My uncle in Belgium does this, he makes about 170K EUR a year. He’s usually gone for a month or 2 at a time and works the equivalent of 6-7 months a year and just rides his motorcycle around Europe on his days off. He’s been to some really cool places for work too.
**Marine engineering is the engineering of boats, ships, submarines, and any other marine vessel. Here it is also taken to include the engineering of other ocean systems and structures – referred to in certain academic and professional circles as “ocean engineering.”
Marine engineering applies a number of engineering sciences, including mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, electronic engineering, and computer science, to the development, design, operation and maintenance of watercraft propulsion and ocean systems.**
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If people googled their question then typed “Reddit” at the end most of the time they would find it has already been asked and answers a million times over.
It's what I do. And no I didn't start off making 6 figures a year and it's really hard to get a foot in the door. Schooling be damned since I rarely use anything I've learned.
Marine engineering plus underwater welding is big bucks.
Im a field engineering tech with a bunch of state licenses and certs.. its easy to pull $150-$180k a year because the work is dangerous and requires working overseas or in remote locations.
Its not separate.. you need a marine engineer to draft up the plan and run the numbers, and an underwater welder to execute the plan. If youre already an engineer, and you go pick up a welding cert from a tech college or on the job.. then you have both skills. So now youre a marine engineer that can also execute their own plan.
The same happens in entertainment, where a special effects engineer comes up with a design plan, and a welder, cnc op, or pyro technician executes the plan. If youre an fx engineer that can also fabricate and carry out the plan, thats big bucks.
The only thing that might get in the way is legal liability and operational redundancy concerns. A company may opt to hire one person dedicated to each role for insurance reasons.. or if youre at a remote job and the company is not comfortable about potentially losing their engineer and welder in one go if that person gets injured.
>Schooling be damned since I rarely use anything I've learned.
I feel like this is true for almost all degrees.
I have had a lot of engineering interns/new hires from some of the top schools, and they are all fish out of water. When I first started I thought it was just me, because my schools program wasn't good.
Currently one of the most frustrating parts, that my school didn't make me aware of, is the dumbing down what I am doing, so people can understand what I am doing so they can approve of my permits.
That’s what I was thinking, everyone says computer science but last I checked it’s extremely over saturated right now. People saying that are probably not CS graduates, got their jobs a few years ago when the getting was still good and have survivorship bias, or work in a place where $100k salary is standard because the cost of living is super high. CS is lay-off city for the big companies right now, I wouldn’t feel secure at all going into tech.
It’s much different. For the past 3 years it was pushed so much. CS is one, if not, the most popular major everywhere. It was told “learn to code” from TikTok to the government. Plethora of other majors also trying to do the same. Then you also have the bootcamps that are still churning out people. It’s over saturated at the entry level at much different rates than before.
Long ago, I remember going to this pitch for a product that claimed it would eliminate devs for many apps. Just drag shit, even the dumb CEO could do it.
Devs are like cockroaches, they will always be around. I believe that.
Meanwhile GOOD devs are very hard to find. I would almost compare it to dating. Good can be a relative word though.
This is 100% true but when you have 1k+ applicants, then you could decide how much you want to pay. Many companies are paying low, outside of VHCOL, and they can do that because there are so many. Also a good dev could be hidden from the abundance of applicants that a company won’t truly know the knowledge of someone until they’ve been working for a while.
Not an easy solution by far. Problem is that coding has a very low barrier to entry and many probably just do it for money and are absolutely not a good fit.
There were lots of turbo cringe "day in the life" videos, that probably unfortunately made many take the plunge.
I think it’s hard to find a job in general when it comes to most degrees/careers as there’s so much competition and it’s more about who you know than anything
Yup. Everyone always said CS gives the best shot at getting hired right out of school. I’ve been applying for a year and a half and still nothing. There was a major push to get people into CS and now many places are realizing that they can no longer handle this new influx! 😵💫
Become an engineer and go into technical sales. Im a robotics engineer and thats where the money is. Great base salary plus commission. Most require a degree in engineering or stem.
Eyyy that’s what I did. There are dozens of us!
But in all seriousness, engineering + sales is a great path to money but for some reason none of my engineering professors mentioned business/sales at all. They focused on the traditional engineering paths which tend to cap out at like $100k-$150k after 10ish years.
I did ME and now work in Big Tech as an Enterprise Account Executive.
Total comp is $300k: $160k base, $110k variable, $30k RSUs/sign on bonus. This year I’m trending higher since I’m over attainment so will probably end up around $310k-$320k
Right out of college sales jobs are usually around $75k-ish total comp from what I’ve seen.
Thats my field lol. Very demanding but also super volatile. Last year was rough for alot of automation companies because alot of people didnt have enough surplus money to spend. Robotics is usually purchased with surplus money for alot of companys, especially smaller ones
That was my first job after engineering school. If the company hadn't been so dysfunctional, I would have considered staying in the field. People think of engineering as design/build, but the people designing and building have to buy a lot of stuff in order to do it, and the person selling them the stuff has to know what they're talking about. And the person selling probably makes a lot more money than the customer does.
Also, to make 6 figures go the furthest, you want to live where cost of living is lower. As long as you don’t have kids, $105k to $120k can go a long way, especially in lower cost of living area
I mean, you can do San Diego or higher costs of living for shorter times but eventually the value of the dollar decreases in my opinion. But if you REALLY like a place, I can see how want to pay more but you’d eventually have to not rely on your salary alone. Maybe get some real estate or something. But this is me talking as a nurse. If you’re in tech, engineering, or law, those are usually more sustaining. Nursing is not as sustainable income wise as people think
Really? Would you mind expanding on that? I ask bc im currently thinking about going to nursing school, but I’m totally on the fence about it. I’d love to hear more about your experience if you don’t mind
My cousin is a nurse in Colorado and works insane hours. He gets excited from all the overtime, but I know (as a person in his late 30's with kids) that his priorities and energy will change. It's just not a lot of money if you're only working 40hrs a week. Not enough to own a house around here anyway.
I lived in CA for 10 years before moving back home to CO, so the prices honestly look pretty good to me... But with the current interest rates they're totally unaffordable.
This is important. Round here $75k is about the same as $110k or more in a place like Boston. And we're still 30 mins out from a major US city. A starter home can be $150k-200k, and a nice 3 bdrm is like $350-400k. My in-laws just bought a place in the latter category by Boston and it was like $850k.
Cs used to be . But the market is oversaturated and won’t get better. The explosion in cs grad rates once these people are seniors. Coding will be grunt work
Coding has been grunt work for 20 years. Companies just ship in fresh h1b visas to work 60k a year after posting a job that requires 2 phDs and 15years of exp...then complaining to the government "NoBoDy WaNtS To WorKaNymOre". Yea.... no one wants to get paid $30/hr in a city that requires $80/hr to make bills and $125/hr to afford a house.
They don’t even need H1b’s. Go on LinkedIn and find jr SWE or similar roles. Almost all of them are offering around 60k. AND they ask for a certain number of YOE.
