10 Unexpectedly High Paying Jobs

Here are 10 Unexpectedly High Paying Jobs.

Are you considering changing careers but feeling intimidated about the licensure and education associated with good-paying jobs?

How big of a GRUNT work does it take to get the gratification of a new job that makes at least six figures?

Well, we did the math on the grunt-to-grate ratio for you — here are ten careers you would not expect to be well-paying, and the details on what it takes to land the position.

Number 10.  
Railroad conductor — Up to $104,000.

Professionalized railroad conductors are still around in the U.S. We didn’t know about this either, but they exist. They even cash in pretty good in some areas.

Its national median salary is just $54,000, but it does go up to $104,000. The grunt here is working your way up in a slow industry and learning on the task without many mentors or companies to choose from. You’re away from home for long periods.

However, the gratis that you get to see the country in an old-timey kind of way. You get to experience like that kid you once were with your first toy train set. Plus! You can avoid the 9 to 5 job and tell corporate America to kiss you – say – caboose. All aboard!

Number 9.  
Crab fisherman — Up to $200,000

Discovery Channel’s reality series The Deadliest Catch popularized the so-called miserable work of capturing crab through scary squalls for five figures per month. Even negotiating the dynamic between the personalities onboard seems dangerous enough to think twice.

However, in recent years, changing safety standards have made fishing for Dungeness crab more doable.

For other types of crab as well as fishes, there is also an after-season. With all said and done, you will still be able to earn $200,000 per year after a few years of experience. The grunt work is all about helping your way up since there is no school for crab fishing.

First, you have to find a crew you can trust and respect to show you the ropes. At this point, you would have to start as a deckhand. You will be away from home, and you’ll leave your loved ones behind to worry. The gratis getting a nontraditional career and a good six figures to roll hard on your few days on land.

Number 8.  
Building inspector — Up to $117,000

It is not super scintillating, but if you’re good with checklists and have a mind for structural engineering, working for a city government to inspect buildings could get you six figures.

The grunt part is that you need to work your way up in the kind of vast bureaucracy. One excellent option is a major U.S. city that is big enough to pay at least $68,000 per year and a maximum of $117,000 per year.

It is also highly specialized. This job could give you no other choice but to give up other career tracks. It also takes a few months of studying for a standardized exam. But the gratis a well-paying position with predictable days and permanent demand for your skills.

Number 7.  
Egg donor — Up to $114,000

Here’s one for the ladies. It can be lucrative. However, it has its dilemmas. It’s not really a job, as in a current role in any company, but an opportunity to do your full-time job if you are really, really determined to get some money.

The grunt includes altering your cycle, feeling like a human petri dish, and the whole ethical issue of creating a human you’ll never meet. But the gratis earning up to $14,000 per cycle. If your body can take it, you could go on back-to-back cycles and take two months off. The pay would sum up to $140,000 in a year.

Number 6.  
Anesthesiologist — Up to $500,000

In their quiet bedside role near the superstar surgeon, these professionals look like some low-level nurses or technicians. They’re actually doctors, and they make bank.

The grunt is a med school like any other doctor. That’s completing a four-year degree, preparing for MCAT to take the standardized exam to get into a satisfactory medical school, going through another four years of medical school, and taking up the four years of residency with a one-year internship and a three-year residency.

Other anesthesiologists do additional residencies beyond those 12 years mandatory, and then they are needed to study and pass the board exam to become certified. Such certification is a valuable credential to earn the trust involved in making someone safely through major surgery and recovery.

The gratis that you make more than a psychiatrist, general practitioner, family doctor, or pediatrician does. Anesthesiologists take home an average of $294,811. That number is a typical average. When you practice in larger cities, their annual salary ranges from $400 to $500 thousand.

Number 5.  
Write for the federal government — Up to $123,234

You don’t have to worry about doing any foreign policy analysis or speech writing when you’re a writer-editor for the State Department. Instead, you need to analyze communication documents and other systemic functions of the department. This job grosses you from $95,000 to $123,000 per year.

