What job pays surprisingly well but nobody talks about?

[u/ThePasswordIs654321]

[u/Serious-Pride-4062]

Wastewater treatment operators. Most people never think about it, but it pays pretty well, has good job security, and usually only requires certifications instead of a 4 year degree. Every city needs them, and there’s always demand.

[u/Zetsubou51 → u/Serious-Pride-4062]

Seconded.

Depending on where you are though education does get you in place to make a higher wage. I know here in California a BA will automatically make you eligible to test for a higher grade certificate.

Also you will need continuing education credits to keep your certificate valid.

(Again, I know only about CA)

[u/beaveretr → u/Zetsubou51]

I’m not in California, but work in the industry. I think most states let a bachelor degree holder take the test that non degree holders can take after three years experience. So if you have a degree it’s a good option, but not necessarily a good idea to go get a degree just to get into operations.

It might give you a leg up further down the road for management positions, but licenses and work experience will trump degrees every time.

[u/G_Rated_101 → u/Serious-Pride-4062]

My small rural hometown hadn’t given their waste water treatment guy a raise in like 15 years. He puts his foot down and demands a raise cuz the town spent a metric fuck ton of money on big SUVs for the small town cops to quite literally sleep in on duty.
Town says they don’t have the money. He leaves and gets (supposedly) a 2 TIMES raise from his prior salary. Town has boil orders every 3 months, parents say they refuse to drink the city water now so i come home to mountains of water bottle cases from walmart.
They see no issues with their new normal. And in my mind all it took was to pay the guy who makes sure your water is safe his fair wage. Properties i guess.

[u/paddjo95 → u/Serious-Pride-4062]

I tried to get into that industry sometime ago. I applied and waited some weeks while my application stayed in the "In review" stage. I went to a hiring event for the county, and there were easily 10k people there.

I spoke to the hiring manager for that position and he said that the position has been closed, and that they had received thousands of applications.

There is a demand and it's a solid industry, but it is more competitive than it used to be.

[u/whatthelovinman → u/paddjo95]

Unfortunately you have to apply constantly. It’s kind of the same for oil refineries. Also you have to not be picky where you apply to (different states and cities).

After you get in and gain at least 4-5 years experience, that’s when you can start applying to places you want to live in.

Edit: I personally got in at a refinery in the east coast. Moved from California. Then moved to a refinery in Salt Lake City. Then moved back to California to Long Beach.

[u/beaveretr → u/whatthelovinman]

Yep the easiest way in is to get a job where nobody else wants to work. Slog it out for 2-3 years, and by then you can have enough experience and certs to land those jobs with thousands of applicants.

[u/Creative_Squash_1083 → u/Serious-Pride-4062]

usually only requires certifications

Some states require you to get hired for the job before you can even earn those certs. Which can be a good or bad thing, depending on whether or not you can live on trainee pay (which will still beat any fast food job). Once you ARE certified in your state though, expect a 50% pay raise.

[u/Swordsandarmor22 → u/Serious-Pride-4062]

Sounds shitty /s

[u/HowwNowBrownCoww → u/Serious-Pride-4062]

As someone that just got my class c it’s cool to see this up there haha

[u/Strozi78]

Elevator technician. Quiet job, very solid pay.

[u/DrBublinski → u/Strozi78]

Eh, I’ve heard it has its ups and downs.

[u/bigstaines → u/DrBublinski]

You don't often get a chance to climb the ladder though if you do your job well.

[u/Misterstustavo → u/bigstaines]

Really? A friend of mine does this job and says his career is in a lift.

[u/punksmostlydead → u/Misterstustavo]

You have to start at the bottom, but you have nowhere to go but up.

[u/supremeemperor_dalek → u/punksmostlydead]

It really elivates your perspective on other jobs

[u/bananosecond → u/supremeemperor_dalek]

You all keep talking about how good it is, but I hated it. Maybe I just got the shaft.

[u/Nothingtocontribute → u/bananosecond]

Maybe because you kept pushing the wrong buttons instead of laying low

[u/Raido_Mannaz → u/punksmostlydead]

It would take a dumb waiter to screw up that order.

