Those of you with 200K+ jobs & are NOT doctors/lawyers: what do you do & how did you find your jobs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in software and earn $1M+. Base is $300K and the rest is bonus and stock grants.

I grew up in the DC housing projects. My single mom got me into the better know high schools in the city as Eastern HS was my home school. Went to average state school majoring in math and computer science.

Worked as a civilian for the DOD the summer before college and learned about a program which got college paid for with 3 year post college work commitment. DOD paid for grad school at a average private DC university. Moved to DOD contractor and then to the west coast at a software company because of a former colleague connection I had there.

Worked my way up and moved to another tech company after 10 years. I had both coding and managerial experience.

I got an amazing offer at a PRE-IOP company that I took back to my then-current company. They were loosing good people left and right so my then-current company matched it. Before this four year package expired (and my comp. dropped to <$500K), I went shopping for a new job and stretched out my high earnings another four years.

A million bucks / year and doesn't know the different between loose and lose. What a world we live in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I make 120K and seem to be "topped out." I work in IT management at a university and I am drowning in debt. I'm 33, divorced, 1 kid, and don't even own a house yet. Most of my friends make less than me. I have a master's degree from a top school (one of the reasons I am drowning in debt).

I go on Indeed.com, Idealist, etc. all the time and I don't really see jobs posted that pay more than mine. How do you get these super-high paying jobs? Are they unlisted?

I found out recently that even my BOSS only makes 10K more than me. Where are you guys finding the "big" jobs? What did you do to get there?

Let me start by saying 120K at 33 is good money. Really good money. You say drowing in debt...how much is that? How is your credit?

FWIW, at 33, I was making about 1/2 of what you make, with probably less debt (no student loan) and more education (PhD); in 2017 dollars, it converts to 90K. Today, 20 years later, I make 175K, I have a house that with 400-500K equity, and I have 900K in retirement.

What did I do? I bought a house. And, I put money away for retirement. Buying the house was done to fix payments at 1999 levels. I was paying 1500/month in rent, and bought a small house (bigger than my appt) in the 'burbs with good schools without changing my payments. So, I locked my payments for rent in at a level that was sustainable with a 60K salary. I got lucky with the appreciation -- but there are places you could buy a place for 400K, which would cost about $1900+taxes; taxes and interest are deductible. Note that, in theory, you should be able to pay about 600k, which would just about buy my house today (with similar loan to income).

At 3% income growth/inflation, when you are my age, you will be making 235K. If you fix your housing (biggest cost) at your current rent, you will be in good shape. Meanwhile, you have paid 20 years off the mortgage. in another 10 years, you own the place.

At the same time, put in 10% to your 401K (or 403b). I assume the company is matching at least 5%; With 8% grown in the markets, and 3% income growth, you about about 1.15 mil in retirement, and you will have paid off half your house -- assuming a modest 2% growth in housing costs, your 400K house is worth 600K, and you now owe 200K.

So, your net worth is about 1.5 mil....

that is how you get comfortable on a middle class salary.

This is the first poster I've seen here that seems to be living in the real world. I'm 40, have a supposedly lucrative degree, and grew up reasonably well-off, and I don't see myself earning much more than $120K anytime soon. Certainly not with a commute and/or workload that lends itself to parenting. If I put money as my main goal, maybe I could get to 150K. So maybe not what OP wants to hear, but I think 120K at 33 is great.

[Anonymous]

OP - I am the same as you. Grew up poor with a single mother. Single mother never had ambitions regarding a career so I never learned any of this stuff while a kid. I always went for the stable job (government) and have no idea how to play the career game. My husband, thankfully is different, and he is the big earner in our family. He knows how to play the game.

But I like my stable job and we are thankful for it. I just want to teach my kids how to play the career game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in software and earn $1M+. Base is $300K and the rest is bonus and stock grants.

I grew up in the DC housing projects. My single mom got me into the better know high schools in the city as Eastern HS was my home school. Went to average state school majoring in math and computer science.

Worked as a civilian for the DOD the summer before college and learned about a program which got college paid for with 3 year post college work commitment. DOD paid for grad school at a average private DC university. Moved to DOD contractor and then to the west coast at a software company because of a former colleague connection I had there.

Worked my way up and moved to another tech company after 10 years. I had both coding and managerial experience.

I got an amazing offer at a PRE-IOP company that I took back to my then-current company. They were loosing good people left and right so my then-current company matched it. Before this four year package expired (and my comp. dropped to <$500K), I went shopping for a new job and stretched out my high earnings another four years.

A million bucks / year and doesn't know the different between loose and lose. What a world we live in.

You actually think this is real lol. Look why would anyone actually making more than 250k

1. Care about this website
2. Take the time to actually post something

It's all teenagers bored for the summer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:God this whole string is depressing. Why didn't you plan better? I knew when I was 18 that I would have to work for the rest of my life and that I wanted to make a lot of money. Now Im 47 and make seven figures in law and real estate.

How many more years you gonna do that? I'm a lawyer who retired at age 52 and I never made more than $275K a year. You must spend everything you make, or you'd be retired already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in software and earn $1M+. Base is $300K and the rest is bonus and stock grants.

I grew up in the DC housing projects. My single mom got me into the better know high schools in the city as Eastern HS was my home school. Went to average state school majoring in math and computer science.

