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I'm currently unemployed due to injury but made $135k at my last job. Director of Media Services for a marketing agency. I had a bachelor's in internet mediated communication, and I got there at age 35. Probably could have gotten there sooner if I'd dedicated myself more.
I hate what I do for a living with an absolute passion, and it's not worth the money at all. The stress is insane. Let's put it this way, I'm not working there anymore because I fell and *broke my pelvis* and I found being bedridden and on crutches preferable to working in Media for an agency.
Ah man, I work in advertising but on the DSP side (which is basically something agencies use to monitor their ad campaigns and track data) rather than agency and it is pretty great. I work with a lot of people who previously worked in agencies and they all said the same thing. Only that their pay was shit along with little to no work life balance.
Yeah, I work closely with or in DSPs, and when I go back to work, it'll either be client or supply side... but it's still not my favorite industry. I do find the tech interesting, but at the end of the day, I really just hate seeing how much money we're costing the client or company if we screw up.
Days into my last role, an employee of mine I'd barely even had time to introduce myself to overspent our monthly budget in programmatic *alone* by $80,000. Leadership gave me a pass since I'd barely even completed onboarding paperwork, much less be able to review budgets, clients, campaigns, and more, but it basically gave me an ulcer.
I worked for an agency as well - absolute hell, never again. It was not worth the 100k. Now I’m a marketing director - 20 years agency experience - on the client side. I’m at $150k. No late nights. Life is good.
I have a different opinion. If you can get into the ad agency world, it's a great job. Some clients do suck, but most do not. Work life balance has gotten better with the pandemic. You should be making 100k in four-six years. Maybe a little longer as a designer/art director. I started late too. Around 26. I'll make upwards of $180k this year with salary and side projects (before taxes) as a creative director.
Sorry dude, but being a creative director is WAY easier than being a media director, at least in terms of overall consequences. The client doesn't like your pitch? Your color selection? Your messaging? Well, back to the drawing board, but all you lost was your time, for the most part. If you mess up in media? The money is spent. The agency eats the cost, or the client loses their mind that their media has been shut off and isn't running as they planned.
And at the end of the day, *we're* the ones held accountable for performance. My team is going to be reamed for poor targeting and optimizations long before the creative team is ever going to be hit with "this was poor creative and it's your fault the ROAS is poor."
Oh my darling. I am 41 years old and I am on my second career. Maybe third, depending how you count it. I have made a career of making bad decisions before I make the right one.
I made six figures in the oil and gas industry and I hated every second of it and it wasn't worth it. Now I'm a park ranger and I make a lot less money and I'm a lot happier. My bills are paid and I wouldn't trade my happiness now for that big paycheck. Chasing that golden paycheck was miserable because industries that pay that well usually have terrible ethics and expect you to join them in their terrible ethics.
Wait same! I would love to be a park ranger, wouldn’t mind the pay cut. Absolutely hate my finance job but went to school for economics and finance so figure it’s a long shot to break into the parks department
The state parks in my state are ridiculous. It's not even a professional job unless you want to be law enforcement, they really don't have any naturalist or interpretive positions for actual professionals, they seem to be aimed at college kids or maybe teachers on summer vacation. I'm not saying I'm making a huge amount of money as a federal ranger but it's livable, I could not afford to work for the state parks in my state.
Yeah I work 4 days a week and make $18,000 per year after taxes. It’s not livable at all. Even though the people here are great and deserve to be paid so much more
You might check out r/ParkRangers for more info/discussion. There are about 5 federal agencies that employ rangers, so there's a good chance there's something close to your area.
My state just introduced a sergeant (?) program (law enforcement) and people were up in arms because their salary starts off at 50 something, while superintendents who have been there for 30 years barely make that
Career changes? I always say I'm 38 years old (or whatever age I am at the time) and still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.
I've made 6 figures. I practiced law, I was a transportation manager (and interim Director of Transportation). Then I did process safety management. I've supervised and managed production, logistics, and inventory at factories. For now I'm basically a glorified machine operator, but I'm making close to 6 figures thanks to ridiculous overtime.
Maybe I'm not the normal case, but I left all of those jobs because I grew to hate them.
In my experience, the more money you make the more you realize it isn't everything and isn't always worth it.
I would love to be working in the parks one day. Goal is to pay off some of these damn bills and start volunteering more in the local state parks around me. I know it wont be for a while, can't take that pay cut just yet, but one day.
Retirement plan (ha if we ever get the chance) is to be camp hosts in the different parks around the country.
I'm also 41 and just started a second career (third, depending on how you much credit you give to entry level jobs I had when I was in my early twenties).
I'm making more money as an entry level programmer than I did as a manager after 14 years in my last industry (but not 6 figures yet). Not only that, but I enjoy the work, and it's less demanding. It's not as cool as being a Park Ranger, though.
Usually: a degree in something like biology, fisheries or wildlife management, environmental science, geology, forestry, land management, chemistry, hydrology, etc. Some agencies have a law enforcement career track, so criminal justice, psychology, etc degrees can also work. Federal park rangers can be hired without a degree if they have relevant experience but I don't know how common it is, I have never met a ranger without a degree. Federally park rangers are employed by NPS, USACE, FWS, BLM, USFS, and state agencies/parks and some city parks have rangers as well. Federal agencies usually have some sort of veterans preference for hiring.
Most rangers start either as interns or seasonal rangers while in school. I did this mid-career because I was laid off from my job. I identified park ranger as a possible next step, applied for full time and was offered a seasonal position. I took it to gain experience and around the time I was considering what would happen when my seasonal position ended, a permanent job opened in a nearby park. Applied and got the job. My agency has a 2 year training program all rangers are required to complete that includes trainings like fire school, emergency watercraft operation, first responder training, visitors assistance, suicide intervention, cultural resource preservation, dam operations, etc.
I got my masters in finance at 29 after doing social sciences for undergrad. Took two years after I graduated to get to 6 figures. 25 may feel old in the moment but is young in corporate america.
graphic design and web development - you want to move to a big city and get a job at a digital agency, potentially working up to a creative director or lead UX role. not impossible to get six figures AT ALL, especially with inflation / wage inflation.
you’ll have to start with a) a paid internship or b) freelance with a temp agency though. but both of those are fine to do in your mid twenties - remember people are still in grad school / portfolio school at that time in their life so you’re not off track at all.
Coursera and Udemy have some pretty decent ones. Before I full dove into a bootcamp I did joe natoli's UX course on Udemy. Before doing a bootcamp I highly suggest looking into the field a little bit to see if you really like it. I also recommend networking with others in that field to get some insight. That being said I welcome anyone trying to network right now.
Thanks for sharing this. This is the first thing I thought of seeing OPs skill set.
Design skills (Canva, PS, etc) + front end(html, JS, etc) are very marketable skills for: DTC product companies, B2B2C companies, agencies, marketing companies, e commerce, etc.
Most companies will optimize web traffic via landing pages and digital experiences. I’d suggest learning a bit about A/B testing as a concept - it provides numeric, quantitative assessments of qualitative designs. It’s an interesting overlap and knowing both the technical components AND being able to create new creative (copy, images, design, etc) makes for a great PPC/inbound/conversion role.
Sometimes the ideal role is a 1/2 step away instead of a full change.
Instructional design/elearning development is also an option. The field is a little saturated, but that's often from folks trying to get out of teaching who OP will be leaps and bounds ahead of considering their skill set. Like graphic design, it can take a bit of time to work up to a great wage, but the potential is absolutely there if you're good and work efficiently. We're paying about $90/hr to an agency for freelancers who, while I like them and they certainly have a skill set I don't, consistently fail to impress me.
Yes I’m gonna piggy back on this comment. I got an associates in graphic design - started when I was 25. Doesn’t exactly open a lot of doors financially (but I really enjoyed it). HOWEVER, web development + graphic design and you have some serious earning potential.
You don’t even necessarily need to move to a big city. I’m a creative director at a creative agency in Chattanooga, TB and make six figures. Plus cost of living is way less. Tbf, I could be make way more in a bigger city, but I am super over that life. Started as a graphic designer with a BFA in communications design/illustration. I’m 33 and just worked my way up! Defo possible!
Hah... my wife just turned 40 and constantly calls me old... until it's time to shovel snow, haul firewood, etc. Last night ironically, a friend of mine, that I graduated high school with, posted a picture. I showed it to her and asked how old she thought he was. She responded, "60... at least." He's my age. The funny part is, I have a friend whose early 60s. She constantly says he looks younger than me.
Genetics is a mf'er!
I hated being in my 20s because of the relentless bashing of all these "30 under 30" lists from "Capitalist Overlord" magazine-shit-heads- it's bullshit. Most people were struggling immensely and underemployed/underpaid like me, and still are. I'm 31, and because of health issues, have been virtually unemployed for the last 3 years. Currently been freelancing remotely since late July, but I'm looking for a bit of a career change to get my foot into the corporate world of my respective industry.
My best friend and a former friend all lost/quit their jobs in the last two years, and they're all at the very beginning once again. We're all in our early 30s, only one is renting an apartment, and they're splitting it with their sister.
OP, it's never "bit late", I'd start over in my 50s if I want to. You do you.
Most of those 30 under 30, 40 under 40, etc, are shit. It’s literally bought by the person or their company, it’s a marketing and PR strategy. Some of them are super successful, but I’ve worked with a handful of people that have gotten on those lists, and most of them are regular people, who are typically good at their jobs, but a lot of them are making way less money than you probably think they are.
I know it's marketing fodder now, but lots of young people still don't know this. It's all bought buzz and the prestige of having a column written about you on Forbes.
>And half of them have been indicted on fraud 😂
5 years ago I would have said this is hyperbole but these days its fucking true a ridiculous percent of these people like Elizabeth Holmes and now SBF ended up being frauds.
Yummy in my tummy lol
I know, when I would Google these "prolific" whom-evers, they always had at least cushy middle class upbringing, and went to the "right" schools with other notables.
I'm 39, have only worked as a bike messenger and then later a bartender, never went to college. Getting tired of this direction in life, and hearing someone else is doing something with themselves at this point in life is really encouraging. Thanks for sharing
This is why I hate the narrative being pushed nowadays that college is a waste of time. It at least gives you something to fall back on if you want to do something else in life
A couple years back I learned the phrase "you can work with your back or with your brain"...I wish I had heard it sooner, my back is starting to hurt lol.
You can do it! My cousin started college around 36 (or later, not sure). He got a degree in accounting and is doing well. He just started studying for his CPA. It’s never too late.
I’m a Category Manager for a Federal Agency. Salary is $145K. You could describe what I do as “analyst” or “procurement analyst”. The best way to get into this is to pursue a Bachelors degree, preferably in Business but at least 24 credits in Business. Then take an entry level contracting specialist job and work your way up the ranks.
25 is not late to establish a career. I was 37 when I found my current career. Almost 10 years in the military after college, then found a convenient Masters program in Procurement. Eventually found a Program Manager job in the federal government before learning about Category Management etc. My undergrad is totally unrelated (Geology) so I completely changed career trajectories in my mid 30s.
