Money makes the world go round. It isn't everything but it is important.
So when we work hard we want to be compensated with as much financial gain as possible.
But so many of us seem to be stuck in careers and positions that keep us struggling with earning the most coin.
So that leaves you wondering... what do I have to do to score a job that can net me three figures a year?
Redditor Iamyes_ok wanted to hear from all the people whose jobs put them in a tax bracket a lot of us strive to be in, they asked:
"People who make 100k+ a year, how did you do it?"
Let me get a pen and paper because I need some wisdom on this.
There has got to be a way for a struggling artist to get financial security.
Sign Me Up
"Union Electrician in Northern California. $137k. 40-55 hours a week." ~ Ratchet_72
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Drive
"Uber driver in NYC. 50 hrs driving is tough in city but at least they’re paying good, also it depends what type of car you drive, regular car (UberX) can’t make that much. And WAV cars which is only in NYC and pays 30% more for even UberX trips, if you got Wheelchair rider $15 bonus per trip. In addition there is Uber black, SUV and they make good money also but u need a luxury car." ~ scheduleIT
Hunkering Down
"8 years after college. Security Engineer." ~ prtekonik
"Similar, got a PhD and hunkered down for a few years to gain expertise in a well paying field. Sacrifice your time and social life to gain a valuable skill. And market yourself. You are a commodity. I sacrificed a few years to focus on school, but after that I’ve had a better than normal life."
"In fact, I have tons of time now and a high paying career. I was trying to say invest in yourself. And build a reputation as the best in your field. I can see where that last part might sound too capitalistic. But just have a reputation and skill set to move jobs as you like—and that require skills but branding yourself into someone companies want to hire can add to your flexibility and pay." ~ Regular-Violinist-71
Computer Science
"Electrical engineering undergrad, went back for a computer science Masters because the company I was working for was willing to pay for it. If all you're looking for is to cross the 100k threshold, just do well with an undergrad CS degree. Kids are hitting that straight out of college these days." ~ Mikeavelli
10 Years
"10 years in the Navy, working on electronics/RADAR. Now a DOD contractor. Still no degree, but I'm a little over half-way done." ~ T0BYs_Grundle
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All interesting ideas.
I couldn't be an electrician though.
I'd be burning down city blocks, not a good idea.
Finished Elsewhere...
"I was a journalist for a few years, making 55k at my last job. Then, I quit and did a three month software engineering boot camp. Took 10 months to get a job offer after that, because of the pandemic economy, but that first job in tech paid 100k." ~ mfuechec
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Work Away
"I wrote a buttload at first, but it really boils down to having a set of skills and knowledge that is both in demand and hard for others to obtain. Never stop growing and always find peers at your level and above your level to absorb knowledge, skills, and strategies from. I work in healthcare data, specifically the value-based care reform part of it. There are plenty of analysts I've worked with that are happy to cruise at 60-90k for 10 years because it isn't stressful."
"And there are others who are more ambitious and are hitting 200k+ before 10 years (by becoming leads or managers or principle analysts). Hit 100k after my 4th year and 4th job. Especially if you are young, there is no point in company loyalty if you're letting them gape your anus. Do what's good for you." ~ ST_POST_ACOLYTE
Top 10%
"I don't make $100K by my sister and BIL do."
"Sister: Director of Accounting and Finance at a multi billion dollar company. $160,000."
"BL: Partner at a large firm: $190,000. Once he becomes equity partner since he was promoted young his salary will be $300,000-$1M."
"Both graduated top 10% of their class and received highest honors in their masters." ~ CanadianCrownCorp
Be Competent
"I don’t make six figures but know a lot of people that do and one of the most common things I’ve noticed is when they meet someone that is more successful or more skilled than them they don’t see them as a threat or challenge. Instead of trying to compete and seem better they learn from them and don’t want to be better than they are right now, but want to be better than they are in the future." ~ Pristine-Ad-469
These Low Effort Jobs Have Surprisingly High Salaries | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Have you ever worked one of those jobs that paid you to kinda sit there? If you have, you know the joy that comes with watching the entirety of Breaking Bad ...Privilege
"I’m 28. I could say it’s because of my degree, but really? My degree isn’t remotely worth 6 figures and the reality is because of my parents. Both my parents work in the entertainment/media industry and have for over 30+ years now. When I was applying for jobs out of college."
