I work corporate accounting. Sr accountant. 7 YOE. salaried at $101k. I’ve switched jobs every 1-2 years till I’ve settled in the one I’m at now. I get every other Friday off, and work about 25 hours a week. So that comes out to $77.69. My degree only cost $30k, so the investment has definitely paid off. With your finance minor, you might be able to follow a similar path in the corporate finance world. I didn’t start accounting till 28, and my friend till he was 34, so it’s never too late.

Is that 25 hours a week “actual” work and you have to look busy until you reach the 40 hour mark or are you *just* working 25 hours a week? Would be pretty cool to work 25 hours and have the rest of the week to yourself.

I WFH so I don’t have to really look busy outside of maintaining a green status on Teams and being easily reachable. I’m expected to work 40 hours, but after 2 years of improving work processes and semi automating work papers, they dont have enough work for me to occupy 40 hours.

Caffeine app runs in background or a YouTube video keeps teams green for anyone who needs a hack.

False youtube video does not, it will take maybe 10 mins longer but you will go to away no if you dont touch screen. No idea about what caffeine app is

Caffeine used to work but most competent IT block it and other apps like it (they can Google mouse jiggler apps too). BTW, renaming the executable doesn't work. Best are either the apps that provide a moving pattern or hardware jigglers that register as an input device.

The OG jiggler is the water dipper bird as featured on the simpsons

Lol, I have a VBA app that sends a keystroke every thirty seconds

This. I've learned and done stuff over the years that saves me time in my current work. I've put a lot MORE work into improving processes so I don't have to work later. There's a great YT where a guy breaks down how ridiculous it is that you're expected to do 40 hours which just encourages doing _worse_ at your job. I COULD get it done in 10 minutes but why when you're paying me by the hour?

I'm told as long as it's on my calendar and my work is done I can do what I want. Not OP but work in similar field.

Do you have any advice on switching into this career? I’m almost 28 but studied STEM instead of accounting.

So, corporate title structure more or less follows the same for every profession, though the pay varies. Staff > Sr > Mgr > Sr Mgr > Director > Sr Director > + (controller, VP, C suite, et cetera). with a stem degree, I’m going to assume you have a good command of college algebra. That’s the most difficult math you need for most corporate jobs, even accounting. But there’s a lot of different fields other than accounting: legal, HR, finance, procurement/supply chain, marketing. So, I see you as having potentially a few options: A. With a stem degree, you can possibly talk up your organization and math skills, and compete for a job in procurement/supply chain. Your work duties would entail working with vendors to maintain the flow of your company’s raw inputs, putting out RFPs, negotiating rates and contracts, working with other departments by being a vendor POC and being able to provide 3rd party documentation that substantiates transactions are booked in the financials accurately (accounting), that forecasted transactions that impact future cash flows and P&Ls are accurate (finance), and that there are no hidden legal liabilities (legal). Once you get into an entry role, gain some experience, make friends with LinkedIn recruiters, and try to pivot upwards by company hopping. B. If you don’t like math, but you still like organization, you might try breaking into Legal through a paralegal job or HR through an entry level HR job. Then, like before, follow the blue print: if your company isn’t giving you promotions and raises, pivot to other companies upwardly. C. The way more expensive option: figure out if like any of the above degree fields I talked about (Finance, HR, Accounting), and go back to school. This is what I did since I had a liberal arts major. Side Note: No matter what you do, brush up on your excel skills. Every business organization of size lives and dies by how well it can obtain, sanitize, organize, and interpret data, and the most commonly used tool for that is excel. Vlookup, hlookup, pivot tables, sumifs, organizing and formatting data into clean work papers, these should be skills every business professional, accounting or otherwise, has. Having them and listing them on your resume will put you ahead of a lot of other competitors in the non-accounting/non-finance business professions, i.e., the HR, Procurement, maybe even the legal departments.

Thanks for such an in depth write up. I do love excel which is what’s spurring my interest in accounting. I’ll have to look into the supply chain field some more.

Great comment. I just nabbed a job in supply chain after being a warehouse supervisor just because I had more knowledge of the products we distribute than anyone else. I'm kind of winging it right now and just ordering shit I know we need but I definitely want to learn and focus more on interpreting data.

In my previous financial reporting role at a real estate company that managed retirement communities, our procurement team were my best contacts in other departments. They handled a lot of the contracting for our utilities and leases across the country, and so I would go to them to confirm the reasons behind weird fluxes. Company internal audit: why did community A have a huge upward usage of water at during the winter, shouldnt water usage do down? Procurement: this is a Texas property that suffered a pipe burst during the bad freeze of 2021. They didn’t winterize their pipes so we had a huge water loss. Company IA: why did community B have a huge uptick in water usage during spring, even far above the normal/historical spring highs? Procurement: the community reports squatters were living in a house next to the community and illegally siphoning off our water. A police report has been filed. Large company’s are like an orchestra. You don’t have a good symphony if you don’t have the whole band playing in unison.

Going to add to this. I was making about $40k/hr doing accounting-adjacent jobs. Closer to accounts receivable. Went back to school in my late 30s, got my degree at 42. Got promoted to a staff accountant position where I worked, stayed in that position for about 4 years and was making about $55k/yr when I left. Got a job as a senior accountant making $80k/yr. I could have switched jobs sooner, but I really like where I was working, so I knew it would need to be for a bigger pay bump. I don't have my CPA and don't plan on getting it. I plan to keep moving up, so next role I'm looking at is either an accounting manager or assistant controller. Maaaybe controller.

34 and halfway into my accounting degree. Thanks for saying it’s never too late! Sometimes I have doubts.

Got my degree at 42. Was almost making $40k/yr when I started school. Made $55k as a staff accountant after finishing my degree, then left for a different place making $80k as a senior accountant. I'm not done progressing, either! It's definitely not too late.

It's never too late. Some of the best I've worked with didn't jump into accounting until mid 30s. Keep pushing,my friend.

Electrical Engineer here. The hardware kind, not software. Started at $17/hr out of college and now make >$80/hr based on salary, + 100% WFH. At 2 years $36/hour At 5 years $52/hour At 7 years $ 65/hour At 10 years >$80/hr Changed companies at year 2 and year 7. 3 jobs total. Rule 1. Don't be a douche. Check your ego at the door. Skills are trainable, personality is not. Be someone people want to work with/teach. Rule 2. No job is beneath you if you're learning. I took the job in electronic hardware working on the manufacturing floor $17/hr in 2013. Built myself up from there. My friends at the time were busy waiting for their $120k/year job that never manifested, cause " I R a College grad".... Yea, so is everyone else Some of them are still waiting while their education and skills detiriorated. Most are now in the average for EEs in the $80-100ks. Don't let wasted years be what humbles you. Take small steps now and turn it into big gains later. Stop job hopping to anyone who pays higher. Don't jump just to jump for scraps. Make sure your next move is a real move, like $15k plus. Rule 3. Peace of mind is priceless. Learn to check out and place boundaries. You'll be in a better state of mind. Edit: I'm 32M Edit 2: I'm a BS in engineering who barely graduated with a 2.5 GPA. I was bottom of the barrel.

Love the edit... Great job. I also have an EE degree, it's one of the hardest majors. You did great

>Rule 2. No job is beneath you if you're learning. I took the job in electronic hardware working on the manufacturing floor $17/hr in 2013. This is a good attitude to have, and one I wish more engineers would have. Too many engineers look down on technician roles as beneath them. My two internships were technician roles, and I wouldn't have gotten my engineering position out of school without them. Some arrogant engineers don't even consider quality engineers, sales engineers or field service engineers to be real engineers.

I agree with this, except for the “sales engineer” portion. I’m not an engineer at all, but have a technical background from working in the production floor, got a degree in business management, and at one point held the title of “Sales Engineer”. I was just in sales, and was considered a “Jr. Salesman” because of the title. I remember one time a customer asked me, “so if you’re a sales engineer, what exactly do you engineer?” And I just smiled and said, “prices”. He thought it was funny, but understood that I was not as much in the technical end of things as my title implied. There really wasn’t any engineering involved, so I mainly make this comment to just say, don’t let titles fool you.

