25 Top paying jobs without a degree
Can you get a good paying job without a degree?
After recently writing about the debate of whether a college degree was still worth it or not, I have been doing a little bit more research on the topic. I found out about the growing FauxPloma industry and I recently stumbled on an article that talks about the top paying 25 jobs that you can get without a degree.
In the article, the author makes a couple encouraging statements for those without a college degree…
The belief that you need a college education to have a well-paying and rewarding job is quickly fading. A four-year degree definitely has its benefits in the business world, but it’s not the only path to a successful career.
and…
“…according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), eight of the 10 fastest-growing occupations through 2014 don’t require a bachelor’s degree. And these jobs, which include health technology, plumbing, firefighting and automotive repair, are less vulnerable to outsourcing. After all, if a fire breaks out, you need the fire department to be a few blocks away, not halfway around the world.”
As I mentioned in the previous posts I wrote about college degrees, regardless of whether or not you get a college degree, you have to be a learner. Success comes from learning. If you don’t have a college degree, but you are a lifelong learner devoted to developing yourself and learning new and relevant skills you will be successful. If you are under the assumption (that I was at an earlier point in my life) that you can get a degree, quit learning and coast through life, you are likely to be disappointed.
The mind of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
Proverbs 18:15
25 top paying jobs that you can get without a degree
Here are 25 of the top-paying jobs that don’t require a four-year degree and their average salaries, based on data from the BLS and CBSalary.com.
1. Air traffic controller: $102,030
2. Funeral director: $79,517
3. Operations manager: $77,839
4. Industrial production manager: $73,000
5. Transportation manager: $72,662
6. Storage and distribution manager: $69,898
7. Computer technical support specialist: $67,689
8. Gaming manager: $64,880
9. First-line supervisor/manager of police and detective: $64,430
10. Nuclear power reactor operator: $64,090
11. Computer specialist: $59,480
12. First-line, non-retail supervisors/manager: $59,300
13. Nuclear technician: $59,200
14. First-line supervisor/manager of fire fighting and prevention worker: $58,920
15. Real estate broker: $58,720
16. Elevator installer and repairer: $58,710
17. Sales representative, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products: $58,580
18. Dental hygienist: $59,790
19. Radiation therapist: $57,700
20. Nuclear medicine technologist: $56,450
21. Power plant distributor and dispatcher: $57,330
22. Fashion designer: $55,840
23. Ship engineer: $54,950
24. Detective and criminal investigator: $53,990
25. Commercial pilot: $53,870
The author then goes on to make a couple more points worth mentioning…
“The thing to keep in mind is that there are something like 50 million jobs out there that don’t require a bachelor’s degree and pay upwards of $40,000 a year,” says Harlow Unger, author of “But What If I Don’t Want to Go to College? A Guide to Success Through Alternative Education.”
He goes on to say that according to the U.S. Department of Labor, by 2010, almost two-thirds of all projected job openings will require only on-the-job training
So while a college degree was de rigueur for the Baby Boom generation, that’s not necessarily the case now. In today’s highly technical and service-related market, workers are judged more on their skills than their sheepskins.”
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Comments on 25 Top paying jobs without a degree »
i may try the funeral job. My current career seems to be at a dead end.
I can kinda see what the author means. But the real question is “will the US education system be good enough to support those jobs that need on the job training?” Education is this country to getting pretty bad and college almost acts like a buffer to make sure they are ready for the real world. If the high schools across this country improve i really can see on the job training besides going to college.
Brian,
good question - it is amazing to me how we as a country are veering from all the things that made it a great one in the first place…
Interesting post. I have to admit that I am surprised to see a few of these jobs on this list, I would have thought some of them required a degree. I do whole heartedly believe, however, that everyone who has the means to go to university, should do so. Regardless of whether you then go on to use that degree in any way, attending university teaches you to think in ways that you might never discover otherwise, and encourages original research and exposes students to so many different schools of thought and differences in opinion. I don’t think you can put a price on that. I also think that if you go straight into a profession without a degree, your options may be restricted later on, if you want to make a career change. Here in the UK, having a degree is certainly still the most desirable thing to see on someone’s CV, and is a prerequiste if you want to work in a non-technical industry.
I like the list but I find “#11. Computer specialist: $59,480″ a little vague. True, but vague nonetheless. I think we’re ALL specialists in some aspect of computer-ization these days!
Interesting list indeed though…
I can back up real estate broker/ estate agent (uk) there is a lot of money to be made if you are good.