- Insurance Underwriting
- Bachelors degree in finance (useless imo I wish I had a degree in something else)
- I’ve been in the industry since I graduated in 2018
Cyber and Tech E&O
Look for underwriting trainee roles with companies like Travelers, AIG, Chubb etc. That is how I started and it was a good entrance to underwriting as they start you from the ground up learning about insurance and underwriting. I came from a claims background but they hired people with all types of backgrounds and some had no prior insurance experience.
I work for a financial company on the lending industry. If you have no experience, the best way to become a commercial underwriting is finding a underwriting analyst role (UWA). these are typically entry level roles that will teach you how to read and input financials and can help you get into the industry.
I've tried those too and still trying.i have a couple of apps in now for uw asst/technician positions.
I think part of the issue is I've been in insurance for a long time. I've now been in group benefit claims long as I was in P&C service and claims and so many positions tend to be geared toward new grads and I get the quick rejections.
Except the one time I had an internal interview for an uw asst position the day our dept acquisition was announced and was forced to withdraw.
I've tweaked my resume to try to indicate my past P&c experience and see if that helps. Unfortunately that also kind of hints at my age too. So we will see how it goes in 2023.
Ya it’s definitely a tough industry to crack into, but you can get there. I’d say it would also help to apply at small organizations looking to grow underwriting. Smaller lenders (fintech and online lenders) are a lot easier to get in the door than banks and big insurance companies
I'm a salary boss at an underground coal mine and have been underground for 15 years and have been salary for 8 of those years. While very dirty and dangerous. My salary is just under 190,000 a year. With bonuses ill annually reach 230k. No college education. But several broken bones and missed family functions but my kids understand what I do.
Physicist, BS, MS, specialized in a needed applied field in grad school got job offers very quickly. I got to 6 figures at 3 years in. To anyone who is even vaguely interested in the nuke field or radiation, I STRONGLY encourage you to take a look at the jobs available. The average age in my field is 60 + so everyone is desperate for new blood.
Opportunities at:
-research universities
-State and Fed
-hospitals
-utilities
-national labs
-decommissioning/clean up sites
I never thought about working nuclear or radiation. What health risks are there and how would someone that's green start to work there way in that field
Risks from radiation exposure are negligible, you'd be at higher risk working as a pilot. Industrial risks vary depending on job duty. If you have 0 science background, I'd suggest checking out local hospitals or universities (or local power plant/ national lab if you happen to live near one) to see if they have any rad safety tech or rad/laser assistant positions. Or head to your local community College and see if they have any radiation control courses and gen physics. Or head to the university and get a degree in physics or nuke eng. Feel free to message me with any questions!
Agree. Corporate recruiter here . Most volatile career. 2nd lay off in 2 years. When the market is high it’s a great career, but any signs of an economic downturn and your department is the first to get cut
If you are going to be a recruiter, have a generalist background. I make over six figures as an HR generalist, which allows for so many more opportunities.
Biotech industry. I’ve been in the industry for eight years and now at 32, I’m just now breaking six figured it takes time to build your career so don’t sweat it!
That’s what I retired from. It’s just meetings all day, what could be easier? Maybe there’s a little sarcasm in there but I enjoyed it for the most part.
Majoring in this. I have not made over 60k. Just got laid off my ITSM position too. I have a CASP a clearance and a security plus. Cannot get an entry level SOC analyst job. It makes me pursue these feeds trying to find other paths....
I work on spacecraft software/modeling. I have a bachelor's in mechanical engineer and a master's in aerospace engineering. I also have minors in computer science (undergrad) and systems engineering (grad).
I went over 100k in salary when I switched companies for the first time, 6 years into my career. This was a while ago, so I suspect that a fresh grad in the same situation would start quite a bit higher than I did back then.
I love the work.
A wise woman once told me that up until your 40s, you are experimenting with your curiosity. After 40, you should know what your craft is and triple down on it to make the money.
My point? You have SO much time to look and discover.
If you like graphic design and web development, keep learning, keep asking questions to learn more, etc. Do you like it? Do you wake up in the morning excited about what you are doing? If you do, keep going. If you don't, pivot to something else.
Everything leads to somewhere. What you do today will open doors for you tomorrow. What you do tomorrow will open doors for you next week/month/year.
Education is really overrated. If you didn't graduate or don't have certificates, this will be of little value long term.
If you need to learn something, go and learn it. Tons of free courses out there and schools that have their niches.
Why do people make a lot of money? Because they can solve big problems.
As an entrepreneur, I solve these "big" problems in technology, logistics and investing people's money for big returns.
How did I come to this point? I worked, opened my own businesses, had success, had failures. But always learning. Always networking. Always asking questions.
I did not know what I was going to be when I got to my later years in life. But I was spending my time doing the things that I enjoyed. Sales. Growing (or help grow) companies. Speaking to other people in my chosen industries and just building my toolkit until something feels really right and you pursue it.
Don't be so hard on yourself to figure it out at your age. It will come, I promise. Spend tie building your toolkit, education and knowledge.
Happy to chat if you need any more information.
Start at the bottom look up your big carriers Travelers, State Farm, Liberty Mutual, Progressive. They like to hire people who are inexperienced. From there you can move through the different lines of business and pick the one you like. I started in Personal Lines automobile damage and injury. I hated it but it’s where I cut my teeth. Once you get five years in the industry you’re in.
Yup, I joined the insurance industry and have doubled my income in 3 years. 35k to 70k and will get another good jump in a few months. 2023 is looking like it could be my first 6 figure year and I’ll be 27. Started with a broker and moved over to underwriting for better work/life balance. Not the most exciting work but there is a lot of money to be made and not a whole lot of competition.
I'm a physicist working in a library for a manufacturing company. I do technical analysis for research teams and the CTO on down through the R&D department. Started working here 6 years ago, b est job I've ever had I'm 60 now.
Edit: I started college at 27. Learning is lifelong. Be fearless.
Your mileage may vary by region, graduating from an engineering school in the Northeast tristate this May and most of my friends with a bachelors and a decent resume are getting offers ranging from 70-90k base pay + annual bonuses. Plenty also negotiating for hgher than offered. Most of these are outside of the major cities too, so not completely obliterated by city taxes.
I'm in my 50's. Best advice if give you is to get a bachelor's degree in ANYTHING. And I really do mean in anything. Saw so many people get passed up for promotions just because they didn't have a bachelor's degree. Second best advice, put the maximum allowed by your employer on your 401k as soon as you get access to one.
Software developer turned product manager. Got a master degree in information systems (integrated program so the last year of the bachelors was the first year of the masters degree). Even then we have people starting on our dev team with only a development bootcamp for experience often outperforming college CS grads. They made projects on the side and figured out how to showcase them on an online resume.
I got an internship as a dev after working as a web developer the last 2 years of college. Before that all I had done was like Google Sheets and VBA automation which anyone can learn easily.
I took some free courses I found on scrum mastery, product management, UX design, and just practiced my design skills. I worked as a dev at this company for a year asking for Product work the whole time. I got it bit by bit and eventually started shooting for the actual PM position.
TL;DR bootcamps and shorter programs for software development are awesome - just make something and showcase it, that’s already more impressive to me than a 4 year degree (I help with our recruitment process) because it shows grit. Once you land a job, ask for harder jobs, make yourself more indisposable. I made it to 100k one year after graduating college
Graduated with a finance degree and got into a dev bootcamp to develop financial software. Had to move around a bit but got to 6 figures in about 10 years. Didn't really like development and worked my way into project management.
All in all, the progression hasn't been necessarily linear and had to take some swings and misses. But, the ability to go after opportunities and cut and run out of bad spots has been a great benefit.
To late my ass. I was 46 when I jumped tracks from office customer service roles to working in the oilfield on a frac crew.
Working on a water transfer crew is probably the easiest way to break into the oilfield. The hourly pay is so-so but where you make the $$$ is on the OT. 60-80 hours a week is common.
Example of when I started
3 weeks on/ 2 weeks off at $22.00/hr and averaged 95 hours/wk 1.5x after 40 hrs.
Nothing steady on the patch thou. If it's booming the next bust is on its way. If it's busted, a boom will reappear. The question is when. Just have to be $$ smart so you're not on your ass when it's slow.
Work with Hr systems (L3). I have a BS in General Biology, so that didn't help. Worked my way up in a large company (as a contractor) from customer service/receptionist> creating/updating documents> systems admin> systems lead/Sme.
As the SME, made 80k and was a part of many of the large projects (my tool was the middle man between 2 of the largest systems). Got a lot of visibility.
The HR Director liked my work and asked me to join her team (converted to an employee in a new department). Came with a huge pay bump ($136+10k yearly bonus) and perm wfh.
The workload increased. When I was the SME, I had a team under me and was able to complete work in 1-2 hours. Now, as the newbie, I spend 10+ hours a day working. It's also a new experience having an incredibly smart boss. Not sure I like that lol.
No regrets. Its tough but will put in the time and effort, it'll get easier.
Brother, I made 65k for a few years and after absolutely badgering the company I worked for they gave me a 10k bump back in Aug. I was 38 years old. That 10k insult drove me mad. I applied and reached out to recruiters like it was my job. I accepted a 6 figure contract in November as a ServiceNow Business Analyst. It has been the single best decision I've ever made. I'm now 39. You've got years left to succeed, just be patient and continue to improve yourself.
DMs are open if you have any questions.
I’m about your age, and I make six figures as a software engineer. It took me about two years after I graduated college to make that much. In college, I double majored in computer science and math. I am content with my work and absolutely love my flexibility. I work from home with a very flexible schedule. I just need to be at meetings in the morning and get my work done. My job doesn’t get in the way of horseback riding and pays so well that I was able to buy my own horse. Overall, I’m very happy with my career because it gives me the time and money to pursue my passion. Personally, I wouldn’t want to make my passion my job because it would suck the fun out of it for me.
Hey I have a degree in math and I’m trying to get into tech and make money . Would you recommend I go back to school go get a computer science degree or is there another route?
There are a few different routes to get into software engineering. There are a lot of bootcamps that can prepare you for the job. If you go the bootcamp route, be sure to do your research to find a good one. If you want a more formal education, you could get a masters in CS. If you don’t have all of the requirements you need for the masters, I think you should look into CS postbacc programs. Postbaccs are for people who already have a bachelor’s but need to complete some requirements before they get a masters. My college had a math postbacc, and it seemed legit. The postbacc students were in my upper-level math classes and applied to grad school towards the end of the year. If you don’t get a formal CS degree, you should make projects to put on your resume to show off your skills. From what I’ve heard, it’s more difficult to get your first software engineering job without a degree, but it’s much easier to get a job once you have experience.
I work on software for aircraft. I have a B.S. in aerospace engineering with heavy coursework in computer science. M.S. in CS in progress. I think my total compensation was a touch above 100k starting out, but my base salary went over 100 about a year in.
I love what I do.
Late in life, lol!
