14 Jobs That Pay Fat (You Don't Need A College Degree)

Here are 4 uncommon facts in the labor market that have limited so many non college graduates from pursuing a 6-digit career.

18:02 14 September 2020

And nullified the importance of a college degree in securing 6-figure jobs:

⦁ There are lucrative job roles that wouldn’t require formal education beyond your high-school degree

⦁ You can make up to 6 figures from these full-time jobs, more than a college degree holder would

⦁ The societal values of these jobs can be matched to jobs that require college degrees and beyond

⦁ These jobs are high in-demand since they belong to ultra-important sectors

With these facts, you’re in for a high-paying career line if you’re motivated in pursuing -a 6-figure skilled job without a college degree.

Here we have it, the 31 jobs with handsome paychecks you don’t need a college degree to build a career in any of the sectors.

⦁ Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technicians

According to Payscale.com, Aerospace Engineers and Operations technicians earn up to $95,722 annually. That’s double of what a registered elementary school teacher in the US will earn annually.

The main tasks of aerospace engineers and operative technicians cover the most essential part of aircraft operation which includes but not limited to preventing equipment failures, operating aircraft equipment, etc.

As a formal degree isn’t required for an entrant into this career line, what most employers require as a validation of your skills is a diploma offered by vocational or technical schools or an associate’s degree in engineering technology.

⦁ Ship Engineering

If you aspire to work with the crew of a ship in a tasking and high in-demand field, while also growing your finances with a high-rewarding career path, consider obtaining coursework or an associate’s degree to land one of these highly sort-after jobs where you take-home salary would be up to $118,790 according to recruiter.com

Ship engineers are highly sort-after personnel especially in states with seaports or states with high usage of vessels. And with a longer time of gathered experience, there is a higher annual paycheck for people in this career line.

⦁ Power Plant Operators

Power Plant Operators take home a whopping $108,380 as a yearly salary for their roles in power stations. For such a striking paycheque, this career line requires only certifications less than degrees obtained from colleges.

Their day-to-day task involves controlling the systems and equipment that generate power.

What is more glamorous about this career line is the increased vacancy rate since 2004, according to recruiter.com, this grew by 19.73 percent, while the annual growth rate centered around 3.29 percent.

⦁ Service Delivery Analyst

Glassdor is predicting a salary range for this high sort-after career to be within an annual pay of $56,433 - $62,456, and just like other top-paying jobs, to start a career as a service delivery analyst, you need an associate’s degree to get started and if you have existing experience in customer service, technical support or management role, you might have an edge in your career over other candidates.

The warm satisfactory feeling for any aspiring service delivery analyst is that as technical and vital this career is to most businesses, there’s no fundamental need to earn a college degree to get along in this career line.

⦁ Air Traffic Controller

Contrary to popular assumption, this career line doesn’t require you to spend 3-4 years on a college degree, rather, an associate’s degree and gathered experience is what you need to climb the career path.

For an annual paycheque, you’re in for a rewarding $114,757 per year if you’re in this career line (according to careerexplorer), while freshmen in this career path take home an annual salary of $63,756.

The reason for this fat reward for their roles in aviation is backed up by the tasking nature of their jobs, seeing to flights’ safety managing the flow of aircraft in and out of an airport, ensuring lesser delays when guiding pilots during taking off and landing protocols.

⦁ Radiation Therapist

As of 2018, money.usnews pegged the median salary of a radiation therapist at $82,330, with the lowest-earning Radiation Therapist earning an annual pay of $67,490 that same year. Starting a career in this line, an associate’s degree or a 12-month licensing course is enough to get you into the entry-level of these sort-after jobs.

⦁ Website Development

One of the jobs that can guarantee a 6-figure paycheck annually is in the web development industry. As more businesses are moving online, there is a growing need for in-house web design experts to manage and handle tasks relating to web design and development.

According to salary.com, the median salary for web developers could range from a whopping $51,000 to about a $76,000 paycheque annually depending on the level of experience.

This industry is rapidly growing, with predictions of a 15% growth rate before 2026. Particularly, you don’t need any degree to start a career in the web development industry.

Though, years of experience would mean a huge difference in different developer’s paychecks. Simply put, to earn as fat as 6 figures, your experience must cut across years of practical and presentable experience and advanced skills.