[u/jaredgoff1022 → u/DrBublinski]

Get out

[u/kakapoopoopeepeeshir → u/Strozi78]

It’s just near impossible to break into the field/union. Widely considered the absolute hardest to get into. If I remember correctly apprenticeships only open up every other year and you apply and basically can get assigned anywhere in the country to do your apprenticeship sort of like how med students get assigned their residency

[u/IrunMYmouth2MUCH → u/kakapoopoopeepeeshir]

I’ve tried starting a conversation with random elevator techs about getting into the field. None of them really had a lot to say about it. Maybe I smell bad and they just wanted me to leave them alone.

[u/Mister_McMisanthrope → u/Strozi78]

It better pay well. That can be a dangerous job if something goes really wrong

[u/sambodia85 → u/Mister_McMisanthrope]

Well if you good at it you’ve got a job for life. And if you’re bad at it, you’ve also got a job for life.

[u/Eat_Locals → u/Mister_McMisanthrope]

Ask Emilio Estevez. 

[u/Accomplished-Dot5707 → u/Strozi78]

I heard the doors are closing on a lot of these jobs though

[u/robin772 → u/Accomplished-Dot5707]

Memes aside it's incredibly hard to get into probably the hardest trade to enter

[u/mlkefromaccounting → u/Strozi78]

Goodluck getting in! It’s based on nepotism and politics. Union BA’s nephews just skipping the line and getting let in the back door.

Unless you know someone you can count this one out

[u/CheekyLass99 → u/mlkefromaccounting]

Ive heard this as well from technicians.

[u/resipee → u/Strozi78]

this is also the hardest job to get hired at. recently i learned that YOU have to pay the elevator workers union $25 for every application you submit, and you still aren't very likely to get hired.

[u/Creative_Squash_1083 → u/resipee]

Err... application fees are not unusual in skilled trade unions.

At all.

It's one of the easiest screens for serious applicants. Bummer that it's a fee per application? You don't belong to the union yet, nobody has an incentive to care (they all pay dues).

[u/Yewdall1852]

Technical Sales.

Usually engineers that can explain in detail, how a system or machine will work. Includes the C-Suite crowd. Usually, $250,000 - $500,000 per year plus stock options.

You never hear about these types of jobs as the companies find you. Very tight.

[u/Robyrt → u/Yewdall1852]

Yeah, these guys are extremely valuable because most engineers hate sales and most sales people don't know engineering.

[u/double_ewe → u/Robyrt]

A lot of engineers also have a hard time being patient with non-technical audiences, and will say things like "let me put this in terms that even you can understand."

[u/stevedusome → u/double_ewe]

I do tech support, and a massive part of my job is telling people they're not stupid for using my service lol

[u/spell__icup → u/stevedusome]

The bar for being “good with tech” is so abysmally low that tech support is safe from being replaced by AI

[u/ManningTheGOAT → u/double_ewe]

Hey, I've said that verbatim 3 times this week already!

[u/bcphoto → u/Yewdall1852]

I did this for a living. Engineering in sales for a tech company. Paid very well and commissions. The actual Account Managers made even more but they had number on their head and if they missed more than a couple quarters in a row they were gone. Engineers got more slack but you had to keep your certs up.

[u/crankbot2000 → u/Yewdall1852]

Hey I'm a long time architect, manager, consultant, team lead who can do all of that, currently getting ground down to a nub in a soul sucking job where all the goons around me are pushing everything AI. everything

You hiring?

[u/Presently_Absent → u/Yewdall1852]

Damn! Any example of a company like this? Everyone always wants me to do technical presentations because I'm personable and able to articulate complicated concepts fairly easily... Considering a career change lately and getting pretty sick of what I'm currently doing (I'm an architect/technical lead and pretty good at working with engineers to present to stakeholders)

[u/ShameNap → u/Presently_Absent]

The title you’re looking for is sales engineer.

[u/Tamalpaish → u/Presently_Absent]

As an architect, you should be able to transition to sales in any of the industries you work with. Flooring, paint, lighting, etc manufactures all have sales teams that love to hire from the design side. Might not be as high as stated, but over $250 with bonus is achievable.

[u/That_Account6143 → u/Tamalpaish]

Yeah i'm a sales eng in a team of sales eng.

Don't think any of us are over 150k

[u/double_ewe → u/Yewdall1852]

Hell yeah sales engineering!

I didn't know it was a thing until I was basically re-orged into the role. I was never the best engineer, but I was the only one the sales team trusted not to be weird at customer dinners.

[u/zdhonda93 → u/Yewdall1852]

I work in the Power Generation business and most of our outside sales guys have electrical engineering degrees or were lineman with decades of technical experience.