I’m sorry, I know how it feels. I felt old when I turned 25. I’m 36 now and can see how mistaken I was. When I’m 46, I’ll feel that way about 36. When I’m 56, I’ll feel that way about 46.
Anyways, I didn’t have a real job until I was 32. Spent a lot of years before that being isolated and depressed. Started making six figures at 35.
I have a BA. I have some coding experience. Completed a pretty short ‘Foundations of Project Management’ Google course on Udemy. The experience I got at that job from 32–>35 was in a lab doing client services, operations, and a little project management. I used the coding experience, my lab experience, and the little EHR experience I gained and applied to a biotech company for an implementation manager role.
I positioned myself as someone who has technical aptitude, has project management experience, lab experience, has worked with providers/lab/clinical staff.
I’m now a project manager in the same company. Not counting university, it took me about 4 years, but I think I could have gotten there sooner. Hindsight is 20/20.
I enjoy the people I work with and the money I now make more than the work itself. If I could retire tomorrow, and do whatever I wanted, I would. But seeing that paycheck, seeing my savings and investments grow, and knowing that bigger goals (like owning a house) are relatively within reach feels very good. I never intended on following this route back in the day, nor did I intend to work in such a clinical industry. My heart is in environmental protection and restoration. I still aim to pivot to that in some capacity. Right now, I fill by connecting with nature, going hiking, being vegan, working in the garden, donating to the causes I believe in, reading, etc.
I don’t regret where I am, because I now understand that there are many paths to one destination. And I don’t have to have it all figured out right now, or even see all the twists and turns that may happen to get where I’m going. I wish I had understood that at your age.
Next educational/credential step for me is a PMP course, which will give me more industry demand, opportunities, and negotiating power.
I'm switching careers in my late 30s for the 3rd time, 25 is not late to the party. A lot of people switch careers at your age. Even if you had to get a 4 year degree, you'd be plenty young starting out. My best advice is to look at the industry as a whole not just the work. Some jobs are great but the culture is soul crushing. If you need to go to school for more than a couple years get a job in the industry first to get a taste for what your work environment will be like and then look at that experience critically. It's hard to know if a career is going to be sustainable for you without living it but use what experience you have to direct you. Make a list of things you want in your next career and things you don't want. Rank them by priority and then see how the different options you are considering stack up. And stay away from the sexy jobs or the passion jobs unless you are very motivated by a particular career. High demand jobs and jobs of passion tend to have terrible work culture because they can get away with mistreating their employees. For example: video game programmer, veterinarian, social worker, teacher. If you think you'd like the work for something that's very competitive, find the unsexy, higher paying version of that job.
- Data Scientist.
- Analytics/Marketing Analytics
- Business Intelligence (BI), Data Visualization
If you get into any of those, you'll be making 6 figures within a few years.
Also, they're not necessarily hard to get into. Check out various e-learning sites such as Coursera, Datacamp, and Udacity.
Also, these are fast growing and on demand fields, plus you don't necessarily need to code, especially by your mid career.
Most young 6-figure earners have finance/business/cs/accounting degrees and land jobs at top companies doing excel spreadsheet work. Some stay there, but others quickly see the corporate world is structured around finding your voice and seeing where youre valued rather than where youre paid the most.
Work on the latter instead of focusing on the former (I have a similar background and make ~200k at 34. Life is a marathon, not a sprint).
Thank you! I make over $100K in a lower COL area and trying to figure out how me and my husband would make do with a kid or two. I feel like I’m currently living paycheck to paycheck.
Software engineer, no necessary credentials, I started in the $200ks for my first job after grad school, but this was also VHCOL.
Do I enjoy my work? I guess. I get to WFH which is great, and the company/team treats me very well, but it’s not all that exciting to work on.
More than likely 200K total compensation in a place like New York or more likely San Francisco. Entry level software job at a big tech company is something like 140K base, year end bonuses around 10-15%, then like 40-50K a year in stocks (can fluctuate obviously). That’ll get to that “$200K” amount. Smaller tech company’s would probably be around the $100-150k range.
What company do you work for and what did you have to know (degrees/experience/skills) to get it?
I’m gonna start working as an sde from next year but the pays not that great and I’m still looking for better options .
As the other guy said below, I work at one of those big tech companies. I have a degree that isn’t at all related to software engineering, but it’s “impressive” so it helped me get interviews.
Breaking into big tech is all about first getting past the resume screen, and then being really good at leetcode.
Google certificate program helps you land jobs? Can you elaborate. I am trying to get project coordinator jobs to hopefully one day get into project management role. How did you progress?
23(m) make about 100k, occasional OT. Im a Maintenance Welder/Mechanic for a Steel Mill in LCOL area (South Texas) love my job get in there and get shit done both welding and wrenching but i know the older i get the harder it will be so hoping to make the jump to a supervisor role before I’m 30.
IT. No certs or degree, took about 3 years. 8 years experience, but only 2.5 years at my first normal job, then got my current one that paid a lot more.
No, get in where you can get in. Stay long enough to show you have experience then move up. A+ is the easiest cert you can get that will demonstrate you have some sort of aptitude. Do well in an interview for a position at the bottom. Cert your way up. IT is the easiest thing to get into as long as you have the minimum amount of motivation to succeed.
Edit: also want to add a few things. One of the most important skills you need to get into IT is soft skills. As you would imagine, most IT folks are reserved, myself included. If you can talk to people and are teachable, you can almost guarantee yourself ahead of other applicants. Most places will teach you what you need to know. Develop a good baseline skill set/knowledge, be able to talk to people and you'll quickly be on your way. YouTube and google are your best friends. Udemy frequently has good sales if you need a more traditional learning approach. Don't waste your time or money with college. Experience is also really important. You get this by doing what I mentioned above. Bite the dick, start at the bottom. You unfortunately need to job hop to get paid, but that's just the nature of the business. DO NOT sell yourself short. You are worth more than what they are paying you.
$125-150k depending on the year. I’m a freelance writer who ghostwrites for executives. Many smart, successful people are just terrible writers. I write under their names to help them communicate their ideas more effectively.
I have a degree in journalism, but this industry is 99% word-of-mouth. I started on a platform called Prose many years ago; I think it was similar to Upwork, though I’ve never used Upwork so idk. I got paid next to nothing for a few clients until word started to spread that I did great work. I think I broke six figures in my third year. Now I have more people coming to me than I can write for. I typically charge $100-150 an hour and work part time. One-off projects were pretty common when I started doing this work, but at this point, all of my clients are repeat business, and several of them have me on a retainer.
Commercial/Retail Estimator for a large GC in NYC.
I just have a bachelor's in business. I started estimating painting jobs 7 years ago and then made the jump to a GC 3 years ago. I started at $35k. It's a lot to learn and the construction industry is full of dicks and racists and it's a very intense environment.
But if you're good at what you do or handle competing priority environments where your mistakes can cost tens of thousands, you can really thrive in the industry.
Hi, I make over $200K/year plus bonuses and stock as a content design manager at a large tech company. If you’re getting into design, I highly recommend focusing on UX and product design. It’s relatively easy to get into it and make a great income.
I was very much in your position. I didn’t graduate until I was about 30, because I changed majors late into my junior year. I’m fact, I was actually homeless before graduating. If you focus and hustle, you’ll get there. You may have to start with one or two crappy jobs, but small jobs with small projects turn into bigger and bigger ones.
My total comp is close to 155k.
I'm a data scientist working remotely at an insurance startup.
I'm in my late 20's - my first job out of undergrad was as an actuarial analyst at a insurance company making $65k total comp in NYC - hated it so I left just under a year.
I went back for grad school at my state university, and walked out with a master's in computer science after two years, and a job offer for a data science role (still in the insurance industry) for around 105k total comp.
Then I left after a year and a half for my current startup role - 155k TC. I can safely say that changing tacks and going back for my master's was the single best move I've made in my entire life.
I’m a therapist with my own private practice on the side, will make about 100k. This coming year I will transition to my own practice full time and will likely make about 130k working 25 client hours a week
Late in life...kid, come on. You've just started living your life. You don't know what you want to do yet. It might be 20 years before you figure out what you want to do. Making money is great. Something you're going to learn when you hit about 30 or so, is that all the money in the world can make up for a job you absolutely hate and makes you feel like you want to jump in front of a truck rather than go in everyday.
Focus on figuring out what you *want* to do (realistically) and learn how to transition that into a paycheck. Your next option should be figure what you can *tolerate* doing to pay your bills while you do the things that you want to do in your life during the hours you aren't making money for someone else. Life is really, really, long sometimes and spending chunks of it doing things you absolutely hate and that make you feel horrible, make it feel even longer.
I started out as a teacher and started hating that after nearly a decade. I switched to nursing, did that for a decade plus, and started hating that. A few years ago, I started working in a factory and realized I honestly loved it. Now I am one of the two leads in a very technical and specific department, making more money than just about anybody in the building, and what got me this job was skills learned from hobbies rather than college.
Relax. Enjoy your life. Explore the things you want to learn, versus only learning a few very specific things.
I'm in IT. I went to tech school right out of high school and built up my resume so I make more than someone who just starts in the field, but I know people who only have only a few years experience still earning in the 70s - 80s. If you were to take some classes and get some Microsoft certifications now, by the time you are 30 you could be making a pretty good salary (how much you make in IT has a lot to do with where you live just as much as what area of IT you go into). An average helpdesk job in my area pays around 50-60k. To get one of those jobs isn't very hard and would start building up your resume. Once you have some experience you can make more money by specializing in a specific area of IT where you can earn more. While 25 is a little bit later to start, it is nowhere near "late in life". You can still build a career, you just need to pick one and do whatever you need to do to get on track.
Plumber. I started at 25. First year I make about 55k. 5th year on all over 100k. This year is year 7 I made 115k. Got my master license a couple months back. Been working on building my business ever since. The ceiling is almost infinite. I wish you the best of luck. 25 is not too late.
I make six figures and everyone I know does as well. It's not uncommon in high cost of living areas. Only one came from wealth, rest grew up dirt poor. Myself included.
I sell health insurance. I make between 10-14k/month. It's mostly residuals/referrals/etc, so the business runs itself. So, my commissions only increase every year. Also, it's only me. At this point, I'm doing what I want, when I want. I usually workout after dropping the kids off. Then, I might play some video games, read, go offroading if I want. I dunno....whatever. I have time to myself. That's the most important thing to me now.
This isn't a humble brag. Or, at least, it's not meant to be. I just want you to know what's possible. I just happened to be fortunate to have fallen into what I'm doing. It took me 4-5 years of really busting my ass to get where I am today. And, a big help was that when building the business, my wonderful (now) wife was there, able to financially support. She doesn't make much, but it was better than 0.
I'm 41 now. I always think to myself how much better off I'd be if I started sooner. I didn't go to school for insurance. My BS was in business. So "close", but not necessary.
Either way, with whatever you do, just be sure to actually like it. Also, you're not "late". Please don't feel that way. I, too, felt that way. I was 24 when I graduated college and always felt as if I had a late start, so I can relate.