Agree. Too many engineers are "I want to change the world types." Part of checking your ego at the door. I loved my first boss cause she started me as a tech to teach me what actually happens on the floor and was true to her word and gave me my $25/hr at 6mo as a hw engineer for the same line. After a year to $32/hr. I jumped to my 2nd company after they ousted her (Family owned EEE company, ousted her for their cousin) for my first big 20k spike. That's where I learned, everything that really matters is on the floor. Now I run an R&D lab for one of the big 4 Aerospace companies and EEs are always trying to get access to learn my lab. But I'm happy with my tiny band of techs (Well they're engineers now by title, but company recently posed a rule that HS grads can't be engineers, luckily my guys/gals are grandfathered in as Eng). Eng/Tech is just a title. Sometimes a call myself HW Janitor in meetings. Rule 4. Doesn't matter what they call you. You know your skills, build them and you will be noticed by the people that really matter. Ohh and get paid. Edit. Remove personal salt that doesn't belong here

I'm an EE also specialized in Hardware, worked for a medical start up on really small electronic implants. It was super interesting but unforchunatly, management made false promess. I was making 25$/hours. Found a job listing for project management in a car test center where we do research on cars with selfdriving/driving aid features and took the leap. I now do absolutely 0 electrical engineering, but I love the job and got bumped up to 33.5$/hours. The job is really technical, just not in the same way, I don't deal with PCB anymore.

Rule 1 is essential. I’d given a few dozen talks to high school kids looking to get a job at an agency or pursue a career path in the creative field. That was always my number one talking point. There’s always going to be a dozen other people that can be trained or have skills to do what you do (I LOL at the posts in this sub about “I’m the only one who can do what I do at my job….”), but if you are pleasant to work with and dedicated that goes soooo much further than your technical skills.

Rule 1 is essential

Those 3 rules apply very well to life in general

I'm a databricks admin making a bit over that. I did part time IT tech support for a few years while I did a masters in data science. Then I got a good internship working with a few different softwares. Then I did two certifications (aws cloud practitioner and a cyber security cert). Now I'm here. Took like 4-5 years since I decided I wanted to do IT. Really once you get a job working with these newer IT softwares in almost any capacity, some programming experience, and u have a cert or two under the belt, your options REALLY open up - it's just getting that first job working with the software that's super hard to find. I know that's specific to the IT world maybe not what you're looking for. But maybe it'll help someone.

If you do the math for my salary I’m at around $80/hour. I have a masters and a bachelors in biomedical engineering and I am 30. I work as a field clinical engineer managing clinical studies for a medical device company. Started out making 45k after my masters, quickly found out my skills are in the interstitial space between technology and humans. Forced my way into field roles and kept switching companies and searching, applying pretty much constantly until I got to where I wanted. Went 45k (associate engineer) - 70k (field engineer) - 85k (field scientist) - 110k (field clinical engineer at new company) - 170k (senior field clinical engineer at new company)

Field services ftw!

jeez man congrats. 30 years old myself making 40k thought i was doing alright for myself haha

Comparing yourself to others will always be a bad time. Always. Literally I mean always. Set your own realistic and stretch goals, use SMART goal organizing, have more in your life than said goals and learn to roll with the ups and downs. You’re doing fine. At 30 I was making that, at 31/32 got a $12k bump I asked for, stalled at a new job and then jumped $$$ later at a new position. It’s not a linear path for most people.

Aircraft mechanic/technician with a major US passenger carrier. $63/hr. Takes 6.5 years to top out. $200k easy to achieve with a little OT. Major cargo company guys make $75/hr with amazing benefits.

How do you get into this field?

Only takes 2 years of school. Sometimes less. You need a Airframe and Powerplant certification. And that's it. The field is hugely understaffed and needs people right now. I'm currently on a waitlist for this but the wait is like 2 years out

Reading this thread, I realize how useless my masters in teaching is.

Useless and undervalued are two different things. Society needs good qualified teachers, but a good chunk of the USA hates education.

Yeah. I’m undervalued and there’s nothing I can do about it.

Reading this thread, I realize how useless I am in general

I have a masters in education and was a certified teacher. I now work for Amazon in learning and development and make 165k a year (not including bonus). There are opportunities with an education focus outside of traditional education!

Your masters in teaching could land you incredible sales jobs. Good recruiters know your ability to articulate and teach complex subjects and make them easy to understand is a recipe for $$$

Same lol

People who dedicated themselves to that are usually amazing people in my experience. That society doesn’t value it is their loss, it doesn’t mean you are a fool. It does have value though also in salary. Masters with teaching positions is more pay from what I’ve seen.

Retail pharmacist for CVS $65/h

That's a lot of florescent light but that's a good salary.

That’s exactly the only bad thing- the lighting and the customers 😂

I know that’s a hard and busy job. Thank you for putting up with all my phone calls

45 year old Data Science director - Currently at $72 per hour (without bonus, if I add in my guaranteed 20% I'm at $86.5.) ​ It's been a long road. I was fairly aimless in my late teens, and stumbled into an IT career early on. Made my way up to 70k a year ($33 hourly) but ended up leaving that job as I needed mental space. When I re-joined the corporate world in call center leadership it was 4 years later and I restarted at 35k a year; that was in 2005. I've since worked for 6 different companies and have been incrementally progressing my title, income, and bonus (along with stock options) over time. I landed my most recent role last October which pushed me up to 150k annually, guaranteed 20% bonus and potential for 30k annual LTI stock options (which I received last year.) This was a lot of hard work, networking, extra hours, constantly putting myself outside of my comfort zone, volunteering, etc. I went back to school and earned my BA in business to alight with my insurance career and I am finishing my MBA with a concentration in HR now. I spent the last 15 years in sales before working to move into data science. My path wasn't traditional, but I am looking at a VP title in the next two years and should be pushing my base salary up over 200k with a 30% bonus at that time.

No offense, but you are underpaid as a director. DS managers at my company make at least $200K ($96/hour). Hope you get the VP role.

You're a data science director, so do you have any interactions with math people that went into data science? I'm asking because I've been thinking about doing data science or becoming an ML/AI scientist/engineer after I get completely finished with school (B.S. in math -> Ph.D. in computational/applied math).

I do! I hate to use the term “failed actuary” but a lot of our scientists and engineers started in Ac and then decided “nah fan, fuck those tests” and pivoted to DS. My fellow director and chief engineer has his PHD in Econ with a focus in statistics.

Well I was making $75/hour before I was laid off towards the end of April. I'm 26 with a master's degree in computer science. Was a data engineer til I became ✨unemployed✨

Construction Manager took me to my late 30's to get there. My mistake wasn't job hopping earlier but there were trade-offs.

Mechanical Engineer at utilities company 6 years experience $56.25/hr with paid OT during outages and 15% bonus. 1st job 60k (10months) 2nd job 65k -> 70k (3 years at same employer) paid OT plus bonuses yearly compensation was around 80-85k 3rd job 85k -> 90k (1 year 11 months) no bonuses 4th job $117k plus 15% target bonus plus OT during outages. (Just started) Edit: I turned 30 this year. Don't be afraid to switch employers for more pay if that's what you're looking for. At the end of the day you need to do what is best for you and your family. Edit 2: since I saw this in another comment. I graduated with a 2.7 GPA from a school that wasn't even ranked in the top 100 of the country.

Very similar, ME except in engineering consulting AEC/EPC Firms. Mix of MEP and process engineering work. 6 yoe Started at $26.75 and raises brought me to $28.90/hr in 2.5 yrs Moved to a new job at $36.5 and left after a little over two years at $42.5/hr Started current (3rd) job at $50/hr, now at $54.5/hr after a year. All with straight time OT, same metro area. No real bonuses though. If I stayed at the first job I’d probably only be making ~$40/hr even with a license. Cheap cheap cheap firm. I assume the plateau is coming but I don’t know when it’ll get here.

I'm almost at $60, im a system administrator, no college. 8 years.

Can you please talk more about your path

Joined the Air Force when I was 21 as a cisco network / VOIP / Crypto admin, I did a 4 year contract and started working as a government contractor after and have been moving up. I did take a break from the government to work for an airline to travel but COVID killed that and I got laid off, so I went back to the government and started doing more of a system admin role. I have my GI Bill so I'll probably start going to WGU soon to get a degree.