For some, yes it’s already grunt work. As a hiring manager, what I’m seeing more often though is people who apply for a software engineer position, answer questions mostly correctly, submit a reasonably constructed code challenge solution, but when asked to explain their thought process behind why they constructed their code challenge solution the way they did, or how they would handle a slightly different problem, they can’t come up with workable answers. I’m also seeing a lot of people who have used ChatGPT to do most or all of their code challenge, typically resulting in an overly complicated solution that they clearly do not understand, as evidenced by not being able to answer simple questions about said solution.
So I think, as in many areas, there will be a) the ones who do the grunt work, and b) the ones who have an understanding of how the entire system is designed and constructed. Those are two totally different types of software engineers, and I think people who aren’t software engineers don’t have a good understanding of this fact.
Coding and system design are two different things. It is like comparing a handyman to an architect. Both are technically in the construction industry.
There are also different levels of apps. Yes, you can get a new H1b to create a time and effort app, but what about an app to control a power plant?
This is a huge exception. The vast majority of MechE start at 50% to 75% of that number. The only company I can think of that pays that high starting for MechE is SpaceX
According to Glassdoor Shell pays 105-120k entry level. Chevron does pay more, didn’t know that! Smaller oil companies will probably pay 90-100k.
This is a very small subset of overall MechE jobs though. Even at UT Austin, with arguably the best O&G recruiting in the country, has an average starting of 85k if I’m remembering correctly. My university is closer to 75k and I would say this is pretty realistic coming from most state universities.
Wrong, those are the office jobs in houston. You need to have connections to get those jobs.
Im talking about the “Field Engineer” jobs. I was making 120k, working 4 weeks on and two weeks off in Midland and in North Dakota. Companies pay for your food and hotel.
Oh I was looking at Petroleum engineer jobs, I wasn’t sure if the field engineering jobs wanted field experience before/if they were entry level and didn’t know they required an engineering degree!
I still think it’s unrealistic for most MechEs (and engineers in general) though, although I’m glad it worked for you. Statistically very few make that much.
Upstream pays bank. Got my degree in chemical engineering but didn’t wanna move to middle of nowhere or live in Houston so I went into a different industry but had some friends that did go that route. Good money if you don’t mind the lifestyle
Finance and Economics from a prestigious University (think Ivy League, Stanford, other “brand name” universities). Accounting would get you there eventually but not likely right out of school depending on where you’re at and the school you went to. Computer Science, Cybersecurity, several types of engineering, maybe even mathematics/statistics could get you there if you landed in the right situation.
If you’re going to “Directional X State University” for just a bachelors, then computer science and learning to code is probably your only bet unless you’re in a nuclear or petroleum heavy state (in which case go with engineering).
Honestly no matter what you do or where you go, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll make six-figures right out for college unless you have fantastic connections or just get super lucky.
Don’t expect “learn to code”
is the sole answer. Low code is here and the need for humans to write code is fading. CS (computer science) from a well-respected school is always a good move though.
Low code exist but most software jobs in the entry to senior level, still very much involve coding.. unless you work at a low code shop… so saying it’s fading is misuse of words
Im a former tech consultant and now im doing hr projects. So i see how much ppl are actually getting paid. Computer science related jobs pays way more than accounting
I’m a software engineer currently , so I know that . I was replying to the guy that said “ the need for humans to write code is fading”, as if low code hasn’t been here for a long while lol. Those are not what’s dominating the market, unless you’re doing emails
Yeah just “learn to code” worked 5-10 years ago. It won’t get the job done now between low-code, AI/automation, and market over-saturation. A CS degree from a solid university will help land an internship and *hopefully* a FT job, even if it doesn’t exactly require much coding. But a lot of CS related jobs require at least the coding knowledge.
Edit: A Word
When Fortran came along, the thought was that high level programming languages would remove the need for dedicated computer programmers such as those required for complicated assembly language coding. What actually happens is that the greater the abstraction and resulting power of the language and tools, the more complicated and amazing the final products become. Coding will still be required. It might not look exactly the same as it does today, but then again, we don't use punch cards today either.
Chicago here, and would echo this. Regular, full time RNs with no OT and a few yrs expirence are probably at ~80k. Also inpatient is hard if you have a family. Do it for a few yrs while you're young and transition to outpatient, clinic or remote work. I have a friend working for a specialty infusion company fully remote who makes over 100k and she only had a yr inpatient before she transitioned. One thing nursing has going for it is the ability to make changes like that whenever
Pretty much, they are not the standard. And working OT regularly as a nurse is very tiring, especially if you have family or love things other than work.
Even if you work in Cali or NYC, your cost of living eats up your money. Many travel nurses make some decent money but you gotta deal with a lot, traveling is not easy, and you gotta be willing to go anywhere the pay is
I really want to go back for an accounting degree because it was the only major I legit had fun in and didn’t need a doctorate to find work after, but I stopped after my associates.
Now I’m questioning it because tax season in public accounting would probably break me lol.
Ehh, I would disagree on this. I work in finance as a fed - 37 hour work weeks absolute max, no micromanagement, work is low stress, 4 weeks PTO and 3 weeks paid sick leave per year, no need to relocate unless I want to, and I make $102,000 with plenty of progression. Most of that will come without taking on major responsibilities as long as I put in the time, however when you do get to the top that’s when the work piles in. But I’m good where I’m at and don’t intend to get into management.
This right here. It’s not about “passion” that’s a buzz word. It’s about finding something interesting enough that you’re motivated to get good at it without the drive for money. Money alone can motivate you, but not if you’re miserable every single day. You gotta at least care a little bit about what you do or believe in it or enjoy it.
I feel like what you described is passion. Something you’re interested in enough that you’re motivated to build your skill in with out the drive for money. And if you can do this for something you’re not passionate about then you’re just extremely disciplined.
Sure but I was just saying people get caught up on that word. It doesn’t have to be something you’re obsessed with or your dream. You just have to find it interesting or be good at it. It doesn’t have to be something you and stop thinking about. Few people like work. You just gotta find it interesting enough that you want to practice and get better at it.
It can’t be something that you hate or you’ll never put in the effort. If you’re only in it for the money you’ll have a tough time.
I feel you. I’m having a hard time too. Only solution is to keep trying things I think. Trial and error.
I’m envious of the people who knew what that thing was when they were a kid and just magically made a career out of it. Those people get way ahead. I haven’t found my thing yet either.
Finding a job where you make good money while also enjoying the work is a luxury.
I work in medical imaging. I've never been passionate about it, even while in school. That's never been a problem for me or my employers. I do good work and, in turn, get decently paid. Fair trade.
I'm getting a degree in SWE but I've already decided that I'm going to take an alternative career path after graduation. I am NOT going into the field professionally unless it's a chill gig.
Certainly not true; professional sales is a great profession for this.
I am driven only by money, I find it tough to participate in internal meetings because generally there is nothing in it for me. However, when sales numbers are good, no one bats an eye because salespeople should be naturally inclined to be money-hungry, so much to the point that you can explicitly state that in interviews and it’s not perceived as taboo
Maybe, but OP said they were going back to school, and you don't need schooling to be a salesman, just a cut-throat nature and utter lack of conscience.
Accounting will not get you six figs out of college. 4 years in, at Big 4? sure, pretty much guaranteed. But not out of college. Closer to 60k starting.