"My dad said he could simply get me a job (at a large, well known production company) because he’s very close with several people there. And he wasn’t lying. I did still do an interview, but in all reality that was really just a formality. They ended up training me for what I had to do anyway."
"I want to say I’m aware of the privilege I’ve had my entire life. I’m also aware that it isn’t this easy for most people. My parents haven’t always helped me out with EVERYTHING but I would be straight up lying if I didn’t admit that they’ve helped me with most things including where I work." ~ itsniceinpottsfield
"One month on and one month off, year-round. Good money and paid travel. Started out as a deckhand and worked my way up. Mostly on-the-job training and a few classes that I had to pay for along the way. Each class lead a raise in pay. My college degree in Forestry is largely irrelevant." ~ northstar42
Degrees Needed
"PhD in anthropology and moved into the field of UX (user experience, in the tech industry), getting a job as a UX designer (and now researcher) for a software company. I initially started grad school thinking I wanted an academic career, but as I was finishing I realized I needed a break from academia and learned about the booming field of UX."
"Was able to take a human-centered design course in my last possible semester of grad school, which allowed me to get some projects under my belt, learn some new methods and techniques, and pick up the lingo of the field. I went to a tech career fair on campus and got a callback from one of the companies I talked to, and the rest is history."
"Despite the memes about humanities and social sciences degrees being worthless, they're actually becoming quite valuable in the tech and design industries." ~ ThatNeonZebraAgain
Give & Take
"By giving a ton of crap about what I am doing. And taking a lot of crap and dealing with it." ~ blowafuse
"Yeah it is true that hard work and being good at your job is not a guarantee for success by any means, but it certainly helps." ~ redsfan23butnew
Doing Extra
"Overtime lots of overtime. With my high school diploma I’m currently welding on some of the baddest vehicles on the planet." ~ Various_Mind_5467
Bulletproof
"Be right. Take the time to become an expert. Care about your work, and the people you work with. If you become stagnant, leave. Help yourself, and your employer all the time. Become un-fireable." ~ gehuffman
bulletproof machine gun GIF by Warner Archive
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Just did them to do them really?
"Honestly some times it’s just pure luck. A lot of people on here giving the 'worked my butt off, studied hard' etc. and that’s all well and good, but sometimes it’s luck as well and making the right moves. Sure, I have a masters degree but honestly I don’t feel like I worked all that hard on either of them. Just did them to do them really? (Paying for it now though with loans)."
"In the end I just figured out every weird job I had was basically sales at the end of the day. Then I parlayed that I to sales type work. And applied to industry that pay well (pharma, med device) got completely lucky to get into that and just keep working when I’m there. I honestly feel like I’ve gotten lucky along the way and ended up here… that may be a crappy answer to some, but it’s honest." ~ BraveCat45
Bottoms Up
"I can't speak for myself but my fiancé. No college degree but he worked his butt off and slowly moved up. Started at the bottom entry level of his industry and learned everything he could, got promoted, did the same again and again and again and ten years later became a director of operations. Hard work does not always pay off but his did and he is still working his ass off to learn as much as his can." ~ Not_Quite_B
Get Ready
"Be prepared. I'm going to sound like a tight a**, but when I worked a laborer job, I took any course offered. I did my job, didn't complain and was prepared. Every promotion I got, I could outline what I had learned. I worked hard, but had work life balance. But nothing was beneath me. Some jobs were pretty gross, but I did them with a cheerful heart and just kept getting promoted. But I learned money isn't everything. I have enough. Now it's about family and positive experiences." ~ cisco54
I'm Crafted
"Discovered a passion for technology in the late 70s/early 80s. Threw myself into it and kept learning. It's been my craft for almost 40 years and has served me well. I don't do it for money. I do it because I genuinely love building systems and automating processes. The money comes because I love what I do." ~ barrywalker71
Women Roar
"Graduate degree in the sciences. Being a female in a traditionally male industry. Working hard. Tolerating bureaucracy and bullsh**. Not being thin skinned. Knowing which fights to pick. Learning the office politics and using them." ~ Raggmommy
walking stick jungle GIF by Katy Perry
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Say Hello...