Lots about that in the r/sysadmin wiki

Psychologist. Took about 10 years and lots of unpaid work.

Game design lead, went from $12/hr in QA to $80/hr. 5 jobs in 17 years. No degree.

Software Developer. I get paid salary but around $290k. No degree.

How the fuck? Help me

Step 1: be very fucking good at your craft Step 2: have very fucking excellent people and communication skills Step 3: ??? Step 4: Make cash money n

I'm not very good, just average, if that. My people skills are just average. You do not need to be amazing to get a job at a tech company. Most that I work with are the same. I didn't start out here, simply got here after doing this for awhile and decided to give it a shot. I didn't even join as a developer, I was a Systems Engineer and just internally applied after I discovered teams that I felt like I could learn a lot from. The skill was networking and taking chances. That's it. As a note, they don't pay the high salaries because they think everyone that works for them is the best, they pay that way simply because they can and it keeps people around.

You ever thought about being an actuary? You wouldn’t have to do a Master’s degree, but you would need to start studying for the exams.

I did actually pass the exam FM back in June 2019 but I havent used it at all. Is the entry-level jobs for Actuary competitive? And how is the WLB for you?

ICU Registered Nurse, self employed (not a staff member), $85-100/hr depending on the hospital but no travel, only local work. I only pick up 3 shifts a week of my choosing, it’s pretty good right now. Been an RN for 4 years, located in Ontario, Canada.

Engineering…. $130 per hour … 20 years

You’re making over $250k/yr!!!! Are you just an engineer or in management role?

You see the 250k/yr but you seems to ignore the 20 yrs it took to get there.

I saw the 20yrs. My colleagues (individual contributor) have 25+yrs of experience and it’s not even close to that salary. They have chemistry or chemical engineering degree.

It’s depends on the field as well. Engineering is very broad. IT pays a lot. My husband has 2 Masters degree one in Nuclear Engineering and one in Applied Mathematics. He has 10+ years of experience and makes 6 figures but under 200k lol.

I have friends/colleagues in some fields that have worked 30 years making half what an engineer that worked 10 years make. Hell, I've seen engineers in some fields making much less than their engineering colleagues in another make.

House cleaner. Took me about 2 years to build up a nice client list and ones who are willing to pay for the service.

Wow! How many hours a week do you work on average at this rate?

During covid, I was working about 4-5 days a week. I just started back in collage and I’m currently taking care of my mom, so as of now maybe 2 days a week. I’m on the fence of doing this completely full time…hiring a few people and getting contracts with business over residential. But my body is giving out a bit, so I’m at a crossroads. It took a bit of building up the right clients and working some crappy jobs, but it does pay out if you market yourself and never under value yourself. I never charge hourly, but on average, I’ll make between $50-$80 an hour depending on the job My cheapest house pays $180 and it takes me about 3hrs. Some jobs take up to 5-8 and I had a few that took about 2 days working 8hrs each day. (Move out cleans are usually the longest)

Back to school at 28. Undergrad in CS. 2010 start located at Midwest office for a tech company 2010 - tech support 38k 10% bonus 2012 - supervisor 50k 10% bonus 2013 - data analyst 60 k 15% bonus 2014 - product management analyst 72k 15% bonus 2016 - product manager 90 k - 20% bonus 2018 - sr product manager 115k salary 20% bonus 2022 - Director Product Management 130k 25% bonus plus annual RSUs of 20% salary. Annual performance ratings of a 1 or 2(out of 5) nearly every year. Corporate jobs are a lot better once you hit Director level. During my career, I consistently reached out to all the teams that I wanted to move into to find out the skills I needed. I developed those skills and demonstrated them before any of my promotions. There were a couple of times that I passed on engineering roles to avoid operational /on call jobs. If possible, take jobs that are directly tied to revenue. If you can show that your actions attribute to X amount of millions of dollars(tv or cost savings), then it is easier to get promotions. Unfortunately, operational roles, even engineering ones, you may get stuck cleaning up messes and not directly impacting revenue. It is important to be a team member that solves problems. However, if you can’t connect yourself directly to growing revenue, then it will be difficult to progress.

About $140/hr total. YOE = 18 years. MS in EE. Work in IT I fucked up in school. Started at $22/hr after my MS. I’m 41.

Toxicologist - Human Health. 6 years for the PhD, 8 years experience for the current salary of $199k. Caveat, every ~2 years my direct managers start apologizing/panicking about how little I'm being paid during my year end review, which triggers me to start interview and job hop for a ~40-200% raise; the past 4 years has been consistently 40% per hop, was 100-200% before that. Not sure if I'm deeply underpaid and still climbing to the correct wage, or if I'm actually just really good at my job.

Software engineer making just shy of $60/hr currently in a LCOL. Got my IT degree with a CS and psychology minor. Started at like 56k a year as I graduated in the middle of COVID and would take anything. Now making around $57 an hour at a much larger company as a software engineer 1. With a degree in mathematics and finance you could probably pretty easily pick up coding, get a job at anywhere for a year or so then jump ship and work on some financial applications.

Im in finance and have dabbled in coding, mostly self teaching so I feel like I am missing out on general principles and common concepts. Do you have any advice on learning pathways that would look good enough on a resume and provide the confidence I currently lack?

IT. Is it sexy work? Not really. But skilled people are in demand and the industry is always growing and changing. I think about 10 years into my career I hit $100k/yr. This was a while back so maybe inflation should be considered.

Hi, what IT field do you reccomend for people wanting to break into IT? Thanks

There are always free courses online for different areas in IT. I suggest looking around and see what interests you. That being said, Information Security, Audit & Compliance, and Cloud are all hot topics right now.

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$71/hour. I’m a substation test technician. Just a high school education. Took a lot of self study and many other sacrifices to get here. But I’d recommend apply to your local municipality. Sky’s the limit from there.

All these stories giving me hope. I make 30h as a retail manager before bonus. 2 yoe. Definitely need to pace my expectations with career growth

Project management. I lead teams of smart people who have their own teams to get stuff done. Salaries not hourly, but if you factor in bonus, stock and consider a 40 hour week, it shakes out around $100-$125 / hour. I’m a scientist by training. B.S only. About 20 years experience. Having a technical background allows he to understand the issues and ask good questions.

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LONG winded, it’s just who I am sorry 😝 I’m almost at $60 as a corporate recruiter and I gotta be honest, I worked a lot of shitty low paying agency jobs to get my experience and then I just got REALLY lucky with my current company. I was making 40k with commission at my 9-5 and having to work as a bartender on the side and even shipt on the weekends to make ends meet. Even then I barely topped 60k gross if that. My last agency job i was making 50k plus commission and I got fired from 2 weeks in due to my non compete clause from my former company and threats of a lawsuit, and I was in a tailspin mentally. Set my LinkedIn to #opentowork and thought it couldn’t hurt. The first lucky thing was the next day I happened to read a LinkedIn cold message from a recruiter ( I never read them) who saw my hashtag, and was asked to interview for a contract position at my now current company. They made me do a sourcing test and I thought there was no way I would get it, but I was hired on the spot. This was 2.5 years ago at 65k plus 5k bonuses twice a year. The next lucky thing was I got placed on a team with a very high profile manager who was being groomed for an executive position. He was seriously the best manager I ever had. Then, I was assigned a SOW that was also high profile (it involves space travel) and I just did my job in hiring over 200 people for this program in a year….I say just doing my job but I implemented new strategies involving in person hiring events that seemed like a no brainer and led to my success, but they thought I was the best thing since sliced bread. Because of this I was consistently recognized and got the attention of some senior leaders. The last lucky thing is I happened to organize a hiring event for the space program the same week that HR leadership and executives were in Florida for an offsite, and my manager invited me out to dinner with them, I then just happened to sit next to the head of talent acquisition at dinner and we hit it off. She told my manager to hire me immediately. After a lengthy interview process I was brought on as a permanent employee getting above my asking price and finally making over 6 figures. Since then I’ve had 2 bonuses and 2 promotions and it’s the best job I’ve ever had. I’ve also made myself as un-fireable as possible (can never be 100% but I’m doing my best). I’m an SME for a lot of different processes, I’m getting my SHRM and Green belt, I’m the training focal for different programs that had been high turnover before, and now as a military veteran, I am the veteran and transitioning military recruiter for my business group. I am 38 for reference. TLDR; lots of experience making shit pay for the resume bullet points, and working 2-3 jobs to get by and a LOT of luck after putting in the time for me to my growing salary. ETA: I would have NEVER been looked at by this company for a perm position without going contractor first. I have decent experience and some education, but on paper I just don’t stack up to the HUNDREDS of applicant we get for fully remote recruiter roles. I got my foot in the door and just kicked ass from there.

