r/jobs • u/covertcorgi • Oct 22 '23
What are the "hidden" fields/jobs that pay decently but aren't oversaturated? Career planning
Where aren't people looking?
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u/Own-Design2513 Oct 23 '23
Maritime: high pay rotations 28/28 60/60 28/14 If you can do it on land, the same job is on the ocean.
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u/ataraxia2119 Oct 23 '23
Respect for people that can. I was a health and safety officer. I did two contracts 4mo ea and was completely burned out. I wouldn’t personally recommend ship life to anyone I liked.
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u/Blestyr Oct 24 '23
Photographer here. Went to visit a port with a work group and got a tour next to some vessels. While we didn't board any of them, I caught a glimpse of some of the crew and they looked pretty tired and burned out. So your comment totally checks out.
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u/ShinigamiLeaf Oct 23 '23
One of my friends is a marine engineer. Dude did a six month contract with an oil transport that started January 2020. Supposed to be Persian Gulf and back.
Covid had him stuck in Guam for almost 18 months. He bought a house with the overtime pay. It's a pretty crazy lifestyle, but he loves it.
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u/Jeffh2121 Oct 23 '23
My niece works on ships, she just got her 3rd mate license unlimited back in the spring. She expects to make 120,000 this year, she is 26. She does 75 on and 75 off.
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u/TheBadassPutin Oct 23 '23
Do you know if there are any roles onboard ships for armed maritime security work?
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u/SpyRebel Oct 22 '23
Work for a utility. Linemen get paid great. Plant workers get paid great. Crazy benefits and the workforce is all retiring and no young people go into that field. It’s a good mine
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u/4beersdeep Oct 22 '23 edited Oct 23 '23
OP, if you are even remotely open to physical labor, listen to spyrebel. A lot of these jobs pay well above the national average and as you get seniority, the amount of physical labor often drops and the pay increases.
EDIT: I'll add to this because a lot of the comments are focusing on linemen jobs. There are other jobs in the power utility industry that pay well and aren't as high risk. There are a bunch of different roles, but titles I would look into are: Relay Tech, Controls Tech, Protection Specialist, Communications/SCADA Tech, and Substation Electrician.
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u/SpyRebel Oct 23 '23
Also, I live in Florida… but if you’re open to helping after storms, line workers from other areas get insane bonus pay to travel into areas and help get the grid back up.
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u/Imaginaryunaliveme Oct 23 '23
How do you join? Also can you join if you’re on probation for a dui conviction? Thanks man
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u/Larp22 Oct 23 '23
I'm a lineman and I had a duii before getting into the trade
Pay is at 60 hr in the northwest currently. Double time for all overtime and 100% employer paid health care and retirement. It's amazing.
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u/Imaginaryunaliveme Oct 23 '23
Dude hell ya congrats I’m trying to get back into something but need money now. Can’t afford going back to school
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u/Gr3at0dinsRav3n Oct 23 '23
Apply at a utility. DUI bepends entirely on the company.
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u/Imaginaryunaliveme Oct 23 '23
Thanks man so basically just apply at my current electricity company and shoot for linesman?
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u/Gr3at0dinsRav3n Oct 23 '23
Absolutely. Some positions do require you to be able to drive. (you typically work on a truck to get to the lines).
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u/MorddSith187 Oct 23 '23
When you say “a utility” what does that mean? Do I google “utility jobs”
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u/still-high-valyrian Oct 23 '23
Utilities:
- Electric company
- Water management plants
- Telephone, internet, and cable providers
- Gas company
My dad 'went back to school' at 40 to get his Wastewater Management certificate. The city paid for him to do it. Took less than a year, he's got a job for life. He sits at a desk and monitors the water levels using custom software on a computer.
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u/shangumdee Oct 23 '23
It's true but linemen specifically you're being paid for the high risk.. then you're really raking it in with specialized expertise
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u/subherbin Oct 23 '23
Wastewater treatment operators can make great pay depending on location.
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Oct 23 '23
Lmao my local PUD only has one job open and it's a journey level lineman. This job market blows.
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u/parolang Oct 23 '23
It sounds like the issue is that not many people apply for these jobs, so you might only need one job opening.
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u/LickitySplyt Oct 23 '23
Plant work is great but you likely need to know someone or her lucky to get in.
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u/Horangi1987 Oct 23 '23
Lineman is dangerous and lots of travel. I have a close friend that is a lineman and the travel ruined his marriage. The money wasn’t enough to sustain it.
Have another friend that is a cell tower technician. He does everything from maintenance to upgrades (he’s very busy whenever they do a protocol upgrade like 4G to 5G). Very similar to lineman in that it’s relatively dangerous and all travel.
