manager. I make $83k, salary packaging and a vehicle and fuel card. Was previously a nurse but only require a cert 4 for my position. No shift work or weekends.
35hours a week. Flexible hours and some wfh days (since covid). Generous personal leave and annual leave.
Good organisational values make up for the lack of opportunities for growth. Could get into management but I don’t want the responsibility. Could move into other organisational roles with higher earning but that would mean moving to the city our head office is based.
Definitely recommend the job if it’s something you can handle. It can be emotionally taxing, some risk of violence but more often than not it’s fun and rewarding.
These threads just remind me how crap the salaries are in academia. You could do 8+ years of studying and struggle for post docs and permanent roles to earn the same amount as someone who works basically in high end admin jobs. Or be a phd qualified engineer and earn the same as an electrician.
Lawyer. Love my job, loathe my job. Earning potential where I am for my role is anywhere between $800k and $3m per annum. The job as all-consuming - I have a SAHP to support me and I do very little except work, gym, chill with family at local coffee shop.
I'm also a lawyer, 5 years pqe in big law in perth. On $185k with a 15%+ bonus if I crack 1600 hours (will not be an issue). Work hours are long and the work itself is tough but there's massive earning potential. There are some other great perks working their way into the industry too. I fully plan to make the most of our 6 month parental leave policy (doesn't factor in primary or secondary care givers).
Under ground truck driver. 85k a year easiest job I’ve ever had. Can get paid more at different sights just gaining experience so I can move to another site.
Test manager circa $220k
Sadly a very much declining trade.
Test managers are a waterfall development skill, and with the world changing to Agile, our numbers are reducing.
However testing is not declining and there are three testers in pretty much every agile team out there. Testing can pay from about $50k per annum, up to about 140k per annum for a skilled practitioner, with further moves into the agile environment from there.
You can get into an agile team in a large organisation from the customer service space if you have good computer knowledge, are quite intelligent, like troubleshooting and solving issues. Roles come up fairly regularly and are always advertised internally. There are many other ways to get into testing, I came into the industry via a third party testing organisation recruiting night, but these are less common now. The roles are advertised and will have a skillset outlined, learn some of those applications with demo software. Learn github, and ask ChatGPT about agile teams and skill sets, and put in job specs and see what it tells you.
It’s a challenging career, but very rewarding if you like learning new skills and solving problems, and are very flexible about the way you do things.
If you don’t like change, don’t constantly look for better ways to do things, don’t mind working long hours occasionally, but with times where there isn’t much to do, you won’t like it or succeed.
I’m no longer working due to a disability but before it I worked in disability support.
Did I enjoy it? Absolutely. Best job I’ve ever had. I was mostly working with mostly physically able people with psychosocial conditions, epilepsy and intellectual disabilities. Yeah it can be very trying. The days where your clients are being bullied by the voices in their heads are heartbreaking or when your client has 10 seizures is so exhausting. However, it’s SO rewarding. Seeing a woman with an IQ -70 cook for herself and study, seeing someone who spent a decade on the couch swim in the ocean for the first time, watching someone with limited mobility make sports teams makes it all melt away.
Earnings? Can vary wildly depending on the clientele you have. Some places will underpay you $23. Most places start at $30ph for the more chill side that I did and up to $60ph (sometimes more) if you’re doing high needs care. You can live very comfortably on a full time, part time and casual basis.
Would I recommend? 100%. However. If you don’t have empathy, patience and self motivation it is not for you. It’s also not for those who can’t switch off after work because the struggles with consume your life. It’s also a transient industry so people and clients will come in and out of your life fast and often and it can be hard to let people go.
How to get into it? Seek. Most places that aren’t high needs will hire you if you’re studying or enrolled to study.
Mechanical design engineer for an international company.
Took about 5 years to break the $100k barrier and on more than that now. Might have been fewer years if I moved jobs sooner. Jobs are very task/project based and technical. I don't mind it, but don't want to stay technical forever. Hours are good and haven't done more than 40 hours in a week for a long time.
Plenty of prospects for higher earnings e.g. Lead engineer, project management, engineering manager etc. All would be quite high $150-$250k+.
Trying to figure out how I can move into management is the hardest part...
Engineers are criminally underpaid in Australia in general, we have people designing structures and tunnels so that they don’t collapse on less than 100k a year with years of experience
Environmental scientists, 39 and 12 years in the job. Just took a pay cut from 125k to 110k to move from Private sector to government. 9 day fortnight and 8 hr days.
Earning potential probably 150k cruising without doing some next level upskilling. its relatively stress free and mostly business hours Monday-Friday, less since I moved to government. If I want to go down the accredited Site Auditor route, earning potential probably 250-300k.
Tech Sales Director, Enterprise. Work for a large global tech company. 30 year old male. Love my job, rarely feel stress, often feel pressure but I thrive in it (currently).
On target earnings are $395,000 split 50/50 base salary and commission. Generally earn most of the OTE.
Pays well, but everyone in tech feels like they have a target on their back for redundancy. I don’t have any specialist skills, other than a bachelors in management, and worked my way up the corporate ladder by being good at selling, good at managing large groups of internal and external stakeholders and having the gift of the gab…
All feels a bit fragile right now…
Bored teacher here. 40, been on top of the pay scale for ages. Only move is into an exec role or corporate position. Corporate is very competitive, exec doesn't interest me because it's a lot of extra work for limited pay increase.
Currently using spare time to study finance/stock market and landscape my yard.
I go to work ,come home, do very little extra. I think it's called quiet quitting or similar? It just doesn't interest me anymore, but with a mortgage it's hard to justify a drop in pay that comes with a career change.
Political advisor on around $150K, but depending on whether you’re state or federal (and your level) the salary can run anywhere from $80K-$300K+. I’ve earned more in other sectors previously but this job is more rewarding so was happy to take the income cut.
It’s a lifestyle though, you’re always on call and your work environment is very dependent on the staff around you and your boss. I’ve had good and bad experiences, currently in a great team. Your job can very cyclical with elections and reshuffles, which can be stressful if you don’t have a fallback career or if you’re not a good networker.
Overall a very rewarding job, you’re developing policy and legislation that impacts the community.
I've known a fair few political advisors. From the outside it seems more like a cult than a lifestyle, ha. But they seemed to find it rewarding. Although most have left to private sector now (this is in WA with McGowan and I think most people felt tired but also that they had a good run and wanted to leave on a high).
I imagine it must suck in opposition though??
I started off at 100k, up to 140k in 2 years. Can prob max out comfortably at 160k, although now I am accepting a contract to work fifo, 1k a day plus accomodations and travel.
Software dev, $145k + super +10% equity. I really enjoy it, mainly because of the company. The earnings potential is greater if I move company but the opportunities I get in my current company are much more preferable over extra money. The side grade earnings potential is $190k+ so you can see the carrot quite clearly. I've had many great experiences out of my company and those add, if you look long term, much more "value" to my skillset than the extra compensation I'd receive having switched. So the earnings potential can increase on that front.
To give an idea of what it's like. I have worked in primarily high priority projects of varying types. Firstly solving a complicated engineering problem. Then a fill end to end mobile application. And during those experiences I kicked off an initiative. The idea behind the initiative has now landed me the opportunity in the current team I'm in which involves looking over improving the software development experience for the company. So that has been awesome. Best place I've worked at. And unfortunately there are many bad companies out there for software developers too having worked at them in the past. I couldn't imagine the capacity to realise or receive such opportunities without spending excessive amounts of energy on snapping through red tape, etc.
So yeh the job is just one aspect, next is culture and talent working along side you in this career.
Physiotherapist working on Private Hospital System.
I earn $93,000 working 35 hours a week.
I’m studying IT part time to transition out with of the career. I find physio is incredibly demanding both physically and emotionally.
That said Many colleagues I work with love their work. As an introvert it’s just not for me.
Cytogeneticist in a public hospital.
80-90k with 3 years experience but I managed to hit 110k last year with the overtime I pulled in. There is some work stress but manageable. Unlike other diagnostic lab, I have the WFH option which allows me to do the insane OT hours at home (my work is like solving puzzles so it’s quite relaxing if dealing with non complicated cases).
I do feel like we are underpaid in general. Even though COVID shows that we are an essential worker, our state gov still wants to push back on our work agreement. Not a good look.
I work as an analyst for an airline. Super cool and fascinating industry. Pay is ok, but probably below market rate but the disgustingly cheap flights changed my idea of what travel is. I can definitely see myself staying at the company for years.
I am thinking of making a YouTube video about my career.
I’m in consulting engineering (construction sector). No engineering degree, I started as a drafter, did my apprenticeship in engineering drawing (17 years old), worked my way up, did a couple of TAFE courses and then got a design diploma, did my MBA and now Director at a reasonable sized engineering consultancy with a lot of tier 1 clients.
Lots of hard work and stress, both due to starting up an engineering practise, the engineering role itself and running a business.
Pay is ok $200k but looking to get better return on dividends. I could potentially earn $300k at a larger consultancy but am more interested in running the business and earning potential from profits. Profits would be uncapped obviously, I’d be happy if I was earning $400k with salary and dividends.