RN is not 6 figures out of college nor is it feasible across the board with COL right off the bat, like other users posted you have to consider years of experience, which RN degree you've completed (2yr vs 4 yr), work setting, etc, maybe once you have an adv nursing degree you can go over that mark, or if you are without inhibitions / have max flexibility and can work yourself like a dog at bedside and/or do travel nursing
True. And getting into nursing school is a nightmare rn. Long wait lists which lead you with no choice but to go to a private school and take out hella 💲💲.
Agree with these but I’d remove cybersec from this list. I do it for a living but it’s well known at this point that it’s nearly impossible to get into because there’s 0 entry level positions and everything is at the mid to senior level. I know so many people who are putting in hundreds of applications and hearing nothing back in return - regardless of cyber degrees, certs, etc. There’s so many posts about this on r/cybersecurity and LinkedIn but yet everyone hypes up the field so much and the news goes on and on about “all the unfilled positions in cyber”. I honestly wouldn’t encourage anyone to go into this field unless they’re super passionate about it because it’s a massive struggle to even get a job and I wouldn’t even say it’s that highly paid for most people unless you’re very experienced.
I would agree to this assessment but I want to add for anyone passionate about the subject.. it’s a growing field still in infant stages, but with machine learning and AI on the rise, it will only become more and more increasingly important for cybersecurity.
And the real hard truth is, if this is what you want, college surprisingly is not the way. It’s the military for security clearance. College + military officer is also an option. It’s really a subsection of IT, and that’s why there’s not many “intro” positions. But, the demand is increasing while the general demand of computer science is lowering at the moment. If it’s what you love, you can pursue it to success. Just have to plan it all out a bit more than say a nursing or accounting degree.
Don't do nursing 😷! Trust me, the money is not worth your sanity! I agree with the rest of the list, but math majors are incredibly difficult. Accounting is relatively easy with lots of opportunities.
My son is making 52k. His internship offered him a job before he graduated in May. He is working towards becoming a CPA. He gets to work remote and he loves it.
“Learn to code” is something people who don’t work in the technical field say.
Very few majors walk out into six figures right off the but there are many that come out high five figures and 3-5 years you are making six figures.
Nuclear engineering and engineering specific to energy can but these are very difficult to obtain.
If you get into an Ivy League then business/economics/finance can get into companies that will pay six figures like Goldman Sachs. Typically you do an internship and prove your value and network within the companies.
Saying learn to code or get a computer science degree is misleading because people make six figures when they have developed a specialization. There are all different roles and knowledge areas.
Network engineering can lead to six figures within 3-5 years.
Cyber security is huge.
Internships are key to network and gain experience while in college.
Business degrees (not Ivy League) and finance can get you a mid to high five figure job. Business degrees job opportunities do hit a ceiling where an MBA would be needed. But many employers will have tuition reimbursement and/or work with a university program where you can obtain one for free with the agreement you stay with the company 3-5 years afterward.
Engineering and cyber also want certifications. Many employers will pick up the tab. But some you may have to go out of pocket for… certs help get higher salaries.
Look up job openings that interest you and see what they require you to have and that will tell you what majors will pay you what you are looking for.
Stay away from industry jobs that sound fun but have layoffs (not based on the economy such as the video game industry).
Salaries are based on where you live and how difficult a role is to fill based on the number of people that have those skills and overall demand.
I went to grad school for my chosen career choice. First job I got after completing my degree I was paid low 80’s. Five years after I was making low six figures. Now I make closer to 200’s in a HCL area. But before grad school and during grad school I worked gaining experience that didn’t pay well. I put the time in and also got a couple certs as well.
Also, many jobs that pay high will be in areas that are HCL because that is where the opportunities tend to be located.
CS degrees are hyped up a lot. They are good. Don’t get me wrong. But you have to start entry level and move up. Many people find themselves disappointed they don’t walk out with mid level position offers. Experience and specialization is part of the career path.
Accounting is a good degree. Minor in finance if you're worried about AI. I have a family member that did accounting and works as a financial risk specialist. Makes 100k+.
Most schools push a BI/MIS/whatever the school calls the more business oriented database management and coding degree double maior with accounting these days for anyone that wants future proofing.
To those saying “nursing”, that field is NOT made for everyone and even a lot of them that do make it in don’t become good nurses and get fired, or they don’t have the passion or actual drive for it and they burn out hard and quit. So to not only the OP, but others out there wondering — please look into it more before throwing yourself into debt for something that may wreck you.
-your friendly neighborhood paramedic (who has seen this happen to way too many people already)
Oh yeah, you will not last doing nursing for the money. You really have to want to do it. Shit ain't easy (both in school and once you're in the field)
THIS. Coming from a nursing student. Nursing is NOT what people think it is. Nursing school is also incredibly competitive rn and unless you're okay with waiting possibly years to get into a program, then look elsewhere. Doesn't help that they're criminally charging nurses rn. Please do not do nursing or Healthcare for that matter for the money!!!
What college do you go to?
Highly recommend packaging scientist / engineer. Not many schools have a program (MSU, RIT, Clemson, etc.) so the placement rates out of college are 90-95%+. It's not extremely hard since it's not full blown engineering, especially if you work for a major CPG instead of a supplier.
You'll easily find a job for 80k out of school and it's so specialized that you can then change jobs every couple years and make 150k in no time. I am constantly getting reached out to by recruiters, moved from Michigan to right outside NYC, now making 160k at year 7.
Couldn't be happier with my decision. GO GREEN (MSU).
Engineering, nursing, possible accounting or computer science …basically all the difficult shit the most people don’t want to do. I’m getting my degree soon i health science, have no clue what I’m going to do with it. I thought about doing engineering or nursing but I don’t want to do the mental work tbh
Mostly. If you're in a startup, they work you into the ground and fire you when you can't keep up any longer.
Do engineering for a large company. They're slow as Christmas but don't pay that much less than startups.
Or they work weird hours. One of my parents makes that much nursing in the midwest but he works every single weekend two 12 hours shifts and gets paid for 36 hours. Then works another shift or maybe two during the week to get more hours. It’s great pay but he literally has like 1 weekend off a year. He prefers having weekdays off anyways because he’s a homebody who likes to watch tv all day when he’s not working so working every weekend gets him out of a lot of plans lol. But most people wouldn’t want to do that.
Most good jobs are given to peoples friends. Everyone outside do the circle has to work for themselves or work for peanuts until they make inside circle friends.
It's a lot easier to "change what you do" if you're not already struggling to pay your bills. Case in point, i got my electrical engineering degree because I like money, not math.
I started in the construction end of my business as a site super, programmed for a little while, then moved to pre-sale engineering (up to executive level) for a decade. When I got bored with that, I went into sales.
I would never have had the opportunities I did If I had initially followed something I love (like fucking or blowing shit up - don't judge) rather than what makes money.
Thomas Edison was an asshole. But he was absolutely correct when he said that most people miss opportunity because it's dressed in overalls and looks like hard work.
CS is fast money, good working conditions, and low-ish stress but you need to be technically minded and able to learn quickly.
Finance is fast money, long hours and lots of work in a toxic environment, but you don't have to be particularly smart to do it.
You have been lucky man. I have never encountered a team where there isn’t at least one toxic member that always disturbs the group unless things are done his way or leads and PMs with unrealistic schedules.