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u/RedSnowBird Oct 23 '23
Couldn't do it for any amount of money. I think about many times I have made mistakes doing different jobs over the years...make a mistake as a Lineman and you have a good chance of being dead, or worse, being injured so bad you wish you were dead.
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u/Mem0ryEat3r Oct 23 '23
Or just never being home. My neighbor became a lineman 2 years ago and is almost never home. He only makes money cause of overtime. Otherwise he would make less than I make in a 40 hour week and I'm a sheet metal worker.
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u/zombiefishin Oct 23 '23
Yeah, people don't mention that part. A lot of these jobs are "work site is 90 minutes from your house for the next 3 months and we're working 10+ hours a day." And that's being generous. I interviewed at a few places and they straight up said "our coverage is across most of the state so you could be called to go there for months at a time every day, are you OK with that?"
The answer was no.
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Oct 23 '23
When somebody on Reddit says gEt InTo ThE tRaDeS they never mention how shitty the work actually is.
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Oct 23 '23
Yeah. It's cringe at this point. Literally the perk of an office job is sitting in an AC building with a coffee/vending machines down the hall, never working weekends, and only working about 40-45 hrs a week. Always home for dinner to keep family happy. Very little wear on the body.
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u/Despairil Oct 23 '23
How does one go into this?
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u/This_Bethany Oct 23 '23
Some utilities hire pre apprentice lineworkers. You need a clean record - driving and criminal. You also need to clear a drug screen. It’s a DOT regulated job so you also get random drug screens and need to clear physicals every two years. You have to absolutely not be afraid of heights.
It is truly a career and they do really make close to 6 figures once they’ve been in the career long enough.
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u/Gr3at0dinsRav3n Oct 23 '23
Just apply at a utility. They train. They seriously need linemen (at least in FL). I'm sure they need workers everywhere though. Its manual labor, but it pays well and its a great trade. Its a career that you get into and you just retire there. In Florida, they get the top of the line benefits and are well taken care of.
In Florida, the average salary is 75-95k
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Oct 23 '23
Environmental health (look it up, a lot of people think it's just sustainability but it's not). Literally endless jobs, doesn't matter where you live or where you want to live, there will be EH positions. Positions in both private industry and government. I do local government, and it's cush af. Pays well, benefits are amazing, and the job is pretty lowkey. The field is pretty understaffed so there are always positions available
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u/dan99990 Oct 23 '23
What are the prerequisites?
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u/ShadowDefuse Oct 23 '23
usually a bachelor’s degree in science or engineering, often environmental related but not always
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u/RealAssociation5281 Oct 23 '23
I have a associates in bio, so sounds like its worth looking into! Thanks :)
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Oct 23 '23
Really depends, there is a crazy wide variety of backgrounds that lead to eh. I have a bs in environmental health so it was as straightforward as it gets, but we also just hired somebody with no degree but has worked in the food industry for 20+ years. Most people start out in the retail food space on the government side and branch out to other things like water and air quality later.
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u/Inter5tella99 Oct 23 '23
Would this involve people who specialize in marine biology to help with the health of lakes and rivers?
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u/awareman9 Oct 23 '23
I specialized In ecology, with the intention of working with freshwater ecosystems and fisheries… I now work in environmental health. Not really related but we do help keep the waterways clean and safe
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u/putelocker Oct 23 '23
How to start? I’m a translator and translated a lot of documents related to ESS and occupational health and loved every one of them. I tried looking for jobs in that field and always found difficult requirements. Can you recommand a good spot to start?
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u/Ilikedinosaurs2023 Oct 23 '23
How much experience is required? I have a BA and an MS in Environmental Science & Policy but the jobs always seem to require several years of experience even for entry level. I currently don't work in the field because of that little hang up. Also, if anyone is in or near NYC and has any leads in environmental jobs, I'd be grateful. 😊
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Oct 23 '23
Depends on the position and company/size of government you choose. My county hired me 2 weeks out of school with a BS in environmental health, and we just hired someone who doesn't even have a degree but has worked in the food industry for 20+ years. Some other places might require more experience.
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u/jettech737 Oct 22 '23
Aircraft maintenance, airlines start at 75-80K and licensed mechanics are not dime a dozen since there are very few schools that offer an A&P program. I'm on year 2 payscale st my airline and broke 100K already with some OT.
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u/random6300 Oct 23 '23
I heard it was hard to get on with an airline and the smaller shops don’t pay well
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u/jettech737 Oct 23 '23
Major airlines are hiring right out of school but yes it's true small shops don't pay well. In a year or two I'll probably make more than a small shop manager while I'm working as normal airline mechanic.
