Should the discussion about quant jobs be in a separate thread? It’s a niche field, and I’m not sure it’s of general interest here.
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There is already a thread for that
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@skieurope or Someone with admin privileges can move the unrelated posts to @hebegebe’s quant thread, but i would keep some of the early responses to @dfbdfb’s post intact Job Prospects for ‘24, ‘25 Grads and beyond? - #2459 by dfbdfb
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Maybe flipping burgers isn’t such a bad life…
I am guessing long hours are involved, with almost owner like involvement, profit sharing etc. So it is likely not just a job.
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But many who make a lot - and not a lot - work long hours.
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Yes. But this is just an entrepreneur without having to put in the capital. You can take a small business loan if you are willing to take on that level of involvement in a small business, and not be an employee at all.
That’s the reported average (median is substantially lower) earnings for store managers who have typically been with the company 15+ years. New hires who are flipping burgers earn far less.
That said, most In-N-Out locations are in CA. In CA minimum wage for fast food workers is $20/hour. In-N-Out is typically a little above this for entry level employees in CA, and has decent benefits beyond salary. That’s on par with financial outcomes for many college graduates.
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Yes, but my point is that there are lots of jobs that people look down upon that make big $$. Publix managers are millionaires - through their growth, Gas Station managers make 6 figures - because today, the Pilot, Loves, Buccees, QTs are retail operations, etc.
I’m just noting that many non-glorious roles are supporting families at the same level as traditional corporate roles - so there are other places to consider - not for big bucks on day one but with opportunities for growth. In N Out is expanding rapidly in the SE and will soon opens its regional office (which will eventually turn into its HQ) just South of Nashville. I make the comment of eventual HQ because the owner moved here.
And the article resonated for the thread.
Thanks
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While there are plenty of high earnings jobs beyond quant investment, engineer, or similar that are regularly mentioned in this thread; it’s also important to have realistic expectations. In-N-Out associate salaries are likely to increase by less than $1 per hour through level 8, with max of maybe $26/hr in a $20 minimum wage state. Salary is likely to increase more substantially for 4th/3rd/2nd managers, but still be under $100k. It’s only the store manager that has been working there for 15+ years and may be managing 100+ employees that has the average listed in the article, and the median or stats for new store managers are far lower due to a small minority of experienced managers of higher performing stores, with bonuses and forms of profit sharing. Extremely few In-N-Out employees become store managers, regardless of how long they remain at the company. Hence it’s quite unlikely for an In-N-Out employee to ever make 6 figures, and this type of outcome should not be expected.
A more common path to high earnings that is not often mentioned in this thread might be something like high-end sales or other positions with commission-heavy compensation, or certain trades.
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Or working for certain cities’ fire departments (usually a base salary below $100k, but incentives and overtime exist), train engineer or conductor, pilot, certain types of paralegals in certain markets, and so on.
Several such jobs require putting in a few years before having the seniority to get the assignments that get you the high salary, but still.
I agree with the general tenor of the recent discussion that those who are focused on high earnings often have a weirdly narrow focus.
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I will offer a different view on this. Many of the careers cited as potential alternatives, as you and others admit in your posts, rely on putting in years of work or taking extremely speculative commission based careers.
Given this is a college focused forum there will naturally be a focus on careers that return immediate ROI on that educational investment (tech, quant etc) or a high value future option for later earnings (medical, law and other professional schools).
With college becoming more and more expensive it is indeed valid to focus on immediate earnings - and research has well established the lifetime impact of an early career salary trajectory.
Regardless of whether it feels repetitive a small set of careers - engineering, consulting, IB, quant, tech, ai labs - will always bubble up on top of these conversations naturally.
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We have a friend who is graduating from college in March. This kid was just visiting and we had a chat about jobs. She is being VERY flexible in terms of the location and even the type of job she gets after she graduates. She is also graduating a quarter early and will be getting a small jump on job availability.
I think in this job market, college grads need to have that flexibility attitude…they might not get the job, but they should seek to get a job that moves them in some positive direction.
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Emphasis added:
So, you mean the focus here is on careers that return immediate ROI on putting in years of work?
Because college is years of work, no? But because it’s so normal for the upper middle and upper classes, we forget about that part of it.
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In the end, the job market is about supply and demand. 2-3 years ago employees called the shots. My bonuses were double the target. Raises were good. Employers couldn’t find employees.
Now it’s the other way. Employers call the shots. People will take what is offered or they won’t work.
Employers don’t set social policy. They stay within the law. In this market, if you don’t want their job, there’s a good chance someone else will.
Just because you have a degree, regardless of from where, doesn’t create a promise that some organization unrelated to you needs to fulfill.
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I think there are pockets of industries where employees still have some power. I heard of two kids who recently quit jobs first, took a couple of months off, and started looking for jobs. I was aghast to hear this. In my old fashioned mindset, I would have thought the reasonable thing to do would be to find a job first before you quit the job you have. I was assured this is not a concern for the two kids involved given their background, pedigree and skillset.
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