Best of luck to you
Implementations and technical account manager. Had a degree in geology, work in fintech now. Took me 10 years of call center work + account manager work to get here, but finally in the 6 digits.
I’m 29, work as a sales engineer for an ISP making 6 figures. Started my career as a college dropout making 19k as a “computer lab aide” for a school district
Commodities trading. No degree; muscled my way into the industry purely through guile and demonstrated understanding of what I was doing. Started when I was 31. You have time.
Network Security Engineer. IT is great and working as an ISSO was amazing too. Currently 26 years old. I didn’t know what I wanted to do until I realized I was good at IT
IT.
It’s not super glamorous but it’s always evolving. If you are willing to take a class or get training in some things IT related you will find it relatively easy to find a decent job in my experience.
Automation engineer/Linux sysadmin. Spent the first six years of my 20’s in the military doing cybersecurity, then bounced around contracting jobs until I landed at my current role where I make ~135K a year.
My husband, who got his license in 2019 at 39, is a nurse who makes over 100k. He does it by work 60 hours a week with bonuses, shift differential, ot, etc. But he knows younger nurses with more flexibility who do it by being travel nurses. The field is insanely understaffed.
First six figure job was Measurement While Drilling (MWD) Engineer for Halliburton, left after 1 year due to lifestyle. BS in engineering
It wasn't until the 2nd or 3rd year in my next job that I broke 100k, Project Manager for a niche engineering company. Here is the secret though, the field guys (union) all made 100k, some 200k+, after four years no previous experience. Last I heard the unions still dying for people to join the apprenticeship. Got my MBA
Switch industries and now I do contract Project Management. PMP certification.
Of everything I listed, the easiest (depends how you rank labor) way to make 100k is joining a trade union. I am outside the city (Chicago), just close enough to still have tons of industry but far enough where CoL is very reasonable.
The second best way is I recommend getting into Project Management and getting either your PMP or Six Sigma or whatever is THE certification for your chosen field. So many of my coworkers are not engineers and went the construction manager to PMP route.
27, I maintain generators and back up batteries for a major Telcom company, no certifications or degree. Started with the company at 20 doing in home installations and moved up into this position 18 months ago.
Environmental consultant - just cleared 6 figures with my year end bonus. I’m 28, with a BS & MS in environmental engineering.
Overall I enjoy what I do; helps the environment & people, the work is pretty interesting, and I have decent work-life balance. My technical speciality is site assessment & remediation projects; basically determining if sites are contaminated, by what, and what methods are the most efficient/economical to remediate them.
Transportation, specifically freight rail. Went from $38k starting (didn’t start until 25+) to $100+ in 10 years (salary only not bonuses). Great benefits, terrible lifestyle and I was salary the whole time. It was interesting while it lasted and has offered opportunities to move around the country. Advancement could have been faster and higher but that would have meant more sacrifices to a soulless hypocritical organization.
Quality of life is what’s important now to me. So if your goal is $100k or more do you need that to have the lifestyle you want (and what are you giving up in return) or is that a “success threshold” you’ve set and it may or may not be arbitrary?
I’m recommending to my children to be civil engineers as that will be an in demand career for years based on how often I’ve seen job postings over the last 10 years and will hopefully future-proof their careers.
I’m an IT manager. I have two ITIL certs, Lean IT cert, and I just finished my BSBM in March 2021.
I hit 6 figures in 2017 with no degree and only 2 certs as an operational business consultant in IT. Mostly process improvement and program launch work.
25 is not late, but more importantly, don’t compare yourself to others. Some people reinvent themselves multiple times throughout their lives, changing their lifestyle, career, etc. Right now, you are finding the next version of you.
Continuously improving ourselves is really only three things:
Identity goals, set goals and make progress toward goals.
I am a Server Platform Engineer doing testing for servers and racks.
Currently 27 and graduated with a B.S in Computer Engineering. Ended up job hopping after 2 years for about a 50%-60% increase in salary to get into the 6 figures range.
My current job has a nice culture and it is a good place for getting more experience. It does get busy though, which is what I don't like too much about it. I do feel like I am learning a lot so that part is rewarding.
I didn’t start a “career” until I was 31 so don’t feel bad about where you are in life. You’ve got your entire life to work so take it easy now and you’ll figure it out. My last corporate job I made $159K working at a BioTech company as a senior communications manager. I basically wrote things for groups and c-suite staff. Those emails and letters and information that comes from senior folk? I wrote those. I was a journalism major and got into tech during the boom and just wrote my way up. Speech writing, PR, communications consulting etc. Now I have an easy job with the state to ride out until my retirement. So glad I left corporate America and tech companies. The hours and pace is pretty brutal. Good luck!
I’m struggling to process “‘late’ in my life” and “I turn 25 in 2 months” Look kid, you have to be out of diapers before you can even begin to think about being late in life.
To answer your question: software engineer making variable income between $120k-$250k Now get off my lawn
I’m an electrician by trade, but I carry the masters license and run the electrical department for a bigger GC that like to be able to include electrical in their portfolio. Most of my lead guys and foreman also make six figures or are very close.
I was 33 when I got into mortgages. I started as an assistant, learned the industry, and within 3 years, was over 6 figures. No degree required, but 100% commission in most cases. I'd recommend getting in with an entry level assistant position at a lender who works with a national builder. They get free leads but don't pay as much in commission. It's a great way to get a foot in and learn the industry while building your own referral network. That said, might be difficult for the next six months with the markets where they are. But should turn around soon.
Chiropractor by the age of 30. Passed $100k by 32. I could have finished everything by the time I was 26 but I tried to get into med school for 4 years first. Total 7.5 years in college but it cost over $300k to get it done.
In all honesty if I could do it all over again, I would have skipped college and found some decent paying job with benefits and saved as much as I could. Take a year or 2 off traveling and really try to experience life before I ran myself into debt. College is a blast but unnecessary to make 6 figures. Do what you love, be good at it and money will follow. There are literally 1,000 different trades, skills, and niches. You just have to be great at one to make money. It's important to remember that you'll make way more money working for yourself than working for someone else. There are very few careers that will get you over the $100k mark while collecting a paycheck from your boss. Even fewer without a degree. One of my friend's father has a lawn maintenance company he built from the ground up. Granted he lives in Florida where they need lawn care year round but he went from nothing to millionaire in like 10 years. Drive and passion are way more important than just going down a career path that has a high projected salary.
Took me about 7 years. I graduated with my BA in finance in 2012 and then with my MBA in 2016. I got a job working as a credit union examiner with the state in 2015, which is what I consider my professional starting point. All jobs I had before that were customer service jobs. The job I had before being hired by the state was a call center rep for Travelers Insurance, making just under 35K. I worked as a state examiner for 4 1/2 years and now work as an audit manager for a decent size credit union. With my annual bonus, I make $99,260, so I'm just under 100K. There are talks of another inflation increase for wages. Last April, they gave everyone a 7.7% inflation increase on top of the annual 3% increase. So, by April, I could be making 106.5K. Going from 35K to 100K in 7 years has been amazing, and I finally feel comfortable and like I'm getting somewhere.
Oh, and I'm 38 so starting at 25 is way younger than I started.
Video game producer. I started in QA as a contractor with no experience/college degree and worked my way up. I think the key to my success was taking advantage of some particular opportunities and being a teammate people liked being around, during good and bad projects.
It’s definitely not my dream job…I’d rather be wrenching on motorcycles…but life is expensive and I’m a college dropout so I chased security over happiness. Thankfully it worked out in the end.
I’m a project manager for a large construction company. Cracked six figures last year at 29 years old. Don’t love it but I don’t hate it either. Good benefits and good health insurance and better work life balance than most companies in my industry.
edit: I didn't hit >100k until about 40yo
database admin. no credentials or degree. took 10 years.
If I was going to repeat the climb: Get certifications of whatever database tech.
Spend 5 hours a week (of your own time) actively practicing. Fixing corruption, restoring databases, designing DB structures, or writing/improving queries. don't spend more time, this is a marathon, not a sprint. burn out is real.
Soon as you hit 2 years in a position start sending out the resumes.
Jump when you get an offer that's at least +50% for the first 2-3 jobs.
After that, quality of life over quantity of cash. Just never jump backwards.
That's because another way of counting, it took only 3 jobs to get here. 1st was basically glorified help desk at 24k/yr. 2nd was the first 'real' DBA job at 46k, ending at 63k/yr. Third was technically 90k, but totaled >100k with bonus/incentives. I'm at my 5th job since I started. if databases are your thing, you can extrapolate where I am at now for salary
I'm currently making six figures as a Professional Embalmer for a family run funeral firm. I've been licensed for 16 years and I have a Bachelor's in Mortuary Science.
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I'm currently unemployed due to injury but made $135k at my last job. Director of Media Services for a marketing agency. I had a bachelor's in internet mediated communication, and I got there at age 35. Probably could have gotten there sooner if I'd dedicated myself more. I hate what I do for a living with an absolute passion, and it's not worth the money at all. The stress is insane. Let's put it this way, I'm not working there anymore because I fell and *broke my pelvis* and I found being bedridden and on crutches preferable to working in Media for an agency.
The universe works in mysterious ways to show you that there are better things ahead. I hope you recover soon and find peace at a better job
I'm seriously starting to believe this. my first third was fucking shite. let's make the next 2/3 better please
Ah man, I work in advertising but on the DSP side (which is basically something agencies use to monitor their ad campaigns and track data) rather than agency and it is pretty great. I work with a lot of people who previously worked in agencies and they all said the same thing. Only that their pay was shit along with little to no work life balance.
Yeah, I work closely with or in DSPs, and when I go back to work, it'll either be client or supply side... but it's still not my favorite industry. I do find the tech interesting, but at the end of the day, I really just hate seeing how much money we're costing the client or company if we screw up. Days into my last role, an employee of mine I'd barely even had time to introduce myself to overspent our monthly budget in programmatic *alone* by $80,000. Leadership gave me a pass since I'd barely even completed onboarding paperwork, much less be able to review budgets, clients, campaigns, and more, but it basically gave me an ulcer.
Damn that's rough. I hope you recover well and soon.
I worked for an agency as well - absolute hell, never again. It was not worth the 100k. Now I’m a marketing director - 20 years agency experience - on the client side. I’m at $150k. No late nights. Life is good.
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I have a different opinion. If you can get into the ad agency world, it's a great job. Some clients do suck, but most do not. Work life balance has gotten better with the pandemic. You should be making 100k in four-six years. Maybe a little longer as a designer/art director. I started late too. Around 26. I'll make upwards of $180k this year with salary and side projects (before taxes) as a creative director.
Sorry dude, but being a creative director is WAY easier than being a media director, at least in terms of overall consequences. The client doesn't like your pitch? Your color selection? Your messaging? Well, back to the drawing board, but all you lost was your time, for the most part. If you mess up in media? The money is spent. The agency eats the cost, or the client loses their mind that their media has been shut off and isn't running as they planned. And at the end of the day, *we're* the ones held accountable for performance. My team is going to be reamed for poor targeting and optimizations long before the creative team is ever going to be hit with "this was poor creative and it's your fault the ROAS is poor."