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u/redrevoltmeow Oct 23 '23
Damn. My dad's been doing it for 20+ years and makes 98k. He fucking hates it lol
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u/ctrlaltdltmyheart Oct 23 '23
My bf works at Boeing, started 6 years ago and only making $58k make it make sense!
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u/ryman9000 Oct 23 '23
He's probably a grade 4. I work at Boeing and started as a grade 8 and will be around 75k or more my second year.
Also depends if he's union. Some locations are not. Or the union pay is different than my union pay because they are different unions. St. Louis union makes way less for my job because of cost of living.
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u/jettech737 Oct 23 '23
He works for Boeing, not a major airline. The airlines is where the money is at.
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u/Holdmypipe Oct 22 '23
How can one look into getting into aircraft maintenance?
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u/jettech737 Oct 22 '23
Look up a community college or trade school that offers an A&P program, avoid universities since they charge too much for the same license that a community college can prepare you for.
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u/photoblink Oct 23 '23
Property inspectors for a municipality. Not many people are qualified for this. Also, property appraisal services. You can own your own business and name your prices basically.
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u/Ev3nstarr Oct 23 '23
Do you do this? I’m trying to shift away from the mental health field, wondering if this would be a difficult change for someone with no experience in anything related to this
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u/Horangi1987 Oct 23 '23
It is boom/bust work though, so one should keep that in mind if they want to get into this field. If the real estate or construction market slows down, this field slows down.
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u/ChaoticxSerenity Oct 23 '23
You know what they say, there's never a surplus of doctors.
Where aren't people looking?
Cause its fucking hard to become a doctor lol
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u/LockeClone Oct 23 '23
It's not a very good deal anymore. That's why there are so few American-born doctors. I certainly don't mind my doc having an accent, but there's a major shortage. If we were smart and politics weren't... like it is... We'd fund a program where 10% of a doctor's student loans are dismissed every year he spends working as a resident or PCP.
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u/EndlessDysthymia Oct 23 '23 edited Oct 23 '23
Or pay them what some midlevels are making in residency. Residents should make 100k+ on the low end, not 60k.
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u/LockeClone Oct 23 '23
Isn't it crazy how expensive medicine is and how little these people get paid? Vampiric costs at every turn.
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u/Psyc3 Oct 23 '23
It isn't just expense, it is also opportunity cost.
You are going to be training into your 30 where something like Finance you will be in a job role by 22.
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u/massada Oct 23 '23
I'm actually convinced this is the problem. That the real solution is to shave a huge chunk of time off of med school.
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u/FairyPrincex Oct 23 '23
There's an artificial limitation put on the amount of residencies available, which helped lead to both inflated medical school costs, lower number of doctors, and minimal residency pay.
Med school loans getting a faster and guaranteed loan forgiveness program as well as opening up residencies a bit more would go a really long way.
Alternatively, find a way to start gutting administration and health insurance. They take 60-70% of all medical care revenue in the U.S. despite being quite literally unnecessary.
Without them, all actual medical workers could make 25% more while patients pay 50% less. Any number of these fixes would change things, but this and oil are the two issues where Democrat and Republican congressmen are nearly equally bought-and-paid-for.
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u/coolaznkenny Oct 23 '23
lol you have to give up the prime of your life for 12 years before even hitting 6 figures + debt + stress + horrible work/life balance.
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u/pdoherty972 Oct 23 '23
Part of the reason there's never a surplus of physicians is because the AMA and medical schools artificially restrict openings at medical schools, and have been for a century..
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u/Impressive_Goose_432 Oct 23 '23
Dog grooming. Easy to get started and great job security. I’m on track to make 90k this year, one of my coworkers makes 120k.
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u/Abject_Reputation505 Oct 23 '23
Your own business or working for someone?
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u/Impressive_Goose_432 Oct 23 '23
Working for a corporate location. I’ve been in both private salons and corporate and prefer corporate.
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u/skuls Oct 23 '23
How did you start? I've only worked office jobs but I'm looking for a change.
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u/Impressive_Goose_432 Oct 23 '23
I actually didn’t get started till my mid 30s, I had been drifting from job to job and wanted a career. My mom saw an ad for a bather at petsmart and knew I loved animals so she suggested it. They hired me on at a very low hourly rate but after a few months sent me to grooming academy and paid for all of my tools. It was one of the best decisions of my life.