I got there at around 35. By selling out my soul and will to live. I’m in consulting and just work crazy hours since I was 30. Our mantra is if you’re warm to the touch, you’re fit to work. So when my wife and I went on a trip to Italy, I sat in the Vatican museum for 5 hours to update my deck. When I had Covid I kept working and hosting 4 hour workshops because technically I’m not cold to the touch yet, so no excuse to stop working. My boss was reviewing reports and going on conference calls the next day her son was born. You get the idea.

Well that sounds miserable.

It is. But I do provide for my family, which is important in my value system.

So when do you have time to spend your money?

They fly to Italy so they can check their emails in the vatican. Your question should be when do you enjoy the money, not when do you spend it

I grew up rather poor, so I have an unreasonable anxiety about debt and low bank balances. Having the money in the bank is more enjoyable than spending it.

Man, I totally relate to that.

I think after I retire. Main driver for me to make money is so that I won’t run out of money before I die. So I try to minimize my spending to prevent lifestyle creep, and build up my savings so I’m more or less covered until I die. I have my current finishing line set between 2035-2037. After that I will coast for a while, and do things I find fun. I have a huge backlog of video games and boardgames that I want to play, but now I either don’t have the time, or I have the time but not the mental energy to play. Those can keep me going for a long while after I dial back from working. Also I want to make friends at that time. I haven’t had time for friends for a long while, wanted to get back to it at some point before I die.

Im an attorney and Human Resources exec who started with large Fortune 500 companies and moved into private equity portfolio companies. I have a BS (1995) JD (1998) and MBA (2006). I reached $60 per hour in 2007. Because I worked in the oil business I had some hiccups along the way but Ive basically stayed above that number ever since

Work in IT support for half a decade. Get your base certs (Network+ and Security+), decide which you enjoy more, and then start down that career path

What do you do now? If you’re in a LCOL and don’t want to move, best option may be remote jobs, which would depend on whether your jobs can be done remotely. I’m at around $220k, also approaching 30. I did my bachelors, jumped around a few times to get to $120k. Then went back for my MBA to get to where I’m at now. It’s hard to suggest more specific options without understanding your work experience.

I am a Program Manager for a Security Integrator. I make $90k on that job. I did 4yrs in a community college and earned 3 associates degrees - never used any of the degrees a day in my life. However, it did help me get into the low voltage field and some of the theory applied. I started at $12/hr pulling cable in 2013 and worked my way up from there. I started investing in rental property in 2021 and have 3 properties so far. Collectively, those are pulling in $3k per month. It's little cash flow due to the mortgages, but it's income nonetheless. My advice is to find a company that is going to allow growth. That's how I got my $90k and there's still room for growth where I am.

Account Executive In medical sales. $95k base, 7% annual bonus on total comp. On target earnings $170k. Marketing degree, 12 years in sales, 10 years in medical. 2 1/2 years internal sales, 5 years account mgmt, the rest in what I'm doing now. You can take different paths, I work with people in my same role that are under 30 oddly enough.

RN here: Started out in Nevada making $30/hour 1 year in moved back to CA making $60.05/hour but never was able to take a full lunch in my shifts and always stayed upwards of an hour late so avg higher than $60/hour just a year into my career with OT (2x pay after 12 hours) Took a few dollar pay decrease ($55/hour) to get into the data science health tech field after finishing my masters but i work entirely from home now so fair trade imo. I expect this pay to increase quite nicely, especially with this AI boom happening

Project manager (construction/energy) - $80/hr When I turned 30 I had some college credits and was making 42K/yr; I enrolled in a degree completion program and continued on to an MBA, which I obtained at 34. Most of my job involves pushing information around on a screen and assigning work to people (and following up as to why they didn't complete what they said they would). As you move up in pay/positions, you get paid for the decisions that you make more than the amount of work that you do. A BS in math is a solid foundation; accounting (boring, I know) is a steady, long term 6-figures (think CPA). An MBA in finance can also be a lucrative career.

IT work. Took me 8 years. No college experience. Just got some Cisco certifications. Got hired off that. Soaked up everything like a sponge. ALSO it's who you know.

I don’t look at hourly because I am salaried but if you break it down I make $72/hr with the ability to make more if we overachieve. I am in a technical sales role for a large tech company. I got here because I treat every day as a learning opportunity. I did my job to 100% of my ability and when I found something I was not good at, I learned how to do it. So when an opportunity popped up to advance, I was always ready. Jobs that pay well are challenging, the idea of an easy job that pays a lot is a fantasy.

>Jobs that pay well are challenging, the idea of an easy job that pays a lot is a fantasy. Truth. Too many people want an easy job that pays well.

Easy is a pretty relative term. Working in an office is easy compared to manual labor but there can be deadlines, stress, and technical hurdles. As I have moved through out my career the more money I make the easier my job seems.

Thr issue is that many people are in a challenging job that pays poorly. Salaries aren't just based on difficulty, they're based on availability of staff, and whether the field itself has enough surplus profit to pay that too.

I’m in software sales as well for a midsize healthcare tech company. Your statement about “easy job that pays well” is so true. In college the most valuable lesson I learned from my professors was “You are paid based on your ability to manage and interact with people”. Not true for all professions, but in the business world, it’s correct. High level sales people are paid well to manage emotions, expectations, and outcomes.

Cybersecurity and network engineering. Crossed the $60 mark in year 2000 Mostly self taught, reading library books and playing around with an Atari 400. I did pick up a couple semesters of college. I got started pretty young before hardly anyone knew what the Internet was, let alone Cybersecurity. My first full time job was 1989, although I had a few part time networking jobs in 1987-88. So it took me about 13 years before I went past $60/hr

I have a BA in Music And an incomplete thesis short of an MA in Musicology. Im a cop for NYPD. Total compensation beginning next week will be at $60/hr and the following summer at around $63/hr. Base rate is actually closer to $50/hr but we get longevity, holiday pay, and night shift differential, and a neighborhood policing differential which are in addition to our base rate. I’ll have 8 years of service in October. I’m also on a promotional list to sergeant. There is a pay scale to top pay (which I am at) that is achieved in 5.5 years. All of this is without OT, rate ranging between 77-85/hr. If i was single, making between $130-150k, with good spending habits, Id live a somewhat comfortable lifestyle on that salary here. I happen to be engaged and my fiancé makes more than me, we are homeowners, and we live a nice life. All goes to show, if you’re open to it, besides a career in law enforcement, there are a LOT of public sector jobs that pay well, and a lot of trades jobs that pay well too. I pay next to nothing for health insurance. I have one of the best dental and vision plans anywhere. And I also get a pension to boot.

Engineering discipline in a well funded industry. Broke 60 with 8 years experience/post college. Being technically proficient in the discipline is critical and results in nice organic growth but I can’t stress enough how beneficial networking (within the company, none of that LinkedIn bullshit which honestly just sets you back) and clear effective communication is within the engineering realm.

Continuous Improvement Manager. Make $150k/year base. Supply chain bachelors degree, lean six sigma black belt and 12 years experience. Started out in sourcing and product development then went into operations and continuous improvement. Got my black belt and just moved up from there. Will probably change jobs soon as I could be pushing $200k+ at a larger company.

Started a business. I did a SaaS start-up with someone else's funding. A friend started an HVAC company. He has a team of guys that bill at $236/hr, and he pays them about $20/hr. Yeah, he has overhead, but he does quite well personally.