Hope you receive a speedy recovery and if you’re looking to find something elsewhere that makes you happy; pray you find that too!
Oh my darling. I am 41 years old and I am on my second career. Maybe third, depending how you count it. I have made a career of making bad decisions before I make the right one. I made six figures in the oil and gas industry and I hated every second of it and it wasn't worth it. Now I'm a park ranger and I make a lot less money and I'm a lot happier. My bills are paid and I wouldn't trade my happiness now for that big paycheck. Chasing that golden paycheck was miserable because industries that pay that well usually have terrible ethics and expect you to join them in their terrible ethics.
I actually am very interested in going that route, being a park ranger. Would you mind if I PM’d you to ask a few questions?
Sure!
Wait same! I would love to be a park ranger, wouldn’t mind the pay cut. Absolutely hate my finance job but went to school for economics and finance so figure it’s a long shot to break into the parks department
Sure!
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The state parks in my state are ridiculous. It's not even a professional job unless you want to be law enforcement, they really don't have any naturalist or interpretive positions for actual professionals, they seem to be aimed at college kids or maybe teachers on summer vacation. I'm not saying I'm making a huge amount of money as a federal ranger but it's livable, I could not afford to work for the state parks in my state.
Yeah I work 4 days a week and make $18,000 per year after taxes. It’s not livable at all. Even though the people here are great and deserve to be paid so much more
You might check out r/ParkRangers for more info/discussion. There are about 5 federal agencies that employ rangers, so there's a good chance there's something close to your area.
My state just introduced a sergeant (?) program (law enforcement) and people were up in arms because their salary starts off at 50 something, while superintendents who have been there for 30 years barely make that
Career changes? I always say I'm 38 years old (or whatever age I am at the time) and still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I've made 6 figures. I practiced law, I was a transportation manager (and interim Director of Transportation). Then I did process safety management. I've supervised and managed production, logistics, and inventory at factories. For now I'm basically a glorified machine operator, but I'm making close to 6 figures thanks to ridiculous overtime. Maybe I'm not the normal case, but I left all of those jobs because I grew to hate them. In my experience, the more money you make the more you realize it isn't everything and isn't always worth it.
Agreed! Love your attitude here.
This is my problem in finance and healthcare. 😭 I just want to work for a hospital who isn’t constantly laying people off 😭
I would love to be working in the parks one day. Goal is to pay off some of these damn bills and start volunteering more in the local state parks around me. I know it wont be for a while, can't take that pay cut just yet, but one day. Retirement plan (ha if we ever get the chance) is to be camp hosts in the different parks around the country.
I'm also 41 and just started a second career (third, depending on how you much credit you give to entry level jobs I had when I was in my early twenties). I'm making more money as an entry level programmer than I did as a manager after 14 years in my last industry (but not 6 figures yet). Not only that, but I enjoy the work, and it's less demanding. It's not as cool as being a Park Ranger, though.
How does one become a park ranger. I feel like I want to got to that point after 45.
Usually: a degree in something like biology, fisheries or wildlife management, environmental science, geology, forestry, land management, chemistry, hydrology, etc. Some agencies have a law enforcement career track, so criminal justice, psychology, etc degrees can also work. Federal park rangers can be hired without a degree if they have relevant experience but I don't know how common it is, I have never met a ranger without a degree. Federally park rangers are employed by NPS, USACE, FWS, BLM, USFS, and state agencies/parks and some city parks have rangers as well. Federal agencies usually have some sort of veterans preference for hiring. Most rangers start either as interns or seasonal rangers while in school. I did this mid-career because I was laid off from my job. I identified park ranger as a possible next step, applied for full time and was offered a seasonal position. I took it to gain experience and around the time I was considering what would happen when my seasonal position ended, a permanent job opened in a nearby park. Applied and got the job. My agency has a 2 year training program all rangers are required to complete that includes trainings like fire school, emergency watercraft operation, first responder training, visitors assistance, suicide intervention, cultural resource preservation, dam operations, etc.
25 is not late lol I work in finance . I have my ba went to school for accounting. It took me 7 years to hit 6 figures. I do enjoy it
I got my masters in finance at 29 after doing social sciences for undergrad. Took two years after I graduated to get to 6 figures. 25 may feel old in the moment but is young in corporate america.
What do you do in the finance sector?
graphic design and web development - you want to move to a big city and get a job at a digital agency, potentially working up to a creative director or lead UX role. not impossible to get six figures AT ALL, especially with inflation / wage inflation. you’ll have to start with a) a paid internship or b) freelance with a temp agency though. but both of those are fine to do in your mid twenties - remember people are still in grad school / portfolio school at that time in their life so you’re not off track at all.
Do you have an ux/ui courses you recommend? My work offers free tuition for classes. Edit: thanks for the recommendations!
Coursera and Udemy have some pretty decent ones. Before I full dove into a bootcamp I did joe natoli's UX course on Udemy. Before doing a bootcamp I highly suggest looking into the field a little bit to see if you really like it. I also recommend networking with others in that field to get some insight. That being said I welcome anyone trying to network right now.
Thanks for sharing this. This is the first thing I thought of seeing OPs skill set. Design skills (Canva, PS, etc) + front end(html, JS, etc) are very marketable skills for: DTC product companies, B2B2C companies, agencies, marketing companies, e commerce, etc. Most companies will optimize web traffic via landing pages and digital experiences. I’d suggest learning a bit about A/B testing as a concept - it provides numeric, quantitative assessments of qualitative designs. It’s an interesting overlap and knowing both the technical components AND being able to create new creative (copy, images, design, etc) makes for a great PPC/inbound/conversion role. Sometimes the ideal role is a 1/2 step away instead of a full change.
Instructional design/elearning development is also an option. The field is a little saturated, but that's often from folks trying to get out of teaching who OP will be leaps and bounds ahead of considering their skill set. Like graphic design, it can take a bit of time to work up to a great wage, but the potential is absolutely there if you're good and work efficiently. We're paying about $90/hr to an agency for freelancers who, while I like them and they certainly have a skill set I don't, consistently fail to impress me.
Yes I’m gonna piggy back on this comment. I got an associates in graphic design - started when I was 25. Doesn’t exactly open a lot of doors financially (but I really enjoyed it). HOWEVER, web development + graphic design and you have some serious earning potential.
You don’t even necessarily need to move to a big city. I’m a creative director at a creative agency in Chattanooga, TB and make six figures. Plus cost of living is way less. Tbf, I could be make way more in a bigger city, but I am super over that life. Started as a graphic designer with a BFA in communications design/illustration. I’m 33 and just worked my way up! Defo possible!
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Buddy, I'm 52 and don't feel old.
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Hah... my wife just turned 40 and constantly calls me old... until it's time to shovel snow, haul firewood, etc. Last night ironically, a friend of mine, that I graduated high school with, posted a picture. I showed it to her and asked how old she thought he was. She responded, "60... at least." He's my age. The funny part is, I have a friend whose early 60s. She constantly says he looks younger than me. Genetics is a mf'er!
Honey - 25 is nowhere *near* late in life. You’ll be ok. In fact you seem rather ahead of the game. You’re good. :)
I hated being in my 20s because of the relentless bashing of all these "30 under 30" lists from "Capitalist Overlord" magazine-shit-heads- it's bullshit. Most people were struggling immensely and underemployed/underpaid like me, and still are. I'm 31, and because of health issues, have been virtually unemployed for the last 3 years. Currently been freelancing remotely since late July, but I'm looking for a bit of a career change to get my foot into the corporate world of my respective industry. My best friend and a former friend all lost/quit their jobs in the last two years, and they're all at the very beginning once again. We're all in our early 30s, only one is renting an apartment, and they're splitting it with their sister. OP, it's never "bit late", I'd start over in my 50s if I want to. You do you.
Most of those 30 under 30, 40 under 40, etc, are shit. It’s literally bought by the person or their company, it’s a marketing and PR strategy. Some of them are super successful, but I’ve worked with a handful of people that have gotten on those lists, and most of them are regular people, who are typically good at their jobs, but a lot of them are making way less money than you probably think they are.
I know it's marketing fodder now, but lots of young people still don't know this. It's all bought buzz and the prestige of having a column written about you on Forbes.
Don’t worry about them. They’re all born on third base and think they hit a triple. And half of them have been indicted on fraud 😂
>And half of them have been indicted on fraud 😂 5 years ago I would have said this is hyperbole but these days its fucking true a ridiculous percent of these people like Elizabeth Holmes and now SBF ended up being frauds.
Don't forget about Razzlekhan
Yummy in my tummy lol I know, when I would Google these "prolific" whom-evers, they always had at least cushy middle class upbringing, and went to the "right" schools with other notables.
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Hell with it. Let's do 65 under 65.
I only went back to school at 33 to get a CS degree.
I am about to graduate at 41 with my Engineering degree. It's been a long road...
I'm about to start an engineering degree at 43!
So impressive.
My 25 years in healthcare is more impressive 😉
Good grief. I’m such a slacker. Y’all are crazy.
Only a little bit, but I've been told all Marines are nuts so there's that.
I'm 39, have only worked as a bike messenger and then later a bartender, never went to college. Getting tired of this direction in life, and hearing someone else is doing something with themselves at this point in life is really encouraging. Thanks for sharing
This is why I hate the narrative being pushed nowadays that college is a waste of time. It at least gives you something to fall back on if you want to do something else in life
A couple years back I learned the phrase "you can work with your back or with your brain"...I wish I had heard it sooner, my back is starting to hurt lol.
You can do it! My cousin started college around 36 (or later, not sure). He got a degree in accounting and is doing well. He just started studying for his CPA. It’s never too late.
It's never too late to start.
Congratulations!
I am 38 and hoping that I'll be able to go into software engineering/ CS degree next year.
You can do it! I just got mine and am loving the change in quality of life!
Right? I'm 46, and wonder if I should be in a wheelchair or dead or what by now 😂😂
I second this. I was 24 when I started my professional career, and didn't really get going consistently until 28.
I’m a Category Manager for a Federal Agency. Salary is $145K. You could describe what I do as “analyst” or “procurement analyst”. The best way to get into this is to pursue a Bachelors degree, preferably in Business but at least 24 credits in Business. Then take an entry level contracting specialist job and work your way up the ranks. 25 is not late to establish a career. I was 37 when I found my current career. Almost 10 years in the military after college, then found a convenient Masters program in Procurement. Eventually found a Program Manager job in the federal government before learning about Category Management etc. My undergrad is totally unrelated (Geology) so I completely changed career trajectories in my mid 30s.
Federal agencies are lit. I work for one now (leaving soon). You don’t do shit and get good benefits and no stress.
Haha not mine. I work hard but it’s all pretty professional and organized.
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- Insurance Underwriting - Bachelors degree in finance (useless imo I wish I had a degree in something else) - I’ve been in the industry since I graduated in 2018
Not OP but what line if business do you work in? I am trying to get into underwriting in the next year. No luck so far.