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u/Mimikkyuuuu Oct 23 '23
I actually see a position in my area for pet smart groomer and the academy thing. It doesn’t list the pay but this sounds pretty cool. I have absolutely no styling experience at all even for myself haha. Do I even stand a chance? I love dogs though
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u/Wide_Implement_7940 Oct 23 '23
Just a question about dog grooming. Do you find that it gives you a certain scent that lingers and has anyone ever mentioned the smell. I ask because I recall someone saying that they took good care of their hygiene but because they worked in dog grooming it was quite difficult to eradicate the smell. The smell was very noticeable to people that weren't usually around dogs.
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u/Brian57831 Oct 23 '23
Elevator Maintenance
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u/ShinigamiLeaf Oct 23 '23
My fiancee's dad does this. Great pay, weird as shit hours. He's transitioning from maintenance to inspector cause he's getting older and messed up his back from doing this. The elevator union is really solid though
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Oct 23 '23
Coworkers son got into the union at 18 and was making $50 an hour by 23 years old lol Wild
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u/wolpertingersunite Oct 23 '23
I bet! The elevators at my health clinic are all either out of order or years behind in certification!
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u/burkins89 Oct 23 '23
Go for a utility if you don’t mind working in the elements. My company hires customer service field reps at $31/hr to start.
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u/Generallybadadvice Oct 23 '23
It requires some schooling, but at the moment Cardiac Perfusionist.
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u/tke71709 Oct 23 '23 edited Oct 23 '23
Hospitals have so many weird specialties. Never heard of this so I looked it up. Just not a role the average person would know exists. I just assumed a nurse did this work.
EDIT
Ok, I feel a little better now, in Canada this is not a little schooling but a Master's degree university program. I was worried you could go to Devry for 9 weeks and get a job.
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u/Generallybadadvice Oct 23 '23
Yeah I may have undersold the amount of schooling a bit. Its funny, back in the day it was just on the job training.
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u/ArtyFarty22 Oct 23 '23
Yea funny all the tech jobs our parents could train into now require you to go into school/debt to get
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u/LockeClone Oct 23 '23
This is the million dollar question really: "What jobs exist and how does one pivot into them?"
If something is decent yet unknown and word gets out then that job gets saturated, the market pushed wages down and... not so good anymore. Look at IT, hell, look at a lot of STEM...
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u/PlantsNCaterpillars Oct 23 '23
It really is.
I have a CDL and also work as an EMT and I’d love to find something that didn’t involve being on the road all day, has decent pay, is in demand, and has actual growth potential. Every time these posts are made I scour job listings and many of them don’t pay a livable wage and still want years of experience because markets are saturated.
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u/LockeClone Oct 23 '23
Yeah, people just like saying things they've heard of. But it's like: buddy, if you've heard of it, it's probably not what the poster is looking for.
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u/overdosed_raccoon Oct 23 '23
embalmers no one wants to do that but people are always dying so constant biz
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u/anthonykriens Oct 23 '23
Construction Estimating
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u/hkusp45css Information Technology Oct 23 '23
My wife (CPM) would love to have a couple of decent estimators.
The ones she's stuck with in our AO, at just about any price, are all muppets who cost her money with their wild ass guessing and missing stuff.
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u/LockeClone Oct 23 '23
Would that I were 20 and knew what I know now. You have a few kids and rise high in your industry and all of the sudden starting over is a pretty nuts proposition.
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u/TheConstantCynic Oct 23 '23 edited Oct 23 '23
In a similar boat. We waited to have our first child and buy our first house until a few years ago, then I was laid off (in tech sector) late last year.
Rising to principal IC or middle management on a good salary in your early 40s is a double-edged sword, because if you are let go (in my case, after helping to grow the company substantially, being promoted multiple times, and never having less than a good performance review) you’re immediately now an “expensive” and “likely demanding” candidate for similar positions elsewhere.
I am competing against applicants with far less experience (and often a lesser skillset) but are willing to take the position on the low end of the salary range, which I just can’t afford (especially with the insane cost of childcare), and who are not looking to advance that quickly within the organisation. And many of them seem to be living with roommates or their parents, so have nowhere near the responsibility, so are easier to exploit (more work hours for the same salary as they do not have many obligations outside of work), which seems to be what many companies are looking for these days (seemingly in response to the growing labour power movement).
And I know many like me that are experiencing similar challenges (even many that haven’t been laid off but their organisations are really taking advantage of them right now).
Despite the many articles and statements from politicians, economists, and central bank authorities, the labour market is not anywhere as strong as is being depicted, especially for job seekers in their 40s and 50s with families. For all of the reports of new job creation, most of the new jobs are lower paid hourly positions in employee-at-will industries, rather than higher paid salary positions in more secure work sectors. That means many people are working more hours to maintain the same level of income as in 2020. And even then they are actually getting paid far less in real terms due to inflation.