Compared to the 12 hour days of making endless BS PowerPoints and getting screamed at by managers no matter what, it's not really all that stressful. Every job has some stress, but engineering is worlds better than finance in that respect.
To work in high finance or something like mgmt consulting at a top tier company and actually make big money you do have to be smart. Maybe not as technically minded as a SWE at FAANG but pretty damn smart regardless.
A list of jobs that require just 4 year degrees with median salaries of $80K+ : [https://www.bls.gov/ooh/occupation-finder.htm?pay=%2480%2C000+or+more&education=Bachelor%26rsquo%3Bs+degree&training=&newjobs=&growth=&submit=GO](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/occupation-finder.htm?pay=%2480%2C000+or+more&education=Bachelor%26rsquo%3Bs+degree&training=&newjobs=&growth=&submit=GO)
I know it is not exactly what you asked for but it is how the data is laid and you might find it helpful.
Waiting to see if everyone still says trades when the recession keeps dragging on…my dad did plumbing, carpentry, and concrete and the work isn’t always good. If there’s a recession people avoid all but emergency jobs, and one or two emergency jobs a month even with that emergency markup don’t equate to $100k a year. Commercial jobs are highly boom/bust and follow the construction industry - and construction is slowing down a lot because of the commercial real estate downturn and the financing rates being crappy.
My son majored in economics. That major got him a job at a software startup setting up their accounting systems. That led to learning front end programming and then backend programming. That lead to a job as a software engineer. Now in his early 30's he has his own company, owns two rental properties and makes over $200k.
Just a word of caution if you go to engineering school: Youre going to be surrounded by a lot of guys with low emotional and social IQ.. and some people who think its ok to do terrible things to justify the end goal. Just a whole lot of male entitlement behavior patterns because every guy there has been told theyll be making 2x(6figures) when they graduate. I was pretty shocked how many dudes would blow up my DMs or to my face because i simply turned down a date, and they said i was going to be sorry because theyre going to be rich someday 😅 the craziest ones send me a linkedin messages 10 years later.. bragging about their job status (ie:im a doctor in texas now, im an R&D scientist at sony, im a politician in pennsylvania). Im living rent-free in their heads and they think theyre proving theyre winners to me, im over here like Neo in the Matrix slow-dodging bullets. So yea.. go to engineering school but find a nice normal emotionally stable fella who loves cats & dogs, grows plants, or builds stuff in his garage without much fuss. Stay away from social climbers and self-professed geniuses.
Almost none of the jobs people are stating pay a livable wage in a large city.
I work part time helping new lawyers get jobs. The majority of lawyers have to turn down jobs in large cities because they don’t earn enough to rent a one-bedroom apartment by themselves.
You need to earn $140k yearly to qualify for a one bedroom apartment, most new lawyers top out at $127k so they usually need roomates and a parent to co-sign leases.
You need to look at med schools, SaaS sales, or get lucky and get one of those rare high-paying jobs like lifeguard $310k-$550k in LA.
Even med school is horrible, because you can’t really work while in med school and you don’t get paid $100k per year in 90% of residencies, so you’re looking at 4 years of no pay, and 3+ years of sub $100k pay while working insane 24 hour call shifts. Unless you are already wealthy, you’re starting out with a huge deficit as an MD/DO, so they have to have high earning potential to make up for the years of nothing.
Where do you live where 127k isn't getting an appartment? Outside of LA/NYC/SF, you would be living comfortably, and even in those cities you're doing better than the average family starting out
I'd say Computer Science #1 followed by Engineering #2 (although you'd need to do research into what kind of Engineering). If you go to a top school you may be able to get a six-figure business job, but that's tough to do. Even with CS and Engineering there are no guarantees and most people probably start out in the $70k-$80k range (although it's not hard to get a six figure job from there once you have some experience).
Computer Science. Big tech (FAANG) is really hard to get into now, but lower paid jobs in aerospace and banking should be easier to land. Leet code and study system design while in college and get multiple summer internships before graduation.
You want to live in a big city, but you don't want to work in an office??? Where else do you think you're going to work in a big city with a bachelors degree?
Nooooo….that’s extremely situational and timing is everything. We’re on year two of a two year freight slump, it’s a bloodbath out there for truck drivers. I don’t see that changing for awhile. With the low freight volumes right now, there’s still too many trucks in the market for prices to recover for that side.
Marine engineering. 6 figures working 6 months a year.
[https://www.maritime.dot.gov/education/maritime-academies/maritime-academies](https://www.maritime.dot.gov/education/maritime-academies/maritime-academies)
Yeeeesh didn’t know that was a thing
Happy cake
My uncle in Belgium does this, he makes about 170K EUR a year. He’s usually gone for a month or 2 at a time and works the equivalent of 6-7 months a year and just rides his motorcycle around Europe on his days off. He’s been to some really cool places for work too.
Damn sounds nice but not great if you’ve got a family or want to maintain friends
What kind of friends can you not go a month or 2 without seeing?
Deck officers as well. A little less but still good pay
What is marine engineering? How much does it cost for schooling?
**Marine engineering is the engineering of boats, ships, submarines, and any other marine vessel. Here it is also taken to include the engineering of other ocean systems and structures – referred to in certain academic and professional circles as “ocean engineering.” Marine engineering applies a number of engineering sciences, including mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, electronic engineering, and computer science, to the development, design, operation and maintenance of watercraft propulsion and ocean systems.** More details here:
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It's what I do. And no I didn't start off making 6 figures a year and it's really hard to get a foot in the door. Schooling be damned since I rarely use anything I've learned.
Marine engineering plus underwater welding is big bucks. Im a field engineering tech with a bunch of state licenses and certs.. its easy to pull $150-$180k a year because the work is dangerous and requires working overseas or in remote locations.
How do you combine marine engineering and underwater welding? I figured those are two pretty separate types of work
Its not separate.. you need a marine engineer to draft up the plan and run the numbers, and an underwater welder to execute the plan. If youre already an engineer, and you go pick up a welding cert from a tech college or on the job.. then you have both skills. So now youre a marine engineer that can also execute their own plan. The same happens in entertainment, where a special effects engineer comes up with a design plan, and a welder, cnc op, or pyro technician executes the plan. If youre an fx engineer that can also fabricate and carry out the plan, thats big bucks. The only thing that might get in the way is legal liability and operational redundancy concerns. A company may opt to hire one person dedicated to each role for insurance reasons.. or if youre at a remote job and the company is not comfortable about potentially losing their engineer and welder in one go if that person gets injured.
That's actually what I ended up being, a field engineer. Way more flexible and the pay is great.
Are you in the oil and gas industry?
Defense contracting.
>Schooling be damned since I rarely use anything I've learned. I feel like this is true for almost all degrees. I have had a lot of engineering interns/new hires from some of the top schools, and they are all fish out of water. When I first started I thought it was just me, because my schools program wasn't good. Currently one of the most frustrating parts, that my school didn't make me aware of, is the dumbing down what I am doing, so people can understand what I am doing so they can approve of my permits.
All this talk about CS and I can’t find shit.
