All you with these high-paying jobs!

[Anonymous]

OP, even when people tell you what they do, they don't spell it out for you. So, you may think you know what people do for a living, but you truly do not know the day to day. After a certain age, some people become specialists - true specialists, and not the kind who go around bragging about their being specialists.

I also know people who have tremendous gaps (years) in their work history, and they are asking how they can make half mil a year. Are they serious? Surprisingly yes, they think they are worth that - even though they have nothing to back it up, and they are not particularly great at what they do.

Some people really are delusional, and think because they have reached a certain age, they should automatically, without any of the same experiences, be making what the best of best are making.

Just look at the frequent posts about "when will my husband make partner", "when did your husband start making $1m per year", "why doesn't my husband make $1m a year", etc. Hard to feel sorry for some people, when all they see is money.

In your case, network more. You are still young!

[Anonymous]

Me: cybersecurity (specialized cloud)
DH: owns a company does niche engineering for DoD (registered arms dealer)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, even when people tell you what they do, they don't spell it out for you. So, you may think you know what people do for a living, but you truly do not know the day to day. After a certain age, some people become specialists - true specialists, and not the kind who go around bragging about their being specialists.

I also know people who have tremendous gaps (years) in their work history, and they are asking how they can make half mil a year. Are they serious? Surprisingly yes, they think they are worth that - even though they have nothing to back it up, and they are not particularly great at what they do.

Some people really are delusional, and think because they have reached a certain age, they should automatically, without any of the same experiences, be making what the best of best are making.

Just look at the frequent posts about "when will my husband make partner", "when did your husband start making $1m per year", "why doesn't my husband make $1m a year", etc. Hard to feel sorry for some people, when all they see is money.

In your case, network more. You are still young!

Absolutely this!

[Anonymous]

2 capped GS-15s in the DC area will make nearly $400,000. They aren’t exactly a rare breed here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m OP and I appreciate all the different answers assuming y’all are honest. And I respect the people who honestly disclose the hard work, grind and hustle it took to get there.

However, I just don’t see the numbers adding up. I’ve been a job seeker and I know the job market. I also know the housing market. By definition, only 1% of us can be the top 1%. Where are all the rest of the middle class people like me hiding? In their small outside-the-beltway condos and used Priuses? I just feel like I’m missing something here. The hidden high paying job market.

Where did you go to school OP? Do you have a graduate degree? Shay do your friends do for work? What kind of people do you date? There's a lot of neyworking involved with jobs.

Yes, I have a graduate degree. My friends and dates are other middle class people with similar salaries.
Interestingly, the people I went to grad school with have largely left DC. Those that I know for sure make a lot of money live in NY and work on Wall Street. I do not envy them, they sound miserable tbh.

Try to "date up" if that's what you want

[Anonymous]

I invested $1000 a months since 2007 into high-growth stocks on very low income. The snowball effect is real. I have enough to buy a home, but want to see it grow a little more before I sell some.
Zero chance that I will work for someone else and make over $100k.
I use the money I have to make more of it. Today I'm selling some stock in order to get $15k out, and find something else to buy.

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of people are exaggerating or rounding up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2 capped GS-15s in the DC area will make nearly $400,000. They aren’t exactly a rare breed here.

I was coming in to say exactly this.

In my house, one GS15 and one lobbyist.

[Anonymous]

Doctor and my income is in the lowest 25% for doctors. But at your age I was making $50K, for five years. And made $150K for 4 more years in my first job. And had $150K in educational debt. And didn’t start earning anything until age 32. So, don’t worry, with your earnings you are on track to eclipse people like me by the time you are my age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of these people are lying. Not all, but some. I know a decent number of people making above 200k and most of them are too busy at work to fart around on DCUM at 10am on a Monday. The Big Law and consulting partners especially.

OP, I bet you the average income of people on DCUM is around what you make, or even lower. I'm currently part time in my job because my kids are young and I want to be more available to them, and I make 50k working about 15 hours a week. Our HHI is about 190k. The reason I can hang out on DCUM a lot is because being part time means my job doesn't carry as much responsibility, and of course sometimes I'm not working at all, I'm just killing time before picking the kids up from school, or while waiting for them to finish swim class or whatever. I think my situation is very common among DCUM power users.

My DH, who makes 140k and manages a team of 6 and has quite a bit of stress in his job (though thankfully not long hours and he has decent flexility and great benefits) doesn't have time to hang out on DCUM either. If he has downtime, he uses it for DuoLingo.

Anyway, I would have some skepticism about all the people claiming they are dual Big Law while posting on DCUM right now. If they are telling the truth, they are junior associates with poor time management skills and probably won't go the distance anyway! They'll be on here pouting about how they had to give up their 250k salary when they got counseled out in 5th year and now they are "poor".

I think there are also a lot of biglaw spouses that post here so there's the high income side that's busy at work but the SAHP that has time to post about the high income.

[Anonymous]

Job hopping is what kept bumping my pay over the last 4 years.