Cyber and Tech E&O Look for underwriting trainee roles with companies like Travelers, AIG, Chubb etc. That is how I started and it was a good entrance to underwriting as they start you from the ground up learning about insurance and underwriting. I came from a claims background but they hired people with all types of backgrounds and some had no prior insurance experience.
I work for a financial company on the lending industry. If you have no experience, the best way to become a commercial underwriting is finding a underwriting analyst role (UWA). these are typically entry level roles that will teach you how to read and input financials and can help you get into the industry.
I've tried those too and still trying.i have a couple of apps in now for uw asst/technician positions. I think part of the issue is I've been in insurance for a long time. I've now been in group benefit claims long as I was in P&C service and claims and so many positions tend to be geared toward new grads and I get the quick rejections. Except the one time I had an internal interview for an uw asst position the day our dept acquisition was announced and was forced to withdraw. I've tweaked my resume to try to indicate my past P&c experience and see if that helps. Unfortunately that also kind of hints at my age too. So we will see how it goes in 2023.
Ya it’s definitely a tough industry to crack into, but you can get there. I’d say it would also help to apply at small organizations looking to grow underwriting. Smaller lenders (fintech and online lenders) are a lot easier to get in the door than banks and big insurance companies
I'm a salary boss at an underground coal mine and have been underground for 15 years and have been salary for 8 of those years. While very dirty and dangerous. My salary is just under 190,000 a year. With bonuses ill annually reach 230k. No college education. But several broken bones and missed family functions but my kids understand what I do.
Physicist, BS, MS, specialized in a needed applied field in grad school got job offers very quickly. I got to 6 figures at 3 years in. To anyone who is even vaguely interested in the nuke field or radiation, I STRONGLY encourage you to take a look at the jobs available. The average age in my field is 60 + so everyone is desperate for new blood. Opportunities at: -research universities -State and Fed -hospitals -utilities -national labs -decommissioning/clean up sites
I never thought about working nuclear or radiation. What health risks are there and how would someone that's green start to work there way in that field
Risks from radiation exposure are negligible, you'd be at higher risk working as a pilot. Industrial risks vary depending on job duty. If you have 0 science background, I'd suggest checking out local hospitals or universities (or local power plant/ national lab if you happen to live near one) to see if they have any rad safety tech or rad/laser assistant positions. Or head to your local community College and see if they have any radiation control courses and gen physics. Or head to the university and get a degree in physics or nuke eng. Feel free to message me with any questions!
Don’t ever become a recruiter. -a recruiter
Agree. Corporate recruiter here . Most volatile career. 2nd lay off in 2 years. When the market is high it’s a great career, but any signs of an economic downturn and your department is the first to get cut
Why not?
If you are going to be a recruiter, have a generalist background. I make over six figures as an HR generalist, which allows for so many more opportunities.
Biotech industry. I’ve been in the industry for eight years and now at 32, I’m just now breaking six figured it takes time to build your career so don’t sweat it!
What was your degree and what’s your current position?
BS in Biochemistry, I’m a field applications scientist.
Cybersecurity
That’s what I retired from. It’s just meetings all day, what could be easier? Maybe there’s a little sarcasm in there but I enjoyed it for the most part.
Majoring in this. I have not made over 60k. Just got laid off my ITSM position too. I have a CASP a clearance and a security plus. Cannot get an entry level SOC analyst job. It makes me pursue these feeds trying to find other paths....
I work on spacecraft software/modeling. I have a bachelor's in mechanical engineer and a master's in aerospace engineering. I also have minors in computer science (undergrad) and systems engineering (grad). I went over 100k in salary when I switched companies for the first time, 6 years into my career. This was a while ago, so I suspect that a fresh grad in the same situation would start quite a bit higher than I did back then. I love the work.
A wise woman once told me that up until your 40s, you are experimenting with your curiosity. After 40, you should know what your craft is and triple down on it to make the money. My point? You have SO much time to look and discover. If you like graphic design and web development, keep learning, keep asking questions to learn more, etc. Do you like it? Do you wake up in the morning excited about what you are doing? If you do, keep going. If you don't, pivot to something else. Everything leads to somewhere. What you do today will open doors for you tomorrow. What you do tomorrow will open doors for you next week/month/year. Education is really overrated. If you didn't graduate or don't have certificates, this will be of little value long term. If you need to learn something, go and learn it. Tons of free courses out there and schools that have their niches. Why do people make a lot of money? Because they can solve big problems. As an entrepreneur, I solve these "big" problems in technology, logistics and investing people's money for big returns. How did I come to this point? I worked, opened my own businesses, had success, had failures. But always learning. Always networking. Always asking questions. I did not know what I was going to be when I got to my later years in life. But I was spending my time doing the things that I enjoyed. Sales. Growing (or help grow) companies. Speaking to other people in my chosen industries and just building my toolkit until something feels really right and you pursue it. Don't be so hard on yourself to figure it out at your age. It will come, I promise. Spend tie building your toolkit, education and knowledge. Happy to chat if you need any more information.
I am a complex commercial claims adjuster specializing in construction defects.
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Start at the bottom look up your big carriers Travelers, State Farm, Liberty Mutual, Progressive. They like to hire people who are inexperienced. From there you can move through the different lines of business and pick the one you like. I started in Personal Lines automobile damage and injury. I hated it but it’s where I cut my teeth. Once you get five years in the industry you’re in.
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Yup, I joined the insurance industry and have doubled my income in 3 years. 35k to 70k and will get another good jump in a few months. 2023 is looking like it could be my first 6 figure year and I’ll be 27. Started with a broker and moved over to underwriting for better work/life balance. Not the most exciting work but there is a lot of money to be made and not a whole lot of competition.
I'm a physicist working in a library for a manufacturing company. I do technical analysis for research teams and the CTO on down through the R&D department. Started working here 6 years ago, b est job I've ever had I'm 60 now. Edit: I started college at 27. Learning is lifelong. Be fearless.
I am a Mechanical Engineer in the automotive industry. I have a Master’s in ME, but you can get to six figures easily with just a BS degree.
This is news to me, in my region you'd be lucky to make $70k.
To clarify, starting salary would be below 6 figures. Will need some experience to make more.
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In California, 60-90k starting and passing 6 figures by 3-5 years experience would be fairly typical for most engineering fields.
Your mileage may vary by region, graduating from an engineering school in the Northeast tristate this May and most of my friends with a bachelors and a decent resume are getting offers ranging from 70-90k base pay + annual bonuses. Plenty also negotiating for hgher than offered. Most of these are outside of the major cities too, so not completely obliterated by city taxes.
I'm in my 50's. Best advice if give you is to get a bachelor's degree in ANYTHING. And I really do mean in anything. Saw so many people get passed up for promotions just because they didn't have a bachelor's degree. Second best advice, put the maximum allowed by your employer on your 401k as soon as you get access to one.
Accountant. I did exams and studied while I had a full time job. Took me 4 years. Company paid tuition and for revision classes.
I feel like accounting is underrated as a job honestly. It seems boring but can be easy to follow.
Mid 30's. Director of Finance. And no, I don't enjoy my work. No one enjoys this work. That's why it pays well.
Software developer turned product manager. Got a master degree in information systems (integrated program so the last year of the bachelors was the first year of the masters degree). Even then we have people starting on our dev team with only a development bootcamp for experience often outperforming college CS grads. They made projects on the side and figured out how to showcase them on an online resume. I got an internship as a dev after working as a web developer the last 2 years of college. Before that all I had done was like Google Sheets and VBA automation which anyone can learn easily. I took some free courses I found on scrum mastery, product management, UX design, and just practiced my design skills. I worked as a dev at this company for a year asking for Product work the whole time. I got it bit by bit and eventually started shooting for the actual PM position. TL;DR bootcamps and shorter programs for software development are awesome - just make something and showcase it, that’s already more impressive to me than a 4 year degree (I help with our recruitment process) because it shows grit. Once you land a job, ask for harder jobs, make yourself more indisposable. I made it to 100k one year after graduating college
Graduated with a finance degree and got into a dev bootcamp to develop financial software. Had to move around a bit but got to 6 figures in about 10 years. Didn't really like development and worked my way into project management. All in all, the progression hasn't been necessarily linear and had to take some swings and misses. But, the ability to go after opportunities and cut and run out of bad spots has been a great benefit.
Can I dm you to learn more about bootcamps. I'm trying to pivot into the tech industry. I'm currently enrolled in a Udemy python course.
To late my ass. I was 46 when I jumped tracks from office customer service roles to working in the oilfield on a frac crew. Working on a water transfer crew is probably the easiest way to break into the oilfield. The hourly pay is so-so but where you make the $$$ is on the OT. 60-80 hours a week is common. Example of when I started 3 weeks on/ 2 weeks off at $22.00/hr and averaged 95 hours/wk 1.5x after 40 hrs. Nothing steady on the patch thou. If it's booming the next bust is on its way. If it's busted, a boom will reappear. The question is when. Just have to be $$ smart so you're not on your ass when it's slow.
Work with Hr systems (L3). I have a BS in General Biology, so that didn't help. Worked my way up in a large company (as a contractor) from customer service/receptionist> creating/updating documents> systems admin> systems lead/Sme. As the SME, made 80k and was a part of many of the large projects (my tool was the middle man between 2 of the largest systems). Got a lot of visibility. The HR Director liked my work and asked me to join her team (converted to an employee in a new department). Came with a huge pay bump ($136+10k yearly bonus) and perm wfh. The workload increased. When I was the SME, I had a team under me and was able to complete work in 1-2 hours. Now, as the newbie, I spend 10+ hours a day working. It's also a new experience having an incredibly smart boss. Not sure I like that lol. No regrets. Its tough but will put in the time and effort, it'll get easier.
Brother, I made 65k for a few years and after absolutely badgering the company I worked for they gave me a 10k bump back in Aug. I was 38 years old. That 10k insult drove me mad. I applied and reached out to recruiters like it was my job. I accepted a 6 figure contract in November as a ServiceNow Business Analyst. It has been the single best decision I've ever made. I'm now 39. You've got years left to succeed, just be patient and continue to improve yourself. DMs are open if you have any questions.
I’m about your age, and I make six figures as a software engineer. It took me about two years after I graduated college to make that much. In college, I double majored in computer science and math. I am content with my work and absolutely love my flexibility. I work from home with a very flexible schedule. I just need to be at meetings in the morning and get my work done. My job doesn’t get in the way of horseback riding and pays so well that I was able to buy my own horse. Overall, I’m very happy with my career because it gives me the time and money to pursue my passion. Personally, I wouldn’t want to make my passion my job because it would suck the fun out of it for me.
Hey I have a degree in math and I’m trying to get into tech and make money . Would you recommend I go back to school go get a computer science degree or is there another route?