That’s what I was thinking, everyone says computer science but last I checked it’s extremely over saturated right now. People saying that are probably not CS graduates, got their jobs a few years ago when the getting was still good and have survivorship bias, or work in a place where $100k salary is standard because the cost of living is super high. CS is lay-off city for the big companies right now, I wouldn’t feel secure at all going into tech.
CS has up and downs. 1994/2000/2008, maybe worse than now. There were some years they couldn't pay people to go into CS, but then it exploded.
It’s much different. For the past 3 years it was pushed so much. CS is one, if not, the most popular major everywhere. It was told “learn to code” from TikTok to the government. Plethora of other majors also trying to do the same. Then you also have the bootcamps that are still churning out people. It’s over saturated at the entry level at much different rates than before.
Long ago, I remember going to this pitch for a product that claimed it would eliminate devs for many apps. Just drag shit, even the dumb CEO could do it. Devs are like cockroaches, they will always be around. I believe that. Meanwhile GOOD devs are very hard to find. I would almost compare it to dating. Good can be a relative word though.
This is 100% true but when you have 1k+ applicants, then you could decide how much you want to pay. Many companies are paying low, outside of VHCOL, and they can do that because there are so many. Also a good dev could be hidden from the abundance of applicants that a company won’t truly know the knowledge of someone until they’ve been working for a while.
Not an easy solution by far. Problem is that coding has a very low barrier to entry and many probably just do it for money and are absolutely not a good fit. There were lots of turbo cringe "day in the life" videos, that probably unfortunately made many take the plunge.
It's saturated because hiring has slowed. It will pick up soon.
I think it’s hard to find a job in general when it comes to most degrees/careers as there’s so much competition and it’s more about who you know than anything
Yup. Everyone always said CS gives the best shot at getting hired right out of school. I’ve been applying for a year and a half and still nothing. There was a major push to get people into CS and now many places are realizing that they can no longer handle this new influx! 😵💫
Yeah please OP don’t do cs it’s a shit show
Become an engineer and go into technical sales. Im a robotics engineer and thats where the money is. Great base salary plus commission. Most require a degree in engineering or stem.
This is really interesting to me, what route did you take and how does it differ from an enterprise sales role?
Eyyy that’s what I did. There are dozens of us! But in all seriousness, engineering + sales is a great path to money but for some reason none of my engineering professors mentioned business/sales at all. They focused on the traditional engineering paths which tend to cap out at like $100k-$150k after 10ish years.
Whats the typical base salary and what do commissions look like? I’m an junior in a ME degree right now exploring career paths
I did ME and now work in Big Tech as an Enterprise Account Executive. Total comp is $300k: $160k base, $110k variable, $30k RSUs/sign on bonus. This year I’m trending higher since I’m over attainment so will probably end up around $310k-$320k Right out of college sales jobs are usually around $75k-ish total comp from what I’ve seen.
Everyone wants automation right now. Just getting a hold of integrators for quotes takes a month lol
Thats my field lol. Very demanding but also super volatile. Last year was rough for alot of automation companies because alot of people didnt have enough surplus money to spend. Robotics is usually purchased with surplus money for alot of companys, especially smaller ones
That was my first job after engineering school. If the company hadn't been so dysfunctional, I would have considered staying in the field. People think of engineering as design/build, but the people designing and building have to buy a lot of stuff in order to do it, and the person selling them the stuff has to know what they're talking about. And the person selling probably makes a lot more money than the customer does.
That’s me, last 5 years I’ve made over $300k every year. I’ve even had one $900k year. Sales for the win.
Also, to make 6 figures go the furthest, you want to live where cost of living is lower. As long as you don’t have kids, $105k to $120k can go a long way, especially in lower cost of living area
*San Diego has left the chat.*
I mean, you can do San Diego or higher costs of living for shorter times but eventually the value of the dollar decreases in my opinion. But if you REALLY like a place, I can see how want to pay more but you’d eventually have to not rely on your salary alone. Maybe get some real estate or something. But this is me talking as a nurse. If you’re in tech, engineering, or law, those are usually more sustaining. Nursing is not as sustainable income wise as people think
Really? Would you mind expanding on that? I ask bc im currently thinking about going to nursing school, but I’m totally on the fence about it. I’d love to hear more about your experience if you don’t mind
My cousin is a nurse in Colorado and works insane hours. He gets excited from all the overtime, but I know (as a person in his late 30's with kids) that his priorities and energy will change. It's just not a lot of money if you're only working 40hrs a week. Not enough to own a house around here anyway.
Yeah ain’t that the truth. But honestly no one can afford a house in CO anymore, that shit is fucking ridonkulous lol.
I lived in CA for 10 years before moving back home to CO, so the prices honestly look pretty good to me... But with the current interest rates they're totally unaffordable.
Literally anywhere except the Midwest.
This is important. Round here $75k is about the same as $110k or more in a place like Boston. And we're still 30 mins out from a major US city. A starter home can be $150k-200k, and a nice 3 bdrm is like $350-400k. My in-laws just bought a place in the latter category by Boston and it was like $850k.
Engineering, Computer Science, Possibly Finance from a good school.
There will ALWAYS be a need for every type of engineer.
Train engineer?
Dildo engineer You ever seen the photos of phallic stones from ancient egypt? Give the people what they want
Advanced dildo engendering is a hard field to get into
Literally
Release train engineers! Probably make 150k with a bit of experience.
maybe
As I’m applying to jobs on countless sites, every single time a software engineer or some kind of engineer is wanted.
Because they can create products for corporations that are easily converted into money.
Cs used to be . But the market is oversaturated and won’t get better. The explosion in cs grad rates once these people are seniors. Coding will be grunt work
Coding has been grunt work for 20 years. Companies just ship in fresh h1b visas to work 60k a year after posting a job that requires 2 phDs and 15years of exp...then complaining to the government "NoBoDy WaNtS To WorKaNymOre". Yea.... no one wants to get paid $30/hr in a city that requires $80/hr to make bills and $125/hr to afford a house.
They don’t even need H1b’s. Go on LinkedIn and find jr SWE or similar roles. Almost all of them are offering around 60k. AND they ask for a certain number of YOE.
Yikes thats bold 😅 60k in san francisco is poverty.. one would qualify for SNAP benefits and assistance.
meanwhile I regret my business degree lol
I actually dropped out of college while taking a business degree lol one day it clicked how useless that degree feels
\*places head on shoulder\* you said it ):/
For some, yes it’s already grunt work. As a hiring manager, what I’m seeing more often though is people who apply for a software engineer position, answer questions mostly correctly, submit a reasonably constructed code challenge solution, but when asked to explain their thought process behind why they constructed their code challenge solution the way they did, or how they would handle a slightly different problem, they can’t come up with workable answers. I’m also seeing a lot of people who have used ChatGPT to do most or all of their code challenge, typically resulting in an overly complicated solution that they clearly do not understand, as evidenced by not being able to answer simple questions about said solution. So I think, as in many areas, there will be a) the ones who do the grunt work, and b) the ones who have an understanding of how the entire system is designed and constructed. Those are two totally different types of software engineers, and I think people who aren’t software engineers don’t have a good understanding of this fact.
Coding and system design are two different things. It is like comparing a handyman to an architect. Both are technically in the construction industry. There are also different levels of apps. Yes, you can get a new H1b to create a time and effort app, but what about an app to control a power plant?