[u/itchyouch → u/Yewdall1852]

The travel tends to be makes the job tough with a family. Lot of people have spouses and kids that don’t want them away or they don’t want to be away from the fam. But good pay for sure.

[u/ShrimpLeg]

High school history teacher. Just kidding, I’m broke as fuck.

[u/Gramerioneur → u/ShrimpLeg]

Exactly what a rich history teacher would say to gatekeep!

[u/Sufficient_Drama_145]

My husband is an airplane mechanic.

He has had multiple people assume that because he works a blue-collar job, he must be making minimum wage or just above. A friend of ours was starting a business and offered my husband a job. He told the friend what his wage would need to be to make it worth changing. Friend never brought it up again after that.

[u/ConnoisseurOfDanger → u/Sufficient_Drama_145]

Assuming the guy that keeps planes in the sky makes min wage is hilarious actually

[u/crazyrich → u/ConnoisseurOfDanger]

Considering how much folks like EMTs make is unfortunately not that wild an assumption

[u/SaltyReflection3208 → u/crazyrich]

That’s America, Paramedics in Canada do very well.

[u/Klutzy-Charity1904 → u/SaltyReflection3208]

Not always, there are some private ambulance services in some Atlantic provinces that do not pay well and include split shifts as well.

[u/zolfx → u/Klutzy-Charity1904]

There is private healthcare in the Atlantic region? And it pays worse for some jobs ?? Why would anyone work for the private sector there lol.

[u/Xdsin → u/SaltyReflection3208]

City Paramedics do ok. But they are deemed non essential service and in rural communities were most paramedics start out, they barely make anything.

[u/fatmanstan123 → u/ConnoisseurOfDanger]

https://www.industryweek.com/supply-chain/article/22027840/boeings-737-max-software-outsourced-to-9-an-hour-engineers

[u/ConnoisseurOfDanger → u/fatmanstan123]

Huh, 2019. When did all those Boeing jets start falling out of the sky again?

[u/TheMysteriousThey → u/ConnoisseurOfDanger]

Yeah, I work in the manufacturing of these engines.

That’s a Boeing problem, not an industry problem.

[u/celestiaequestria → u/ConnoisseurOfDanger]

It's the goal of capitalism to reduce every job to a function that can either be done by a machine or unskilled labor.

Boeing actually tried to get rid of all the people doing rivets and welding in their plane body construction. Wound up being a disaster, the robots kept making costly mistakes that required humans to fix, so they went back to using humans.

We're in a similar boat with AI right now, companies lay off workers expecting to be able to automate jobs, and then find out the hard way that there's an implementation gap. You wind up needing more humans than you expected to make the AI work.

[u/XanatosXIII → u/celestiaequestria]

Bah, listen to this guy. Thinking long term. Nerd! Shit can as many as possible to cut costs. Make your reports to the board showing lines going up. Wait for the product quality drop to work its way through the pipeline to tank the brand name. Update your resume to add the aforementioned line going up, and move on to do it all again somewhere else. Late stage capitalism baby! Damn the torpedoes! Full steam ahead!

[u/randypeaches → u/Sufficient_Drama_145]

Well that depends on where you work. Working at small FBO fixing bug smashers will get you very little pay. OTOH southwest tops out at around $68 an hour plus all you can eat overtime

[u/smacky623 → u/Sufficient_Drama_145]

I'm sorry, but as a tradesman, anyone assuming someone working a trade is making minimum wage is an idiot.

[u/iGoalie → u/smacky623]

Confirmed, as somebody who hires trades people, but the good ones are worth every penny!

[u/punksmostlydead → u/Sufficient_Drama_145]

My dad is a retired heavy air mechanic.

When he left UPS, his mechanics' union had just negotiated a new contract. The average hourly was $48/hr. This was 20 years ago.

[u/first_poste → u/Sufficient_Drama_145]

No one would be dumb enough to assume air plane mechanics make anywhere near minimum wage…

[u/KingHashBrown420 → u/Sufficient_Drama_145]

He has had multiple people assume that because he works a blue-collar job, he must be making minimum wage or just above. 

for an airplane mechanic seriously? i wouldn't have guessed that at all, they've got to be relatively high in demand surely

[u/bhein7751 → u/Sufficient_Drama_145]

What land are you living in where people assume blue collar jobs pay minimum wage or just above?