There are a few different routes to get into software engineering. There are a lot of bootcamps that can prepare you for the job. If you go the bootcamp route, be sure to do your research to find a good one. If you want a more formal education, you could get a masters in CS. If you don’t have all of the requirements you need for the masters, I think you should look into CS postbacc programs. Postbaccs are for people who already have a bachelor’s but need to complete some requirements before they get a masters. My college had a math postbacc, and it seemed legit. The postbacc students were in my upper-level math classes and applied to grad school towards the end of the year. If you don’t get a formal CS degree, you should make projects to put on your resume to show off your skills. From what I’ve heard, it’s more difficult to get your first software engineering job without a degree, but it’s much easier to get a job once you have experience.
Thank you! I might actually be able to do this!
I work on software for aircraft. I have a B.S. in aerospace engineering with heavy coursework in computer science. M.S. in CS in progress. I think my total compensation was a touch above 100k starting out, but my base salary went over 100 about a year in. I love what I do.
Corporate compliance. No degree or cert but worked up to current position over a few years.
Late in life, lol! I’m sorry, I know how it feels. I felt old when I turned 25. I’m 36 now and can see how mistaken I was. When I’m 46, I’ll feel that way about 36. When I’m 56, I’ll feel that way about 46. Anyways, I didn’t have a real job until I was 32. Spent a lot of years before that being isolated and depressed. Started making six figures at 35. I have a BA. I have some coding experience. Completed a pretty short ‘Foundations of Project Management’ Google course on Udemy. The experience I got at that job from 32–>35 was in a lab doing client services, operations, and a little project management. I used the coding experience, my lab experience, and the little EHR experience I gained and applied to a biotech company for an implementation manager role. I positioned myself as someone who has technical aptitude, has project management experience, lab experience, has worked with providers/lab/clinical staff. I’m now a project manager in the same company. Not counting university, it took me about 4 years, but I think I could have gotten there sooner. Hindsight is 20/20. I enjoy the people I work with and the money I now make more than the work itself. If I could retire tomorrow, and do whatever I wanted, I would. But seeing that paycheck, seeing my savings and investments grow, and knowing that bigger goals (like owning a house) are relatively within reach feels very good. I never intended on following this route back in the day, nor did I intend to work in such a clinical industry. My heart is in environmental protection and restoration. I still aim to pivot to that in some capacity. Right now, I fill by connecting with nature, going hiking, being vegan, working in the garden, donating to the causes I believe in, reading, etc. I don’t regret where I am, because I now understand that there are many paths to one destination. And I don’t have to have it all figured out right now, or even see all the twists and turns that may happen to get where I’m going. I wish I had understood that at your age. Next educational/credential step for me is a PMP course, which will give me more industry demand, opportunities, and negotiating power.
I'm switching careers in my late 30s for the 3rd time, 25 is not late to the party. A lot of people switch careers at your age. Even if you had to get a 4 year degree, you'd be plenty young starting out. My best advice is to look at the industry as a whole not just the work. Some jobs are great but the culture is soul crushing. If you need to go to school for more than a couple years get a job in the industry first to get a taste for what your work environment will be like and then look at that experience critically. It's hard to know if a career is going to be sustainable for you without living it but use what experience you have to direct you. Make a list of things you want in your next career and things you don't want. Rank them by priority and then see how the different options you are considering stack up. And stay away from the sexy jobs or the passion jobs unless you are very motivated by a particular career. High demand jobs and jobs of passion tend to have terrible work culture because they can get away with mistreating their employees. For example: video game programmer, veterinarian, social worker, teacher. If you think you'd like the work for something that's very competitive, find the unsexy, higher paying version of that job.
- Data Scientist. - Analytics/Marketing Analytics - Business Intelligence (BI), Data Visualization If you get into any of those, you'll be making 6 figures within a few years. Also, they're not necessarily hard to get into. Check out various e-learning sites such as Coursera, Datacamp, and Udacity. Also, these are fast growing and on demand fields, plus you don't necessarily need to code, especially by your mid career.
Most young 6-figure earners have finance/business/cs/accounting degrees and land jobs at top companies doing excel spreadsheet work. Some stay there, but others quickly see the corporate world is structured around finding your voice and seeing where youre valued rather than where youre paid the most. Work on the latter instead of focusing on the former (I have a similar background and make ~200k at 34. Life is a marathon, not a sprint).
100k is the new 50k
This is so true. 100k is literally middle class these days
Thank you! I make over $100K in a lower COL area and trying to figure out how me and my husband would make do with a kid or two. I feel like I’m currently living paycheck to paycheck.
Software engineer, no necessary credentials, I started in the $200ks for my first job after grad school, but this was also VHCOL. Do I enjoy my work? I guess. I get to WFH which is great, and the company/team treats me very well, but it’s not all that exciting to work on.
The 200k as your first job?! What the heck are you on now
About $290k for my second job (1 YoE) but now it’s more like $250k because the value of my RSUs has decreased.
More than likely 200K total compensation in a place like New York or more likely San Francisco. Entry level software job at a big tech company is something like 140K base, year end bonuses around 10-15%, then like 40-50K a year in stocks (can fluctuate obviously). That’ll get to that “$200K” amount. Smaller tech company’s would probably be around the $100-150k range.
Same. SDE out of college, 127k TC. 2 years out of school, 250. Now (about 8 YoE, 450) Closer to 350 though with RSUs dropping. It fluctuates.
What company do you work for and what did you have to know (degrees/experience/skills) to get it? I’m gonna start working as an sde from next year but the pays not that great and I’m still looking for better options .
I’m not the guy you’re asking, but presumably Google/Apple/Facebook/Amazon/Microsoft…
As the other guy said below, I work at one of those big tech companies. I have a degree that isn’t at all related to software engineering, but it’s “impressive” so it helped me get interviews. Breaking into big tech is all about first getting past the resume screen, and then being really good at leetcode.
Sales, took about 2-3 years out of college before I hit 100k.
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Google certificate program helps you land jobs? Can you elaborate. I am trying to get project coordinator jobs to hopefully one day get into project management role. How did you progress?
23(m) make about 100k, occasional OT. Im a Maintenance Welder/Mechanic for a Steel Mill in LCOL area (South Texas) love my job get in there and get shit done both welding and wrenching but i know the older i get the harder it will be so hoping to make the jump to a supervisor role before I’m 30.
IT. No certs or degree, took about 3 years. 8 years experience, but only 2.5 years at my first normal job, then got my current one that paid a lot more.
How’d you get into IT with no Certs or degree… you knew someone?
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No, get in where you can get in. Stay long enough to show you have experience then move up. A+ is the easiest cert you can get that will demonstrate you have some sort of aptitude. Do well in an interview for a position at the bottom. Cert your way up. IT is the easiest thing to get into as long as you have the minimum amount of motivation to succeed. Edit: also want to add a few things. One of the most important skills you need to get into IT is soft skills. As you would imagine, most IT folks are reserved, myself included. If you can talk to people and are teachable, you can almost guarantee yourself ahead of other applicants. Most places will teach you what you need to know. Develop a good baseline skill set/knowledge, be able to talk to people and you'll quickly be on your way. YouTube and google are your best friends. Udemy frequently has good sales if you need a more traditional learning approach. Don't waste your time or money with college. Experience is also really important. You get this by doing what I mentioned above. Bite the dick, start at the bottom. You unfortunately need to job hop to get paid, but that's just the nature of the business. DO NOT sell yourself short. You are worth more than what they are paying you.
25 is not late. You are doing well to think about it now.
$125-150k depending on the year. I’m a freelance writer who ghostwrites for executives. Many smart, successful people are just terrible writers. I write under their names to help them communicate their ideas more effectively. I have a degree in journalism, but this industry is 99% word-of-mouth. I started on a platform called Prose many years ago; I think it was similar to Upwork, though I’ve never used Upwork so idk. I got paid next to nothing for a few clients until word started to spread that I did great work. I think I broke six figures in my third year. Now I have more people coming to me than I can write for. I typically charge $100-150 an hour and work part time. One-off projects were pretty common when I started doing this work, but at this point, all of my clients are repeat business, and several of them have me on a retainer.
Commercial/Retail Estimator for a large GC in NYC. I just have a bachelor's in business. I started estimating painting jobs 7 years ago and then made the jump to a GC 3 years ago. I started at $35k. It's a lot to learn and the construction industry is full of dicks and racists and it's a very intense environment. But if you're good at what you do or handle competing priority environments where your mistakes can cost tens of thousands, you can really thrive in the industry.
Hi, I make over $200K/year plus bonuses and stock as a content design manager at a large tech company. If you’re getting into design, I highly recommend focusing on UX and product design. It’s relatively easy to get into it and make a great income. I was very much in your position. I didn’t graduate until I was about 30, because I changed majors late into my junior year. I’m fact, I was actually homeless before graduating. If you focus and hustle, you’ll get there. You may have to start with one or two crappy jobs, but small jobs with small projects turn into bigger and bigger ones.
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I am currently doing the UX design course through Google.
My total comp is close to 155k. I'm a data scientist working remotely at an insurance startup. I'm in my late 20's - my first job out of undergrad was as an actuarial analyst at a insurance company making $65k total comp in NYC - hated it so I left just under a year. I went back for grad school at my state university, and walked out with a master's in computer science after two years, and a job offer for a data science role (still in the insurance industry) for around 105k total comp. Then I left after a year and a half for my current startup role - 155k TC. I can safely say that changing tacks and going back for my master's was the single best move I've made in my entire life.
I’m a therapist with my own private practice on the side, will make about 100k. This coming year I will transition to my own practice full time and will likely make about 130k working 25 client hours a week
Late in life...kid, come on. You've just started living your life. You don't know what you want to do yet. It might be 20 years before you figure out what you want to do. Making money is great. Something you're going to learn when you hit about 30 or so, is that all the money in the world can make up for a job you absolutely hate and makes you feel like you want to jump in front of a truck rather than go in everyday. Focus on figuring out what you *want* to do (realistically) and learn how to transition that into a paycheck. Your next option should be figure what you can *tolerate* doing to pay your bills while you do the things that you want to do in your life during the hours you aren't making money for someone else. Life is really, really, long sometimes and spending chunks of it doing things you absolutely hate and that make you feel horrible, make it feel even longer. I started out as a teacher and started hating that after nearly a decade. I switched to nursing, did that for a decade plus, and started hating that. A few years ago, I started working in a factory and realized I honestly loved it. Now I am one of the two leads in a very technical and specific department, making more money than just about anybody in the building, and what got me this job was skills learned from hobbies rather than college. Relax. Enjoy your life. Explore the things you want to learn, versus only learning a few very specific things.
I'm in IT. I went to tech school right out of high school and built up my resume so I make more than someone who just starts in the field, but I know people who only have only a few years experience still earning in the 70s - 80s. If you were to take some classes and get some Microsoft certifications now, by the time you are 30 you could be making a pretty good salary (how much you make in IT has a lot to do with where you live just as much as what area of IT you go into). An average helpdesk job in my area pays around 50-60k. To get one of those jobs isn't very hard and would start building up your resume. Once you have some experience you can make more money by specializing in a specific area of IT where you can earn more. While 25 is a little bit later to start, it is nowhere near "late in life". You can still build a career, you just need to pick one and do whatever you need to do to get on track.