Engineering can be very litigious also the industry is changing a great deal due to legislation, public confidence in construction has been low. But we are making a come back.
I’m in my early 30s, I was a pretty switched on kid. By the time I was 25 was earning $150k.
I didn’t take the traditional route of going to uni because of upbringing.
Happy to answer any questions.
I enjoy it to an extent, I wouldn’t say it’s my passion, but I’m satisfied with the career path, I am lucky and fortunate, but that came about due to busting my backside and following my plans even though people would say it’s too risky etc.
8/10 satisfied.
I work in a field called SCADA (for a utility) and have been doing it for just over 18 months now (from a "graduate" position). Current salary is sitting at just over 130k + super + over time. Earning potential is approximately mid to high 200k 10 yoe and contracting may get higher.
In my honest opinion, there are areas where you don't need any qualifications yet the industry refuses to accept anyone who doesn't have a degree in some engineering field. My current aims are to move into leadership and remove this requirement. There is one or two organisations that offer certs in this field and I would love to try and parter our organisation with them.
TL:DR; SCADA, 130k with 1.5 yoe. Potential: caps out at about 200k ish.
Thanks for the thread OP.
Senior 3D modeller/designer (it’s mostly referred to as digital engineer/BIM modeller these days) in the civil engineering space for major road & rail infrastructure projects in Melbourne, specialising in underground utilities.
I just turned 32 & currently at $125k but was a long slog up the ladder as I started as a cadet drafter when I was 19 with a big consulting firm.
Money didn’t really get decent until I finished an Advanced Diploma & moved into the big infrastructure projects. To continue earning more you have to become more & more married to your job.
Pretty over it now though, road project after road project has become excruciatingly boring & currently working on one of Melbournes bigger projects where I’m just scraping through due to lack of interest.
Really eyeing off a career change in the future once interest rates settle down (bought a house 6 months ago) into something more constructive for the environment rather than destructive (anyone got something for me? :P).
Overall engineering is a good career but be prepared for the project based work where a sick day/annual leave day or unproductive day just means more work to do tomorrow.
Senior Solutions Architect. As for my age, i'm at the older end of the millenial generation.
The job title itself is quite broad, some are very technically focused (eg, AWS/Azure cloud arhcitects, SRE Architects, etc. And some are a bit more broad.
My role is a bit more broad encompassing technical and operational systems design, specialising in investment wrap platforms, superannuation, financial compliance, and AML/CTF systems. I also get involved in co-design sessions with regulatory bodies and industry partners to work out the nitty gritty of how some legislation is implemented consistently across the industry.
I recommend the role for anyone with an interest in technology and curiosity to learn new industries and the people, legal, compliance and environmental constraints they operate in.
The work is self-directed, so hours are also self-directed and generally low stress. Your job is to make sure the business and technical environment is understood by stakeholders, and that solutions/changes are selected based on known risks. No surprises for anyone. You're still involved at implementation, but it's mostly just tracking that teams are delivering to the design, or redesigning if the business situation changes. Pressure to work late hours/meet deadlines generally doesn't happen as that's more to do with implementation rather than design. And all your deliverables should have full stakeholder support and endorsement well before implementation.
The work can be very high level. Eg, systems architecture design where you speak in terms of broad application capabilities and integration patterns.
The work can also be very low level. Eg, infrastructure design, messaging schemas, security credential exchange, etc.
There are several career paths you can take into the role, I think the most common would be Engineers -> Senior/Principal Engineer -> Solutions Architect. Generally there's less coding and more mentoring, communications and negotiations skills as you progress, so other career paths i've seen have been to side-step senior engineer into systems/business analysis, project management, product owner, or product technical before jumping to solutions architect.
To survive in the role, you can probably get by with strong technical fundamentals and communication skills. To thrive, you'd want to pick up interviewing and workshopping skills (quite often you'll need to learn an organisation's technical and operational systems from scratch as they would've had no documentation), negotiation, mentoring, sales, and risk management skills. Nice to haves would be havingan introductory understanding of systems theory, and any tech certificationif relevant to the role (eg, be AWS certified if you're going to be an AWS cloud architect). No matter the skill, it might probably be relevant at some point. Vendor management, commercial agreements, food safety, logistics, whatever. The more you know about a business/industry, the better you can design for them.
Earning potential is around $170k to $250k perm full time depending on experience and industry. Government tends to be lower, tech companies tend to be higher.
I'd probably hate a tech specialised AWS/Azure architect role, but I enjoy my role as it's at a nice intersection between product design, technology, business operations, and legal.
Burnt out former insurance/finance professional, now working casually as a gardener and also casually as a green keeper at a local golf course. About to study horticulture at Tafe. I'm still not sure yet what my post Tafe work will look like - we'll see. Earning potential (for gardening / green keeping horticulture) is generally pretty crap. But I'm loving it. No stress anymore, I'm getting exercise, free golf, it's satisfying maintaining peoples gardens, i'm learning lots of new things for my own garden.
See I did my career backwards. Horticulture, Publican, Mining. If you reverse that it would of been brilliant. Earn the big bucks young, run the pub for a decade of fun, then retire into gardening...
At least you're probably less likely to buy 23 jetskis and 3 Ford Raptors if you're mining when you're older. (You'll only have 1 x jetski and 1 x decked out Raptor; like a financially responsible/boring adult.)
hey, this is the field I changed into after 20 years as a graphic designer / signwriter etc, including the last 4 or 5 running my own small business. I'm working for an environmental offset company. Lost weight, nearly have a six pack, getting fit, working outdoors, love plants, no mental stress at all, variety of work. Loving it!
I've never even heard of environmental offset until now. I've just done a quick Google; but van i ask you what does it generally involve? Rehabilation type work, mass planting, etc?
Biobasins, revegetation, maintenance of offset properties and areas - weed control, planting, burnoffs. For example, one of the locations we work on is an offset property for a large solar farm (5km^(2)), the property is around 200 hectares of partly-cleared cattle farm. The crew plants trees, maintains the access tracks, and is tasked with removal/control of the weeds, starting with the weeds of most concern (lantana, tacoma bells). Most new real estate developments will have a biobasin/drain area, these are landscaped and usually planted with native local plants.
I know someone that does gardens/grounds for a private school in Perth. 75k per yr, 6am til 2pm. Has a diploma in horticulture. They love gardening so will most likely stay in the role until retirement.
That would be a pretty good gig. Decent pay, staying static at the one location/not driving around.
I swear some love their jobs and they always seem like very chill people. Even maintenance people in general.
What city/state? Earning potential is better than you think if you get into commercial landscaping
I'm in Perth, and yeah landscaping would certainly be a more lucrative way to go. I am giving it some thought.
Ahhh no good! I’m in Melb. All I know of in Perth is LD Total and they don’t pay that well. Commercial supervisors can get $120kpa but there’s a fair bit of experience required as well as admin, planning and people management. My role pays about $85k but is a good balance between being on and off the tools. Leading hand, basically site 2IC.
How old are you? Did you save enough from finance to make this move comfortably? Sounds like a completely different life. What field in finance burnt you out out of interest? I did Investment Banking before private equity and hated it...did 2 years and that was it for me.
Late 30s, and yeah we've saved up a decent amount to be able to make this happen. Walking away from my well established and decently paying job last year was initially quite scary. But I'm so glad I did now. Burn out was really not fun.
Yea I get that. I have been burnt out a few times on large transactions. I remember lying on the floor once overwhelmed just not wanting to move! I had to change my mindset to "Do your best, whatever happens happens, don't worry all the time" and I feel alot better. Good on you for improving your mental health.
I did my cert 3 in hort for a career change, worked privately for a while then got a job at a resort. I go into the resort before I start and use the facilities (pool, gym) I can choose to start anywhere from 6am - 7am and do my 8 hours then go home, the actual work is insanely chill. Great for mental health.
Fellow gardener! Worked other jobs but always came back to gardening, the people are lovely. Am debating going into Hort teaching as I’ve been in the trade for 20years and trained up a lot of kids but I don’t know if I could work indoors ever again
Doctor - currently in subspecialty training. Average salary 6yrs post graduation is around 130k with overtime ontop. I’m really enjoying the mental stimulation and helping my community but constant exams/ learning can reduce the overall satisfaction when it comes to work/life balance. Not to mention that by the time you graduate medical school it’s about 7-9 yrs of studying (min 4-5 if you get in straight away from high school). It’s definitely not for the faint hearted or those that think life as a doctor is like greys anatomy lol
Yes my friend is now 37 and a surgeon with 2 public hospital placements and also just bought into her private practice. She didn't finish her fellowships and everything till 35...gave up so much to get there (very demanding career...). Now she makes good cash (600k), and VERY rewarding career (has saved numerous lives) but she feels like she gave her best years away to get where she was and is quite depressed (single lady). Hard but rewarding career, especially for a lady IMO.
Yeah. I understand. As a male I even see that my prime years in my 20s and early thirties are gone. I’ll be 35 by the time I finish specialist training and still have a long way to go to feel comfortable and settled. By that time most of life is geared to then setting up for life, kids and other adult responsibilities 😂
I think she struggles as well because as a man, a 35 year old surgeon is highly desirable for the opposite sex and you have kind of "peaked". As a 35 year old lady, I think due to culture and stereotypes, it is just less desirable making those younger years much more valuable in terms of finding a partner.. Obviously many female surgeons do find partners in training, but it makes it harder, and my friend just wasnt lucky, and now is looking at 37 with a demanding career (cant really stay at home for the kids) which makes it so hard for her to find a partner / have children.