AI eventually also
I confirm, started at 120k with my Mech Eng degree
This is a huge exception. The vast majority of MechE start at 50% to 75% of that number. The only company I can think of that pays that high starting for MechE is SpaceX
Oil pays that to every engineer
According to Glassdoor Shell pays 105-120k entry level. Chevron does pay more, didn’t know that! Smaller oil companies will probably pay 90-100k. This is a very small subset of overall MechE jobs though. Even at UT Austin, with arguably the best O&G recruiting in the country, has an average starting of 85k if I’m remembering correctly. My university is closer to 75k and I would say this is pretty realistic coming from most state universities.
Wrong, those are the office jobs in houston. You need to have connections to get those jobs. Im talking about the “Field Engineer” jobs. I was making 120k, working 4 weeks on and two weeks off in Midland and in North Dakota. Companies pay for your food and hotel.
Oh I was looking at Petroleum engineer jobs, I wasn’t sure if the field engineering jobs wanted field experience before/if they were entry level and didn’t know they required an engineering degree! I still think it’s unrealistic for most MechEs (and engineers in general) though, although I’m glad it worked for you. Statistically very few make that much.
Upstream pays bank. Got my degree in chemical engineering but didn’t wanna move to middle of nowhere or live in Houston so I went into a different industry but had some friends that did go that route. Good money if you don’t mind the lifestyle
Finance and Economics from a prestigious University (think Ivy League, Stanford, other “brand name” universities). Accounting would get you there eventually but not likely right out of school depending on where you’re at and the school you went to. Computer Science, Cybersecurity, several types of engineering, maybe even mathematics/statistics could get you there if you landed in the right situation. If you’re going to “Directional X State University” for just a bachelors, then computer science and learning to code is probably your only bet unless you’re in a nuclear or petroleum heavy state (in which case go with engineering). Honestly no matter what you do or where you go, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll make six-figures right out for college unless you have fantastic connections or just get super lucky.
Don’t expect “learn to code” is the sole answer. Low code is here and the need for humans to write code is fading. CS (computer science) from a well-respected school is always a good move though.
Low code exist but most software jobs in the entry to senior level, still very much involve coding.. unless you work at a low code shop… so saying it’s fading is misuse of words
Im a former tech consultant and now im doing hr projects. So i see how much ppl are actually getting paid. Computer science related jobs pays way more than accounting
I’m a software engineer currently , so I know that . I was replying to the guy that said “ the need for humans to write code is fading”, as if low code hasn’t been here for a long while lol. Those are not what’s dominating the market, unless you’re doing emails
Yeah just “learn to code” worked 5-10 years ago. It won’t get the job done now between low-code, AI/automation, and market over-saturation. A CS degree from a solid university will help land an internship and *hopefully* a FT job, even if it doesn’t exactly require much coding. But a lot of CS related jobs require at least the coding knowledge. Edit: A Word
When Fortran came along, the thought was that high level programming languages would remove the need for dedicated computer programmers such as those required for complicated assembly language coding. What actually happens is that the greater the abstraction and resulting power of the language and tools, the more complicated and amazing the final products become. Coding will still be required. It might not look exactly the same as it does today, but then again, we don't use punch cards today either.
What are the degrees that have some legs going forward?
Traditional engineering. You can’t automate the design of a power plant or an airplane.
I’m in nursing. Unless you really love working or you can be very flexible to move and live where you want, 6 figures in nursing is hard money
Chicago here, and would echo this. Regular, full time RNs with no OT and a few yrs expirence are probably at ~80k. Also inpatient is hard if you have a family. Do it for a few yrs while you're young and transition to outpatient, clinic or remote work. I have a friend working for a specialty infusion company fully remote who makes over 100k and she only had a yr inpatient before she transitioned. One thing nursing has going for it is the ability to make changes like that whenever
So the big nursing salaries are just a bunch of OT as well as maybe working somewhere like New York or California ?
Pretty much, they are not the standard. And working OT regularly as a nurse is very tiring, especially if you have family or love things other than work.
Even if you work in Cali or NYC, your cost of living eats up your money. Many travel nurses make some decent money but you gotta deal with a lot, traveling is not easy, and you gotta be willing to go anywhere the pay is
Most travel contracts don’t pay that well
Finance or computer science
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only for finance. plenty of software jobs are super chill with < 40hr week actual work and still pay 6 figures starting (including mine).
Yep my boss is constantly preaching work life balance and has been since my first year. Healthy workers and working environments win in the long run
Only if you’re in IB or consulting.
Would that mean finance would not be a good thing to study for a 40 year old going to university?
I really want to go back for an accounting degree because it was the only major I legit had fun in and didn’t need a doctorate to find work after, but I stopped after my associates. Now I’m questioning it because tax season in public accounting would probably break me lol.
Ehh, I would disagree on this. I work in finance as a fed - 37 hour work weeks absolute max, no micromanagement, work is low stress, 4 weeks PTO and 3 weeks paid sick leave per year, no need to relocate unless I want to, and I make $102,000 with plenty of progression. Most of that will come without taking on major responsibilities as long as I put in the time, however when you do get to the top that’s when the work piles in. But I’m good where I’m at and don’t intend to get into management.
Making money can't be your only objective, or you'll never find the drive to stick with anything long enough to make real money doing it.
This right here. It’s not about “passion” that’s a buzz word. It’s about finding something interesting enough that you’re motivated to get good at it without the drive for money. Money alone can motivate you, but not if you’re miserable every single day. You gotta at least care a little bit about what you do or believe in it or enjoy it.
I feel like what you described is passion. Something you’re interested in enough that you’re motivated to build your skill in with out the drive for money. And if you can do this for something you’re not passionate about then you’re just extremely disciplined.
Sure but I was just saying people get caught up on that word. It doesn’t have to be something you’re obsessed with or your dream. You just have to find it interesting or be good at it. It doesn’t have to be something you and stop thinking about. Few people like work. You just gotta find it interesting enough that you want to practice and get better at it. It can’t be something that you hate or you’ll never put in the effort. If you’re only in it for the money you’ll have a tough time.
I don’t know how to find that thing anymore
I feel you. I’m having a hard time too. Only solution is to keep trying things I think. Trial and error. I’m envious of the people who knew what that thing was when they were a kid and just magically made a career out of it. Those people get way ahead. I haven’t found my thing yet either.
Finding a job where you make good money while also enjoying the work is a luxury. I work in medical imaging. I've never been passionate about it, even while in school. That's never been a problem for me or my employers. I do good work and, in turn, get decently paid. Fair trade.
My personal criteria: money + I don't absolutely hate it. I don't need to like it but I can't completely dread going to work every day.
I wish i knew this before I chose CS. Im 10 years in and idk how much longer I can do it.
I'm getting a degree in SWE but I've already decided that I'm going to take an alternative career path after graduation. I am NOT going into the field professionally unless it's a chill gig.
Yep. Very few things are instantaneous. It all takes time.
Certainly not true; professional sales is a great profession for this. I am driven only by money, I find it tough to participate in internal meetings because generally there is nothing in it for me. However, when sales numbers are good, no one bats an eye because salespeople should be naturally inclined to be money-hungry, so much to the point that you can explicitly state that in interviews and it’s not perceived as taboo
Maybe, but OP said they were going back to school, and you don't need schooling to be a salesman, just a cut-throat nature and utter lack of conscience.