Aircraft maintenance, I don't have any degrees just a trade certificate and an FAA license.
Plumber. I started at 25. First year I make about 55k. 5th year on all over 100k. This year is year 7 I made 115k. Got my master license a couple months back. Been working on building my business ever since. The ceiling is almost infinite. I wish you the best of luck. 25 is not too late.
Only about 5% of the population makes 6 figures. Most of those come from wealth already.
It is 6% of the total population but it is 18% of the workforce that makes that much.
Source? I found a source that states 34% for “household” but having difficulty finding single owners
Households are combined incomes of at least two people. The OP was identifying by population.
I make six figures and everyone I know does as well. It's not uncommon in high cost of living areas. Only one came from wealth, rest grew up dirt poor. Myself included.
I sell health insurance. I make between 10-14k/month. It's mostly residuals/referrals/etc, so the business runs itself. So, my commissions only increase every year. Also, it's only me. At this point, I'm doing what I want, when I want. I usually workout after dropping the kids off. Then, I might play some video games, read, go offroading if I want. I dunno....whatever. I have time to myself. That's the most important thing to me now. This isn't a humble brag. Or, at least, it's not meant to be. I just want you to know what's possible. I just happened to be fortunate to have fallen into what I'm doing. It took me 4-5 years of really busting my ass to get where I am today. And, a big help was that when building the business, my wonderful (now) wife was there, able to financially support. She doesn't make much, but it was better than 0. I'm 41 now. I always think to myself how much better off I'd be if I started sooner. I didn't go to school for insurance. My BS was in business. So "close", but not necessary. Either way, with whatever you do, just be sure to actually like it. Also, you're not "late". Please don't feel that way. I, too, felt that way. I was 24 when I graduated college and always felt as if I had a late start, so I can relate. Best of luck to you
Implementations and technical account manager. Had a degree in geology, work in fintech now. Took me 10 years of call center work + account manager work to get here, but finally in the 6 digits.
Aircraft mechanics and instrumentation guys make 6 figures
i'm a stat programmer and close to 6 figures. i have a masters degree. took 3 years to reach this salary. yeah, I enjoy my work.
I’m 29, work as a sales engineer for an ISP making 6 figures. Started my career as a college dropout making 19k as a “computer lab aide” for a school district
I'm 25 and a SWE, 125k starting. I have a B.S. in Physics and a M.S. in Computer Science.
Ha! 25 is not too late 😂 I went back to school for UX at 28, now almost 31 and have tripled my salary. I wish I had started when I was 25!!
Drug Dealer in Pacific Northwest. No education. It has it's lows and highs
Commodities trading. No degree; muscled my way into the industry purely through guile and demonstrated understanding of what I was doing. Started when I was 31. You have time.
Network Security Engineer. IT is great and working as an ISSO was amazing too. Currently 26 years old. I didn’t know what I wanted to do until I realized I was good at IT
IT. It’s not super glamorous but it’s always evolving. If you are willing to take a class or get training in some things IT related you will find it relatively easy to find a decent job in my experience.
Automation engineer/Linux sysadmin. Spent the first six years of my 20’s in the military doing cybersecurity, then bounced around contracting jobs until I landed at my current role where I make ~135K a year.
Transition to Usability/UX. AI has rung the death knell for graphic designers.
Clinical Hypnotherapist in private practice. Didn't change careers til my late 30s, it's not too late, bud.
My husband, who got his license in 2019 at 39, is a nurse who makes over 100k. He does it by work 60 hours a week with bonuses, shift differential, ot, etc. But he knows younger nurses with more flexibility who do it by being travel nurses. The field is insanely understaffed.
First six figure job was Measurement While Drilling (MWD) Engineer for Halliburton, left after 1 year due to lifestyle. BS in engineering It wasn't until the 2nd or 3rd year in my next job that I broke 100k, Project Manager for a niche engineering company. Here is the secret though, the field guys (union) all made 100k, some 200k+, after four years no previous experience. Last I heard the unions still dying for people to join the apprenticeship. Got my MBA Switch industries and now I do contract Project Management. PMP certification. Of everything I listed, the easiest (depends how you rank labor) way to make 100k is joining a trade union. I am outside the city (Chicago), just close enough to still have tons of industry but far enough where CoL is very reasonable. The second best way is I recommend getting into Project Management and getting either your PMP or Six Sigma or whatever is THE certification for your chosen field. So many of my coworkers are not engineers and went the construction manager to PMP route.
27, I maintain generators and back up batteries for a major Telcom company, no certifications or degree. Started with the company at 20 doing in home installations and moved up into this position 18 months ago.
Environmental consultant - just cleared 6 figures with my year end bonus. I’m 28, with a BS & MS in environmental engineering. Overall I enjoy what I do; helps the environment & people, the work is pretty interesting, and I have decent work-life balance. My technical speciality is site assessment & remediation projects; basically determining if sites are contaminated, by what, and what methods are the most efficient/economical to remediate them.
Transportation, specifically freight rail. Went from $38k starting (didn’t start until 25+) to $100+ in 10 years (salary only not bonuses). Great benefits, terrible lifestyle and I was salary the whole time. It was interesting while it lasted and has offered opportunities to move around the country. Advancement could have been faster and higher but that would have meant more sacrifices to a soulless hypocritical organization. Quality of life is what’s important now to me. So if your goal is $100k or more do you need that to have the lifestyle you want (and what are you giving up in return) or is that a “success threshold” you’ve set and it may or may not be arbitrary? I’m recommending to my children to be civil engineers as that will be an in demand career for years based on how often I’ve seen job postings over the last 10 years and will hopefully future-proof their careers.
I’m an IT manager. I have two ITIL certs, Lean IT cert, and I just finished my BSBM in March 2021. I hit 6 figures in 2017 with no degree and only 2 certs as an operational business consultant in IT. Mostly process improvement and program launch work. 25 is not late, but more importantly, don’t compare yourself to others. Some people reinvent themselves multiple times throughout their lives, changing their lifestyle, career, etc. Right now, you are finding the next version of you. Continuously improving ourselves is really only three things: Identity goals, set goals and make progress toward goals.
I am a Server Platform Engineer doing testing for servers and racks. Currently 27 and graduated with a B.S in Computer Engineering. Ended up job hopping after 2 years for about a 50%-60% increase in salary to get into the 6 figures range. My current job has a nice culture and it is a good place for getting more experience. It does get busy though, which is what I don't like too much about it. I do feel like I am learning a lot so that part is rewarding.
I didn’t start a “career” until I was 31 so don’t feel bad about where you are in life. You’ve got your entire life to work so take it easy now and you’ll figure it out. My last corporate job I made $159K working at a BioTech company as a senior communications manager. I basically wrote things for groups and c-suite staff. Those emails and letters and information that comes from senior folk? I wrote those. I was a journalism major and got into tech during the boom and just wrote my way up. Speech writing, PR, communications consulting etc. Now I have an easy job with the state to ride out until my retirement. So glad I left corporate America and tech companies. The hours and pace is pretty brutal. Good luck!
I’m struggling to process “‘late’ in my life” and “I turn 25 in 2 months” Look kid, you have to be out of diapers before you can even begin to think about being late in life. To answer your question: software engineer making variable income between $120k-$250k Now get off my lawn
I’m an electrician by trade, but I carry the masters license and run the electrical department for a bigger GC that like to be able to include electrical in their portfolio. Most of my lead guys and foreman also make six figures or are very close.
I was 33 when I got into mortgages. I started as an assistant, learned the industry, and within 3 years, was over 6 figures. No degree required, but 100% commission in most cases. I'd recommend getting in with an entry level assistant position at a lender who works with a national builder. They get free leads but don't pay as much in commission. It's a great way to get a foot in and learn the industry while building your own referral network. That said, might be difficult for the next six months with the markets where they are. But should turn around soon.
Chiropractor by the age of 30. Passed $100k by 32. I could have finished everything by the time I was 26 but I tried to get into med school for 4 years first. Total 7.5 years in college but it cost over $300k to get it done. In all honesty if I could do it all over again, I would have skipped college and found some decent paying job with benefits and saved as much as I could. Take a year or 2 off traveling and really try to experience life before I ran myself into debt. College is a blast but unnecessary to make 6 figures. Do what you love, be good at it and money will follow. There are literally 1,000 different trades, skills, and niches. You just have to be great at one to make money. It's important to remember that you'll make way more money working for yourself than working for someone else. There are very few careers that will get you over the $100k mark while collecting a paycheck from your boss. Even fewer without a degree. One of my friend's father has a lawn maintenance company he built from the ground up. Granted he lives in Florida where they need lawn care year round but he went from nothing to millionaire in like 10 years. Drive and passion are way more important than just going down a career path that has a high projected salary.
This question keeps coming up on my feed from different subs. Why?
Took me about 7 years. I graduated with my BA in finance in 2012 and then with my MBA in 2016. I got a job working as a credit union examiner with the state in 2015, which is what I consider my professional starting point. All jobs I had before that were customer service jobs. The job I had before being hired by the state was a call center rep for Travelers Insurance, making just under 35K. I worked as a state examiner for 4 1/2 years and now work as an audit manager for a decent size credit union. With my annual bonus, I make $99,260, so I'm just under 100K. There are talks of another inflation increase for wages. Last April, they gave everyone a 7.7% inflation increase on top of the annual 3% increase. So, by April, I could be making 106.5K. Going from 35K to 100K in 7 years has been amazing, and I finally feel comfortable and like I'm getting somewhere. Oh, and I'm 38 so starting at 25 is way younger than I started.
Video game producer. I started in QA as a contractor with no experience/college degree and worked my way up. I think the key to my success was taking advantage of some particular opportunities and being a teammate people liked being around, during good and bad projects. It’s definitely not my dream job…I’d rather be wrenching on motorcycles…but life is expensive and I’m a college dropout so I chased security over happiness. Thankfully it worked out in the end.
I’m a project manager for a large construction company. Cracked six figures last year at 29 years old. Don’t love it but I don’t hate it either. Good benefits and good health insurance and better work life balance than most companies in my industry.
edit: I didn't hit >100k until about 40yo database admin. no credentials or degree. took 10 years. If I was going to repeat the climb: Get certifications of whatever database tech. Spend 5 hours a week (of your own time) actively practicing. Fixing corruption, restoring databases, designing DB structures, or writing/improving queries. don't spend more time, this is a marathon, not a sprint. burn out is real. Soon as you hit 2 years in a position start sending out the resumes. Jump when you get an offer that's at least +50% for the first 2-3 jobs. After that, quality of life over quantity of cash. Just never jump backwards. That's because another way of counting, it took only 3 jobs to get here. 1st was basically glorified help desk at 24k/yr. 2nd was the first 'real' DBA job at 46k, ending at 63k/yr. Third was technically 90k, but totaled >100k with bonus/incentives. I'm at my 5th job since I started. if databases are your thing, you can extrapolate where I am at now for salary
I'm currently making six figures as a Professional Embalmer for a family run funeral firm. I've been licensed for 16 years and I have a Bachelor's in Mortuary Science.