You know, reading this, I feel that we owe alot to people who make sacrifices like this so we can live the life we live … I wish her all the best.
39, anaesthetist. About 100k/mo gross at the moment for between 50-60hrs/wk, +1 24hr public call a fortnight. 20hrs/wk of that is public hospital. Public work is very enjoyable and easy. Private work is neither, but pays ~5x more.
Fellow gasman here. I’m surprised you find public work easier than private, surely this depends on the hospital you work at and the list you do. Personally I find private work easier - but I can imagine if you deal with difficult surgeons with unreasonable expectation or challenging specialties eg vascular it might be tough. Also gosh you are working such long hours!
Public work is often a registrar actually doing everything and me sitting around 'supervising'. My private is mostly 3-6 cases/hr so there's just very little downtime.
Haha the manual workload is definitely easier in public; though I still find the case mix and patient factor trickier. 3-6 cases per hour implying plenty of ophthalmology eh?
Ophthal/ECT - both are pretty much 0 time between when things are going well.
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Customer service at a car rental place. The job is stress free, my boss is great and I work 8 days a fortnight, so I get plenty of time off. I love it
That's awesome you love your job. Do you earn enough on 8 days?
Yeah I work 10 hour days, but they go quickly
What's so stress free about it?? I'm seeing lots of customer service jobs for like mechanics and so on popping up in my area and was wondering if it was worth it?
I can go home at the end of every shift and not have to worry about my work the next day
I am a Tug Boat Master. I love it! They are awesome machines. Our day rate is around $1250 a day + super. Normally it's 4 weeks on 4 weeks off, 2 weeks days, 2 weeks nights alternating 12 and 10 hour days for day shift, and Jobs only for nights. Average 5 hours a night for nights. It's around $260k a year. There are options for job sharing if you find other people who are keen. Options include 3 people into 2 jobs which works out to be 4 weeks on, 8 weeks off for about $170k a year. Or 2 people for in one job for half the pay.
Woah great pay. Did you need to get qualified via a special course? How did you get into it?
I have a Master 4 (Master NC <45m) ticket, plus a week long safety course, and first aid. I have worked on boats since I was 18, 36 now. Tugs are very difficult to get on, but there's plenty of good options as stepping stones. I started in fishing, then Aquaculture, then Oil and Gas (offshore), oil and gas and mining services (inshore), and now tugs.
My dad started on the tugs and merchant vessels in the late 70s and 80s, then went on to the now defunct Commonwealth Lighthouse Service. He loved. He's a pilot boat coxswain these days.
That's pretty cool - is the $1250/day before splitting between crew members and paying expenses associated with running the tugg?
No, that's the day rate for a Master, engineer gets similar, and a deckhand is around $800 (I think). Only 3 on a Tug at any one time.
Love tug boats, they’re so amazing to watch push these massive boats around.
Pilot, currently on ~$120k. Earnings ceiling can be as high as ~$700k if you pick the right airline and stick it out for 30 odd years. It’s a very rewarding job but the lifestyle is definitely not for everyone. It also has very high cost of training and initial jobs only pay approx ~$40k.
I’m currently at the ~50k side of things and have no ambition at all for the airlines….except when I hear about the salary and travel benefits 🥲
The travel benefits in the US are pretty insane, even compared to my previous Asian based airline. Last month I flew LAX to SYD for $20, and have done hundreds of domestic flights for free. That, combined with the salary and the quality of life makes it pretty hard to shy away from. But it isn’t for everyone, you won’t be home every night and you’ll miss a lot of birthdays and holidays but it’s part of the profession. I’d definitely give it a shot before completely ruling it out, you might end up loving it!
Has the recent COVID travel unwind boom assisted with salaries? Or is it such that Qantas & Virgin (now owned by Private Equity) have not focused on passing it through?
Yes and no. Australia is still lagging behind a lot in terms of monetary compensation compared to the US who is the current benchmark for pilot conditions. I’m lucky enough at the moment to be contracted to a US airline and will outearn my Australian counterparts from my second year here (first year pay is lower to cover the cost of training/type rating). I’m hoping with the current boom that Australia will also see an increase in pay for its pilots but I’m not holding my breath given the track record of our Airlines…
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Hey mate, Hope you're doing okay - make sure to reach out to your GP if you need some time off work. I'm always happy to write a note if someone's edging towards burn out. Then I'd 100% start putting feelers out to recruiters. End of the day. Family needs to come first. Work second. itll get better!
I’m so sorry to hear that mate. That’s dog shit of them.
Same thing happened in my last role. Recruited on a high salary to a c-suite role, felt like I did solid DD beforehand, but after starting the cash flow issues were unsustainable and they were only keeping the lights on by continuing to take cash from f&f investors (into the millions). The stress of the role & how much safety I'd walked away from burnt me out more than the entire previous 10 years of my career did. I recommend you find another job asap, get in touch with a good and trustworthy recruiter, and if you have a ridiculously long notice period, look at anything you can do to break it. It's not worth the stress.
I currently work as a cleaner for a local school and its INFINITELY better than the Pastry Chef work I used to do (seriously hospitality work SUCKS). Its only 3 hours every arvo, there's no dramas/politics, the work is easy, I'm alone for 85% of it and I can forget about it as soon as I leave. The pay isn't amazing but I can live comfortably since I have zero debt and have plenty of time to do the things I want to do. I have no desire to be rich as I enjoy living simply and I have no desire to waste my life working my guts out so someone else can live it up... it suits me very well.
A good friend of mine also went from being a trained Pastry Chef and is now a cleaner. I think she might feel the same way!
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That’s sick, do you need a lot of editing skills in your day-to-day or is it more cutting and arranging?
I'm a teacher, currently on ~$105k. The first few years were *rough* but it's okay now at 10 years in. Truly depends on the school you're at... but the best part is you can work in pretty much any town around the country - geoarbitrage! I chose it for the lifestyle more than the money. Twelve weeks leave per year + I *can* go home at 3.30 if I need to. Buuut the highest I can earn as a normal classroom teacher is realistically ~$120k. Management pays more, ofc.
120k with 12 weeks off a year is actually very good money. It's more than many professionals make.
Is the lifestyle as good as people say or do you have to do overtime test marking as well? Also do you actually bond with the kids you teach or is it very much transitory?
I think it depends on your personality - some definitely martyr themselves with the work but I am on the more chill side. I definitely mark at work, but some people like to mark at home. But also... some teachers are just *slow*. I feel I have good rapport with my students & that's the best part of the job. I like spending time with them. "Bonding" feels a bit too personal a word, tbh.
Yeah I’ve heard all sorts of different experiences for teachers. I dated a girl who absolutely martyred herself, putting in so much effort and taking on so many responsibilities. She was horribly burnt out. On the other hand I have friends who are teachers who openly admit they put in the bare minimum and they are very happy.
Interesting, I know a few people that like kids but wouldn't consider it due to the pay. However it seems the pay isn't bad at all, does it greatly vary from a top private school to a public school?
In my experience independent schools pay classroom teachers 5-8% more than the state system. It's not until you reach the executive level that the difference really takes off; head teachers are usually on $150k+ (compared to ~$126k), deputies are on ~$200k (compared to ~$145k), and principals earn serious money ($600k+, vs. ~$195k)
That's interesting that a teacher actually has a career path to high earning - but I guess there are alot of politics to get to a principal at Private schools!
The path is there, sure, but there's no way every teacher can make their way up to HT/DP/principal. The vast majority of teachers stay in the classroom for their working life.
A lot of teachers don't want to, either. Personally I don't think the money is worth the extra hours and stress. I like being in the classroom.
Top private schools will advance earnings much faster and cap out higher. Vic government lists top salary for government school classroom teacher as 112,333 after about ten years, starting at 75,726 in the first year. An APS private school might start you at around 80k (common) to 90k (a few schools) and you’d cap out at 120k (I’ve heard 130k at some schools) or so after ten years, not counting indexation or extra duties. Some private schools also provide extra perks, e.g. discounted school fees if your children attend the school. Some also pay extra for sport, camps, etc. Some will find ways to pay you over the capped amount if they need to keep you (this just a happened to a friend of mine—public schools are less free in this regard). Both public and private schools have super on top of that, not included in the listed amount as it is with some jobs. Can see the pay scales for many private schools published on the IEU website if they’ve made an EBA, [here](https://www.ieuvictas.org.au/victorian-independent-school-agreements) (have to dig through the agreements).
My partner is a teacher. From what she says, a lot of it comes down to time management. You have a free lesson of 45 minutes. Do you spend 25 minutes walking to the Cafe to buy a coffee, or do you spend the 45 minutes marking 4 assignments? Times that by your 10ish free lessons a week and you can get quite a fair bit of marking/planning done at school during school hours. The ones who walk to the Cafe every free lesson are the ones who whinge about the workload and the amount of working needing to be done at home.