"Started as a customer service rep taking phone calls. Figured out how to get top performing and focus on the metrics that leadership thought mattered. Played the corporate game, climbed the ladder. Took about 10 years to make it to a Sr Analyst/Consultant level and have my first $100k year."
"The best part is, I have no student loans and maybe $10k in debt not including my home loan. Not sure how realistic that is anymore since so many entry level positions are being outsourced, but for me hard work and perseverance has paid off." ~ Beholder84
Get It...
"Lots of college and hard work. I didn’t have as much fun as a lot of my friends and put my life on hold about 8-10 years longer than they did (for marriage/kids/house). I also moved to cities where I didn’t know anyone to take the best offers." ~ mtaa4
All plausible ways to gain some pennies.
Let's see what we can accomplish.
Money, money, money... it's a rich man's world.
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Every now and then, though, you hear about an encounter with something that shouldn't be there. Sometimes it's an escaped or released exotic animal; hurricanes have destroyed countless wildlife enclosures and some people don't realize how big that cool pet is really going to get and choose to set it loose.
Sometimes it's a "skunk ape."
Florida's version of a 'bigfoot' sounds a little easier to believe when you factor in the huge number of primate enclosures that have been destroyed over the decades. We have established populations of things like monkeys, pythons, and boars now.
Why not gorillas or orangutans? They're both tall upright hair covered primates that might match the description.
Except skunk ape stories go back way before zoos and the exotic pet industry.
Reddit user cruzer58b asked:
"Those of you that TRULY believe you have seen a cryptid (Bigfoot, jersey devil, etc.) what’s your story?"
South Florida isn't the only place the wild gets weird. OBVIOUSLY.
Look at what these Reddit users have experienced.
The Thing Hunting Orcas
Marine Life Beauty GIF by OceanaGiphy"I was on a ferry for a school softball trip, off Kodiak island AK, 2014. I was 18."
"A whole bunch of us had snuck up to the deck around 11pm to watch the waves and generally be teenagers on a boat without supervision. It was 11pm in May in Alaska so the sun was thinking about setting but it was still bright outside."
"So we’re just doing our thing and we notice a pod of orcas swimming with the ferry’s wake, which is very cool but not, like, unusual."
"If you’re familiar with the dimensions of an orca fin you know they’re about 4-6 ft in height and look like big black spikes coming out of the water. Being Alaskan teenagers, we were very familiar. This is important."
"Orcas travel and hunt in pods of anywhere between 15-40 whales. Apex predators. The beautiful demon murderers of the sea."
"Total a**holes. Top of the food chain."
"So we saw this pod of orcas swimming with the boat, counted around 10- 15, with some babies scattered in there. Very fun to watch for the good 30 minutes to all go by. We tried to get pictures, but it was just dark enough that our shitty 2014 phone cameras weren't much good."
"Another 30 or 40 minutes go by and we’ve all pretty much sobered up and it’s about to finally get dark and we’re cold and sleepy and about ready to go in."
"We haven’t seen an orca for like half an hour, and then one of the girls spots another one and points it out. So we all turn and look at the whale's dorsal fin - but one dorsal fin is immediately followed by another, and another, and another, and then two more, and then two more after that, in two separate rows, and they’re taller, by a LOT, and jagged, like some have whole chunks torn out of them, and they’re all 8-10 feet high."
"And all these fins are attached to ONE creature."
"We can just barely see its back slicing through the water, covered in these rows of spikes, and it just. Keeps. Coming. This thing is like 20 or 30 feet from the ferry, running parallel to it, and we are all transfixed."
"This wasn't a small group - there’s like 9 or 10 of us and no one is saying a word because we’ve all turned to look at a whale and we are all now watching something that is like, horrifically, terrifyingly obviously NOT a whale."
"Someone tries to take a picture but it’s too dark at this point and the only reason we can see this thing is the light cast from ferry portholes, which is a take as old as time when it comes to things that you REALLY f*cking wish you had a picture of."
"But we all stand there completely scared stiff and in awe and we watch this thing just KEEP surfacing for a good 6 or 7 minutes which means that whatever it was was LONG. Like..... 60 or 70 feet long."
"Or longer."
"And covered in enormous spikes. Spikes that looked like they’d won thousands of battles with god knows what."