Worked as a civilian for the DOD the summer before college and learned about a program which got college paid for with 3 year post college work commitment. DOD paid for grad school at a average private DC university. Moved to DOD contractor and then to the west coast at a software company because of a former colleague connection I had there.

Worked my way up and moved to another tech company after 10 years. I had both coding and managerial experience.

I got an amazing offer at a PRE-IOP company that I took back to my then-current company. They were loosing good people left and right so my then-current company matched it. Before this four year package expired (and my comp. dropped to <$500K), I went shopping for a new job and stretched out my high earnings another four years.

A million bucks / year and doesn't know the different between loose and lose. What a world we live in.

That's your only take away?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does one break into sales? I'm a lawyer 3 years out of law school and hate the 'head down' booksmart nature of the work. I previously worked in marketing but the pay was abysmal. How do I make myself a good candidate for a VP-type sales position, what experience do I need?

You dont. You start entry level in inside sales (which can easily pay 150k), move to outside ans woek many many years and if you are good at networking and are a total douchebag, its all yours.

How does someone in IT start at inside sales? Just apply??

I did this years ago at a big software company. I was brought in on the IT side, but the cubicles next to me were sales people so I just helped them out in my spare time and ended up getting hired into their group as a sales engineer. Then you get the big bonuses that people in sales get too.

"Back in my day..." Seriously? You happened to work in the cube adjacent to the sales team and they eventually hired you on? That's like telling someone to get a job in the mail room at Goldman and make friends with the IBs in hopes of getting a PE job. Ridiculous.

Sometimes it does work that way. Its just working with folks and when a position opens most want someone they know and if you are willing, you get hired. My husband has had that happen several times. His last job offer was because they were desperate and a co-worker referred him. If you are working as a support and help out, thats the best way to learn and move up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:God this whole string is depressing. Why didn't you plan better? I knew when I was 18 that I would have to work for the rest of my life and that I wanted to make a lot of money. Now Im 47 and make seven figures in law and real estate.

NP here, and I grew up poor like OP. Growing up, I thought six figures was a lot of money! If I had planned better, I would have gone into a technical/IT field, but I went to a liberal arts school. Now make decent as a gov't lawyer, but yeah, I do wish I had planned better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God this whole string is depressing. Why didn't you plan better? I knew when I was 18 that I would have to work for the rest of my life and that I wanted to make a lot of money. Now Im 47 and make seven figures in law and real estate.

NP here, and I grew up poor like OP. Growing up, I thought six figures was a lot of money! If I had planned better, I would have gone into a technical/IT field, but I went to a liberal arts school. Now make decent as a gov't lawyer, but yeah, I do wish I had planned better.

Six figures is a lot of money

OP quit spending time on this website. You will feel better

You might want to move out of DC one of the most expensive places in the country too

[Anonymous]

HR Director. Base is $150k. Bonus $60k. Plus stock.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in IT for one of the big consulting companies. I was client facing but after kids I became internal.

Same here. I stopped being a project manager and lead a back-office team reporting to the CFO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God this whole string is depressing. Why didn't you plan better? I knew when I was 18 that I would have to work for the rest of my life and that I wanted to make a lot of money. Now Im 47 and make seven figures in law and real estate.

How many more years you gonna do that? I'm a lawyer who retired at age 52 and I never made more than $275K a year. You must spend everything you make, or you'd be retired already.

Ha! I enjoy it actually. I could retire, but then my wife (who makes more money than I do) would have even less respect for me

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God this whole string is depressing. Why didn't you plan better? I knew when I was 18 that I would have to work for the rest of my life and that I wanted to make a lot of money. Now Im 47 and make seven figures in law and real estate.

NP here, and I grew up poor like OP. Growing up, I thought six figures was a lot of money! If I had planned better, I would have gone into a technical/IT field, but I went to a liberal arts school. Now make decent as a gov't lawyer, but yeah, I do wish I had planned better. [/quot

Develop a side gig - mine is real estate. I bet you could double your income if you wanted.

[Anonymous]

Hey OP, sorry you have to read all the rude responses on here but that's the internet for ya. I know you are thinking about how to increase your income but you also need to think about how to decrease your spending. You didn't mention much about your finances but hopefully you don't have a car note. If so, maybe selling your car and buying a beater with cash will help. Think about if you can live somewhere cheaper as well, and anything else to lower your spending. You need to get serious about getting out of debt. If you didn't have that debt and were investing those payments instead in a Roth IRA and 401K you could be a millionaire without ever making more than 120K/year due to the wonders of compound interest. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in software and earn $1M+. Base is $300K and the rest is bonus and stock grants.

I grew up in the DC housing projects. My single mom got me into the better know high schools in the city as Eastern HS was my home school. Went to average state school majoring in math and computer science.

Worked as a civilian for the DOD the summer before college and learned about a program which got college paid for with 3 year post college work commitment. DOD paid for grad school at a average private DC university. Moved to DOD contractor and then to the west coast at a software company because of a former colleague connection I had there.

Worked my way up and moved to another tech company after 10 years. I had both coding and managerial experience.

I got an amazing offer at a PRE-IOP company that I took back to my then-current company. They were loosing good people left and right so my then-current company matched it. Before this four year package expired (and my comp. dropped to <$500K), I went shopping for a new job and stretched out my high earnings another four years.

A million bucks / year and doesn't know the different between loose and lose. What a world we live in.

A world where you can be anyone or anything on the internet.