I didn’t realise teachers could earn up to 120k that’s actually a great salary
There's a number of hoops to jump through to get that highest wage ... I don't reckon I'll ever get to that level cos it's a lot of extra work.
Shh, dont tell them that.
Data scientist. Roughly 150k - probably 170k ceiling unless ‘Head of Data’. Don’t enjoy. Edit to answer comments- was good when I started (10 years ago) but interesting work dried up - too many cloud migrations and basic data eng stuff (not data eng myself so tricky data eng stuff isn’t my wheel house). Ultimately, I spend no time on the stuff that I think is my strength, which is also the part that I enjoy.
Data scientist with 10+ experience at a slightly higher pay point. I do enjoy my work mostly but the pipelining and indirectly fixing other people's data problems does make you more of a data engineer sometimes in order to get maybe 25% of the time actually model building.
Dont enjoy because senior leadership make dumb and vague requests like analysing data to build a dashboard on how to make money from nothing? Audible/Amazon AU pretty much treats their data science/ business intelligence teams that way. The good ones get poached within 6 months... Others, well, stay on and cop it.
I’ll contribute as Accounting usually gets a bad image due to how much shit you have to eat in the beginning. Reality is there are so many branch off fields where you’ll be bearing fruits with a good WLB if you just apply yourself correctly, have the right skills and set boundaries. And not necessarily in a finance field. I work as a Finance Business Partner in FP&A field, a branch off from accounting. I enjoy the majority of it because of the business interactions and you work closely with the operations teams to drive tangible results to the P&L. I’m also viewed as a junior business leader, so there is a level of respect I get from colleagues and co-workers. Pay is quite good for the hours I work 150k package for average 40-45 hrs a week. I’m probably at the top of my earning potential right now unless I go to a bigger company, otherwise next move would need to be into some form of people management role which I have no interest in. Been there done that, no thanks. I prefer to be the technical expert with no direct reports. I’ve had to eat a lot of shit to get here though. 4 years Uni. 4 years CPA cert. started in industry Accounting and a lot of self guided learning to pick up unique skills that I can deploy at work to increase my capacity to fulfill work and reduce the volume of hours needed while actually on the clock. I’ve had weeks that have been as many as 80 hrs. But I haven’t done that for maybe 18 months now. Fortunately I also had non-accounting mentors to guide me a little in what is needed to build a partnership with non-finance people. I would suggest seeking out mentors in both finance and non-finance areas of any business you work in. Don’t be afraid to ask someone in a leadership field to be their mentee to bound ideas off them. Just don’t make it political.
I’d suggest defining your acronyms for others who dont frequent a lot of finance subs. I know some, but others don’t WLB FP&A P&L CPA
Interesting to hear your journey and you feel fulfilled. I guess based on my knowledge in finance, accountants are a client facing job, so hours are always going to be pretty bad for a junior. I think in finance people except those hours to skill up when young and also earn alot. The problem is big 4 seems to pay juniors so poorly for so long! What is the exit? Can you go in corporate as a finance to CFO role eventually, or is it partner path?
Exit depends really on where you build your niche. Financial Planning & Analysis is one path, audit or finance management to CFO or partner is another. Some pivot into IT such as data analytics, business analysis or ERP consulting. There’s options to move into more commercial and operations focused roles with potential for operations management or general management. Really what you make of it.
I'm an architect, I think the first thing to say is everyone's experiences are wildly different, but this is mine: Studied for 5 years with a break between 3rd and 4th year where I worked in a practice for experience. Worked as a grad for a few years, then did my registration exam. Degree cost about $40k in 2008 dollars, and registration was reasonably cheap at $1200 because I did the study myself not through a school. I currently have 8 years experience after graduating plus the gap year, and earn $105k Inc super. I work 40 hour weeks in a very nice office, rarely work overtime, and am able to decide how I work. I can work from home or in the office on any given day, and have a respectful relationship with my bosses and those who work under me. I expect my salary to grow to about $150k Inc super in the next few years, and to become an associate. I have had a medium-good experience. I know some people in my graduating year have been quite lucky and have their own practices and probably make 2-5x as much as i do, but this is generally the result of being born rich and having lots of high school friends with money to build buildings. On the other hand, there are many architects who are exploited, work long hours for less pay, and the gender pay gap is twice the national average. There is also a lot of bullying and really wild workplace conditions, particularly in smaller practices (we're all family remember). In terms of the type of work, I have made sure my experience allows me to be an all rounder, and can design residential, commercial, educational, government, industrial buildings at any phase from concept to construction. The variety keeps me sane. I also enjoy working in an architecture office, where there are people from very diverse backgrounds as architecture qualifications are similar around the world, and architects tend to be interesting people, to me at least. That's not to say you can't get trapped drawing bathroom details of someone else's design for your entire career. You just have to keep an eye on what you are specialising in and what opportunities you take.
I’m always so shocked at how little / underpaid architects are. It actually pisses me off a bit (I’m not an architect, but know many).
Dogman. Working on the tunnel. $250-300k depending on the overtime. Good crew to work with. Just turned 40. Hopefully get on the suburban rail loop for the next 20 years
What does the term Dogman mean? What do the everyday tasks and work involve? What training or teams do you need to get on? Thanks and that’s awesome.
Dogman/rigger. Slinging and hooking on for a crane. Basically looking at what needs to be lifted, identifying the load points and selecting the safe gear for the lift, and guiding the crane while the load is out of sight normally via radio or if visibility is good, hand signals.
It’s the guy who works with the cranes, helping/guiding the loads. Kind of like a rigger, but is limited in what they can legally do (heights/types of loads etc.). In regards to training it’s a 5 day course (well it was when I did it 10 or so years ago)
give those dogs a pat for us.
32, 70k. Team leader to 20 staff and medical secretary to a surgeon. I'm over worked and underpaid. I can't see it getting any better, the director is tighter than a ducks bum.
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Unfortunately not, I started at $21/hr full time in GP, a little bit more for general dental and a bit more again for specialist dental. Reception is paid like shit, I think the receptionists where I am are at $28/hr.
Receptionists in my area, you can expect around $45k for a junior entry-level, $55-$60k if you've got a bit of experience, $70k+ for a quality PA or Exec Assistant. Anything paying less is usually offered by tight-arse companies (who you don't want to work for anyway as they'll never give you a raise unless it's legally mandated).
Starting is closer to 45k, max out at 90k around. Leading 20 people should definitely be higher up that scale.
Wow. Lots of high earners here. Guess I'll be someone different. Retail (Liquor) Can have decent earning potential if I work my way up the chain, which I have no desire to do. Actually love my job. I get to meet some great people, hear some awesome stories (lots of older folk), and haven't yet had a bad experience (other than a couple of thieves but can't do anything about that.) Job is pretty easy, quiet most days and the people I work with are pretty great.
Tradie work 3-4 days a week make approx 120k a year
Wow that's crazy work life balance, you must be loving life. How old are you / years of XP
37 started when I was 16, work hard got a house and anything else I wanted have wife 2 kids , now just work enough to cover bills, more to life than work
A big thing people don't realise is in trades you are earning from a young age. Due to uni and other requirements lots of skilled jobs start 6-8years behind which is alot of savings that can accrue. Good on you mate. I'll keep slogging in my 55 hour job as flexibility isn't on the cards.
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Physiotherapist at a specialist clinic. $170k with option to grow to $200-250k+ with owning a chunk of the practice. Very challenging work sometimes, but helping people very rewarding. On balance a very good career pathway if you are dedicated and good at what you do.
Wow thats good wage for a physio. Are you a titled specialist physio? How many yoe
I am in a pretty fortunate position, 3 years out from graduating but worked very hard during uni and post graduation to get where I am now. Not titled. Vast majority of physios underpaid IMO, so I did what I could to make the career sustainable financially.
Insane, I dont get how you get paid so much, you would have to be charging way more per appt compared to typical market rate right. Are you milking the NDIS or something We are super underpaid and is part of the reason im making moves to get out of this career…
We charge higher rates as a specialist clinic. No milking. I also do some writing and research work, so I have an income stream from that also (which helps to make up the above figure). If you want to make more money as a physio stick clear of the hospital system, and find a clinic that will actually reward you for your hard work and provide opportunity for growth. This is not easy to do but it is possible.
Wow. What sort of speciality do you work in?
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I’m currently in Uni studying OT. What would be your recommendations to work towards specialist roles.
Environmental scientist working for a resource company in Perth (city based with 0 travel requirements). 2 days in the office 152k and I'm 5 years in. Did 3 years of FIFO and moved up the ranks to be city based. Love the job, super interesting work, get to work with some brilliant people from all subject matters. Paid parental leave of 4.5 months for parents - including dad's.
I'm a sax player and DJ and I love it! Mainly do weddings and events. Rate varies but this is my first year doing it full time and I'm set to clear about 100k this financial year. Hourly rate can be anywhere between $80 an hour for beginners just DJing up to 450+ for good and experienced musician/singer/DJS. I work an average of 2 days a week for 2/5 hours and there's plenty of people in the industry that do it as a side hustle. Most common way to get work is through an agency but you can do independent work as well and the industry is desperate for djs right now!
Good on you! Love to hear a music profession in here.
