What jobs pay good money?

[Special At Specialist]

Hi. I am a fairly smart person, but definitely no genius (estimating an ATAR between 90-95).

After I leave school (and possibly university), I will be looking for a job. I want one that fits the following criteria:
1. Has very high pay --- I don't care how boring it, how bad the conditions are or how long I have to work for, I just want a high salary.
2. Must be guaranteed cash --- I don't want to be a professional gambler or a business owner where most people fail and end up extremely poor after all their efforts.

A friend of mine reccomended that I become a miner or work on an oil rig. Any other suggestions?

[Stick]

I don't know what I want to do either. I'm expecting a similar ATAR to you as well. I might not have the best advice but I'll try anyway.


Are you sure you don't want care about your job's enjoyability? You'll be doing it for a major part of your life, so I think this also needs to be taken into consideration as well.


Try medicine or law. Both are high paying careers with a skills shortage.

[Special At Specialist]

I'm not sure if I can make it into medicine or law. My grades are pretty good, but not THAT good...

[Russ]

Are those seriously your only two criteria? Because you really need to scrap

I don't care how boring it, how bad the conditions are or how long I have to work for, I just want a high salary.

or you'll be in serious trouble later on

[Special At Specialist]

If the rewards are good enough, I can motivate myself to work under extreme conditions for long periods of time.

[Stick]

I'm not sure if I can make it into medicine or law. My grades are pretty good, but not THAT good...

I'm worried about the same thing.


You have to remember though, just because you might not make it into Melbourne or Monash doesn't mean you can't do that career. Other universities clearly offer similar courses that also qualify you for the job. It is only a few minority 'elitist' people who think that the quality of education is better at these two universities, just because the ATAR required in is higher. ATAR is mainly based on the popularity of the course, not necessarily the level of expertise required. It's just disappointing that some employers don't recognise this. At RMIT, for example, the journalism course requires an ATAR of 94. I've explored journalism quite extensively and despite weird and long work hours, journalism requires very little genuine skill in English, and hence why it pays poorly. And because I've done a work experience at a major broadcast channel, I can also safely say that your appearance is probably the biggest factor regarding your employment in the career, unfortunately.


I've just gone off on another tangent...


My dad does IT and I know for a fact that the IT career is booming. ATAR scores to get into IT-based courses are really low and you can end up with a really well paying job. I also know that there is a major shortage of engineers in the country, so you could consider that career path as well.

[burbs]

This is the most naive post ever. Do something you enjoy and the money will (hopefully) follow.

However, considering the trend of your posts I don't suppose you really want someone to be telling you why money isn't everything (but if you do, there are plenty of us here to explain it to you).

Law and medicine are not really 'good money.' At least not right away. Investment banking pays quite well, and has those long hours you so desperately want. Alternatively I hear that plumbers are paid very well, so if you only want money and don't care about enjoyment, maybe try that. OR, maybe actuary will suit you because you are 'determined to score a 50 in specialist maths' so you must enjoy maths at least a little bit. However actuary is pretty damn hard to get into.

But I implore you to reconsider your life goals.

[Stick]

You could always get a skill or a trade. Sometimes I wonder if it's the smart people who follow these academic careers who are in fact more stupid than those kids to stop school and become a plumber... They make a killing compared to these 'smart jobs'!


Or you could become a prostitute. Have you seen the cars those ones that have been killed were driving? That must pay very well!

[Camo]

What burbs and Russ said.

Find something that highly motivates you without having to have money to motivate yourself with.
I could say prostitution pays well but would not be suited for most people. (Only using this as the most ridiculous example).
If you can find a field of work that you can do well in, more than likely your going to be able to say to your employer, "I enjoy this, give me more work."

If I got put into a job I wasn't able to do or caused high levels of stress, the money simply put isn't worth it.

[burbs]

Preemptive: As hard as it will be for this thread, I ask that people try and stay on topic.

[Russ]

If the rewards are good enough, I can motivate myself to work under extreme conditions for long periods of time.

I am 99.9...% sure that you have no idea of what either of those two mean

[ninwa]

Nothing I can say will sway you, I can only hope that you'll look back on this when you're 50 and realise that you've thrown away your life for a few bits of plastic.

So.

Investment banker
Actuary
Mining engineer
Dentist
Plumber (seriously)

[Camo]

Hi. I am a fairly smart person, but definitely no genius (estimating an ATAR between 90-95).

After I leave school (and possibly university), I will be looking for a job. I want one that fits the following criteria:
1. Has very high pay --- I don't care how boring it, how bad the conditions are or how long I have to work for, I just want a high salary.
2. Must be guaranteed cash --- I don't want to be a professional gambler or a business owner where most people fail and end up extremely poor after all their efforts.

A friend of mine reccomended that I become a miner or work on an oil rig. Any other suggestions?

How many jobs have you been employed at?

[jenerator]

hmm....many people are on your boat here. If you want a well paid job, look into something that Australia is severely lacking eg dentistry, medicine, mining engineers etc etc. A very high ATAR is favorable but you can always work your way up.   

[JellyDonut]

Come work for me, the pay isn't good (food coupons) but I'll lavish you with moral support and that's more I can say for big banks.