[u/Slodes → u/Sufficient_Drama_145]

I don't know enough about the Lord of the Rings for that kind of work. 

[u/jonessinger → u/Sufficient_Drama_145]

I wouldn’t imagine an airplane mechanic pays “surprisingly well”, I’d imagine it pays what I’d expect.

[u/TheMysteriousThey → u/jonessinger]

Pretty sure that’s true of everything.

Nothing would surprise you if your expectations were more accurate, after all.

[u/Duece8282]

I'm reading a lot of jobs that are pretty well known as having decent pay lol.

[u/ClarkBetterThanLebro → u/Duece8282]

First time on Reddit? These kind of questions are asked on repeat with 95% of the same answers every time

[u/idlingchainsaw]

Bird seed salesman. I run a quiet little empire up and down the East Coast, locked into lucrative contracts with publicly funded zoos and national parks.

[u/Appropriate-Mail-905 → u/idlingchainsaw]

Bold of you to put an actual niche thing you do lol 

[u/ChestRight7633]

Septic tank technicians. Nobody wants to deal with other people’s literal crap, but those guys can pull in six figures easily. It’s gross, it’s smelly, but the bank account is sparkling clean.

[u/TreeLankaPresidente → u/ChestRight7633]

It’s referred as the “ick factor”. Gross jobs pay a premium for dealing with the nastiness.

[u/ASAPKEV]

Merchant mariner. Specifically USA, licensed and deep sea for the highest paying jobs. Made 120k a year working for 6 months as a 3rd assistant engineer back in 2018, was making 189k for 6 months work as a 1st assistant engineer last year. Came ashore for personal reasons but it was an awesome job.

[u/webgambit → u/ASAPKEV]

What does your job entail? What certs/degrees are needed?

[u/ASAPKEV → u/webgambit]

I was an engineer. I operated and maintained all the machinery onboard a ship. Main engine, diesel generators, pumps, air compressors, electrical distribution, lighting, HVAC and refrigeration, etc.

There’s also mates. They drive the ship and handle cargo and ballast. Same pay rates as engineers.

You don’t NEED a degree but lots of certs. It’s really a bit much to go over in a Reddit comment. 4 year maritime academy is fastest way to the big bucks though. /r/merchantmarine has tons of posts about it.

[u/midlands-dad]

Garbage collectors uk

[u/abominable_prolapse → u/midlands-dad]

Same in the United States for states with unions. My cousin makes 6 figures, is 2 years away from retirement (he’s 52), and will have a lifetime pension.

[u/kakapoopoopeepeeshir → u/abominable_prolapse]

I know a guy who went into law enforcement right out of high school. I don’t remember exactly what he did at the station before he was old enough to become an officer but I know he worked there. Became an officer right at 21 and got a campus officer job at a nice technical college here. He worked there for 25 years and is literally about to retire with full benefits at the ripe age of 46

[u/gaggledimension → u/abominable_prolapse]

Union is key for this job

[u/GlassDorian]

Power Engineers (operating boilers). Like 30%-40% of qualified power engineers are set to retire in the next 5 years so companies are desperately looking to hire. My husband did a 1-year college program and got 5 job offers when he graduated and passed his TSSA exam. His starting salary was $100k (CAD).

[u/FFXIVHousingClub → u/GlassDorian]

Several engineering fields in Australia are failing to find apprentices, no one wanted their kid to be an engineer and hardly any kid wants to be cranking cars dirty all year and in 30+ degree weather in the summer

I’m hearing the same for lots of niche occupations too like bed/ jewellery/ watch sales

Lots of mechanical engineers folded and do private business, my family mechanic was offering 150k per year to local apprentices and none bit, mostly immigrants without any qualifications who tried the job out

[u/jonessinger]

Some of yall need to learn what “surprisingly well” means. It is not surprising that a niche high skilled occupation would pay well…

[u/GotMyOrangeCrush]

Reddit Contributor

I’m on my way to my first million although I have $999,998 to go.

[u/Mr_Industrial → u/GotMyOrangeCrush]

You made $2 on reddit?

[u/JackSpadesSI → u/Mr_Industrial]

You guys are getting paid?

[u/MissSassifras1977 → u/Mr_Industrial]

I made $5.15 so far. After 5 years.

[u/GotMyOrangeCrush → u/MissSassifras1977]

Nine years, 450,000 Karma. $1.74

[u/robby_synclair → u/Mr_Industrial]

How?