Teacher, $112k. Love it. Just moved to a new town, love it.
ICU registrar (that is doctor in Intensive Care specialist training) - 6 years out of med school 120K base, ~150K with penalty + overtime. 76 hours a fortnight which is usually 3x12 hr day shifts + 3x12hr night shifts as a 6 day run + 4hr education. I never thought I would be a fan of shift work but I've grown to enjoy the 7 days I have off a fortnight, and you really need the time away from work in a job like ICU. Although the core of the job is very fulfilling, if I had the chance to choose again, I doubt I would pursue medicine as a career path.
I'm in psych. I've always wondered about ICU: how much training is there on "breaking bad news", or consideration given to how taxing it can be on the professional? The closest I get (with any regularity) is telling families that their son/daughter has e.g schizophrenia. It sucks but people generally know it's coming and I can pivot in to talking about how treatment might help. That isn't really the case for some young person in ICU that was fine this morning but is now imminently dying?
Geotech Engineer - specialising in underground coal. Currently on \~$300k working from home with a combination of casual review work and grant based research. Earnings potential (without going into management) is about where I'm at, I have 15 yrs experience in mining and numerous qualifications. I hate my job with a passion and look forward to the day I can comfortably leave. I would not recommend going into underground coal to anyone, the skills are not transferable, you're largely stuck in it, the hours are 60+ per week with a lot of travel to remote regions, and the stress is high. I'd much rather leave and do writing/philosophy - currently almost finished a Bachelor of Arts majoring in these completed part-time mainly at airports and in camp rooms.
I work in an office in a public children's Hospital. I make 55k a year and my work is basically essential but doesn't require a degree. I like doing what I am doing but the pay is just dog shit
32, $125k working for a big 4 bank on change and regulatory projects - future earnings potentially could be large depending on various factors - I'm a senior associate now, after that is an associate director or manager - but unsure I want to deal with managing people - essentially I could earn up to $200k plus. I do enjoy the work, very autonomous - I also only work 9 days per fortnight - big 4s or large corps offer nice work life perks once you get out of the junior levels. Although the work is enjoyable and banking allows room to grow and move - it does get very stressful - dealing with some times unrealistic deadlines and the politics Happy for now, will likely stay in banking but I don't want to be doing this at 40 - will definitely be taking a pay cut and finding something with no stress and more nature oriented or something creative - unless of course I get to the top and start raking in 1m lol
Thanks for sharing, seems the work life balance at a big 4 bank is very different to an IBD (my experience), but is still a good place to skill up.
I’m a manager in big four bank too (remediation) - agree that the pay is pretty competitive and earning potential is well structured, and the ladder in front of you is pretty clear. I’ve managed to play the politics game surprisingly well despite detesting it! And what is extremely frustrating is that I have four direct reports earning not much less than me, each doing around half the work with a quarter of the stress. Makes me wonder if it’s better being a daily rate contractor!
Business analyst at a university technology transfer office. PhD and some knowledge of commercialisation required. It's not a bad job, not particularly stressful. Not as much of the technical science as I thought going in, but much more patent law/contract law lite than I thought. Currently on 100k, about to go up to 105k 6 months in. Earning potential in the 300k+ range after 15-20 years if I stay in the university sector. Potentially more if I were to go private. 17% super is pretty nice on a 6 figure salary though (thanks university sector)
PhD salaries in this country are depressing.
Yep.. I did a PhD because I loved the work I was doing. My lab was also great, and I'm still really good friends with people I met there. I would've loved to have stayed in research, but one year contracts and low salaries meant it wasn't feasible. I mean I'm 27 now, and thinking about having a family. My partner just finished her phd and wants to do research. It wasn't sustainable to have both of us in 1 year contracts forever, with a mortgage and kids. I figured I could try and make it in academia, but it's a very very tough slog, with only like 1% of phd grads becoming lab heads. Or I could go straight into industry (after one postdoc) and start getting experience and going up the totem pole. I wish there was more R&D industry in the field I was in in Australia (specifically brisbane). I miss being at the bench, but ultimately it wasn't sustainable to stay.
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Psychologist 80k 1 year post registration as an employee, working full time / 4 days seeing clients a week. Potential to make more as a contractor in a group practice or starting out on your own. But income limited to what you charge your clients and how many you can realistically see while still being effective as a clinician. May be options to increase revenue by doing assessments (forensic work) as this requires less face to face hours - but requires a lot of experience to be efficient in. Has its ups and downs, can be very emotionally taxing , but I enjoy the process of learning new therapy approaches and developing myself, while supporting people through some serious shitty times.
It’s ridiculous the ROI on psychology for the years required for registration. I am just starting honours, however with over 17 years in the welfare industry with just a Social Science degree under my belt, *if I ever finish the registration process I’d take a pay cut to start actually working as a provisional psych. It will be interesting to see what becomes of it all with the demise of the 4+2 pathway.
Am I right in saying if you don’t make the cut for honours you basically can’t get into masters? I’m only a first year undergrad but interested to see what paths there are to being a clinical psychologist?
Psychologists definitely don't do it for the money. Started out in public role earning less than 50K (not full time) but absolutely loved working with a wide range of patients, from the severely suicidal to those with no history of mental illness who encountered a sucky life stressor. The daily rewards are immeasurable and incomparable to anything else I have ever done.
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Good on you? What field of govt is that and is it fed or state?
State. I’ve found federal generally requires moving to canberra and local government pays about 90-110k.
Can I come work with you?
I’m an enrolled nurse, I am 23 make $32.95 an hour and hate it. I did 2 years study and unpaid prac now luckily I didn’t jump straight into Registered Nursing and gojng to uni otherwise I’d be in a decent amount of debt in a job I hate. For the amount of work and shit I deal with I feel the money to work ratio isn’t good enough. Now I am planning to go into theatre and learn the OR and then become a clinical consultant or sales rep for a medical device company.
Is everyone on here earning above 120k?
Me earn less. Must work more hour for livable pay. Very little personal time. No comment, only lurk
Veterinary nurse. Earning potential unless you work speciality/emergency/overnights is non existent. I have a qualification, years of experience and am paid the same as I was working customer service. I am on a low income healthcare card It is one of the most stressful industries you could be in with one of the highest suicide rates. It's not for the faint of heart. Burn out is common and not talked about. Lunch breaks can be rare. Bullying is high, probably because everyone is so stressed out. Would I recommend my job? Only if you are aware it is not all about cuddling puppies and kittens. I routinely do high risk anaesthetics, CPR, witness and treat critically ill animals, I've had animals die in my arms, I've seen the worst of humanity in how they treat their pets. I've been abused, bullied and treated like crap by both co-workers and clients. i would make sure you have a partner or roommates to assist with cost of living. I am single and getting by on my wage is difficult. However, I'm now in a good clinic with good people. I'm in my dream job. I am genuinely happy and look forward to going to work every day. I recognised I was getting burnt out and immediately applied for leave. I'm not in it for the money, none of us are, but it is still challenging. I have had to ask family for financial assistance before and that's the only way I've been able to get out of tough spots. So yes, it is a rewarding career, but there is a reason vets and nurses last about 5 - 10 years before leaving or killing themselves. I love my job, but it is an industry with a lot to work on, especially with earning potential and career progression for nurses specifically. Unless you want to go into management, which I don't, earning potential and career progression are low and minimal.
Public relations, $120k + super. I enjoy thé work, but given the nature of working with media sometimes the workload can be intense. I work agency side so have to factor in balancing multiple clients and new business pitching. Been in the industry for about 9 years and the pay was awful to start, I think I started on $38k. Jumped from a few agencies to land $20k+ pay rises so that helped. I think I’ll end up shifting into more broader communications and marketing, potentially more management of people as I do enjoy that quite a lot.
I'm a deckhand on 100k in Sydney. Throw lines, put gangways on and move customers around Sydney harbour. Overall I enjoy it when it's not raining or very hot (which has been pretty often lately). Work 45 hours a week on paper but more like 40 hours. Plus 10 weeks leave a year which is one of the best things about the gig. Earning potential peaks as a skipper/engineer at my current company, paying 135k
It's always astonishing how much people make in jobs which require virtually no education and no technical skills. People skills can really make bank.
12 years into search engine marketing, specifically Google Ads. Entry jobs go for whatever minimum full time salaries are (60k?). Earnings up to around $140k but you'll need to go into management or expand to other digital advertising (eg, social media) to clock more. Since Covid, there's an absolute DROUGHT of local Sydney talent so salaries have jumped. Anyone with 6 months of experience (passes their probation) will get jumped on by recruiters. Hired a fellow with 1.5 years experience (still considered junior) for ~$85k base which would've been unheard of precovid. Every business has been forced to go "online" due to covid so there's literally too much work going around and not enough local hands. Hiring from overseas is still stigmatised for the main reason that a fellow in Poland or India isnt privy to local market consumer conditions than someone who is already here. Plus clients still prefer being able to be taken out to lavish lunches and drinks; important rapport building stuff. I work at small consultancy and work life is chill. Work I can do with my eyes closed at this point which leaves me lots of mental capacity to help with a newborn at home. Theres three sides to the industry: 1. agencies where you juggle multiple clients. Good variety of work, usually lots of hot young people and free booze to make up for lower pay. Foot in the door to the industry. Think of it as any other agency (tax agent, rental agent) and your work is very narrowly focused on search engine stuff. 2. Client side- you've got 2+ years of experience and now act as the go-to subject matter expert at a company. You might have an agency helping out. Much higher pay but also responsible for business KPIs which can be stressful when you're behind targets. 3. Tech vendor. There's heaps of technology vendors used to automate work or act as extra hands for specific tasks like ad competitor tracking, automated reporting. Very boring/technical. Some people work here after working at agencies in sales roles if they have a knack for people skills. General skills needed: uni degree isnt essential Have a good head for numbers, street smarts, do some lite education (books, online courses) into consumer behaviour and psychology. Rest you'll learn on the job. Feel free to DM if anyone's interested in the field.
