Making six figures without going to college

I wanted to take a discussion from another thread and delve further into the subject.

We've been preached the mantra of "go to college, get ahead..." for a generation now, and we've got all these low paid college grads in hopeless (or meaningful) degrees making crap wages carrying thousands in debt. I love the Mike Rowe movement of getting more involved in skilled trades, yet somehow actually working for a living is somehow still looked down upon in general media.

So, if not college... what trades/schools should one take to "make it"?

oldopelguy wrote:

GameboyRMH wrote: I think a part of it is that the Bachelor's degree is the new high school diploma, to get paid like a Gen. X'er with a Bachelor's a Gen. Y'er has to have a Master's at least.

sadly, I think that is completely wrong, or it only applies if you go to school for something stupid. I could get any high school kid who is willing to take his or her lumps and work hard and have them making six figures in less than 10 years. All it takes is a couple of years of tech school and an apprenticeship. Unfortunately parents in particular seem bound and determined to get their kids into $50k worth of debt to get jobs everyone already knows only pay $30k a year.

So what trades still support that kind of pay? ...on what travel requirements... or what hours? etc.

Also, what's the average hardworker make in that trade vs. the anecdotal standout that's a savvy business guy and runs his own shop. etc.

IT infrastructure.

Master Electrician.

If you're an exceptional welder and you're willing to go to desolate places, there's piles of money to be made there.

Hell, any fresh-outta-jail felon can go jump on an oil rig and make that much.

pinchvalve wrote: IT infrastructure.

Are you telling me I should stop working on the software and start installing the cables? Sounds like an easy transition away from IT admin/development where the education-to-pay ratio is terrible.

Caddy on the PGA tour.

Sales. Might be hard to get started w/o the degree, but once you're in the earning potential is up to you.

calteg wrote: Master Electrician.

Six-figure master electricians are the exception, not the rule, and it takes lots of years to get to that point. Several years of $20K/yr apprentice grind to become a journeyman (if you can even get work!), before a slow salary build up begins from there.

Unless you're a small business owner or working for a defense contractor, don't expect electrical work to take you into the six-figures.

I'll tell you 10 years out of high school the BSME plan most definitely does not produce a 6 figure income.

Only thing I know of is certain welding certifications. Getting a nuclear welding clearance or a deep sea diving gig seems to pay very well. The nuke cert doesn't seem too bad. The deep sea route looks scary as hell.

The problem isn't the degree or lack of degree...

What it is..... People were told the degree is what they needed to get a "good job"... So once they have a degree they have some crazy expectation that now since they have done the 'work" a good job is their birthright or something....

Then the trouble is... for a much to larger percentage of this people... If you ask them about college... They don't talk about what they learned, or the potential opened up to them... They speak of the great parties and how many chicks they banged...

This isn't what employers need... well... maybe it is what gummit employers are looking for..... but still...

This thread deserves the link to Mike Rowe, Congress Speech

If you're in a big city (Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio because I'm in Texas) you will make close to or over $100k as a Service Advisor at a dealership. Unfortunately for me I work in a very small town and make just over 1/3 of that. :(

I never went to college as I knew 2 things about myself. I'm a horrible studier, and I have no idea what I want to do when I grow up. That said, I had to start working at 16 to help the family out and haven't stopped. I'm almost 35 now and have yet to make over $35k a year in my life. Sure I could move and make more money, but we just built the house on the wife's family land and have a kid about to graduate high school. Anyway, enough about me... I'm watching this thread with great interest.

It would take a while but you could do it as a boat captain.

GameboyRMH wrote:

pinchvalve wrote: IT infrastructure.

Are you telling me I should stop working on the software and start installing the cables? Sounds like an easy transition away from IT admin/development where the education-to-pay ratio is terrible.

I've got a buddy that works in IT doing POS sales engineering. No degree, just some certifications. Been doing it for 5 years, made something like a quarter mil the last two years.

Needless to say, i'm going to be starting my certs this fall. I don't care how E36 M3ty the job is, i'd probably eat a yard of E36 M3 for that kind of money.

In the meantime, i'm pretty sure if i put my nose to the grinding wheel for real, and got my hustle on outside of my normal 9-5, i could do $100k.

For instance, i am now an Amsoil dealer. (Hahaha! Sneak in a plug!) If i push that stuff hard, i could easily see it taking a huge chunk of the difference between $100k and what i make at my day job out. Then hustle some parts, do a couple wiring jobs, little basic side maintenance work for neighbors that can't afford to pay a shop, and voila.

Nobody is making $100k working half-assed without a degree. If you want $100k without a degree in a reasonable amount of time, you get creative, and you work your fingers to the bone.

On the more specialized front, there's certain jobs within the travel/vacation/timeshare industry that you could make $100k in with minimal "curve" to get there and no degree.

The downside is that you're working in that industry and it may or may not violate your personal code of ethics.

For the record, i'm not talking anything so bad as giving out rub 'n' tugs on a cruise ship.

He makes that setting up POS systems? That's not hard. I see a lot of small businesses are wising up though and using software solutions that run on regular PCs these days.

GameboyRMH wrote: He makes that setting up POS systems? That's not hard. I see a lot of small businesses are wising up though and using software solutions that run on regular PCs these days.