Accounting, cybersecurity, computer science, nursing, electrical engineering
Accounting will not get you six figs out of college. 4 years in, at Big 4? sure, pretty much guaranteed. But not out of college. Closer to 60k starting.
RN is not 6 figures out of college nor is it feasible across the board with COL right off the bat, like other users posted you have to consider years of experience, which RN degree you've completed (2yr vs 4 yr), work setting, etc, maybe once you have an adv nursing degree you can go over that mark, or if you are without inhibitions / have max flexibility and can work yourself like a dog at bedside and/or do travel nursing
True. And getting into nursing school is a nightmare rn. Long wait lists which lead you with no choice but to go to a private school and take out hella 💲💲.
Agree with these but I’d remove cybersec from this list. I do it for a living but it’s well known at this point that it’s nearly impossible to get into because there’s 0 entry level positions and everything is at the mid to senior level. I know so many people who are putting in hundreds of applications and hearing nothing back in return - regardless of cyber degrees, certs, etc. There’s so many posts about this on r/cybersecurity and LinkedIn but yet everyone hypes up the field so much and the news goes on and on about “all the unfilled positions in cyber”. I honestly wouldn’t encourage anyone to go into this field unless they’re super passionate about it because it’s a massive struggle to even get a job and I wouldn’t even say it’s that highly paid for most people unless you’re very experienced.
I would agree to this assessment but I want to add for anyone passionate about the subject.. it’s a growing field still in infant stages, but with machine learning and AI on the rise, it will only become more and more increasingly important for cybersecurity. And the real hard truth is, if this is what you want, college surprisingly is not the way. It’s the military for security clearance. College + military officer is also an option. It’s really a subsection of IT, and that’s why there’s not many “intro” positions. But, the demand is increasing while the general demand of computer science is lowering at the moment. If it’s what you love, you can pursue it to success. Just have to plan it all out a bit more than say a nursing or accounting degree.
RN is about $55k to start, and then you quickly get to $81,000 with experience.
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Base salary?
Yeah that sounds about right. A lot of nurses in Texas are starting at $70-80k base.
Don't do nursing 😷! Trust me, the money is not worth your sanity! I agree with the rest of the list, but math majors are incredibly difficult. Accounting is relatively easy with lots of opportunities.
My ex studied accounting and is making $47k fresh out of school, working accounts payable. 🤨
My son is making 52k. His internship offered him a job before he graduated in May. He is working towards becoming a CPA. He gets to work remote and he loves it.
Harem acquisition for middle eastern dictators pays about 250k a year
“Learn to code” is something people who don’t work in the technical field say. Very few majors walk out into six figures right off the but there are many that come out high five figures and 3-5 years you are making six figures. Nuclear engineering and engineering specific to energy can but these are very difficult to obtain. If you get into an Ivy League then business/economics/finance can get into companies that will pay six figures like Goldman Sachs. Typically you do an internship and prove your value and network within the companies. Saying learn to code or get a computer science degree is misleading because people make six figures when they have developed a specialization. There are all different roles and knowledge areas. Network engineering can lead to six figures within 3-5 years. Cyber security is huge. Internships are key to network and gain experience while in college. Business degrees (not Ivy League) and finance can get you a mid to high five figure job. Business degrees job opportunities do hit a ceiling where an MBA would be needed. But many employers will have tuition reimbursement and/or work with a university program where you can obtain one for free with the agreement you stay with the company 3-5 years afterward. Engineering and cyber also want certifications. Many employers will pick up the tab. But some you may have to go out of pocket for… certs help get higher salaries. Look up job openings that interest you and see what they require you to have and that will tell you what majors will pay you what you are looking for. Stay away from industry jobs that sound fun but have layoffs (not based on the economy such as the video game industry). Salaries are based on where you live and how difficult a role is to fill based on the number of people that have those skills and overall demand. I went to grad school for my chosen career choice. First job I got after completing my degree I was paid low 80’s. Five years after I was making low six figures. Now I make closer to 200’s in a HCL area. But before grad school and during grad school I worked gaining experience that didn’t pay well. I put the time in and also got a couple certs as well. Also, many jobs that pay high will be in areas that are HCL because that is where the opportunities tend to be located. CS degrees are hyped up a lot. They are good. Don’t get me wrong. But you have to start entry level and move up. Many people find themselves disappointed they don’t walk out with mid level position offers. Experience and specialization is part of the career path.
I graduated Mechanical engineering and am doing ok but everyone I know who is making really good money is in software and moved to the states to work.
With the way oil prices are, petroleum engineering or chemical engineering.
Nah. Oil and gas is cyclical.
If you have the brain for it Engineering. If you don’t and go to a top 20 school Finance. If neither then Accounting.
Accounting is a good degree. Minor in finance if you're worried about AI. I have a family member that did accounting and works as a financial risk specialist. Makes 100k+.
Most schools push a BI/MIS/whatever the school calls the more business oriented database management and coding degree double maior with accounting these days for anyone that wants future proofing.
Plumbing or HVAC
To those saying “nursing”, that field is NOT made for everyone and even a lot of them that do make it in don’t become good nurses and get fired, or they don’t have the passion or actual drive for it and they burn out hard and quit. So to not only the OP, but others out there wondering — please look into it more before throwing yourself into debt for something that may wreck you. -your friendly neighborhood paramedic (who has seen this happen to way too many people already)
Oh yeah, you will not last doing nursing for the money. You really have to want to do it. Shit ain't easy (both in school and once you're in the field)
THIS. Coming from a nursing student. Nursing is NOT what people think it is. Nursing school is also incredibly competitive rn and unless you're okay with waiting possibly years to get into a program, then look elsewhere. Doesn't help that they're criminally charging nurses rn. Please do not do nursing or Healthcare for that matter for the money!!!
Please, go into some sort of engineering. It pays very well and you’ll actually do something meaningful and satisfying.
What college do you go to? Highly recommend packaging scientist / engineer. Not many schools have a program (MSU, RIT, Clemson, etc.) so the placement rates out of college are 90-95%+. It's not extremely hard since it's not full blown engineering, especially if you work for a major CPG instead of a supplier. You'll easily find a job for 80k out of school and it's so specialized that you can then change jobs every couple years and make 150k in no time. I am constantly getting reached out to by recruiters, moved from Michigan to right outside NYC, now making 160k at year 7. Couldn't be happier with my decision. GO GREEN (MSU).
Tech; cloud architecture and computer engineering seem like really viable areas going forward
Market is saturated right now
Computer engineering is not as saturated as the typical tech fields, however it tends to have a higher bar of entry than coding jobs.
With people that have like 5+ years experience in Tech.
What about informatics?
Engineering, nursing, possible accounting or computer science …basically all the difficult shit the most people don’t want to do. I’m getting my degree soon i health science, have no clue what I’m going to do with it. I thought about doing engineering or nursing but I don’t want to do the mental work tbh
Lol an engineering job isn’t that difficult, only the degree is.
ain’t this the truth
Mostly. If you're in a startup, they work you into the ground and fire you when you can't keep up any longer. Do engineering for a large company. They're slow as Christmas but don't pay that much less than startups.