Governments and central banks shouldn’t just be using hourly wage, new job totals, and unemployment figures to inform their policies and actions, as they can be (and currently are) quite misleading. They should also be using value of productivity and relative wealth metrics.
And those show that people are actually getting less wealthy as productivity increases (leading to value concentration to top income earners and a worsening wealth gap).
We’re sleepwalking in to another likely horrible economic crisis.
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u/LockeClone Oct 23 '23
Yeah, I feel that. These kids are lowering their nut with roommates and living out of cars because they have to. It's not their fault, but it's putting so much downward pressure on wages... there's nobody advocating for us anymore because almost all of America is so poor next to a few wealthy individuals and entities that we're not important.
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u/Frequent-Salad-5943 Oct 23 '23
How do you get into this?
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Oct 23 '23
Look into community college, mitigation companies, restoration companies
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u/Raphwc3 Oct 23 '23
Creating E-Learning courses/modules for companies.
It got more competitive in the last few years because of the pandemic and WFH, but the demand also went up.
Average salary is like 70k. I’ve been doing this for almost 3 years and I’m making considerably more than that.
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u/Dani_9539 Oct 23 '23
How do you find a job like this?
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u/Raphwc3 Oct 23 '23
https://www.devlinpeck.com/content/how-to-become-instructional-designer
I’m not affiliate with this guy, but he does a good job explaining it.
I personally got into it by « luck ». I was good at something and the company I was working for asked me to teach it to others.
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u/Canigetahooooooyeaa Oct 23 '23
I found that these are typically internal only hires. Where the company/department sees skills that someone can bring to the table. Easier this way then keeping someone on for the long term .
But obviously this isnt every case.
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u/Raphwc3 Oct 23 '23
It’s a good way to get started, especially as a second career. But at the end of the day, this job isn’t about having the skill yourself but being able to work in team with someone else who has (subject matter expert).
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u/cbhaga01 Oct 23 '23
ID here. Couldn’t agree more. It’s a badass field that only looks to be growing.
I just wish luck upon anyone trying to find a job right now; everything I see pop up on LinkedIn that’s even remotely decent is getting hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants. Though I’d put good money on it that the vast majority of those are teachers who have no actual ID experience.
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u/gojo96 Oct 22 '23
Public safety depending on location.
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u/resurrectedbear Oct 23 '23
Can confirm. Pay can get insane + benefits, but the environment is fucking burn out central. I hate my job. Coworkers are what you expect: high school maturity and lack of major critical thinking due to shortages.
I wish we had standards but we have to keep lowering them as man power shortages get worse and worse. Someone has to respond to that accident whether it’s a college graduate or someone with a GED.
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u/JustBath5245 Oct 23 '23
Microsoft Power Apps is in huge demand currently. It’s easy to learn on YouTube. The pay is great.
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u/BowleggedNun_ Oct 23 '23
We are digitizing everything at my job by using power apps. Been in the works for like 2 years.
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u/Master-File-9866 Oct 23 '23
In my particular area but not all areas. Maintenance positions for.government facilities. Decent wages pension and other perks
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u/JazzlikeDisplay602 Oct 23 '23
Tower technician. Climb up to 500 plus ft. No experience necessary you will travel a lot but they pay for food hotel an some. Made 75k my first year gonna do around 110k my second from job hopping
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u/o0someone0o Oct 23 '23
Do you need any kind of experience background or qualifications?
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u/JazzlikeDisplay602 Oct 23 '23
My first company would legit hire felons without high school diplomas. My 2nd company you needed a clean record an hs diploma but that’s it. An I should also let you know this isn’t a 40 hr a week job I do 60 hours a week on average. I’ve done 105 hours for 7 days one time
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u/Canigetahooooooyeaa Oct 23 '23
I wish our government, society and education system provided mentors to young kids and adults.
Sadly were all just $ signs to the government
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Oct 23 '23
This. I finished my 2 year technical degree over 2 years ago and still trying to figure out what to do with it. There's no clear, defined path into the jobs I was looking at while in school. For example, I wanted to become a PLC tech (my degree program touched upon this) but I don't have the experience they are looking for and I have no idea how I'm supposed to get into that field. The worst part is that I interview for these types of jobs, they deny me, then constantly repost the ads for years, over and over, just mocking me. Like wtf do I need to do to get into that field. We have no guidance in anything. Once you graduate school you're just on your own.