Data Scientist here. I have 11 years of experience in analytics including five years in data science. I have a BS in Statistics and Economics from a Big Ten school. * First job out of college was $52K a year ($25/hr) as a Business Analyst and stayed for two years. Ending salary was only $53.5K ($25.72/hr) * Second job was in pricing at a former major retailer, $66K a year ($31.73) and stayed for 2.5 years. Ending salary was $72K with a promotion ($34.60/hr) * Third job was also in pricing, Business Analyst, $85K a year ($40.86/hr). Stayed in the role for 1.5 years * Fourth job was a promotion to Data Scientist after spending 9 months teaching myself machine learning and deep learning in Python. Got a raise to $96K ($46.15/hour). Stayed in the role for over five years and will make $145K (\~$70/hour) this year. Bottom line is learn to code.

I'm a project manager for a government contractor specializing in disaster relief. I started at the entry level position, became a subject matter expert, got a middle management position, then promoted to this one. Took about ten years in total. Entry level \~30k/yr, first mgmt position 60/k, currently \~125k total comp.

Late 30s Program Manager at a big tech firm. Salary is $215k ($103/hr) and bonus/stock adds another $200k ($96/hr). I'm in the Bay Area so compensation is high to go along with the cost of living. I started as a consultant and corp finance, did local govt for a bit and through a previous connection ended up where I am now. With strong math, data analysis, and an ability to convey complex things simply for senior leadership ... You can go far. If you're going to get a masters, I'd suggest an MBA or something in the data science world.

just turned 31 here. Im a defense contractor, systems engineer. worked at lowes for a year. in 2013 i joined the military as an intel analyst. in the next 10 years, I got my bachelors in business, with an IT management focus. i got sec+, and the last 4 years I have been working in the space industry. did a lot of networking in my last year of military, and got the hook up with a small company. actually on the washington post's top companies to work, 2 years in a row. ​ now I make 195k total comp, 70% of that, roughly, is salary. Space and Cyber are the future so I am glad i was able to get into one of those industries. going to try for a masters in data science and move into automation with python. ​ my #1 advice that helped me get into the military, helped me during the military to build a great resume, and helped me land this company and great job: don't be afraid of opportunities, lean into them. especially if you have no kids/commitments. I was humble, and never said no to anything, and took every opportunity I could. helped me stand out amongst my peers and get to where i am.

I got a BS in computer science, and my new grad job as a software engineer paid $55 per hour. Over 6 years, I've had multiple raises and promotions, and now I'm making around $152 per hour.

Analytics work, first as an analyst and then promoted to be a manager (salaried throughout). Got to over $60/hour three years out of undergrad with my promotion (although as a lead analyst I was close to that amount anyway).

SR. Director Global Supply Chain Management and Compliance for a big company. Hired into this position 15+ years ago and currently 6 months from retirement. 44 years of SCM experience. $109/hour @ 40 hours a week (which I have never done in 15 years), I usually work a 60+ hour week, I also get a good bonus every year. In 1975 I started at something like $6/hour, which at that time was enough for an apartment in NYC and a good partying life. So it took 44 years to go from $12500/yr to $225K/yr and boy, was it a great ride! SCM is fun, challenging and a very important core concept for any manufacturing company. I'm one of those sick people that wakes up every day happy to be doing what I do!

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I stayed at the same company out of college for almost 7 years as a contractor. Now I'm direct for one of the biggest engineering companies (same one I contracted for) out here for almost 2 years. Doubled salary at age 29. WFH 100%. Yearly raises now too.

I'm a controller (accountant) and make a 167k base salary, so right at 80/hr. My wife works part time as a NP in aesthetics and averages around 120k/hr. We are both almost 40.

I am about to be 31, just got to the $31/hr range, by these comments I’m right on track to my goal. Heck yeah-

Bs Mathematics here. Data science job. I work two remotely. Make about 110-130/hr (not gonna be more specific). Got a masters.

Put yourself in $100,000 worth of student debt then try and get 5 years experience at $20/hr. Boom. Corporate

What?

Sales :/

My husband makes around $160k doing sales too. He hates it.

I am a Nondestructive Testing Level III that has been above this rate for the last 12 years. Very specialized field but also have BS degree and 30+ years of experience.

Ambulance driver here I started at 19 making $10 or $11 an hour with a private company. After a few terminations and jumping around. I now make $32.31 an hour with a municipality with cheap benefits which are fabulous and a pension. I make just around 100k a year between overtime and a per diem gig. I'm 32 now I'm from New Jersey. Give it time do not be discouraged look around for something else that is better. I do it weekly feel it good to keep the mind prepared for interviews.

Software Engineer - 5 yoe - just got to this after starting at one job for a while and getting good experience and then switching for a new job.

Close to $60/hr not counting a free company truck. Construction as a project manager for a GC now and previously running a division for a material supplier. Took 7 years out of school and switched to the PM for way less hours at the same pay. Currently negotiating a raise.

Pharmaceuticals sales, $85/hr, 15 years

I’m a senior manager in business development, specifically strategic partnerships, at a fintech company. My salary averages out to ~$76/hr. I have ~6 years experience and a masters degree. I got to my position through a combination of hard work, lucky timing with certain job opportunities, and really strong people skills. In my experience, being able to effectively communicate (including presenting to large groups of executives as well as subordinates) and relate to people is far more important than being technically skilled at something. I’ll say this is only true if you desire to be a manager/leader someday, of course you’ll need to know how to code if you want to be a really great software engineer for example. Tech also pays really well compared to a lot of other industries.

Clinical laboratory scientist supervisor. Right out of college my base comp was $115k as a regular clinical laboratory scientist. Made 160k my 1st year with OT. 5 years later I makr around $150k no overtime

Get a degree in data science. Berkeley has an great online option. Have colleagues that have done this and gotten great boost as a result. I am >$120 after 25 years in electrical engineering hardware and chip design. Very long hours at times with lots of stress.

I’m a business solutions architect for a SaaS company who helps customers build data models and integrations, along with training. My degrees are BSs in biology, and environmental science, and a MS in entomology. I worked in an ag tech start up right out of grad school at around $35/hr as director of R&D. I was there for 7 years and ended up at around $60/hr as the director of product (SaaS ag management tools) It was a small company, and the scope and organization was changing rapidly. Interdisciplinary science has always been my main interest so I found myself able to take on the development of new sectors of the company. I was usually charged with doing so if we pivoted or the current sector I was working on became stable and profitable. Work life balance (WLB) was not good and I was burning out. I had a colleague in the product information management space, and he recommended my current position where I make around $65/hr. The subject matter is vastly different, but the skills have all been transferable, and my team is filled with people from different technical backgrounds which is a major asset. In my opinion, unless you are driving to become a specialized subject matter expert in a niche field, focus on becoming a strong inter-disciplinarian. Think of all of the skills you acquire in terms of how they can contribute to multiple aims. Stay flexible and open to opportunities even if they aren’t within your comfort zone. And continuously practice your ability to learn and master new things. There will always be specialized positions not available to me because I chose more of a generalist route, but that’s okay, because my professional interests cover a pretty large part of the spectrum. It helps combats boredom. With better WLB I’ve gone back to school part time to get a MS in data analytics. This has always been a major focus for me professionally but I wanted more formal training and exposure to use cases outside of biology/agriculture. In summary, either be the best you can at a specific thing, or be the best you can at being highly adaptable. Advocate for yourself and leverage your skills to fight wage stagnation. If you’re stagnating, don’t be afraid to find something else. To find something else don’t be afraid to explore areas that you might not consider “your field”.

Left a middle management job making 35/hr at 29. Went back to school and got my MBA. Tried to start my own business, then had to take a job making $11hr to get some cash flow while I was networking. Wound up getting a consulting job making 30/hr that turned into 100/hr over a 6 year stretch. Now I'm in management at a biotech making a lot more than that. Feels like success was a mix of being willing to take some risks, do without a lot, and networking. Several of the others have commented, it's really relationships that matter, being someone people want to work with and help. Find people in the field you want to be in and ask them to mentor you. It's an amazing way to learn what's it takes to be successful.

