Are you in a high paying career without a degree? What job title or field do you work in? How did you get started? I currently earn $37,000 a year but aim for at least $48,000. I have over a decade of customer service experience in various roles but feel unsatisfied as an office coordinator at a law firm. Any advice for someone like me, who struggles with math and seeks a more fulfilling career path? #HighPayingJobs #NoDegree #CareerAdvice #CustomerServiceExperts #OfficeCoordinator #CareerGrowth
Either work yourself up in the customer service area towards a service manager if that is something you would like to do or get into office management/location management which is much more than what you described that you currently do.
saving because i only have customer service experience and animal shelter experience. i really don’t want to get an expensive college degree that i won’t use. and NO TRADES. i’m tired of hearing it, thanks.
ux design
Best chance at high paying with no degree is sales. There’s a reason all the trades and well-paying jobs require further education. It’s because you need to build your knowledge and skills to be good at it. Sales is the only thing I can think of where you can just inherently make money without further education beyond basic sales training.
You can get up to $48k with door dash or Uber or drops hipping if you have free time though.
Enterprise architect for now, without degree. Made it from the bottom, first 5 years in desktop support, moved up to tier2 application support => system analyst => technical lead => delivery manager (one product in the beginning, managing 8 teams at the end) => architect => enterprise architect.
On the other side I have about 20yoe in industry (40 years old) and I’m good with people (all my promotions/career jumps in last 10 years were made due to networking).
I make 90k base (not including bonuses and vacation subsidy) as a corporate paralegal. Not sure where you live but you don’t need any formal training/education where I am located. I started at 32K as a legal assistant and have leveled up by applying to jobs I’m unqualified for (you still get a raise even if it’s low) and a different job title. (Lots of companies don’t get any applications or they are desperate and settle for you, I’m sure like myself you’re a hard worker and you will hustle to prove yourself so you’ll be fine)
I suggest searching on LinkedIN to see how other people changed their trajectory as a office manager. That’s an awesome position to be in! Lots of room to grow within a law firm. I suggest working with your current employer for a couple of years then transitioning to a small corporate firm where you can be a receptionist/manager while also handling some corporate/due diligence work. In the mean time if you can get your hands on legal work and communicate wanting to grow with the company you may not even need to move.
I also have a background in customer service. If you’re organized, great with research and managing lawyers and clients you will be perfect for this role!! There’s also litigation and wills/estates, immigration paralegals. Jobs usually entail filling put paperwork or drafting precedents and researching the law. Very easy stuff for great pay!
I just recently learned this about one of my coworkers.
Our company is “union” and “engineering”.
He was union manufacturing, machine operator, machining, shop operations. No degree. Eventually through experience he made the jump to engineering and now he’s a manufacturing engineer without a degree. Which is RARE in my field. He’s gotta be clearing $150k.
Work for the state!
Optical assistant. You can make pretty decent money without any degree. You can go and get licensed as an optician however if you find the right company they will train you how to do it and you can get decent raises due to it
Could you get paralegal certificate? I believe it’s one or two semesters at a community college. Or move in to legal admin work?
Since you have experience in at law firm I think these would be your best bets. Its a fairly stable career since lawyers are always going to exist and they are always going to need help
not me, but my BIL is in scaffolding and he did an apprenticeship without any postsecondary education and now he has a union job earning like 100/hr full time with amazing benefits. he’ll retire at 45.
Risk management, you can get good professional qualifications to help you along, can work your way up from an analyst or tester role.
Post Office. Starting pay is good. Good benifits. Good retirement, union. Good growth opportunity. Down side is that the hrs are hell.
Ask them when the training starts?
I somehow worked my way into a high paying cybersecurity career without a degree. Mostly I did was most do. I got my foot in the door as a entry level IT job, and tried to out perform my peers, while being kind, reliable and consistent. Over time I was able to move into new IT roles, building the skills and knowledge needed. Once I reached a point where I was confident enough to make the transition from IT to Cyber, I took the jump, which was very scary. While I knew technology and had led teams, I had never lead a security team. The first year was crazy as I felt like I was drinking from a firehose, but eventually settled into the role and have gotten a couple more big raises in this field.
