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  Feb. 8, 2012 11:38 a.m. nderwater SuperDork

  poopshovel wrote:

  Work for Uncle Scam. Federal gov't employees with no more than a HS education make 20% more than those in the private sector.
  

  http://cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12696

  Part of the reason the average federal employee pay is so high is that reflects a workforce that is near the end of their careers - fed employees are notoriously hard to lay off and since they are practically guaranteed modest raises each year, their salaries by retirement age have ballooned.
  

  Good luck getting a job like that now though - for well over a decade, Fed agencies have been almost exclusively hiring contractors to fill their position so that salary and benefits expenses become someone else's problem.

  Political appointees still make a killing, but rarely keep their jobs much past the administration that hired them to their posts.

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  Feb. 8, 2012 11:39 a.m. Zomby woof SuperDork

  HiTempguy wrote:

  1. Newfies. Honest to god, it's hard to stand them. They all act the same, talk the same, and irritate the same. Ya, some of them are nice, but most are here for the big paycheque with no education. They funnel all of their money back home where their house costs $50k and they are all dope smokers. (generalizations are fun!)

  When I was maintenance supervisor, 2/3 of my best guys were Newfies. If we're generalizing, Newfies are the hardest working people I've ever met, and I loovs der haccent

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  Feb. 8, 2012 11:45 a.m. nderwater SuperDork

  Thanks for reminding me. There is a serious labor shortage here too, at the new oil fields in southwest North Dakota. The fields are a long way from civilization, so workers often live in man camps, and shifts are long and hard. But from what I hear the pay is quite high, starting at something like $80K a year or more.

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  Feb. 8, 2012 11:54 a.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork

  nderwater wrote:

  ...live in man camps, and (beep) are long and hard...

  Uneccessary censorship makes you funny!

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  Feb. 8, 2012 12:37 p.m. PHeller Dork

  I actually met a guy while on Prince Edward Island who worked in Fort McMurray. I didn't ask him how he got into the oil industry though.

  Only worked 8 months out of the year.

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  Feb. 8, 2012 12:45 p.m. HiTempguy SuperDork

  Zomby woof wrote:

  When I was maintenance supervisor, 2/3 of my best guys were Newfies. If we're generalizing, Newfies are the hardest working people I've ever met, and I loovs der haccent

  I would hazard a guess Mike that the newfies we get are not the same quality of newfie you get. If you have a pulse and don't pass the drug test, you're in!

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  Feb. 8, 2012 1:02 p.m. Zomby woof SuperDork

  Where do I sign up?

  I told my wife two years ago that if anything happens to my job, I'm going to Fort Mac, or Lab city, work every day for a few years, then calling it quits.

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  Feb. 8, 2012 1:58 p.m. failboat Dork

  nderwater wrote:

  poopshovel wrote:

  Work for Uncle Scam. Federal gov't employees with no more than a HS education make 20% more than those in the private sector.
  

  http://cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12696

  Part of the reason the average federal employee pay is so high is that reflects a workforce that is near the end of their careers - fed employees are notoriously hard to lay off and since they are practically guaranteed modest raises each year, their salaries by retirement age have ballooned.
  

  Good luck getting a job like that now though - for well over a decade, Fed agencies have been almost exclusively hiring contractors to fill their position so that salary and benefits expenses become someone else's problem.

  Political appointees still make a killing, but rarely keep their jobs much past the administration that hired them to their posts.

  My wife is a contractor. Started out working security, getting clerances, and worked her way up to where she is now. She makes a solid 50% more than I do, and she is still working on completing her degree. She's been trying to get her foot in the door of her respective government agency for years, only to see folks that have only been there for a few months get converted off the contract to the agency.

  But once you're in, you're in it seems. If you cant seem to effectively do your job where you are, they just transfer you to some other department and its someone elses problem, instead of, you know, firing you for not knowing what the berkeley you're doing.

  It drives her nuts having supervisors like that, and are there because they either know someone, or uncle sam hooked em up with the job for their service.