⦁ Commercial Pilot

Getting a degree in aviation has way less to input in your career line as a commercial pilot. Though some airlines might require to see proof of your college degree to ascertain your commitment to a course, level of discipline, etc, fundamentally you need only your license to build a career as a commercial pilot.

Commercial pilots’ take-home annual salary is at a far side of $320,000 according to epicflightacademy, however, pilots’ salaries are calculated based on different reasons - routes, aircraft type, years of experience, etc.

According to the US Bureau of Labor, the 2019 median annual salary of pilots averaged a resounding $178,870, with 50% of pilots earning less, and another 50% earning higher than the average.

⦁ Detectives and Criminal Investigators

Clearly for anyone dreaming of getting into criminal investigation as a career path, you certainly need just a high school diploma and a police academy training, where the latter would equip you with the license to practice.

Aside from the satisfying pleasure to work with the law enforcement officers to solve crimes and bring offenders to justice, the motivation to work as a detective and criminal investigator also comes from the fat paycheck tied to their job roles.

According to the BLS, detectives and criminal investigators earn a median annual wage as high as $83,170 factoring their experience, education, role, and industry, with the top 10% of earners making an annual pay of $109,620.

⦁ Nuclear Power Reactor Operator

Just like the Aerospace Engineers and Operations technicians, earning a median annual salary as high as $94,350 wouldn’t require a college degree. The fact is, to start a career in this rare industry, you only need a vocational school certificate or significant work experience with nuclear reactors as most employers pay attention to years of gathered experience and a basic vocational school certificate.

a vocational school certificate or significant work experience with nuclear reactors.

⦁ Real Estate Broker

These are the 2 main reasons why real estate will always be a profitable business.

⦁ Real estate has an increasingly high asset value

⦁ There will always be a need for property

So as such, brokers in real estate would always have heavy compensation from their business with people or the government.

An average real estate broker would only need a high school diploma and certification to delve into the sports of real estate and earn as high as $79,340 annually.

 

As unsteady as their earnings could be, Ben Caballero, a top US real estate broker has seen an awesome rise into the real estate business, amassing $1.569 billion from 3,982 new homes sold in Dallas-Ft in 2019, and $1.384 billion made from 3,496 homes sold in the preceding year.

⦁ Network Support Specialist

So many IT jobs don’t require a college degree and the role of network support specialists is no different from the circle of jobs without the need for a college degree.

According to moneycrashers, an entry role in this career path might require post-secondary coursework in computing and related fields or an associate degree from a vendor-specific certification course.

With the high in-demand nature of these jobs, an average network support specialist earns up to $56,186 annually, and this career path is currently experiencing a rise in demand for specialists.

⦁ Flight Attendant

The aviation industry is one of the most generous industries with high compensation. Flight attendants’ annual salaries average a whopping $76,929, not minding the entrance certification required to start a career in this industry.

Required certifications: High school diploma or its equivalent, and a certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and prior experience in hospitality management.

⦁ Digital Marketing

Top digital marketers who are employed full-time with agencies earn an average of $55,876 to $93,000 annually. (Source: Glassdoor), with freelancers averaging an annual income of $66,206.

Stated by hafizmuhammadali, the majority of marketers (25.9%) who earn $100,000 and above specialize in Conversion Rate Optimization. Content Marketing comes second with 18.5%, and SEO comes third with 16.6%.

With the above statistics, factors that determine how much you earn in digital marketing are spread across your years of experience, areas of specialization, past projects, etc.

For instance, Glassdoor pegged the annual salary of email marketers at $50,000 a year, giving a possible earning rate of $100,000 for top email marketers who offer the best email marketing services in a really competitive industry.

Digital Marketing is one of the most rewarding career paths that require no college degree. Most digital marketing experts launched into this field with only a vendor-specific certification, then years of experiences gathered in the job to boost their relevance.

Key Takeaways

Really. there are no limitations for career conscious individuals without a post-high school degree, but instead, if you find passion in any of these highly rewarding industries and ready to take on vocational courses that will equip you with core needed skills, plus acquired experiences from years of operation to boost your relecancy, then you’re in for a really fat paycheck and handsome compensations.

To get started in any of these industries;

⦁ Pick a job role you have passion for

⦁ Find associate degrees or vocational courseswith relevancy

⦁ Practice and acquire years of in-the-job experiences

With these key steps, you can start and grow your career in any of the listed industries.