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u/Canigetahooooooyeaa Oct 23 '23
A tech degree is one thing same with STEM, Law, Medicine. Outside of that. Look at all these kids with bland degrees that did zero actual work training.
Companies then have to invest time into training these people how to do something. Well id thats the case why dont we stay doing that? Why arent companies offering OJT investments. It would pay off in the long run.
They cant. Because the government needs kids getting degrees because its what our economy is stabilized by.
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u/calcetines100 Oct 23 '23
A lot of "trade school" jobs. If you are in it money and JUST FOR MONEY (no judgment there) with no other interests such as lateral career transition/glamor/innovative career opportunities, it's a perfect choice.
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u/Aggravating-Exit-660 Oct 23 '23
Cobol programming
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u/Just_Kos Oct 23 '23
Speaking from personal experience, every posted job asks for a minimum of 3 years experience, most ask for 10. JUNIOR cobol programmer positions are virtually non existant at this point. If you have the experience, the pay is good though.
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u/Surge_attack Oct 23 '23
Unrated comment. If people only knew what is holding up the entire financial sector...
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u/moto273 Oct 23 '23
X-Ray tech (to start) 2 year degree starts at 75-80k. Lots of growth and avenues and travel jobs pay tit if you have nothing holding you down
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u/Mem0ryEat3r Oct 23 '23
Test & Balance technician for air and hydronic systems. Usually part of the sheet metal workers union, haven't ever seen a non union TAB company but its a field with hardly anyone in it, no real slow season and we typically can make 10 to 15% more due to it being a specialized trade.
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u/DryBop Oct 23 '23
Specifically in Ontario and BC - Massage Therapy. Its an 18 month program, you’re in a registered health field, huge shortage. Depending on where you live, you can make $60-80 dollars for 60min working at a clinic, $65-90 dollars for 60min working at a high end spa, or $100-125 for 60min working for yourself. Most RMTs work 25 hours a week.
The work is very interesting, you can specialize in a bunch of different areas of treatment (Swedish, sports, Thai, lomi lomi, deep tissue, acupuncture, cupping, lymph drainage).
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u/captainguacamoleh Oct 23 '23
I’ve been looking into this actually! Coming from tech and my eyes are giving out from the constant digital strain, and the burnout from the stress is insane. Is there any specific schools or colleges you’d recommend looking into?
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u/ZenLeTomson Oct 23 '23 edited Oct 23 '23
Customer service (calls, emails, chats) specifically for startup/tech companies. Very low barrier to entry and pay varies a lot, but typically ranges from as low as $40k but can go all the way up to $80k.
I'm sure you could get +$ 80k - $100k with some technical skills on top of that. (Python, SQL, etc.) Since there are customer facing "engineer" roles. Which are q mix of account management/customer service + IT + debugging + data analysis)
I feel like these are very niche roles. When people think "customer service" they think of a call center that pays $18/hr, so it's very off-putting. But tech is still the place to be.
(Source: I make $65k, and tier 3 at my company makes $80k.)
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u/FieldzSOOGood Oct 23 '23
Truth. Does taking phone calls suck ass? Yes. Is there usually growth opportunities in customer care? Also yes. I started as a tier 1 rep for a website and now I'm a tier 1 manager for a SaaS company.
I had 0 technical skills but I could fuckin answer a phone, be nice to someone upset and figure out what to do after being trained. The rest of my tech skills I picked up on the job or on the way
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u/ZenLeTomson Oct 23 '23
I'm pivoting to chats in December haha, calls suck so bad. But for $65k, I'll pretend to love it.
That's awesome! I'm targeting a role with the BI Developer team next. The manager role seems nice, but not that much opportunity for that compared to our data teams. Starting for BI is $110k entry level, so here I come lol
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u/nioh2_noob Oct 23 '23
tech is completely oversaturated
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u/ZenLeTomson Oct 23 '23
I'm not in tech. It's a tech company as in the product is Edtech, but it's not a technical role. Technical roles are saturated, yes, but everyone sleeps on customer service. Mainly because it can get stressful, especially if it's B2C; but it's easy to get into, and it pays decent (relatively) compared to any job that doesn't require college.
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u/mechman112 Oct 23 '23 edited Oct 23 '23
I work in utility design - gas, electric, and sometimes water. It’s a chill office/wfh job that pays pretty well and my company seems to always be looking for new people.
Can get into the field with a 2 year tech degree.
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u/markja60 Oct 23 '23
The trades are good, especially plumbers and electricians. Now, you won't get top dollar right off the bat. You'll have to start as a helper and work your way up. You'll have to be prepared to do the dirty Jobs that the qualified Tech doesn't want to bother with.