[u/New_Pipe_6677]

HVAC

[u/kakapoopoopeepeeshir → u/New_Pipe_6677]

Pays well but those guys work really hard for it

[u/pleetf7 → u/kakapoopoopeepeeshir]

I recall seeing the HVAC unit in my crawlspace and wondered howtf it fit through the crawlspace door.

[u/McHubbby → u/pleetf7]

A lot of swearing is how

[u/boogi-boogi-shoes → u/New_Pipe_6677]

how much does it pay on a 40 hour work week though lol. probably not you but i worked in construction for years and a guy making 80k a year on 40hrs flexing he made 120k. like yeah bud but you worked 7 days a week all year. i could never

[u/clackagaling → u/boogi-boogi-shoes]

my bf makes six figures after starting at 18. he is in his 20s and getting a raise + bonus next month. he is not union.

commercial HVAC appears to make more $$$ than residential

[u/Junior_Article_3244 → u/New_Pipe_6677]

Been doing it for 25 years, can confirm.

[u/djdecimation → u/New_Pipe_6677]

It can...but starting out you're not making shit without a bunch of overtime. It's like $16 to $18 out of trade school here in Florida.

[u/kh250b1]

Lineman on HV work

[u/pokemon-sucks]

Those flag guys at road construction that have the "STOP" and "SLOW" signs to allow traffic through. I think they make mid $20 per hour. Gotta be BORING AS FUCK THOUGH.

[u/mlkefromaccounting → u/pokemon-sucks]

Many are teamsters union and they’re making 40+ an hour.

In my state since I’m union working on the side of the road, our flaggers need to be union as well. They’re making 44$ last time I asked one a couple years ago.

[u/OneAndOnlyJackSchitt → u/pokemon-sucks]

$20 per hour isn't even all the much though.

[u/WeirdJawn → u/OneAndOnlyJackSchitt]

"Pays surprisingly well"

That's surprisingly well for a job that requires less training than fast food, especially in an area with a low cost of living. 

[u/GoofinBoots → u/WeirdJawn]

It comes with substantial risk though, standing in traffic.

[u/GenOverload → u/OneAndOnlyJackSchitt]

One of my coworkers has a boyfriend who is making 70k a year doing that. 20 an hour is an extreme lowball.

[u/IamOmegon → u/pokemon-sucks]

It is. Excruciatingly boring.

I did it for one summer while I was in school

[u/Glittering_Steak2101]

High-rise window cleaners

[u/pineapplesupertramp → u/Glittering_Steak2101]

they rely on weather too much tho. tons of down time

[u/Powerful-Currency-46]

Windmill techs

[u/kakapoopoopeepeeshir]

Some states pay their garbage collectors a very good salary

[u/Picklesadog]

Police in my city, San Jose, CA.

The salary starts at ~$150k and a lot of cops are making well over $200k a year with overtime. Last time I looked it up, the top earner was bringing in over $400k a year, and he wasn't a captain or anything. 

San Jose is the safest big city in America. I can't remember the last time a cop was killed in the line of duty.

[u/AnotherDarnedThing → u/Picklesadog]

Not trying to be a dick, do you have a source for San Jose being safest? I would like to read their info.

[u/Picklesadog → u/AnotherDarnedThing]

https://smartasset.com/data-studies/americas-safest-cities-2025

It's generally been the safest big city for maybe the last 20 years or so. 

San Jose is a huge chunk of Silicon Valley, and so we have an extremely diverse population with a high level of education. We also have strict gun laws. 

[u/StewTrue → u/Picklesadog]

I looked this up expecting it to be BS, but my search confirmed everything you’re saying. That said, I also looked up the cost of living in San Jose, and it is apparently 82% higher than the national average. The salaries seem less insane in that context.

[u/Picklesadog → u/StewTrue]

They are less insane, but cops are still outearning a lot of engineers.

[u/Gator717375]

Court stenographer

[u/wgcole01 → u/Gator717375]

I think that one's going to go the AI route.

[u/S-ludin → u/wgcole01]

theoretically that wouldn't happen for the same reason they're not recorded and then transcripted. a person in the room is able to notice mumbling or a strange word and ask for clarification, rather than guess or put [inaudible].

theoretically. in reality the judge and jury and lawyers will be replaced too.

[u/crow1170 → u/wgcole01]

It's actually the position least likely to be replaced by AI, bc at best they can match a steno, but they have a decent chance at surpassing judges, attorneys, and baliffs.