"It took what felt like an eternity for any of us to say anything after the last of it disappeared back into the strait."
"I mean if you and like ten of your friends had just all seen something that all science had DEFINITELY pointed to not existing, and you had all seen the same exact thing, AND it was very OBVIOUSLY trailing, nay, HUNTING, not one but 15 something APEX F*CKIN PREDATORS, what do you even say to break that silence?"
"That’s the thing that eats me about the whole thing, is it was hunting. It was following them. It was literally hunting about 60 tons of toothy, angry, intelligent apex predator."
"Every once in a while one of us will hit another one of us up and check in, like 'Do remember this? Was I hallucinating? Did we all see the same, insane, worldview-melting, terrifying thing that night?' And the reason I KNOW we did is because none of us talked about it."
"Not during the trip, not after, not to any of our friends because how the f*ck do you even tell someone about something like that?"
"Now we have almost 10 years between us and that night I assume some of them have probably told people, I know I tell people, because I’ve seen a LOT like that in Alaska and I’m That B*tch."
"And also because there’s a very rich history among native Alaskans of a Something that lives and hunts in the waters around Kodiak and it’s important to tell its story because someday it’s gonna eat a little too much plastic and no one will ever watch it hunt a pod of orcas terrified from a boat ever again."
- slobone
The Cutest Cryptid
Arts And Crafts Love GIF by NickelodeonGiphy"One night I was driving home at around 2 AM and this tiny, tiny white creature (probably as tall as a Pringles can, though maybe a bit smaller) walked across the road in front of my car."
"I hadn't thought about this in a while but here's what I can remember: The bottoms of its "legs" ended in what looked like flowy bits or ribbons, and it was almost translucent. I could almost see the road THROUGH the creature."
"It walked at a kind of jaunty pace, just like a person might walk. The best way to describe it is like that super steppy walk that the dwarves sometimes do in Snow White, or Mickey Mouse does sometimes."
"I slowed my car down but was afraid to stop it completely, and the thing disappeared as my car went 'through' it."
"Honestly it was so f*cking cute that I wasn't even scared, but I was shaken up by having seen something like this."
"I couldn't believe what I saw, so I called my then-boyfriend and frantically described the creature. He told me that it sounded like the Fresno Nightcrawler, and when I got home and looked it up, THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE."
"I had never heard about them before. I do not live in California, not even close. I still have no clue what it was."
- Langoustina
The Swimmer
Michael C Hall Night GIF by DexterGiphy"I used to go running and take a break at a train bridge in Iowa city when I went to school there."
"I did a lot of night runs. Sometimes, only after dark, I'd hear something swimming around at that train bridge. Maybe human or deer sized."
"One time, It was late and I heard it again. But this time, I could see something dark on the water. Looked like a profile of a very large head."
"I said 'hello, someone there?' "
"It stopped dead still and looked at me. It was dark but I could tell it was looking right at me. This went on for 30 seconds to a minute. It then went under, and I never saw or heard it again."
"I told myself it was a person swimming. But why not say hi back? Also, where did it go under to?""It was a slow river, I would have heard it surfacing or getting out of the water unless it went over a hundred feet."
"That's the closest thing to a cryptid I've seen and known about."
"Some people are saying beavers and otters. I've seen river otters (but not in the US), it was far too big to be a normal sized one. I've never seen the 6 ft ones, and I don't think they live anywhere near Iowa."
"It was much too big to be a beaver too, I see those all the time, and they're usually denoted by telltale signs such as dams and chewed trees. Also, I've never seen beavers active at night only during the day."
"I think it was probably just a person, maybe a homeless person who wanted to not be bothered by me."
"As I said, that's the closest I've come to seeing a cryptid, I know the original post asked for people that are 100% sure, but it was late at night and it felt appropriate to tell that story."
- orangutanglibrarian
Orangutan/Lemur Hybrid
orangutan GIFGiphy"When I was 14 or so in 2003 I saw what looked like an orangutan/lemur hybrid watching me from the trees."
"When it realized I was looking at it, it took off into the trees and disappeared. This was in Western NC, nothing like that should have been around here."
"For a few years I looked for articles about someone’s escaped exotic pet but never found anything. Eventually just wrote it off."