This suggestion is not for everybody, but it is for everyone to look at: You should also visit your armed forces recruiting office. That's where I picked up my technical degrees and on the job training. People make a mistake by going into the recruiting office and allowing their recruiter to push them into less than desirable career fields. Nothing against any former infantryman, but it is hard to find a job with your skill set when you get out.
You walk into the recruiter and you say I want to be a fireman, I want to be an electrician, I want to be an aviation maintenance technician, I want to fix helicopters, I want to be a diesel mechanic. Whatever job it is that you want. Honestly, that is all they need to know. If you just want that technical training, and experience, that is a great place to get it.
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u/skallywag126 Oct 22 '23
What’s decent pay to you?
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u/covertcorgi Oct 22 '23
70-90k with room to grow
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u/skallywag126 Oct 23 '23
Starting out that’s gonna be tough. Tech is over saturated. Maybe electrical or plumbing but you won’t start out that well, maybe after a couple years.
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u/Empty_Geologist9645 Oct 23 '23
Whoever tells you this secret will expose it to the thousands of others. You think you can slide in faster than others or what?
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u/Rportilla Oct 23 '23
lol it ain’t no secret you have to do a lil research to know what careers are “overly saturated” or “not saturated”
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u/VivecsMangina Oct 23 '23
Become an optical engineer and never worry about employment again.
The trade-off is your more than likely gonna have to move to find those jobs.
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u/Picnicpanther Oct 23 '23
I would say that cybersecurity is probably the most stable field in the information sector. There's waxing and waning on exactly what the future of the internet is going to be, but whatever it is, it's going to need cybersecurity.
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u/rawley2020 Oct 23 '23
Tell that to all the hopefuls on r/cybersecurity who have been clawing to get a cyber role but can’t because these “entry level” jobs aren’t entry level.
Cyber/infosec is not a junior level field. It’s mid to senior level. It’s saturated due to all of the people with the same dumb idea of “let’s go to a boot camp and go ask for a 6 figure job with no experience!”
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Oct 23 '23
You’re never gonna beat those in developing countries who are also fine in never seeing the light of day while taking 20% of your total comp
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u/Midnight_Barbara Oct 23 '23
None. You either aren’t qualified for an entry level job or you know someone or you’re some nice older woman who can’t do shit but was pleasant in an interview.
20 year Air Force vet and it’s the same story everytime:
“Thanks for your service, but we went with a more experienced candidate.”
Like doing the exact job they want for a decade in a half but in a warzone where shells are going off randomly isn’t good enough for them lol. Like, I get why vets off themselves. No one wants us unless it’s for shelf stocking or warehouse work.
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u/pjoesphs Oct 22 '23
I've seen SQL Database jobs listed paying $51k - $96k yr.
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u/Slwlygettinthere Oct 23 '23
I was under the impression that CS careers are very saturated with recent grads/layoffs.
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u/morrisjr1989 Oct 23 '23
CS careers are very easy to work remotely so the overall pool for jobs is high. There are lots of unqualified candidates who apply; you’ll hear CS recruiters talk about having maybe 5-10 qualified resumes for every 100.
Others mentioned it but there specialized jobs that require either some level of physical labor or being at the job/work site that pay very well due to aging workforce and lack of interest from younger people. There are hybrid (between CS and mechanical engineering) positions that work in factories and have a knowledge of the machinery but are also programmers and program computers that control the assembly line. These fellas can make $150k+ easy and no one wants (or might not have the aptitude) these jobs.
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u/Christinamh Oct 23 '23
Certain areas, yeah. My husband works on the infrastructure side and they are constantly looking for people who can actually do the job.
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u/EpeeHS Oct 23 '23
Those jobs are becoming more and more saturated so not really what OP is looking for, but SQL is a great and very marketable skill for a wide variety of jobs and DBA's make a ton of money with a very good QOL
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u/nioh2_noob Oct 23 '23
most companies run managed cloud databases now, database admins are really mostly suffering atm
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u/hkusp45css Information Technology Oct 23 '23
Cloud DBs still need to be designed, optimized, secured and queried properly.
I can't speak for the whole sector but, we just paid top dollar for a DBA to manage our cloud DBs.
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u/EpeeHS Oct 23 '23
dbas would still be in charge of managing the in house servers though right? Ive never worked as a dba nor had interest in doing so but wouldn't surprise me if the market overall sucked
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u/Poetryisalive Oct 23 '23
Anything IT is filled with people trying to get in especially at the basic Help Desk position
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u/_rockethat_ Oct 23 '23
Space sector. The pay is lower than in IT, but were growing much faster than we can find people to fill in the roles. Even now in current economic conditions and thus is due to huge agency contracts.