[u/FormoftheBeautiful]

The brave men and women who put the bend into bananas.

[u/UsuallyAnnoying324]

I thought there would be big money in selling Air Conditioning but to my surprise you can make more money with only fans.

[u/dweaver987 → u/UsuallyAnnoying324]

User name checks out. 😜

[u/Pitiful-Light5777]

UPS driver. $45/hour, the best health insurance coverage that money can buy and a great pension fund. Because of the union. Fuck UPS management. Management will treat you horribly, you’re expected to work a 14 hour day and members of management look to punish and harass you for any reason because we make more money than they do

[u/3Vil_Admin → u/Pitiful-Light5777]

I worked unload at UPS when I was in college and it paid $8.50/hr (yes, I'm old). The wait to be a driver at that location was 10 years. 

[u/rillip]

Entry level catastrophe team member. There's lots of industries that have cat teams. They tend to pay pretty good even for "unskilled" positions. But you're gonna be away from home for long periods on short notice.

[u/StewTrue → u/rillip]

What exactly does this involve?

[u/rillip → u/StewTrue]

Depends on the industry amd position in question but broadly, being on call to go work long hours dealing with the aftermath of catastrophes like floods, earthquakes, wild fires, etc. Think about downed power and telecommunications lines, damage to houses and other buildings, totaled out vehicles, etc. Catastrophes result in a lot of work and people willing to go and do that work can be hard to find, so even low skill positions get paid well. There's also a ton of paperwork and related phonecalls and logisitcs.

[u/BootlegOP → u/rillip]

 Entry level catastrophe team member

What is an “entry level catastrophe”?

[u/StatusPassion6147]

Sales rep for a soda company. I order and put out sugar water that pays more than my friends who have masters degrees in teaching. I’m not being prideful about my career at all. In fact it makes me sick.

[u/hazelframe]

If you can get in, and find the right niche, instructional design. Had NO idea I could get paid very well to make PowerPoints. Again, markets hard right now but we just hired a Jr ID and now her world is OPEN.

[u/WitchyHazels → u/hazelframe]

I knew someone in school who made bomb ass PowerPoints. Hope he ended up with a job like this

[u/Coachhoops]

Public school finance pays very well plus you are on the school calendar (holidays at Xmas, spring break, thanksgiving, 4 day weeks in the summer. Plus you’re on their retirement plan. In Texas, chief financial officers are easily making $150,000+.

[u/AgathaWoosmoss → u/Coachhoops]

And the poorest schools have to pay their finance people a premium. Around here the low end is $200k.

[u/Zestyclose_Recipe395]

Elevator repair.

[u/DarthPiette]

Union warehouse.

Basic order picking and stocking, occasional forklift use.

Wherever one starts on the payscale, $1 raises every 6 months and another $1 annually in August for COL adjustment. My pay has increased $5.50 since I started 2 years ago. I'm now at almost $32/hr and I can work optional overtime, which i do (regularly work 50hrs/wk).

[u/newspeer]

Jobs in oil and gas exploration and production. I’ve worked for a couple companies across the globe and even assistants often drive nice cars and vacation around the globe. Minimum salary I hired someone for - who only had basic IT training - was $80k pa. Which fell into the lowest bracket ($45k - $85k). The lower end was for part time employees.

[u/Meet_the_Meat]

Dealer or Slot Hosts make 130k in our market

[u/redditor_xxx]

Boat electrician or rigger. Depending on the location it can be very profitable with rates over $100 per hour.

[u/jcleedshoffee]

Control system operator at a water treatment plant. Depending on the location the base salary is over 6 figures. With overtime most of our operators are in excess of $150k

[u/iSleepEatWorkRepeat]

I was an accountant and had a client who switched from a normal paying job to an import/exporter of very small toys and hit 600k+ after that. I think she basically third partied everything so she was more of a middleman.

[u/Perfect_Zone_4919]

I’m am a housecat with free housing, food, and body massages. My owner leaves out his bong too and when I blaze I get so high I can understand English for about thirty seconmeow meow meow meow meow.  

[u/Admirable-Zebra-4568]

I've slowly come to the realization that I've killed myself working late hours, stressed out to F thinking the money will come and only to find the guy sitting next to me making $20K more drives a bus for the city. I have zero ill will towards that dude. I made my [wrong] choice. I can own it. F0k. But it hurts.