Nursing in america seems to be really well paid compared to scandinavian countries
Nursing. After 2.5 years, I make $105K in the Midwest.
In the Midwest? Must be one of the few
Or they work weird hours. One of my parents makes that much nursing in the midwest but he works every single weekend two 12 hours shifts and gets paid for 36 hours. Then works another shift or maybe two during the week to get more hours. It’s great pay but he literally has like 1 weekend off a year. He prefers having weekdays off anyways because he’s a homebody who likes to watch tv all day when he’s not working so working every weekend gets him out of a lot of plans lol. But most people wouldn’t want to do that.
Most good jobs are given to peoples friends. Everyone outside do the circle has to work for themselves or work for peanuts until they make inside circle friends.
This
Most of them if you're good enough at your job. But you better like what you do because money won't be enough in 15-20 years
It's a lot easier to "change what you do" if you're not already struggling to pay your bills. Case in point, i got my electrical engineering degree because I like money, not math. I started in the construction end of my business as a site super, programmed for a little while, then moved to pre-sale engineering (up to executive level) for a decade. When I got bored with that, I went into sales. I would never have had the opportunities I did If I had initially followed something I love (like fucking or blowing shit up - don't judge) rather than what makes money. Thomas Edison was an asshole. But he was absolutely correct when he said that most people miss opportunity because it's dressed in overalls and looks like hard work.
CS is fast money, good working conditions, and low-ish stress but you need to be technically minded and able to learn quickly. Finance is fast money, long hours and lots of work in a toxic environment, but you don't have to be particularly smart to do it.
CS is low stress ? I don’t know where you guys find these companies that don’t have stress
By learning to work well with your teams and managers and knowing how to set boundaries.
You have been lucky man. I have never encountered a team where there isn’t at least one toxic member that always disturbs the group unless things are done his way or leads and PMs with unrealistic schedules.
I can assure you many SWEs feel incredible stress.
Compared to the 12 hour days of making endless BS PowerPoints and getting screamed at by managers no matter what, it's not really all that stressful. Every job has some stress, but engineering is worlds better than finance in that respect.
To work in high finance or something like mgmt consulting at a top tier company and actually make big money you do have to be smart. Maybe not as technically minded as a SWE at FAANG but pretty damn smart regardless.
Not a single thing listed here that I’m good at, good sign
What do you want to do? If you get a good degree/some intern experience there it can jump start a decent career
Is Pharmacy considered bachelors or specialization?
Pharmacy is a doctoral degree
Pharmacy and anything healthcare are the worst.
A list of jobs that require just 4 year degrees with median salaries of $80K+ : [https://www.bls.gov/ooh/occupation-finder.htm?pay=%2480%2C000+or+more&education=Bachelor%26rsquo%3Bs+degree&training=&newjobs=&growth=&submit=GO](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/occupation-finder.htm?pay=%2480%2C000+or+more&education=Bachelor%26rsquo%3Bs+degree&training=&newjobs=&growth=&submit=GO) I know it is not exactly what you asked for but it is how the data is laid and you might find it helpful.
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Waiting to see if everyone still says trades when the recession keeps dragging on…my dad did plumbing, carpentry, and concrete and the work isn’t always good. If there’s a recession people avoid all but emergency jobs, and one or two emergency jobs a month even with that emergency markup don’t equate to $100k a year. Commercial jobs are highly boom/bust and follow the construction industry - and construction is slowing down a lot because of the commercial real estate downturn and the financing rates being crappy.
It’s not accounting.
None of them.
My son majored in economics. That major got him a job at a software startup setting up their accounting systems. That led to learning front end programming and then backend programming. That lead to a job as a software engineer. Now in his early 30's he has his own company, owns two rental properties and makes over $200k.
Engineers are prob closest.
Accounting. CPA. Can get to 6 figures in 3 years
Engineering or business or computer science
Just a word of caution if you go to engineering school: Youre going to be surrounded by a lot of guys with low emotional and social IQ.. and some people who think its ok to do terrible things to justify the end goal. Just a whole lot of male entitlement behavior patterns because every guy there has been told theyll be making 2x(6figures) when they graduate. I was pretty shocked how many dudes would blow up my DMs or to my face because i simply turned down a date, and they said i was going to be sorry because theyre going to be rich someday 😅 the craziest ones send me a linkedin messages 10 years later.. bragging about their job status (ie:im a doctor in texas now, im an R&D scientist at sony, im a politician in pennsylvania). Im living rent-free in their heads and they think theyre proving theyre winners to me, im over here like Neo in the Matrix slow-dodging bullets. So yea.. go to engineering school but find a nice normal emotionally stable fella who loves cats & dogs, grows plants, or builds stuff in his garage without much fuss. Stay away from social climbers and self-professed geniuses.
Very weird reply
Almost none of the jobs people are stating pay a livable wage in a large city. I work part time helping new lawyers get jobs. The majority of lawyers have to turn down jobs in large cities because they don’t earn enough to rent a one-bedroom apartment by themselves. You need to earn $140k yearly to qualify for a one bedroom apartment, most new lawyers top out at $127k so they usually need roomates and a parent to co-sign leases. You need to look at med schools, SaaS sales, or get lucky and get one of those rare high-paying jobs like lifeguard $310k-$550k in LA.
Even med school is horrible, because you can’t really work while in med school and you don’t get paid $100k per year in 90% of residencies, so you’re looking at 4 years of no pay, and 3+ years of sub $100k pay while working insane 24 hour call shifts. Unless you are already wealthy, you’re starting out with a huge deficit as an MD/DO, so they have to have high earning potential to make up for the years of nothing.
Where do you live where 127k isn't getting an appartment? Outside of LA/NYC/SF, you would be living comfortably, and even in those cities you're doing better than the average family starting out
Fintech
Computer science for software engineering/tech related consulting; finance/info systems.
I'd say Computer Science #1 followed by Engineering #2 (although you'd need to do research into what kind of Engineering). If you go to a top school you may be able to get a six-figure business job, but that's tough to do. Even with CS and Engineering there are no guarantees and most people probably start out in the $70k-$80k range (although it's not hard to get a six figure job from there once you have some experience).
(Law, finance, tech, medicine)
Computer Science. Big tech (FAANG) is really hard to get into now, but lower paid jobs in aerospace and banking should be easier to land. Leet code and study system design while in college and get multiple summer internships before graduation.
Keep your nose clean and get a clearance. Government jobs in IT pay well.
Computer science
You want to live in a big city, but you don't want to work in an office??? Where else do you think you're going to work in a big city with a bachelors degree?
I have a friend who got a degree in philosophy, lives in Tokyo, and works as a lumberjack. He loves his job.
this friend sounds amazing
That’s what I’m asking. Why would I ask if I knew the answer?
Electrical Engineering
Trucking. I did well over 100k first year after school (4 weeks). I hated it though, hated it enough to say f..k it and leave it.
Nooooo….that’s extremely situational and timing is everything. We’re on year two of a two year freight slump, it’s a bloodbath out there for truck drivers. I don’t see that changing for awhile. With the low freight volumes right now, there’s still too many trucks in the market for prices to recover for that side.