If you prefer to do something similar for the Department of Energy, you could start recommending standards for the documentation of audits and other reports. In this field, a person could start as low as $79,000, but also reach up to $123,000.

The grunt is getting your way up in a dull bureaucracy and memorizing templates. You need to familiarize yourself with a few standards and learn to speak bureaucratese. The gratis the money, government benefits, and security.

Number 4.  
Longshoreman — Up to $200,000

Of course, this career of loading and unloading ship cargo at large ports is available only if you are near a big port like Houston, Los Angeles-Long Beach, or New York. Aside from that, it’s available if you are willing to move.

But, of course, you might be willing for the money. The best thing about it is that there is no education requirement. The job requires experience. Longshoremen in the West Coast earn at an average of $98,000 based on shippingwatch.com. However, with overtime and union power to play on negotiations, that salary increases to about $100,000.

In 2015, the LA Times analysis showed over half of longshoremen made over $100,000. In the meanwhile, managers, and forepersons top $200,000. Some bosses get $300,000, and they all get free healthcare.

A longshoreman from New York makes at least $124,000 but with another round of negotiations. The grunt is working your way up that comes along intense physical labor with never-ending piles of cargo waiting to be moved. The gratis the cash, health care benefits, and holding one of the few positions that globalization actually needs.

Number 3.  
Mine operator – underground — Up to $165,000

It is not for you if you’re scared of tight spaces. It is not glamorous, especially when it’s about literally digging around in the dirt. There’s also this coal miner image in the pop culture lexicon of being, well, the lower class.

Sure, you can laugh your way to the bank. If you’re willing to work underground, you can earn from $150,000 to $165,000.

The grunt is being an expert in the trade on the job. Let us not mention the danger, the dirt, and taking such a specific career track. Once this all your focus, it doesn’t really prepare you for much else. But the gratis the significant earnings.

While automation continues to improve mining, you are not being replaced by a robot just yet. This means you will be in demand for quite some time.

Number 2.  
City employees (in affluent towns) — Up to $142,903

Anyone can actually make more than $143,000 without any education requirements in some cities such as Santa Monica. But we picked the silliest careers in that particular city that pays six figures farmers market managers.

In fact, 105 Santa Monica workers got over $300,000 in 2016, to the horror of watchdog blog, Transparent California.

Because of the city’s global caché and resulting steady stream of tourists, it produced high occupancy taxes. This refers to the city’s share of hotel bills, including filling city coffers, parking taxes, and boosting salaries for every job.

The grunt is a dull bureaucratic job. We imagine your nagging conscience if you happen to be the Assistant City Librarian yet still bringing home $220,558 a year or occupying another overpaid post.

The gratis, well, you are overpaid. You’re in sunny Santa Monica or another vibrant city in the U.S. who’s living large.

Number 1.  
Firefighter — Up to $121,104 as a beginner firefighter

Mmm, running into burning buildings and keeping up a fitness level to charge flights of stairs regularly. Would you say you’d rather not consider it?

Think again. Being a firefighter has its advantages. Salaries vary by city and position. However, in major cities like LA and New YorkLA, you are sure to see those six figures.

You will make at least $121,000 from Day One in Los Angeles, but it’s a bit different in New York. You would have to work for five years to get to $110,000 as a low-level firefighter. From there, you can get promoted on your way to Chief and earn more at each level. That is $300,000 in some fire departments.

The grunt is you’re working in fire and putting yourself in danger. Another is worrying about your coworkers and dealing with deeply distressed people who are watching their homes and offices burning. Plus! You’re a paramedic, which means you have to see injuries from violence and witness other human losses.

The good thing about it is that you work days at a time and then have a lot of time free. With that, you can travel and buy toys with the six figures you’re earning. It also comes along with reliable job security. On the more charitable side, you can contribute to your community and genuinely help people every time you work.

That’s the entire list. So, which of these amazingly high-paying jobs took you by surprise? Do you think you would consider working any of these jobs?