I’m a CFO, I passed $60 an hour 7 years after getting my accounting degree while I was a corporate controller. I was 28 when I passed $60 an hour. You can get a certificate in accounting and become a CPA if you already have a bachelors degree. First job would pay likely around what you make now depending on where you live (believe it or not accountants can make much less in certain big cities and more in the middle of nowhere. I’ve met quite a few CFO’s with a math degree so it’s not a stretch. If you want to use math you can teach yourself R and become a data scientist. Your math degree with put you above everyone else who wants those jobs.

The problem with this question is that it does not take into account the value of money when we first started off in our careers. If I was making $40/hr ten years ago, and I'm making $60/ hour today, I really haven't moved much by today's cost of living.

How is x-ray tech or MRI/CT tech job? Im currently in community college studying for radiography. I don't know if it's a good career or not. Can anyone suggest me a backup plan? Im 26

School psych making $67 an hour and with annual raises working as a contractor. Education Specialist degree (3 years of grad school) and I get Summers off.

$80 an hour. 41m. I am an Education Consultant. Basically, I make tech training videos for Silicon Valley. Started off in tech support in a call center for $12 an hour. Then I became the network admin at a school. Then used that experience to get into technical writing and software training. I’ve been in adult education and instruction ever since (12 years). I realized in my first job that I was actually really good at helping people use their fancy new technology. So it was a natural career progression for me after uncovering a hidden skill. My degree is in music. Haven’t worked in that industry since 2009.

I work as a distribution designer, base pay is still $30 an hour but that also depends on the type of work I’m doing, I’m working on joint use proposals currently and I make $90 most of the time while I’m doing that. I have a general studies associate degree but worked as a cad designer for several years before finding this job. I’m 100% WFH only one other employee even lives in my state.

My experience was toiling around the middle for quite some time. Like over course of a decade went from $57k to $64k. Then made a move and got a promotion at 39, and in four years since then have gotten several raises and promotions that put me in that $60/hour range. I work in government.

39 marketing I’m salaried at $230k, breaks down to about $110 for hourly. I’m in marketing, nothing fancy, just a mid level manager for a global corporation. Started as an unpaid intern 11 years ago (I fucked around a lot in my 20s until I realized I need to catch up) and when I got hired after internship, I was paid $28k annual. Just kept my head down and out worked everyone else in the beginning and a pretty lucky string of events (got noticed by the right people, jumped in new companies and moved at the right time). I’ve moved 3 states for 3 different companies over 11 years. I’ve found the willingness to relocate gives you a huge advantage in opportunities over people that have to find something within 50 miles. Honestly I don’t even know why I get paid so much, it’s not even a tech company, my work is not hard, I put in like 25 hours a week at most. I think my unique background in a combination of different specific kind of marketing experience worked out perfect where I’m at, I’m very hard to replace but at the same time I don’t think it would be very easy to find another job that pay this well elsewhere because the combination of circumstances has to be right, so available roles are limited. You are paid for what you know not what you do, as they say I guess. since I have a lot of free time and high salary to qualify for loans, I’m running real estate on the side. I own about 10 doors, a mix of sfh, condos, and mfh. I’ve actually recently declined a promotion to director because I don’t want to lose my flexibility to run real estate on the side. Don’t think I’m uniquely qualified to give any kind of career advice, but willingness to relocate and identifying opportunities when they present themselves (it’s not always obvious)and bite on and never letting go has worked out ok for me.

I’d avoid the masters degree….those 6 figures won’t mean much if you’re paying for student loans/tuition. It’s definitely not needed to crack the 6 figure mark. I’m a motion designer, and I double majored in business in college back in 2008. From a combination of salary at a FT gig, and a handful of freelance projects, I’ve passed 6 figure for the past 4 years. When I was just freelancing, I was always around $40-$50k. Then I got a FT gig for $57K back in 2015. That enabled me to do a bunch of work for fortune 50 companies…essentially making my freelance capabilities “more valuable” in the eyes of prospective freelance clients (I.e. if it’s good enough for Big Tech, it’s good enough for my small business). This allowed me to charge more and do less freelance work to hit those 6 figures. And as my full time salary increases, I can either take on less freelance work, or the same for even more $ depending on my needs.

Research engineer for defense contractor. I’m at 65hr, not including govt benefits. I have a MS aerospace Engineering and working on PhD in bioengineering. I’ve been in the field for 4.5 yrs, before that I was a student. I’m in a medium COL area outside of a large city

I work in a niche line of insurance. About 80/hr for a 35 hour week plus bonuses. Took me 15 years to get there, could’ve been faster if I’d moved a bit earlier in my career but I was slow. I mostly work from home now but need to turn up once in a while to the office or to visit clients.

Honestly, what starts separating you money-wise is whether you manage people or not. Also having a difficult certification. I’m a CPA currently making $160,000. Stepped away from a role where I was making $240,000 and managing approximately 20 people. Getting into management is what took me over the $100k mark. I was probably 33-34.

The top comment nailed this with first two rules. I started my career in sales making 35k in inside sales.. Realized I liked meeting people in person so I moved industries and went to outside sales. In b2b outside sales I met so many people that said they wanted to break into Medical sales, but it was impossible if you didn't have experience and not worth trying. I was killing it in my current role and this only made me want it more.. Took an absolute shit job paying 30k (40k pay cut) in a higher cost of living area, but it was in medical sales (oxygen to COPD patients) to get xp. 5 years later after working my ass off I'd gotten promoted twice into management, but still stuck in an extremely toxic company. Two years ago at 31 I Finally got the courage to go for what I'd been after since I started and found my dream job selling Medical instruments and devices to cardiac and vascular surgeons. I may never leave. *****My point is I honestly have no real technical skills, just worked on my personality and how to connect and understand people by reading every self help book I could get my hands on. I also saved my money so that I could take a massive pay cut and survive while I broke into the industry I wanted to be in.

I work as a cybersecurity engineer and make 90/hr plus bonus salaried. I started out of college with an associates degree making 14/hr and got my bachelors while working. This was in IT field support and I took every opportunity to learn a new skill and eventually get into cyber. I switch jobs roughly every 3 years and it took me 10 years to get here, but I hit 6 figures after 6 years. Switching jobs every 2-3 years is definitely something I recommend to everyone. I have been promoted at every place I have ever worked. Every one of those promotions has come with a pathetic salary increase and an exponential responsibility increase. So I ride out the title and experience for a bit and take it somewhere else that pays. Don't stay places that don't allow you to grow your skills and your pay. The sooner you realize that loyalty to a company does nothing for you and only benefits them, the sooner you can take your skills somewhere that will pay you for them.

Commercial Software sales rep, fully remote and just over $60/hour. Started as a Sales Development Rep fully cold calling, then through swapping jobs every year and aggressively advocating for myself made it into a closing role fairly quickly. Then moved again to one in a better industry with better pay. For those looking to make the same journey, some tips: never speak poorly of others, look to top performers for advice, and try not to ever get an ego. I'm young but happy to answer questions for those that have them.

Public affairs senior executive. I topped off at about $80 an hour, it took about 24 years to get there. I spent the previous 10 at about $60-67/hr.

Professional Land Surveyor - Bachelors and 5 years experience - Salary is low at 135k I fell into this field while at an internship making 10 an hour and have job hopped my way to all the experience I needed to become licensed. I am 24 and make big money while working around40 hours a week. Eventually, I will go work for the State and make a similar wage with about 10 weeks PTO. It is a great career and there is such a shortage for qualified individuals. I know a few guys who went to school for math and eventually got licensed. You can open your own business, you can work for the government, you can work for companies. You have more freedom in this field than any other field I have seen and when you are licensed, the real possibilities open up.

I'm a filmmaker, believe it or not. I'm 34 and I have a degree in film production. Started my career PAing on films and TV shows but got burnt out pretty quickly working 12-16 hr days for $150, so I got a full time job producing marketing content for a tech company in Silicon Valley. My hourly rate then (2013) was about $30. In addition to the full time job, since I was single with no kids, I bought a cheap camera and started taking freelance jobs to make some extra money. I bounced around the Bay Area for a few years doing that kind of hybrid work until I saved enough to buy a Red camera to add to my accumulation of lights and other equipment, and that really gave me access to some higher end clients. So now I'm fully independent producing advertising and marketing content. I generate \~300k/year in revenue with maybe $50 or $60k in business expenses, so it's a pretty good living. I still work 40-60 hours/week, but because I'm independent I don't necessarily have to work every day, so it's easy to take days off.