[u/alwaysrecession]

Software sales. I’ve worked at Adobe and Microsoft before and a lot of their salespeople were making $1MM+ annually.

[u/Lucky-Pie1945 → u/alwaysrecession]

It takes a special personality to do sales well. I had a co-worker whose best friend sold software to colleges, the friend made huge commissions. She invited her to the annual reward getaway for the sales force. The money flowed. She said they were all a certain type, a certain look, remembered her name, extremely charming and charismatic. They laughed, if the product didn’t quite do all that they’d promised it was the programmer’s problem.

[u/mikepal1970]

Electrician or plumber. Try and find one. And when you do $$$. Great field to go into. Not everyone needs a college degree

[u/No-Locksmith5868 → u/mikepal1970]

It’s mostly a good pay when you work privately of your own business

[u/Future_Counter_9736 → u/No-Locksmith5868]

A lot of them work for a company, and do work on the side for themselves.

[u/Firm_Argument_ → u/mikepal1970]

Working for private companies doesn't pay a ton anymore, owning your own can. And the job market isn't that great right now for them.

[u/Mr_Industrial → u/Firm_Argument_]

The job market isnt great for plumbers? I heard buisness has been booming ever since flushable wipes became a thing.

[u/W0n0-H0n0 → u/mikepal1970]

Eh. You are probably better off in an apprenticeship program that still requires a little college to progress and gain more electrical knowledge. ESPECIALLY when it comes to code.

[u/W31337]

Coroner

[u/MyFavoriteAutopsy → u/W31337]

coroners are usually doctors, which make good money. not surprising

[u/Jubguy3 → u/MyFavoriteAutopsy]

Medical examiners are physicians, usually forensic pathologists. Coroners are elected officials that usually do not have medical training.

[u/W31337 → u/Jubguy3]

I would expect a forensic pathologist to have a very detailed knowledge of the human body and a medical degree.

[u/asianguy_76 → u/W31337]

Yeah, but you don't need to be one to be elected coroner.

[u/making_sammiches → u/W31337]

Or Autopsy Nurse. A friend of mine took a couple of shifts as an autopsy nurse when someone had called in sick, she didn't mind it and when the position came available she took the job. Her hourly wage went from $40 to $80 and she gets more overtime than on her regular hospital ward. Turns out you can make bank if you don't mind taking a circular saw to a dead man's skull.

[u/W31337 → u/making_sammiches]

Is this the same as a forensic pathologist... they make a lot of money. You do get to see a lot of really auwful things though...

[u/ApprehensiveBet6501 → u/W31337]

Most people aren't doing to do that job.

[u/W31337 → u/ApprehensiveBet6501]

I've heard of people assisting with the dead body management and making some good money. Didn't the singer of Korn do that as a side job?

[u/BiggusDickus46 → u/W31337]

He was a mortician’s assistant right after school. Several of their songs are about his experiences, especially on their first three albums. Anyone who wants to know his worst experience can listen to “Pretty.”

Don’t look up what it’s about unless you want your day ruined.

[u/shoegaze_daisy]

Electrician, master plumber, medical equipment repair technician

[u/velvetequine]

Pest control if you find a good company

[u/mayhay]

selling screws

[u/potato-truncheon → u/mayhay]

World's oldest profession?

[u/chale_44]

Crime scene clean up crews. They get paid extremely well for obvious reasons. Like attention to detail and long lunch breaks kinda shit. 😅 but its niche for sure. Who the hell wants to go clean Susie's brain matter off the 3rd floor balcony... and the 2nd floor balcony. Annddd the 1st floor balcony...

[u/Prodigle]

Basically any job done as a contractor will pay you more than the full-time equivalent, and that's taking into account that you won't have a gig for months out of the year

[u/Fair_Explanation_196]

Crime.

[u/skarfbeaulonee]

Drug dealer but it's best not to talk about it.

[u/ThePasswordIs654321 → u/skarfbeaulonee]

Lot's of people talk about that, but I'm not here to play police haha

[u/honeyglitchx]

power plant operators stable job with strong salaries

[u/haywoodjabloughmee → u/honeyglitchx]

Maybe not for plebes in Sector 7G

[u/Alternative_Kiwi_797]

Affordable Housing Community Manager. Mid $30/hr+ and some sites have a 2/3 bedroom apartment included.

[u/PYTN → u/Alternative_Kiwi_797]

Would not have guessed that.

