Recently, members of the BuzzFeed Community, who have surprisingly high-paying jobs, shared what they do and how much they make. It inspired even more responses from people who are secretly making very good money, so here they are:
1.“I work in the field of quality assurance and food safety. I only have a bachelor’s degree and a REHS license that took me a summer to complete. I make almost $125,000. I work from home most days and it’s so interesting! Easy hours and no weekends.”
2.“Store managers at Target in Southern California can earn $150,000+ base salary (starting) and $25,000 – $50,000 in bonuses.”
3.“I’m a technical account manager for a cybersecurity vendor. No degree, just a few certifications in networking. As everyone in the business world knows, loyalty is the harvest of financial growth and you get your money as soon as it comes in. I started I had $60,000 and five years later $100,000. Now after nine years I’m at $180,000, have unlimited PTO, free company stock, a 401k and all the usual insurance benefits. The work is based on online meetings with clients, so I work from home and it actual work amounts to 20-30 hours per week.”
4.“I am a ramp agent for a major airline. I have a high school diploma. I took the job after being retired for over twenty years, but there are those who are lucky enough to get the job right out of high school. Retirement , 401k , and you get flight benefits that let you and your immediate family fly around the world for free. Plus, you get 24 buddy passes to give to friends per year. The starting salary is low, but goes up every year. Seniors make well at $150,000 per year.”
Azmanjaka/Getty Images” data-src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/V.rwiLWzIj.0eAwwwu2xmw–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MA–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/buzzfeed_articles_778/ 87df3d054013354bb9ed208fdde19c72″/> “There’s a lot of free time. You might only work 50% of the time you’re on shift and the schedule is super flexible. You can drop or pick up shifts without a supervisor’s approval. At my company, I only have to work 50 % of my scheduled hours to keep the job and its benefits, which is about 14.5 per week. Basically, I can work four days a month and keep this job while traveling the world for free.” —fragomenirobert Azmanjaka/Getty Images
5.“I am a 28 year old man with about ten years of experience in retail. I earn €120,000 per year as a store manager. Working hours can vary from 40 to 70 hours (70 if there is a public holiday and you are not. I do not have a full management team ) It’s a challenge and people don’t understand what’s involved, but this is what I signed up for.”
6.“I own and operate my own food truck. I do summer fairs and festivals. This year I will grow to about $275,000 from late April through November. I bring in half of the gross, so I spend the winter lounging and doing light work perform paperwork and repairs and upgrades.”
7.“After 15 years in the customer-facing home improvement retail business, I moved to the supply chain side. No customers, Sunday through Thursday, 5 a.m. to 2 p.m., and most of the day I sit at a computer to my employees. My base is $75,000 plus a bonus twice a year, plus 401k, stock options, vacation pay and huge opportunities for advancement. I can’t beat it!”
8.“I’m a proposal manager and make $100,000 per year plus ~5% bonus. Entry-level jobs in this field cost around $60,000 per year, but after five years in the industry I’m up to six figures! I help my company respond to requests from prospects/ clients, which consists of project management, production work which consists of answering a number of questions and preparing summaries. It’s a fairly simple job (for a certain type of person, it’s not for everyone!) I work remotely from my dreamy mountain town and typically stick to a 40-hour work week.”
9.“I am a nursing instructor at a community college and make over $90,000 a year. I teach two 12-hour days a week, go to the office for student meetings for a few hours each week, and serve as a regular hospital nurse once every three weeks. I grade papers from home about an hour a week. It’s a good work-life balance, and I tend to fly under the radar of the administration because I do most of my teaching off campus, so when I meet bigwigs, they often mistake me for a student, and I rarely see my boss. I like that, and the data the school collects shows that students who have me as an instructor have above-average test scores and give me good reviews.”
“I love my students and I do everything I can to make sure they are well prepared for their first nursing job. I will ride this wave as long as I can! I have always preferred to work independently and keeping my private life completely separate from my work, so this works very well for me.”
-Anonymously
Fatcamera / Getty Images
10.“I make over $120,000 a year as an education director at a nonprofit organization. We host online events, provide resources for students and families, and support public K-12 schools. I don’t work directly with students. And best of all, I get to work from home !”
11.“I work in a prison as a nurse in a psychiatric unit. I don’t really do anything, if not much. $51.00 an hour. I love my job. I’m 68.”
12.“I am the manager of an ambulatory surgery center and I make $135,000 a year.”
13.“I’m an elementary school teacher in suburban California with a master’s degree and ten years of experience. $101,000 a year, plus benefits and retirement. The first few years were tough as I developed lesson plans and learned how to monitor a classroom. But the work became much easier once I figured out what I was doing, and seniority is rewarded.”
14.“Many medical technician jobs pay well. I am a specialty ultrasound technician making $120,000 a year. I only have a college degree.”
15.“I work for USPS in a sorting facility. I have been here for about three years and I make $25 an hour, 40 hours a week typing, zip codes, and bagging mail. We are also unionized, can do pretty much what we if we want, and we can listen to music while we work. By far the easiest job I’ve ever had.”
16.“I work in public relations, specializing in crisis management. When you need me, you REALLY need me. But most of the time you don’t need me at all. So I make six figures a year doing absolutely nothing. Most of the time I’m rushing to to save a lot, at most a few times a year.’
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If you have a surprisingly high-paying job, share what it is and how much you make in the comments. Or fill in this anonymous form.