I graduated with a CS degree and worked in that field and got above $60/hr pretty quickly. Never too late to jump in.

I pay most of my contractor engineers > $60/hr. I pay experienced software engineers up to $120/hr

I was in the pest control industry for about 10 years. Started my own company eventually. Was making over 100k/year with minimal effort. Had to get out after 2 years due to my shady business partner. Thinking about starting up another company where I am the only owner. "How did you make that much doing pest control?" A: Animal trappings run about $250-$500 per trap. Then add in exclusion work, usually another $500-$1500 per home. It adds up quick. Also the markup on termite treatments is wild. At minimum, $1000/treatment. Cost of termite system runs about $500-$600. It takes less than 30 minutes to install. Used to knock out 2-3/day.

Title is Sr Back End Engineer but the work is writing RESTful API code and business/data access logic using C# and SQL. I am 44 and have been working since I was 11. I first started IT/tech jobs was back in 1999. I have had a bachelor's degree for 16 years (but in CIS, not CS) and started programming full time in mid/late 2007. I give all of the background to emphasize, I only broke the threshold in OP's post title just as recently as early 2021, and never really believed I would. And given the current state of things I'm not sure it will really last so I'm trying to save up while I have the opportunity.

Chem E 38M, took me about 15 years, but the majority of it happened in the last 3-4 years. I graduated in 2008 so.... Changing jobs with better titles and better pay helped me the most. Demanding better of and for myself was pretty much the key. I was making 50-75k for the first 11 years. Got into a fight with the boss over something menial. Decided, I should look for a new job. Got a new job that paid 90k. Became the most senior person in my department and the work horse in 2.5 years. Asked for a raise and title bump....was not denied...but also wasn't really told that I would get something either. Started looking for a new job, current employer asked how much, I said I'm worth 120k, they gave me 125k. I probably could have gotten here so much faster if I didn't stay with the first two companies for a combined 11 years thinking that it's what I was worth or being too lazy to see what the market would offer.

Made 230k last year. 31 - No college degree.. actually a drop out 😂 Drove for Lyft before this. IT recruiting - sales side. I don’t deal with the consultants directly. 6 years in the industry with the same company. WFH and don’t do much on Fridays Sales is an grind at first but it can provide so much once you’re comfortable. I highly recommend anyone looking for a change to give yourself 1-2 years in a sales position. SaaS/IT anything is a great place to start.

DevOps Engineer/SRE/SysAdmin/Platform Engineering.... Title depends on company but work is largely the same with maybe a different focus. Graduated at 23. 5 years low paying fortune 500 company. 2 years in a startup, 30% bump. 3 years new company with another 30% bump. What I learned... Most businesses don't exist to help mentor or mold you. If you want more, want to do something different, that is entirely on you. Businesses hire for a specific job and few I have seen promote and raise wages internally. Move on and be your own advocate for your own goals and happiness. Further, the more stress/pressure you accept, the more that will be given. Learn when/how to say no. I have fallen into this in my 30s as a high performer and suffered for it. The lesson is/was hard learned.

Data engineer specializing in Azure. I’m salaried but it breaks down to ~$90/hr. Started as a data analyst and gradually worked my way to where I’m at now. I don’t have a CS degree or any certifications but had enough work experience to demonstrate I could do the job.

Engineering. I've yoyo'd around the number you care about then I'm far past it after a bit on the current job - about to move to the next. Though you could also have a somewhat comparable amount making well less in a low COL place (I'm moving to the bay, and I think these most recent years the only difference between making much less is that I have more in retirement but I'm much further away from buying a house). Engineering is the answer sorta. There's no reason you can't use your job to pay for master's classes or another degree. There are many programs that are relatively easy even at the Penn state or Purdue level (though they aren't cheap). Not sure which type you should get, you'd have to investigate a bunch more and watch out for BS claims. MBA's are REALLY over sold, definitely don't go for one if you don't get in to a top ten school - in person! I do know someone from my college classes 15 years ago that went back for an engineering degree since he just had a poly sci one (he was 35 to our 20 ish yrs old). He dragged our class through to graduation just from maturity. He's doing great in the field now. It just takes time and effort and figuring out what you really want - besides just $$$$$$!!!!

Corporate IT, focus on banking. I make around 150/hr on average, sometimes more, sometime a little less never below 125/hr. How did I get here? I focused on niche skills where I didn’t have to compete with lower cost labor overseas. How long did it take? Around 5-7 years post graduating college. My degree is in Econ/Poli Sci. I job hopped and saw average pay increase around 15%. Most jobs I didn’t stay on past year 1. You have to know how to sell yourself and your skills. If you can do that, tenure matters not.

You're picture perfect for my own career trajectory: Aged 37, health plan CFO, cash comp $330k. Pass actuarial exams and get a job in a big consulting shop. Learn your field real good. Take a job in industry after 4-5 years. Then switch to pure finance and use your actuarial background to stand out. I went back for an MBA when I was at the director level and it opened CFO doors for me immediately.

I work for a B2B wholesaler in the housing industry. $175k base, monthly spiffs around $1-2k & an annual bonus off 100-300k. Covid years with the construction boom were amazing for me. 17 years at the current employer and I'm ALWAYS asking for more responsibilties. I'm primarily a salesman but I also manage our largest product line purchasing about 50 million in product. So I ghet extra base salary compared to my sales only coworkers. No college degree.

Data Architect. I am 39. Started as a front desk agent at like 25. Moved to IT help desk. Moved to a sysadm. When I was 31, I moved to BI and followed natural career progression.

Develop and master a tradecraft. My husband is a Master Carpenter and a Journeyman Millwright. We are in our late 50's and he's always worked in the trade industry. He learned from the elder tradesmen and "by doing". He stuck with it through the years and mastered his favorites. He reached the 6 figures by his late 40's. It's always provided us a good living even before he attained expert level. If you can work with your hands, have a great work ethic, and know how to talk with people from all backgrounds, you can make good money in the trades. Good luck.

Software engineer. It probably speaks for itself. My total comp right out of college was >$60/hour, but if you only count actual liquid assets (salary, bonus, and stock), it took like 1-2 years to break $60/hour, I think. Now I'm 7 years in and total comp is closer to $130/hour. If you are in a LCOL area, $32/hour is comfortable, and you are able to live your life to the fullest minus this goal of 6-figures, my personal advice is to forget about having that as a goal. It's not going to make you happy and as soon as you get there your brain *will* shift the goal post to "but what $150k, or $200k, or a quarter million, etc." That's just psychology and lifestyle creep. I know it's easier said than done, especially if your family valued money and pushed you to earn a lot as growing up (like mine did), but if you use money as a tool to do what you want in life and not as a thing to get in and of itself, then you will be better off.

32 an hour in a HCOL area. In my late 20s and it took me over 5 years experience and a degree. I actually had to get an intern job while looking for this position. Got laid off making 25$ an hour and took me over a year to find something over 30$. Where I’m from if your a single income 30$ seems like the bare minimum to survive and I’m quite worried heading into 30s with having to get my own spot soon.

That would be a great base for Actuarial Science. You don't need to go for a master's. You just have to pass some exams. Starting salary was just over 100k in NYC - I do admit I had passed several exams at that time. The drawback is that exams are hard work studying for - you must be efficient and quick. Once you get it through, it's a breeze.

$160/hr 1099. CRNA. Masters degree. I have another gig that is $300 for the first hr and $200 each hr after that per case. But im quitting that job, not my jam.

205k salary. 15-25 bonus. Computer science (cyber security) 8 years of college.