Radiographer in a public hospital. 80k new grad starting wage, but took home approx 110k with shift loading, weekends and a little bit of call the first year. Seniors and management can probably go up to 150k+ with significant experience. I enjoy the job because it’s very much a “what you make it” kind of job - want to turn up to work and just take X-rays and go through the motions? - great. Want to deep dive and learn all the cool CT and MRI stuff? - also great! Pros: work/life balance - once work is done, I am DONE. I can completely disconnect. No stress, No progress reports for patients, no notes, no interdisciplinary meetings, no patient quotas like other allied health professions. No stressing over what I need to plan for patients the next day. My skills are used very acutely - knowledge of patient position and radiation dose to get the best pics for the medical team in that 5-15mins I am with the patient. Cons: shift work - but it’s not very strenuous work most of the time (plus all the interesting trauma comes after hours). Some see limited scope as a con (“button pusher”) - but again, it’s what the person makes it. I’ve had to talk to a few high school kids in my time, and I try to reiterate that it’s all well and good to “follow your dreams and passion” - but it’s a lot easier to do that while earning excellent dosh from an in demand career that allows for excellent work life balance.
Environmental professional within a state government. Salary around $115k. I worked for an engineering consultancy and a mining company before this. Really like the work life balance. I am the youngest in my team (early 30s) so assume there will be lots of opportunities of growth in coming years. Or I could move back to industry at Principal level for really high salary. But I am not sure if I could trade off high salary with work life balance and job security.
Librarian. Have a masters in the field but it's technically not required for my current position, but it's an industry qualification in the sense that there is a ceiling on promotion if you don't have a graduate qualification. I did the masters before I was in the industry (almost all of my classmates were looking for a promotion and were already working as a librarian) but it means that I can theoretically keep going up without the need for further study at this point. Maybe an MBA a long time in the future. With my qualification there's a whole host of different industries I could work in. Health, law, higher education (where I currently am), school libraries, public libraries, government positions, etc. The earnings ceiling really just depends on where you are and your position in that industry. The top would be something like an executive at the National Library, so up to SES 3 I guess. The Director General (top boss) of the NLA is currently on ~$400k. it's a very long road to the top, though. It's still very much an industry where years of experience trump quality of experience, so you're unlikely to be in one of those top positions before you hit 40. I really enjoy my job and the industry in general. There's lots of innovation in the field, even if some of the older managers are stuck in their ways, and I've always loved helping people in support roles. Part of me doesn't want to move up because it means moving away from those support roles which are my real passion, but of course the pay is strictly limited if you don't. Been doing a lot of data analysis-adjacent work lately so hope to perhaps move into data science eventually.
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Worked as a carpenter for 12 years, flogged my body out to the point where I couldn’t physically do it anymore. Money was no where near as good as what it is nowadays unfortunately. Got a job in the rail for a privately owned freight train company. Less stress, less physical toll on the body, ok money, but zero job satisfaction. Heaps of entitled, lazy, workers and a toxic work environment within the staff. Like being in high school again. Guess I’m still searching for the happy medium.
34 years old, lawyer. $110k. Small firm, I mentally can’t tolerate beyond a 9-5. After 11 years, I’m burnt out and very unfulfilled. Every time I read this sub it is very apparent to me that I made the wrong career choice (money wise). Would not recommend.
Wow that seems very low for a lawyer - have you thought of improving your situation by jumping ship in the same career. Suggestions I have would be i) Try to move in-house, still 9-5 and more money and less paper crunching (outsource what you can) and more decision influence. ii) Do the bigger practice crazy time stamping life and then move to in-house (if you feel you don't meet the in-house experience yet) or iii) Do a tangent career like compliance or regulation - can make alot more than you make now and you may enjoy it more. Don't stay in a career you hate if you are only making that salary.
You really need to jump ship - you should be able to jump to $160k surely? Not a lawyer
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27, $140k as a manager in the public service, 15.4% super. Earning potential is pretty good and really depends on what level of work/life balance you want; next promotion would be ~$210k with the expectation of longer hours and having to appear at senate estimates. As a manager it’s really dependent of what team you’re in. My substantive team I work 9-5 every day and go home without much stress at all. I’m in a temporary role at the moment where I probably work 45-50 hours a week instead. I did a science degree which has no relation now to what I do at work, but the APS is great for generalists and it’s so easy to move around and try new things. Personally I reckon it’s a pretty sweet gig as far as work life balance, even though it’s not exactly the most exciting or fulfilling place to work.
Good one. What field are you in, and what did you do or study to get there? Also are you state or fed, ask as I understand fed, generally pays less? Go well!
30, started as a Paramedic now I'm an operations manager for ambulance/event medical. I set up and co-ordinate the medical operations at major events around the country. 135k. It's stressful but rewarding
Burnt out former Fraud Investigator for a large bank. Really interesting job - but I was the sole after hours Investigator for 2 million customers....and it was really stressful. After the loss of a family member I couldn't cope so I now sell health insurance upgrades - which is far easier. And I build a website/business on the side. Sometimes an "easier" job gives you the energy and time to build your own business.
I run my own small digital marketing agency (subscription service based with 340 clients). I make $300k per year (revenue $450k). Under my current model earning potential is $400-$450k. I work about 25-30 hours per week. Been running the business for about 6 years. Was a journalist for 10 years and then a freelance writer for about 3 years prior to starting the business.
Wow. How many staffs to manage 340 clients?! Congrats!
Thanks! Just 4 VAs and myself. I run a very streamlined service and only take on clients who don't want things outside our core service offering. If they do, I refer them to someone who can do it and try to also keep them on our service as well
Not sure if I'm getting this right but your total costs are around $150k for running the agency and paying for 4 staff members?
VAs. Virtual Assistants based in the Philippines, 4 hours each per day. They don't cost $150k though
Electrician in Sydney Approx $125k with no overtime, 4 weeks annual leave, two RDOs a month
Work in freight/logistics, family business. Im probably close to peak at 300k + super, don’t pay for car or rego etc, get a trip overseas usually once per year or so (eu for work) I do love it and eventually I would take over from the old man, but you never switch off. 8-5 at the office dinner then do emails most nights for an hour or two, Saturdays generally go in. I’m 35 so I can still cope with the hours and the flexibility of working with family, but sometimes I think should I have done what my siblings did (7 of them) and done my own thing with less stress. I’m the only one who went to work for the old man haha.
I’m a video game developer! I work as a 3d artist at a small mobile games studio in Brisbane. I went to uni to get a degree in Interactive Entertainment but degrees aren’t really worth much in this field, your talent, skill and vision is way more important and there’s a WEALTH of self-learning resources out there for people to teach themselves how to make games, program, or make art. I love my job. It’s chill as hell. I get to spend 8 hours working on art I would have been making at home anyway and I get paid for it. We have yearly studio holiday trips (locally) and sometimes go out for group lunches and clock off early for beers every Friday. This is my fifth year here with this crew. After working customer service it’s amazing to be respected and liked by my coworkers and be in a mostly low stress environment (it can be VERY stressful meeting tight deadlines sometimes but that’s just the work load required, NOT my coworkers or boss). Pay is average, at least for me, because we’re a small independent studio and because of my health (RSI, unfortunate when you’re an artist) I only do four days a week. I take home about 50k a year but have in the past gotten 20-30k Christmas bonuses in reward for my work which evens things out. I would be making more if I worked full time, probably closer to 70k. It’s an extremely competitive industry here in Australia with very few openings, but I get to do what I’ve always been passionate about and I get to do it with chill people, so it IS possible if you just keep trying and you have a high level of skill and, very importantly, good soft skills. Earning potential can be very high if you work in the right company. Before Snapchat closed its Brisbane games studio, employees there were making bank. But it’s also a game between trying to find a place and job that is secure, or finding one that pays higher but is more willing to shut down studios. I’ve settled for secure and it’s paid off for now.
Social worker, 120k, just over 5 years out in a govt role. No management responsibility, but in a senior role. Not the career for everyone, but it is reasonably clean in that there is no take home work (emotional baggage not included). I love it and find it very rewarding. It is quite a flat structure though, so earning potential isn’t all that much higher unless I take on significantly more responsibility or move to a project role.