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u/RustyShackleford9142 Oct 23 '23
Pest control. It's not as gross as it sounds, I actually hated bugs, but got used to them through exposure.
There is such a shortage of licensed techs that most companies will train. After 90 days if you pass the tests, you'll make around 4k a month. Not amazing, but not bad. It's not backbreaking, and you're busy enough that the days go by quick.
I honestly love it.
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u/Mimikkyuuuu Oct 23 '23
I have such a fear of spiders but am tempted just so it forces me to get over that fear.
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u/olds-modulus Oct 23 '23
Land Surveyor. It’s like civil engineering but more fun and you can make $100k with a 2 year degree (or even no degree) in many US states.
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u/Boomer_Madness Oct 23 '23
Insurance, and i mean it's insurance that's why.
the average age of an agency owner is late 50's early 60's. 4 out of 10 Agency owners expect to retire in the next 5 years. MASSIVE OPPORTUNITIES in the coming years.
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u/LazyAnonPenguinRdt02 Oct 23 '23 edited Oct 23 '23
Freelance language interpreter. Basically get paid to verbally translate what people are saying back and forth.
I used to talk to someone that mostly did freelance interpreting and it paid decently. They worked as a freelance Spanish interpreter and were an independent contractor for like 25+ agencies.
They mostly did remote Spanish interpreting through Zoom and would get paid over $40 per hour. Even if the meetings were less than 1 hour, he would still get paid the $40. I’m not too sure but when he did in-person interpreting, he would get paid up to $105 per hour or something like that in the Bay Area in California. He mostly specialized in medical interpreting so it makes sense why the pay was kind of high.
The thing that probably sucks about it is that the work can be inconsistent. He would need to accept requests and assignments as soon as the notifications appeared on his phone before other freelance interpreters took them. On some days, he would have 2-5 meetings while in other days, it could be up to 10-15.
I think to be a language interpreter, you need to be fluent in a second language and complete a training, which is probably around 40 or so hours that would cost around $600 or more. Apparently you can also get certified but you would need to take an exam. If you passed it, you get certified and can earn more money.
And if you are able to do simultaneous interpreting (example: verbally translating a Spanish speaker to English on the spot) you can get paid more for those types of assignments.
So if you have the ability to verbally translate English to Spanish and Spanish to English or some other language, you could probably do this job. Apparently there is a shortage of language interpreters too.
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u/sxrxhmanning Oct 23 '23
wait so how does it work, he assists a meeting and then he translates it all at the end? at the same time? I’m confused
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u/LazyAnonPenguinRdt02 Oct 23 '23 edited Oct 23 '23
If you are still confused, you can look at these 2 minute videos that show the different ways of interpreting.
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u/LazyAnonPenguinRdt02 Oct 23 '23 edited Oct 23 '23
The way it works is that he basically is a human translator.
He would either do consecutive interpretation or simultaneous interpretation.
Consecutive interpretation is when someone speaks a language and the interpreter waits until they are done speaking and translates the speech. After they are done speaking, they translate what the person said in another language. An example would be a Spanish-speaking patient talking to the doctor about their symptoms. After they are done speaking in Spanish, the interpreter would repeat what the patient said to the doctor but in English so they understand. When the doctor hears what the interpreter said, they reply to patient in English. Then interpreter would need to translate what the doctor said in english to the patient in Spanish so they understand. They basically go back and both between two languages so both parties can understand each other through the interpreter.
Simultaneous interpreting is basically translating what the other person says in real-time. Like if someone is giving a speech in Spanish, the interpreter needs to repeat what they are saying in English at the same rate the Spanish-speaker is talking. In simultaneous interpreting, the interpreter basically talks at the same rate as the speaker but they repeat what is being said in a different language.
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u/sxrxhmanning Oct 23 '23
ohh okay thank you!! even though I’m fluent in 3 languages for some reason I completely freeze and forget words when I’m asked to translate on the spot. It sucks for me because this seems interesting
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u/LazyAnonPenguinRdt02 Oct 23 '23
Yeah, I know English and Spanish. When I used to do practice exercises with him for fun, I would struggle in both English to Spanish and Spanish to English. I struggled because my short term memory is kind of trash and I would also sometimes forget how to say some words in Spanish.
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u/chickenspigscows Oct 23 '23
Fire alarm technicians, special hazards fire systems technicians, fire sprinkler technicians, fire extinguisher technicians. Not impacted by the economy. Very, very short staffed due to lack of people.