I’m learning how to be a casino table games dealer currently. My husband owns a dealer school so he is teaching me (for free of course!) It is FUN. I may be a natural, idk, it may be the way he teaches (probably this). I’m about to double my income when I change jobs from admin to dealer. I’m super excited about it! With no degree, and at my age (55f), this makes perfect sense. I’ve taken good care of myself so I should do well. My husband has the added connection of having an agreement with a local major casino to train all their dealers, so my job prospects are just about guaranteed.
I am a senior relationship banker and I am making 54,900 and this is my first year.
Look into Supply Chain/Procurement
Own my own businesses so I guess that’s not a career actually lol
I work in b2b sales!
Look at Signature Aviation and see if they are in your area and have CSR openings. We work in the luxury market. Our RVPs all started entry level. The entry level positions require hard work, passion for service and the highest levels of professionalism. We train from within and 78% of our leadership positions last year were from within the company. If you are looking for 9-5 it’s not for you.
Get into sales and work on commission. There is no limit on your hourly wage.
Take care of mentally disabled people who can’t care for themselves. It can get hectic at times but I make more than my younger sister and she went to college for four years in the medical field.
Started at the bottom of a large company making $10/hr doing manual labor while in college. They asked me to work full time for good money that could support my now wife and I while she finished school, so I dropped out. Worked my way into a “top 2%” job. Leveraged my experience into an offer at another large company for same(ish) position and more money and fringe benefits (time off, culture). I finished my AA online since I had to take like 2 classes, but I’m not sure I would consider that a degree that applies to my job at all.
Honestly, that it. I wish it were a cooler story. I just tried to be the best at whatever I was doing at the time (the $10/hr job OR the “C suite” job) I never tried to get promoted, they just kept tapping me on the shoulder.
Edit: Sorry never mentioned. I am Currently the equivalent of a VP of Operations. We have weird nomenclature here but that would be the equivalent.
Hey man, I have similar past to you and with your experience I would suggest looking into SaaS companies with positions available as CSM or Account Manager. That’s how I broke the 80k mark.
Hope this helps!
I do the exact same job you do but I make 49K with $1,000 every year.
I’ve only been here a year but hoping I can move up to a senior Admin assistant and make way more.
Zero degreess
my co worker who is also a director of our company never went to college and has a director position and makes north of $160k
Digital Marketing sector
There are a lot of free/minimal cost certifications you can obtain as well to help you stand out.
Get into sales. Seriously. If you’re good at service, sales is well paying, depending on the field.
My sister went from receptionist at a law firm to office manager at a law firm and now is a coordinator for the IT department at a real estate firm in Manhattan. No degree, I think you just have to apply apply apply, but it is hard for her to move up beyond that without a degree.
Make sure your resume exudes confidence and that you phrase your tasks like you’re proud and playing an integral role for your company (which you are)
Security Analyst for a software company. 80k salary with great benefits. No degree, no certs, just some prior experience from an internship last year. I am in pursuit of a degree currently, which hopefully will break me over the 100k mark within the next 2ish years.
Time to abandon retail. 10 years in retail is way the fuck too much.
Wholesale time.
Enlisted military. Took a while, but I’m making 96k a year. You can get up to 60-70 pretty quick if you can test well.
Go get a certification
Crane operator – $25-$30/hr starting
Certified arborist (getting a job as a consultant to a municipality, utility, etc) – $24 ish starting out
Project Management certifications like PMP ~$100k/yr
Journeyman Lineman makes over $100k a year
Apprentice starts low $20/hr and gets OT and per diem
Get the fuck out of the service industry.
Not high paying like some of the others but comfortable…insurance. Carriers don’t really require degrees anymore for claims jobs, they value experience, especially customer service.
Entry level starts at about $50k. Then after 1-2 years, you can apply to the next tier of claims or make lateral moves into different claims departments. The highest non manager role will be close to $100k.
My brother started as a plumber’s apprentice 5 years ago. He busted his ass, studied for the licensing exams and now he owns his own plumbing business that within 9 months of starting it he had seven figure offers from competitors to buy it. He has a GED and is dyslexic so he is as far from having a degree as you can get.
I work in finance, Private Equity to be exact. I got into it by pivoting from similar roles. I did banking for a while and before that did financial analysis.
I make six figures with no high school diploma or college.
I work as a contractor in IT for the government. I have nearly 18 years of experience.
Took many years of underpaid jobs to make me realize I can make more as a government contractor than being an FTE for the same government.
Sure the contract could end at any time. But, I’m making more than enough to live on for a bit if I were to lose my job tomorrow.