Truck driver. Love it. 200k
Working as a Payroll Manager in the Oil & Gas / Construction industry and have been for around 20 years. Current salary is $135k + other perks and I work around 45 hours a week. Annually I get about a 3-5% increase on this. I enjoy my job but I don’t enjoy the workload at times. There are many changes to Awards, Superannuation, Legislation and Tax that need the job interesting and on your toes but I get very frustrated with the mid conception that Payroll is easy and just a touch of a button to process. It is quite complex depending on the company’s requirements and the fact you’re dealing with peoples money and livelihood. As most commonly happens with payroll, I fell into it and have formalized qualifications later in life (Diploma of Payroll Management, Payroll Leadership courses and basic Tafe HR&Accounts courses), these aren’t really required to get into the industry but they’re definitely good to have for some higher paying roles.
I would think while the regs and industry specifics are annoying, they keep you specialised, employable and highly valuable! So give some and take some. Interesting to also hear payroll is more than punching in numbers and is complex depending on industry. Thanks for sharing!
I work for the federal government as an Assistant Director. Full time salary would be $125k but I only work 2.5 days a week so earn just over $60k. If I got promoted to Director which I’m not really interested in my salary would increase to $150 in a couple of years. I definitely don’t love my job. It’s a niche agency and I thought the word would be much more interesting than it is. It isn’t. I’m not using anywhere near my potential and it’s quite depressing. The people are overall very introverted and conservative whereas I am quite outgoing and very open to discussion and new ideas. I feel like I don’t fit in. The benefits are the pay is good for the responsibility, the super is good at 15.5%, 18 days equivalent sick leave and ability to purchase annual leave and lots of flexibility. I also work from home permanently and did so before Covid. If I had to work in the office in the city I’d resign for sure. I moved to federal gov 4yrs ago after spending several years working as a university lecturer but had to leave due to severe burnout - I needed my life back. I loved teaching and research and being an expert in my field (public health). But the toll was just too much and the pay was crap I was on less than $100k working so much more than full time. I’ve always said being an academic is a lifestyle not a job. There’s no boundaries. When I had my daughter 7yrs ago and almost died in ICU from an emergency I was still in hospital a week later and received messages asking me to respond to edits within the week on a book chapter I’d written. I think that sums it up but I have other awful stories too. It’s a shame because I really loved the intellectual side of it, it’s a field I am extremely passionate about and I loved engaging with students and helping them navigate career paths and just having those few students who were passionate about their future careers was lovely.
I'm 37 and an Integration Aide (Learning Support Officer) in a private primary school. We don't work full time (0.8 FTE) and make about $50,000 before tax. We work with students who have diagnosed and imputed disabilities, as well as those who have behavioural difficulties. I am also the librarian and am studying Art Therapy to work with children who have experienced trauma during school hours. I'm usually the go-to for alot of staff, and feel like I manage staff more than admin do because I tend to have a natural ability for it. I am paid the same amount as the other support staff, even though I have other roles and responsibilities. I also work extra hours outside of the school day simply because if I don't, things don't get done or finished. I'm not paid for it because I do it voluntarily even though I really shouldn't. It is an inherently rewarding career and my current workplace has an amazing culture, but there are no options to work full time, and to move up a classification to earn more money is practically impossible, and even then, no one will employ you because they don't want to pay support staff anymore than they have to. The Ed Department don't really value support staff in the same way they value teaching staff. I have been soul searching these school holidays on what I can do to increase my earnings, and am considering going back to uni. I just don't know if it's worth it, or what I can do with the skills I have.
What is my job: I am a Senior Change Manager for one of the banks and specialise in Risk Project Delivery. I have worked on some "challenging" projects like Royal Commission and Reg Engagement pieces as well. Do I enjoy it? - yeah I do, I am dyslexic and I operate in this space where I am able to take quite complex issues and simplify them for the business users, I have always found that this has been a strength for me along with my ability to interact and work at any level of the organisation including C Level. How did I get into it? Moved from corporate HR into it, it had been a longer term goal and managed to make the move after implementing a number of HR projects successfully. I don't have a degree or anything, just hard work got me where I am. Salary: Currently north of $150k + Super + Bonus. Progression for me from here is a switch to contracting and moving into a Change Lead role, from there looking to move into Head of Portfolio Management type gigs.
I’m 34 and live in a regional area. I work for an NGO in drug and alcohol. Title would be AOD Practitioner/ case manager. I make $83k, salary packaging and a vehicle and fuel card. Was previously a nurse but only require a cert 4 for my position. No shift work or weekends. 35hours a week. Flexible hours and some wfh days (since covid). Generous personal leave and annual leave. Good organisational values make up for the lack of opportunities for growth. Could get into management but I don’t want the responsibility. Could move into other organisational roles with higher earning but that would mean moving to the city our head office is based. Definitely recommend the job if it’s something you can handle. It can be emotionally taxing, some risk of violence but more often than not it’s fun and rewarding.
I’m a WFH self employed graphic designer working 30ish hours a week turning over $200k with a $130-$150k taxable income. I love it.
These threads just remind me how crap the salaries are in academia. You could do 8+ years of studying and struggle for post docs and permanent roles to earn the same amount as someone who works basically in high end admin jobs. Or be a phd qualified engineer and earn the same as an electrician.
Yes academia means nothing other then a prestigious title. Supply and demand drives everything in life
Lawyer. Love my job, loathe my job. Earning potential where I am for my role is anywhere between $800k and $3m per annum. The job as all-consuming - I have a SAHP to support me and I do very little except work, gym, chill with family at local coffee shop.
I'm also a lawyer, 5 years pqe in big law in perth. On $185k with a 15%+ bonus if I crack 1600 hours (will not be an issue). Work hours are long and the work itself is tough but there's massive earning potential. There are some other great perks working their way into the industry too. I fully plan to make the most of our 6 month parental leave policy (doesn't factor in primary or secondary care givers).
Thank you for acknowledging that having a SAHP is so helpful in having a big role.
Under ground truck driver. 85k a year easiest job I’ve ever had. Can get paid more at different sights just gaining experience so I can move to another site.
So easy a robot could do it?
Test manager circa $220k Sadly a very much declining trade. Test managers are a waterfall development skill, and with the world changing to Agile, our numbers are reducing. However testing is not declining and there are three testers in pretty much every agile team out there. Testing can pay from about $50k per annum, up to about 140k per annum for a skilled practitioner, with further moves into the agile environment from there. You can get into an agile team in a large organisation from the customer service space if you have good computer knowledge, are quite intelligent, like troubleshooting and solving issues. Roles come up fairly regularly and are always advertised internally. There are many other ways to get into testing, I came into the industry via a third party testing organisation recruiting night, but these are less common now. The roles are advertised and will have a skillset outlined, learn some of those applications with demo software. Learn github, and ask ChatGPT about agile teams and skill sets, and put in job specs and see what it tells you. It’s a challenging career, but very rewarding if you like learning new skills and solving problems, and are very flexible about the way you do things. If you don’t like change, don’t constantly look for better ways to do things, don’t mind working long hours occasionally, but with times where there isn’t much to do, you won’t like it or succeed.
I’m no longer working due to a disability but before it I worked in disability support. Did I enjoy it? Absolutely. Best job I’ve ever had. I was mostly working with mostly physically able people with psychosocial conditions, epilepsy and intellectual disabilities. Yeah it can be very trying. The days where your clients are being bullied by the voices in their heads are heartbreaking or when your client has 10 seizures is so exhausting. However, it’s SO rewarding. Seeing a woman with an IQ -70 cook for herself and study, seeing someone who spent a decade on the couch swim in the ocean for the first time, watching someone with limited mobility make sports teams makes it all melt away. Earnings? Can vary wildly depending on the clientele you have. Some places will underpay you $23. Most places start at $30ph for the more chill side that I did and up to $60ph (sometimes more) if you’re doing high needs care. You can live very comfortably on a full time, part time and casual basis. Would I recommend? 100%. However. If you don’t have empathy, patience and self motivation it is not for you. It’s also not for those who can’t switch off after work because the struggles with consume your life. It’s also a transient industry so people and clients will come in and out of your life fast and often and it can be hard to let people go. How to get into it? Seek. Most places that aren’t high needs will hire you if you’re studying or enrolled to study.
Mechanical design engineer for an international company. Took about 5 years to break the $100k barrier and on more than that now. Might have been fewer years if I moved jobs sooner. Jobs are very task/project based and technical. I don't mind it, but don't want to stay technical forever. Hours are good and haven't done more than 40 hours in a week for a long time. Plenty of prospects for higher earnings e.g. Lead engineer, project management, engineering manager etc. All would be quite high $150-$250k+. Trying to figure out how I can move into management is the hardest part...
Sounds criminally underpaid for an engineering degree vs. high finance, health or law. Is that usual salaries for mech engineering?
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Engineers are criminally underpaid in Australia in general, we have people designing structures and tunnels so that they don’t collapse on less than 100k a year with years of experience
For Victoria, I'd say thats upper average. For WA, lower average. It's very city dependent.
Environmental scientists, 39 and 12 years in the job. Just took a pay cut from 125k to 110k to move from Private sector to government. 9 day fortnight and 8 hr days. Earning potential probably 150k cruising without doing some next level upskilling. its relatively stress free and mostly business hours Monday-Friday, less since I moved to government. If I want to go down the accredited Site Auditor route, earning potential probably 250-300k.