I was at a company for about 7 years and only got the standard 2-5% raise depending on the year. I loved my job and the company. I was raised with a loyalty mentality by my parents. Then I saw a job posting for a job in my department with a starting salary of $8k higher than mine. I asked my supervisor to match that salary and he did. I know it sounds dumb, but a lightbulb clicked for me that staying loyal was dumb if I could make more money somewhere else.

I started looking and found a job in my industry with a starting salary of around $10k more than mine. I applied. I went through the interview rounds. I got the job. I asked my supervisor to match but he couldn't so I left. That was in fall 2019.

In summer 2020 a woman I was working with left the company and reached out a few weeks later to let me know there was an opening at her new company that she thought I'd be great for, and it was more money. I tossed my resume out there and ended up getting the job. That pay raise bumped me to $130k.

When I see a job opening in my field with a starting pay more than mine, I apply. Screw loyalty.

My dad thinks it looks irresponsible but honestly, he worked his way up through the company he was with for 40 years to a VP position with no education, just experience under his belt. He retired early with a pension and partial healthcare. Those are things very few companies even offer these days.

[Anonymous]

OP, you’re not that unusual. If you married someone making your salary, your HHI would be $270k. That’s in the ballpark of a lot of the people you’re looking at.

To go higher up the scale, you need to commit to a career pathway and understand its career ladder. Then, start working toward the next step. That may require taking on a larger project, leading a project, presenting to management, learning new skills, etc. As you have more experience and skills, you look for a promotion within your firm. If that doesn’t exist, you exit to another firm that provides that opportunity. In your next role, you do the same thing. If both you and your spouse work like this, both of your incomes will advance rapidly and so will your HHI.

The problem with most people is they don’t want to put in the extra effort to assume more responsibility and grow their skills. Instead, they want to rest and get promoted. Generally, it doesn’t work that way. The other hope is that a spouse (usually the guy) will sacrifice his heart and soul for the sake of his family’s honor and slave at BigLaw or something comparable and make $500k+ by himself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Job hopping is what kept bumping my pay over the last 4 years.

I was at a company for about 7 years and only got the standard 2-5% raise depending on the year. I loved my job and the company. I was raised with a loyalty mentality by my parents. Then I saw a job posting for a job in my department with a starting salary of $8k higher than mine. I asked my supervisor to match that salary and he did. I know it sounds dumb, but a lightbulb clicked for me that staying loyal was dumb if I could make more money somewhere else.

I started looking and found a job in my industry with a starting salary of around $10k more than mine. I applied. I went through the interview rounds. I got the job. I asked my supervisor to match but he couldn't so I left. That was in fall 2019.

In summer 2020 a woman I was working with left the company and reached out a few weeks later to let me know there was an opening at her new company that she thought I'd be great for, and it was more money. I tossed my resume out there and ended up getting the job. That pay raise bumped me to $130k.

When I see a job opening in my field with a starting pay more than mine, I apply. Screw loyalty.

My dad thinks it looks irresponsible but honestly, he worked his way up through the company he was with for 40 years to a VP position with no education, just experience under his belt. He retired early with a pension and partial healthcare. Those are things very few companies even offer these days.

How often do you stay in a role after a promotion? I was promoted almost a year ago. I got the salary I requested, but I'm beginning to think I undersold myself and can make more elsewhere based on job postings. However, I want some time to show I'm effective in this role. Is a year enough? 2? more? I've been with this company for 8 years now, but this promotion was a big one.

[Anonymous]

Over a decade of experience, not super highly paid (was where you are for most of my 30’s) and now I’m in demand as a person who knows stuff! Just breaking through to what I think will be real money by 50. Just keep plugging away, learning, and growing your network. And try to maintain good “hygiene” as far as your reputation goes. Even when you feel like you’re in a rut or overthinking by life as many can feel in their 30s if they’re raising young kids. Be polite, put your head down, and the opportunities will come when you’re ready for them.

[Anonymous]

I’m OP and I think I now realize I have been asking two questions.

The first question is what are the $200K+ paying jobs. Not industries. Actual job descriptions. If I were to network with someone, my ask being “how do I go from (my job) to become a (high paying profession)?”

The other question I guess is where are all the middle class people. The median household income is $110K, but single family homes are a million dollars. Which I think I can answer myself. Among my friends with normal-people jobs, with $100-200K HHI, this is where they live:

- Mid-sized apartment in a DTSS high rise
- Townhouse in Germantown
- Two different couples bought decent sized SFHs in MoCo, but they had parents helped with the down payments
- One couple moved to PG county to buy a SFH, which they could afford in 2018 but probably couldn’t afford to purchase today
- One single guy bought a 900sq ft SFH in Rockville, sold to him directly by a friend, below market rate
- Older people who bought in the 80s and then saw their homes appreciate tenfold

Maybe my overall question should have been “What normal-people jobs pay enough to live the 1990s white picket fence ideal” and the answer is none of them 😂