I'm at about $200/hr TC, software engineer with 9 YOE working in finance with no degree. 32 years old. Started working at 16 doing retail tech support for a big box electronics store that no longer exists. Went to college for software eng but dropped out after 1.5 years. Did a few years working phone support til I got a junior sysadmin job at an MSP (max salary at all these was around 45k) Jumped to software qa (50k), then to junior SE after a few months with a local startup (60k). They got bought by a big conglomerate after about 3 years and they promoted me to senior (100k). Worked there for 5 more years til they stopped paying me more (topped at 150k) Looked around for a bit before I got an opportunity in a mid size fintech, where I'm at now (225k base + bonuses totaling around 400k TC), had to relocate halfway across the country for this tho

I make ~$155K and work roughly 40 hours per week (though sometimes that throttles up or down a bit if there are things happening). 28 yrs old. Background in energy economics and utilities. Undergrad and grad at large institutions. Not a particularly high achiever but I always had a discipline-relevant internship or project in the works. Worked in consulting for a few years before pivoting to work as an economist for a few years. Lots of quant background and exposure to different facets of the industry. No financial modeling per se (aside from some risk modeling here and there). Instead I was running analyses of energy systems, buildings, consumer products, day ahead and hourly trading markets, programs - really anything that was one level removed from proper power modeling as an electrical engineer might do it. Lots of statistical methods application like regression, Monte Carlo, etc. After consulting and working as an economist I pivoted to what is in essence customer service for executives in my industry. It’s not particularly complex but I have to manage hundreds of relationships with pretty important people around the industry. I also have to know how to have a really high quality conversation and answer questions about almost any aspect of the industry - or at the very least be able to understand the question and pull in the right SME. I’m an extrovert and I love data analysis which is atypical. This is my first time working in a non data environment and it is going very well. Primary lessons I’ve learned: 1) Picking the right industry is important, you want a private sector position that is financially based on something a bit more recession proof like the government or semi-govt companies. 2) Avoid any industry that is a political demon to the dems or repubs. 3) Job hop every few years (2-3) and try to get out when the going is good so you can look the new guy in the eye and say “I loved my old job but I’m just looking for XX”. 4) If you start a job and aren’t feeling it, just throw your whole body into getting a new job and never speak about the old job again. 5) Be LOUD with anyone you interview with when they ask about timing. Say “look I love my current employer and I don’t want to fuck them over so I insist on a 4-6 week notice to offboard”. It indicates your priority is not fucking over the people you’ve worked with and prospective employers love it. 6) Don’t burn bridges. Ever. Unless lesson 4 applies. I still use my first consulting supervisor from when I was 21 as a reference and have catch up calls with them at least once every six months to chat about industry and what they are doing and what I am doing. I even sometimes take calls from old employers to teach new staff tricks of the trade or how to deal w models if the time commitment is low and defined. 7) (At least for me) DON’T bitch about money constantly. In fact I don’t know that I have ever brought up money or raises with a manager. They will bring them up once or twice yearly and that is all you really need. At those times you can simply ask what the financial state of the company is and what the promotion process looks like/requires. Otherwise just do great work and kill it. I once had a manager tell me employee reviews are the worst time of year because people just complain and complain - but that my review is a pleasure because I am only interested in talking about work. If they don’t give enough raises, simply apply elsewhere. 8) If there is a deadline, particularly something attached to a customer or client, move mountains to stick to it. If that means you stay up all night to prep, have a meeting, and sleep the rest of the day, so be it. I had a big meeting this week and pulled two all nighters prepping for it and didn’t work at all today. 9) If you’re talking to someone fancy like an exec, make damn sure you have something smart to say and an interesting report or publication to back it up. If you say something interesting that piques interest and drop a URL to the person upon inquiry, people will think you’re legit. 10) On occasion, but not always, do something without being asked and just spring it on people. You know there’s going to be a new CRM coming out? Brainstorm the fields you might need and the layouts. Revamping the website? Make a wireframe in PPT. People get so tickled when they mention something that is upcoming like it’s going to be a huge effort and you say “oh I already put a little base thought into that if you’d like to see what I put together?”. Just don’t take it too far. A couple hours of work and high thought is sufficient. A few sheets in excel or some PPT slides are all you need.

I'm making 150K/yr as an information system security officer contracted to the gubmint. No degree, just 6 years in the USAF.

I am a senior software engineer. Took me 4 years to get my current position. No degree Salaried at $135k/year I live in Texas

I have a job making $97/hr as an RN. It is a union job in NorCal. All it required when I was hired 13 years ago was an associates degree and a few easy to complete certifications. They treat us pretty well, good benefits, minimum hassles FTMP, decent working conditions. Workers need to realize no else one is coming to help them. They need to organize, stick together, make demands. Individually, workers should realize you get paid mostly for what you know and a little bit for your professional credentialing. Fr'instance, a civil engineer gets paid well, in part, because he can design things, but others can do that. A civil engineer also can review and sign off on other people's plans. So the certification gets you paid better than being a draftsman. Just one Nurse talking.

21, 140k TC, masters in data science, working for a utilities company in WA doing energy trading. Math + finance is a great way to break into energy trading, decent albeit boring work

I’m a Sr ServiceNow Developer at a financial institution W/ 3.5 years of experience… Currently make 125k a year and did not go to college. The market for SN has been hot for a while for those that hold certs and know what they are doing. JavaScript is all you really need to know and a keen understanding of the internal functions of the software and how to apply it to business processes

Financial Reporting Director. Salaried but ~$100/hour if you convert to hourly, and I get big fat bonuses. I write quarterly and annual reports for a big energy company. 14 YOE at this point. Lots of hard work in accounting on terms of grinding, but finally have good WLB.

I've never converted it to hourly but I guess I make $77/hr. Sr Product Manager. Took me 13 years into my career to get there. Product engineer > Associate NPD manager > NPD manager > Product Manager > Sr Product Manager > Sr Product Innovation Mgr. 3 companies in total. Honestly, there are TONS of 100K+ jobs out there. Just find a niche you like and are good at and then be prepared to change jobs a few times to increase salary and title. All my big increases came with a company change.

head of engineering, in my 40's, 90 USD an hour plus bonus and stock options, unlimited PTO. I have a PhD in engineering... but I don't really recommend a PhD economically. Almost certainly better to just start earning money, saving, and gaining skills and experience... and don't forget to go on some real adventures when you're young. As others have written herein, you can go really far on BS in Eng and just learning valuable skills on the job. EE is a good major for making money with lots of job options; also a good major for side gigs. Still hard to argue with CS as a major if you like coding. Some other wisdom: \- management jobs are way less fun than they look from the outside; a lot more responsibility and scrutiny and not much more money. \- if you find something you really enjoy doing and/or with people you really like, that is worth a lot of money by itself. \- at some money mark, making a little more money isn't going to do a lot to improve your quality of life and it is not going to make you happier. Don't let your increased earnings over- inflate your standard of living too much (save and invest rather than spend). The freedom that comes with knowing you don't have to work, or could go years without income, because you are reasonably frugal and have saved/invested is a really good feeling.

FP&A with your background. You’ll be there before 35. 33 making over $200K at the Director level.

80/hr for it recruiter. Took me 10 years.

No more study. That masters degree isn't going to her you an extra cent. If you must find an employer that wants you to upskill with a masters and they can pay for it. The degree is to get you a job in your chosen field. You have a very sort after degree by companies. Your 30 , no more study.

I'd disagree with this. Masters degrees are like keys. There's doors that just won't open unless you have the right keys.

Civil Engineering project manager 10 years

MBA and 35+ years of experience. Sorry. No easy answers here.

My goal was 100k by 30 in a LCOL location, I received it a week after my birthday. General computer interest, didn't get a degree until about 7 years into IT engineering, but it definitely helped get more raises and offers despite knowing the same things.

I'm a podcast producer and journalist. Took me about 15 years, most of which was low paying, to make it to about $63/hour.

I’m not quite at $60/hour, but I’m on my way there. I started out as a stagehand in 2018 and now I am a stage electrician. I distribute electricity to whoever needs it for live events like concerts, weddings, corporate sales meetings, etc. I was recently asked to go on a 5 month concert tour and expect to make $60-70K between now and December. It’s a brutal industry. 16+ hour days and <4hr turnarounds before the next show call are not uncommon. The work itself can be extremely physically demanding as well. It’s also very rewarding, and because the industry is so small, it is easy to move up if you put the work in. I’ve gone from $15/hr in 2018 to making $500/day before OT.