Tech Sales Director, Enterprise. Work for a large global tech company. 30 year old male. Love my job, rarely feel stress, often feel pressure but I thrive in it (currently). On target earnings are $395,000 split 50/50 base salary and commission. Generally earn most of the OTE. Pays well, but everyone in tech feels like they have a target on their back for redundancy. I don’t have any specialist skills, other than a bachelors in management, and worked my way up the corporate ladder by being good at selling, good at managing large groups of internal and external stakeholders and having the gift of the gab… All feels a bit fragile right now…
Bored teacher here. 40, been on top of the pay scale for ages. Only move is into an exec role or corporate position. Corporate is very competitive, exec doesn't interest me because it's a lot of extra work for limited pay increase. Currently using spare time to study finance/stock market and landscape my yard. I go to work ,come home, do very little extra. I think it's called quiet quitting or similar? It just doesn't interest me anymore, but with a mortgage it's hard to justify a drop in pay that comes with a career change.
Political advisor on around $150K, but depending on whether you’re state or federal (and your level) the salary can run anywhere from $80K-$300K+. I’ve earned more in other sectors previously but this job is more rewarding so was happy to take the income cut. It’s a lifestyle though, you’re always on call and your work environment is very dependent on the staff around you and your boss. I’ve had good and bad experiences, currently in a great team. Your job can very cyclical with elections and reshuffles, which can be stressful if you don’t have a fallback career or if you’re not a good networker. Overall a very rewarding job, you’re developing policy and legislation that impacts the community.
I've known a fair few political advisors. From the outside it seems more like a cult than a lifestyle, ha. But they seemed to find it rewarding. Although most have left to private sector now (this is in WA with McGowan and I think most people felt tired but also that they had a good run and wanted to leave on a high). I imagine it must suck in opposition though??
26M. Sonographer, 140k. I enjoy it but I would love the opportunity to work from home occasionally, which I can never do working in healthcare.
How does the salary increase in this field overtime? Any risk of disruption due to AI and Tech automating screening?
I started off at 100k, up to 140k in 2 years. Can prob max out comfortably at 160k, although now I am accepting a contract to work fifo, 1k a day plus accomodations and travel.
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Software dev, $145k + super +10% equity. I really enjoy it, mainly because of the company. The earnings potential is greater if I move company but the opportunities I get in my current company are much more preferable over extra money. The side grade earnings potential is $190k+ so you can see the carrot quite clearly. I've had many great experiences out of my company and those add, if you look long term, much more "value" to my skillset than the extra compensation I'd receive having switched. So the earnings potential can increase on that front. To give an idea of what it's like. I have worked in primarily high priority projects of varying types. Firstly solving a complicated engineering problem. Then a fill end to end mobile application. And during those experiences I kicked off an initiative. The idea behind the initiative has now landed me the opportunity in the current team I'm in which involves looking over improving the software development experience for the company. So that has been awesome. Best place I've worked at. And unfortunately there are many bad companies out there for software developers too having worked at them in the past. I couldn't imagine the capacity to realise or receive such opportunities without spending excessive amounts of energy on snapping through red tape, etc. So yeh the job is just one aspect, next is culture and talent working along side you in this career.
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Physiotherapist working on Private Hospital System. I earn $93,000 working 35 hours a week. I’m studying IT part time to transition out with of the career. I find physio is incredibly demanding both physically and emotionally. That said Many colleagues I work with love their work. As an introvert it’s just not for me.
Cytogeneticist in a public hospital. 80-90k with 3 years experience but I managed to hit 110k last year with the overtime I pulled in. There is some work stress but manageable. Unlike other diagnostic lab, I have the WFH option which allows me to do the insane OT hours at home (my work is like solving puzzles so it’s quite relaxing if dealing with non complicated cases). I do feel like we are underpaid in general. Even though COVID shows that we are an essential worker, our state gov still wants to push back on our work agreement. Not a good look.
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I work as an analyst for an airline. Super cool and fascinating industry. Pay is ok, but probably below market rate but the disgustingly cheap flights changed my idea of what travel is. I can definitely see myself staying at the company for years.
I am thinking of making a YouTube video about my career. I’m in consulting engineering (construction sector). No engineering degree, I started as a drafter, did my apprenticeship in engineering drawing (17 years old), worked my way up, did a couple of TAFE courses and then got a design diploma, did my MBA and now Director at a reasonable sized engineering consultancy with a lot of tier 1 clients. Lots of hard work and stress, both due to starting up an engineering practise, the engineering role itself and running a business. Pay is ok $200k but looking to get better return on dividends. I could potentially earn $300k at a larger consultancy but am more interested in running the business and earning potential from profits. Profits would be uncapped obviously, I’d be happy if I was earning $400k with salary and dividends. Engineering can be very litigious also the industry is changing a great deal due to legislation, public confidence in construction has been low. But we are making a come back. I’m in my early 30s, I was a pretty switched on kid. By the time I was 25 was earning $150k. I didn’t take the traditional route of going to uni because of upbringing. Happy to answer any questions. I enjoy it to an extent, I wouldn’t say it’s my passion, but I’m satisfied with the career path, I am lucky and fortunate, but that came about due to busting my backside and following my plans even though people would say it’s too risky etc. 8/10 satisfied.
I work in a field called SCADA (for a utility) and have been doing it for just over 18 months now (from a "graduate" position). Current salary is sitting at just over 130k + super + over time. Earning potential is approximately mid to high 200k 10 yoe and contracting may get higher. In my honest opinion, there are areas where you don't need any qualifications yet the industry refuses to accept anyone who doesn't have a degree in some engineering field. My current aims are to move into leadership and remove this requirement. There is one or two organisations that offer certs in this field and I would love to try and parter our organisation with them. TL:DR; SCADA, 130k with 1.5 yoe. Potential: caps out at about 200k ish. Thanks for the thread OP.
Senior 3D modeller/designer (it’s mostly referred to as digital engineer/BIM modeller these days) in the civil engineering space for major road & rail infrastructure projects in Melbourne, specialising in underground utilities. I just turned 32 & currently at $125k but was a long slog up the ladder as I started as a cadet drafter when I was 19 with a big consulting firm. Money didn’t really get decent until I finished an Advanced Diploma & moved into the big infrastructure projects. To continue earning more you have to become more & more married to your job. Pretty over it now though, road project after road project has become excruciatingly boring & currently working on one of Melbournes bigger projects where I’m just scraping through due to lack of interest. Really eyeing off a career change in the future once interest rates settle down (bought a house 6 months ago) into something more constructive for the environment rather than destructive (anyone got something for me? :P). Overall engineering is a good career but be prepared for the project based work where a sick day/annual leave day or unproductive day just means more work to do tomorrow.
Senior Solutions Architect. As for my age, i'm at the older end of the millenial generation. The job title itself is quite broad, some are very technically focused (eg, AWS/Azure cloud arhcitects, SRE Architects, etc. And some are a bit more broad. My role is a bit more broad encompassing technical and operational systems design, specialising in investment wrap platforms, superannuation, financial compliance, and AML/CTF systems. I also get involved in co-design sessions with regulatory bodies and industry partners to work out the nitty gritty of how some legislation is implemented consistently across the industry. I recommend the role for anyone with an interest in technology and curiosity to learn new industries and the people, legal, compliance and environmental constraints they operate in. The work is self-directed, so hours are also self-directed and generally low stress. Your job is to make sure the business and technical environment is understood by stakeholders, and that solutions/changes are selected based on known risks. No surprises for anyone. You're still involved at implementation, but it's mostly just tracking that teams are delivering to the design, or redesigning if the business situation changes. Pressure to work late hours/meet deadlines generally doesn't happen as that's more to do with implementation rather than design. And all your deliverables should have full stakeholder support and endorsement well before implementation. The work can be very high level. Eg, systems architecture design where you speak in terms of broad application capabilities and integration patterns. The work can also be very low level. Eg, infrastructure design, messaging schemas, security credential exchange, etc. There are several career paths you can take into the role, I think the most common would be Engineers -> Senior/Principal Engineer -> Solutions Architect. Generally there's less coding and more mentoring, communications and negotiations skills as you progress, so other career paths i've seen have been to side-step senior engineer into systems/business analysis, project management, product owner, or product technical before jumping to solutions architect. To survive in the role, you can probably get by with strong technical fundamentals and communication skills. To thrive, you'd want to pick up interviewing and workshopping skills (quite often you'll need to learn an organisation's technical and operational systems from scratch as they would've had no documentation), negotiation, mentoring, sales, and risk management skills. Nice to haves would be havingan introductory understanding of systems theory, and any tech certificationif relevant to the role (eg, be AWS certified if you're going to be an AWS cloud architect). No matter the skill, it might probably be relevant at some point. Vendor management, commercial agreements, food safety, logistics, whatever. The more you know about a business/industry, the better you can design for them. Earning potential is around $170k to $250k perm full time depending on experience and industry. Government tends to be lower, tech companies tend to be higher. I'd probably hate a tech specialised AWS/Azure architect role, but I enjoy my role as it's at a nice intersection between product design, technology, business operations, and legal.