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  Feb. 8, 2012 2:27 p.m. poopshovel SuperDork

  But once you're in, you're in it seems.

  Yup. I wonder if you have to have a college education to be hired as an airline pilot.

  Not sure if it's been mentioned, but I've heard there's a big demand for skilled welders in certain parts of the country. Sure I'm guessing you'd need some certificate from turnpike tech and some experience, but I'm guessing not a "degree" per se.

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  Feb. 8, 2012 3:23 p.m. PHeller Dork

  failboat wrote: But once you're in, you're in it seems.

  I work in local government I definitely get this feeling. That's not saying people have not been fired, but often times if folks like you, they are willing to work with you to keep your job.

  One thing that I noticed at county-level government is the inability to acquire a raise. There are "good administrations" that give you a raise, and there are those that don't. Unfortunately I won't be getting a raise in this position for another 2 years. And it's not because I've got a huge salary, I barely make more than a Fex-Ex box thrower.

  Now, I could leave this position for a higher paying position somewhere else in government and that's one thing that government is good at. Once your in county government, the door is always open to move to another position.

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  Feb. 8, 2012 5:05 p.m. bearmtnmartin New Reader

  The oil patch pays well but it's all because of overtime, not a high hourly wage. $25.00 an hour for a roughneck but 16 hours a day and double time for most of it. I just lost one of my guys to a drill rig in ft mac. But what a E36 M3ty life. Money isn't everything.

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  Feb. 8, 2012 5:37 p.m. JThw8 SuperDork

  nderwater wrote:

  Most of what we've discussed in this thread are $50K jobs. As the original question was about 'Highest Paying Jobs' I'm most interested in learning about jobs which pay $100K or more a year, which is roughly a steady $50/hr, 40 hours a week. Obviously, Doctor & Lawyer positions require extensive, expensive education. Anyone have ideas for other jobs which often draw six-figure incomes?

  As previously discussed there is this kind of money in IT, but you won't hit it right away and you won't hit it if you are going in with the same network/support/database skills as everyone else. There are still some niche software packages that, if you specialize in them, can make you in demand enough to write your own check.

  One of the 3 packages I work with is the top rated package in its segment but there are very few people who are really skilled in it, and the money is so good in consulting in it that very few people will take a full time job with it. So if a company wants you full time they treat you well. I could still make a lot more if I went back to consulting but its less stable and usually a lot of travel (to very uninteresting places)

  Back in the early 00's when I first got my certification in it I was actively headhunted for a position as soon as I had my cert. I took "safe" consulting where I was guaranteed a set salary if I had a current client or not. So I was still under the 100k mark but my company billed me at $1500 a day, plus expenses. Needless to say the temptation to go independent was strong.

  Sure it's a lot of cubicle farming but it can be interesting and provide lots of challenges.
  

  The other fun thing about specializing in a niche software package is no one understands what you do or how you do it so you can BS your way through a lot if needed. I'm currently the technical subject matter expert for a global roll out of the software throughout our company. I get to travel to HQ in Denmark a few times a year and India to meet my "staff" at least once this year. My word is considered gospel, even if I don't know what I'm talking about at times :)

  Those that know me IRL are getting a good laugh at me having that kind of pull anywhere ;)

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  Feb. 9, 2012 12:02 a.m. SVreX SuperDork

  fasted58 wrote:

  from Bureau of Labor Statistics

  

  I'll google s'more or you all can... good site full of info

  BLS.gov

  That chart is deceptive because very few construction tradesmen work regular fulltime work these days. Those hourly rates don't hold water over the course of a year. Probably only commercial electricians and plumbers/ pipefitters have fairly secure continuous work these days.

  70% of the jobs lost in the economic downturn since 2008 have been in construction.

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  Feb. 9, 2012 8:56 a.m. PHeller Dork

  I personally have no interest in IT, especially software maintenance. I have some friends who do networking setup and maintenance, so most of their time is actually driving from one client to the next.

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