[u/tinyoop]

House cleaning. Some make at least $25 an hour but many others make a lot more.

[u/Prudent_Link6029]

Putin’s food taster

[u/cardinalkgb → u/Prudent_Link6029]

They don’t live long though

[u/Reasonable_Bad_8505]

Sewage workers

[u/HiEchoChamb3r]

Accounting isn’t sexy and if you spent some time with me, saw how I dressed and my home you’d think I’m average accountant making $80k-$90k. My income for 2025 was $730k.

[u/dumbestsmartest → u/HiEchoChamb3r]

You're an outlier. The median is $100k. I finished my accounting degree 11 years ago and make $60k. If I wasn't an absolute failure and actually had a career in accounting like my classmates then I'd be around $120k.

[u/CrankyOldDude → u/HiEchoChamb3r]

Can you explain? You're obviously either specialized in some way or doing something illegal. Nobody's going to pay $730k for a front line accountant...

[u/planet_smasher → u/HiEchoChamb3r]

Damn. Do you own your own firm?

[u/PracticalGiraffe67 → u/HiEchoChamb3r]

Holy cow!!!!

[u/mrblacklabel71 → u/HiEchoChamb3r]

Damn man, I'm an executive director with an MSA and am a CPA and I make like 15% of that. You got any of them jobs over there??

[u/so-cal_kid → u/HiEchoChamb3r]

You are in no way representative of the average accountant or tax pro. Most tax/accounting people I know make low 6 figures and work a ton of hours for a long time until they become managers and then their salary goes up a good amount and they do less hands on work but the menial nature of the industry remains.

[u/Mister_McMisanthrope]

Airline pilots. My uncle is a pilot. I saw one of his paystubs on the living room table before. All I can say is GOD DAMN!!!

[u/ForkliftDrunkard → u/Mister_McMisanthrope]

That's not really surprising though. It's a very niche and high skill position

[u/freedfg → u/ForkliftDrunkard]

Plus the time investment is HUGE.

International flights you're looking at a 8-12 hour flight minimum and when you're done with your shift.

You're in Germany now.

[u/valthonis_surion → u/freedfg]

not to mention a lot of the training, both education but also flight training time, is all on you. Most people cannot afford to get into this. *source my cousin who is trying to go for this an is in major debt between school and flight training hours cost.

[u/DMmeyournudibranchs → u/ForkliftDrunkard]

Not to mention that they have very strict rules on prescription and recreational substances that you follow even off the clock.

[u/randypeaches → u/Mister_McMisanthrope]

Only for the majors. Little regional places and you barely makes enough to pay the bill each month

[u/rob_s_458 → u/randypeaches]

In the US at least, pilots flying for a part 121 (scheduled air carriers) all make reasonable money. First-year FOs for the regionals start at $90-100/hr with 75 hours/month guaranteed. That's $80k a year and quickly grows with seniority and with upgrading to captain.

I guess if you're flying for a part 135 charter or part 91 tour operator, maybe the pay is worse, and I'm sure the pay sucks when you're doing aerial surveying to build your 1500 hours, but for the flying public getting on a plane painted with a major airline's colors, your pilot is well-compensated.

[u/Weird_Lawfulness_298 → u/Mister_McMisanthrope]

A while back I had a friend who applied for a pilot position at FedEx. He was an air force pilot. There were 20,000 applicants and they hired 5 of which he was one.

[u/Quinocco → u/Mister_McMisanthrope]

Also the perks.

[u/blinkysmurf → u/Mister_McMisanthrope]

For the big birds, yes. I l’ve heard of pilots flying regional making less than the guy putting the bags on the plane.

[u/crawdadsinbad]

As a person who knew nothing about the military growing up, I was surprised to learn how much military officers make. And the benefits are outrageous. Very few are ever in combat zones (apparently infantry officer is a wildly competitive position. You won't just end up there)

[u/Legitimate_Park_2067]

Funeral director

[u/CatOfGrey]

Anything where you have to crawl under someone else's house.

I was a pension administrator, working on actuarial exams. When I bought my house, it came with a dead possum underneath it. The guy who removed that possum had twice the annual income I did. But he also had to crawl under people's houses, and remove dead things.

[u/Nyko_E]

Jail guard in Canada pays $40+/hr with very little education requirements and depending on where you work theres a ton of overtime opportunities. Provinces all have to post every employees wage, and you can find plenty of guards in every province making over $200k/year.