That pay well and might be fun for right person. College—nah
Here is one we’ve heard of, but many parents - like my SIL - wish their kids hadn’t heard of:
My nephew really wanted to be a mechanic. He is a smart kid who did well in school, so my SIL told him he had to go to college (she went further, telling him he had to study music - performance, no less-!). Fast forward 10 years: He dropped out of college in his senior year, after transferring schools and majors. He drove a long haul truck to repay his copious loans (SIL didn’t pay for his schooling …). He now has a job he enjoys, but it doesn’t require a degree, and he wishes he had become a mechanic. I hope he will do that, because it’s a darn good job & it seems like he’d be happy.
As for jobs you’ve never heard of: http://www.theclever.com/15-high-paying-careers-youve-probably-never-heard-of/ .
I think that all young people should spend time reading craigslist job ads. They are taught to think in terms of large categories, like firefighting, doctor, nurse, business, etc. There are tons of specific jobs that kids don’t know about.
Most young people have no idea what kind of jobs are out there. After college, I wanted a writing job, so I ended up as a tech writer. I was decently paid, but unhappy for several years until I called a hotline to ask about an ingredient in the soda I was drinking. A colleague overheard my questions and suggested I go into science writing. I went back for an MS in journalism and that started me on a new trajectory.
I would like to be a Nose:
- From Wiki
In the OP’s link, I feel sorry for the Porsche Restoration Technician in Scottsdale, AZ, toiling away restoring Porsches while:
Sure, there are a lot of jobs out there. But for kids who want to grow up to have their own kids that they send to college, there are fewer options. Most jobs simply don’t pay well enough to support a family, even in a dual income household.
^Hmm, I’d disagree with that. Many blue-collar families send their kids to college. My father-in-law is a mechanic and my mother-in-law was an administrative assistant through most of her working life, and they sent all three of their kids to college. I also have a close family friend who is a transit worker and his wife is a bus driver, and they sent their oldest daughter through college and their youngest will probably go, too. My sister and I both went to college and my family is blue-collar (dad is a transit worker; mom is a licensed practical nurse).
There are also lots of good-paying blue-collar professions that allow people to live middle-class lifestyles.
Now, if you want to make enough money to send your kids to Harvard and pay in cash - well, yeah, your choices are more constrained.
I think encouraging students to explore lesser-known fields is wonderful! I had never heard of my own job until I was about 25-26 and in graduate school, and I love it.
One thing I would encourage, though, is exploring the true competitiveness of these careers and their actual salaries - sometimes the jobs are so niche that estimating a real average salary is hard, or entry-level salaries are low. For example, master sommeliers can make a lot of money at really fancy restaurants, but those jobs are hard to get and most master sommeliers don’t work at fancy restaurants (meaning they make a lot less money). Or like the article quoted above says that the pay for nuclear divers “can go mostly beyond $100K a year”, which is an odd construction but not true. Nuclear divers start at around $30K, and they only make close to $100K if they are very experienced and have certain certifications which take time to get.
M S went to a summer camp at a maritime academy this summer and came back talking about being a pilot. I was like, “Uh, okay.” Now that I see from one of those links that they can make $400K, I’m going to have to change that to “That’s a great idea! Let’s schedule your college visit there!”
A friend’s son graduated from SUNY Maritime about 8 years ago and his starting salary was $120k.
I think you are mixing up Master Sommelier with any regular sommelier, highly trained or not.
The vast majority of really fancy restaurants do not have a Master Sommelier (of whom there are about 250 in the world).
The US Merchant Marine Academy is a Service Academy just like West Point or Annapolis, except that the five year payback period doesn’t have to be active duty in the military. You can get a job in the industry that qualifies (which just means doing what you trained to do and proving your continued employment and certification for five years.) You’re still free to go into the Navy or Coast Guard (if spots are available) but you don’t have to. During their four years at King’s Point they have to spend two tours of six months each on a working ship at sea, so it’s just as unique as any other academy, but if you want that life it’s a pretty sweet deal.
Maine Maritime Academy is another option to check out.
And Mass. Maritime Academy as well.
DH and I have a very wealthy acquaintance who is a meat broker. Never knew there was such a thing and that it can be so lucrative.
I met a guy who is a broker for rare hardwoods out of the Amazon rainforest. I tried my best not to be judgmental.
I also met an honest-to-goodness moonshiner, but high end stuff, better than what you would think. He has some 20 year-old oak aged bourbon that is among the best I have ever had. He supplements it with poaching wild animals for restaurants.
My boss used to own a rescue tug boat, think tow-truck for luxury yachts. It’s one of those jobs that combines low pay with life-threatening conditions.
My brother worked for a – and then went off and founded another – firm that essentially traded commodities for which no organized market existed – mainly raw plastics of various sorts. They would buy it from the original manufacturers or customers who had excess inventory and re-sell it to companies that would make things with it all over the world, and also arrange shipping. It was risky, but done right it was usually pretty lucrative. He had a MIM from Thunderbird in Arizona, which helped him get his first job, but in reality the job didn’t take any skills he didn’t have by the time he was 15.