Not setting up per se... he doesn't actually go out and set them up. He designs/engineers/supports the sales team, that sort of thing. He gets his base pay + commissions. From what he says, it's not an easy job, and you work a lot at home keeping up with all the new certs, travels a lot to conventions, etc etc etc...

But the money is certainly there.

Datsun1500 wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: For the record, i'm not talking anything so bad as giving out rub 'n' tugs on a cruise ship.

That pays more than $100K

Need strong wrists though.

One thing to keep in mind is the cost of trade schools. Good 4 year trade school educations for technical areas run in the upper 70's for a four program. That's not much less than a four year engineering degree at a strong state school (in my state, Missouri University of Science and Technology) and that includes room and board at the state school, not at tech.

I'm sure some training can be had for less, but salary and opportunities would presumably be commensurate with the depth of the training.

The "four year degree is necessary" type thinking might be an example of the tail wagging the dog. I'm not an expert, but historically, it would seem students who might have jobs or careers with or without an "education" went to college and learned more about art, philosophy, science, astronomy, physics, etc., a liberal education, an education that "liberates the mind from ignorance", to socialize, get married, prolong youth somewhat, but did not go to college to "get a good job". Having the education made them more interesting people and other more interesting people, who presumably were running things, find these types of people more tolerable to be around, more promotable, etc., a cotillion really. Maybe some of the thinking is, if I do the things that successful people have done, I will also become successful, but the people who did these things did not have much exposure to failure either way anyway, think of Bush Jr.'s grades at Yale.

Presently, the work force has a demand for actual work skills, not necessarily good conversationalists, but the idea that all people can become well educated, or be exposed to ideas in a structured, rigorous academic setting still has strong appeal. There is also always a need for people, in any field, who can communicate effectively, listen, understand, and analyze facts or information and use logic. This is actually a tall order. People may be born with the capability to do this, but not the ability, and I don't know how this is best developed but high school doesn't do the best job, or enough enough of it.

The best non-degreed income I have seen was a union hot tar roofer, a journeyman, who was also a crane operator. When operating the crane, which was most of the time, he earned the crane operators wage plus the journeyman roofer's wage, which came out to around 70K a year in the 90's. Not bad, especially with no debt for school, but this also took a long time to arrive at, and the job was seriously hard work.

The other thing to consider is that most people, college or not, don't make 100K a year.

Bartending in the right place will get you some serious money. Much harder job than it sounds, though.

Here are my personal experiences with non-degree jobs.

Carpenter - you can make some money as long as people are building, but when the economy busts so do you.

Postal worker: might make $50k eventually. Good luck with job security.

Sales - you might make some good money, you might not. You certainly will be bending some moral rules to make money at times.

Medical tech - you're not going to make any money.

Utility worker - years of low pay, might make 50k plus eventually.

Oh, and only 20% of all households in the US make more than 100k a year. Only the top 7% of individual earners make six figures, degree or not.

Those are some pretty poor odds.

Swank Force One wrote:

GameboyRMH wrote: He makes that setting up POS systems? That's not hard. I see a lot of small businesses are wising up though and using software solutions that run on regular PCs these days.

Not setting up per se... he doesn't actually go out and set them up. He designs/engineers/supports the sales team, that sort of thing. He gets his base pay + commissions. From what he says, it's not an easy job, and you work a lot at home keeping up with all the new certs, travels a lot to conventions, etc etc etc... But the money is certainly there.

And I worked that from the other end. Working for the wholesale supplier writing the programs to interface the POS systems to the wholesalers system for order processing. Did it for 5 years after I retired from teaching and made double what I made as a teacher with 28 years experience.

Swank Force One wrote: Bartending in the right place will get you some serious money. Much harder job than it sounds, though.

I was a bartender for seven years, five full-time. Nice restaurant, good bar, strong wine menu, privately owned, 36 hours a week, great money. Highly recommended. If more people knew what good bartenders and fine dining wait staff made, they would flip.

Own your own businesses A friend makes a lot of money... he has owned his DJ business since he was in high school, then started a computer/IT service for local business. He works constantly. His boat is named "Workin Weekends" and he does. He has a car shop with a show room that most of us would give out right testie for just the vehicles in it. I think he has some other business too... can't remember though...

I think he went to the tech for some IT type stuff but that's it. Even on vacation, he works.

mattmacklind wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: Bartending in the right place will get you some serious money. Much harder job than it sounds, though.

I was a bartender for seven years, five full-time. Nice restaurant, good bar, strong wine menu, privately owned, 36 hours a week, great money. Highly recommended. If more people knew what good bartenders and fine dining wait staff made, they would flip.

SWMBO has a buddy she went to high school with that skipped college and just went right into working wait staff at a "nice" restaurant in Circle Center Mall in downtown Indy. (I put nice in quotes because the food isn't special, and it's in a damn mall.)

They get all kinds of big groups in there for business meetings and such, and people go there because it looks fancy.

He's gotten tips upwards of $500 from ONE GROUP. This isn't an isolated incident, either.

On a bad night, i'm sure he makes about as much as i do in a day, if not more.

Back to the main subject, i find it a little strange that we're all just talking about jobs in which OTHER people pay you $100k.

Start a business. Pay yourself.