"Years later I heard a Lore episode about the Pukwudgie and I immediately got chills because the description matched what I saw. I’m still not sure what happened."
"Few months ago I was dumb enough to wander into the same patch of woods. I got nailed by a rock and when I looked up I saw a small outline ducking around like it was watching my reaction. Again, when it recognized I was looking at it, it took off."
"I don’t know what happened but I also don’t really plan on going back."
- kookooforpococuffs
Hopefully A Bear
red dead redemption bear GIFGiphy"About 16 years ago I lived in the rural areas of Kansas, town was about 6 miles from my house."
"At night while I was waiting for sleep I stared out of my window and look out into the darkness. Normally I would see owls, possums, racoons, coyote, etc all just minding their business doing animal stuff."
"And I could always hear them. Loud and clear."
"One night as I am trying to get to bed I watch and listen for the wildlife and on this night there was none to be heard or seen. Being a kid I thought nothing of it."
"Until I saw a HUGE black figure moving on four legs."
"I could swear I had seen a brown bear this thing was THAT massive. Except we lived in midwest Kansas. We have no bears."
"Cows and horses are too tall and not wide enough for what I saw. Plus our neighbors all had cattle so I was familiar with what they look like at night."
"People suggested it could have been one of the massive dogs like a malamute or leonberger or something. Maybe it could have been, but they are still too small for what I saw."
"Never saw it again"
- Staticshivyasuo
"There are bears in Colorado, Arkansas, Missouri, And a bit in Oklahoma. Kansas is in the historic range of black bears as well."
"I don't think it's a stretch that one may have wandered in from a surrounding state."
- sarraceniaflava
"This would relieve years of stress and the itch of the unknown if I could get confirmation that it was, it is how I always make it out in my head. A really big bear."
- Staticshivyasuo
The Big Blue
trailer GIF by Jurassic WorldGiphy"Been deep sea fishing a few times. You NEVER see schools of fish so far out, but once we saw this massive shadow moving FAST. It couldn't have been a whale, they don't move like that. The skipper stared at this mass of blue with me for about 20 seconds before it was gone and swore it was a megalodon. i'm not convinced but I have never seen a school of fish that far out in the ocean ever."
- uncareingbear
"It could be a large species of squid such as Colossal or Giant Squid. They are found world wide. It's odd they would come to the surface, but it's not to weird."
"Other options are Sunfish, Oarfish, or Large Shark."
- kazeespada
"I’m a firm believer there has to be some kind of megalodon or something out there, we just don’t know enough about the ocean"
- cruzer58b
When It Looked At Chandler
scary jack the giant killer GIFGiphy"My friend was at a camp with me and we were in the same cabin, we all stayed up late we got tired and went to sleep."
"My friend, lets call him Chandler, and I stole some instant coffee packets from the kitchen and we had them in water at night. Chandler didn't have a good caffeine tolerance like me so he stayed up a bit after all of us went to sleep."
"I asked him what he was going to do and he said he brought a novel and he was going to read it until he fell asleep."
"It was about 1am and we are all peacefully sleeping and then we hear the biggest scream. Chandler was crying and shaking in his sleeping bag and everyone in our cabin came over to see what was wrong and to help him out."
"He screaming really loud and if that didn't wake up other cabins and the teachers then his loud crying after did. Soon all the teachers were inside out cabin and I had to stay on my bunk bed to not be squashed."
"Chandler told us that he saw a ghost wandering around our cabin. He said he also heard the wind breeze while the ghost was moving. Another guy in my cabin backed him up saying he also heard that."
"Chandler was sent home and everyone continued the camp, however, it felt really weird. I talked to him a lot when we all got home and he told me more details."
"He told me he looked at the ghost for about 3 seconds because he was too shocked to say anything. The ghost was not white look in movies, it was transparent and BARELY visible."
"He told me it looked like a little boy. The little boy was not in our school uniform, but in really old fashioned clothes. Chandler told me he wasn’t too scared of the boy in those 3 seconds but shocked because it was a ghost."
"Then what really screwed him was after those 3 seconds when his brain clicked and he screamed."
"The ghost boy turned and looked at him "with shallow, lifeless eyes" and then rushed out of the cabin. This was the wind sound Chandler and my cabin mate heard."
"Then I remember distinctly what Chandler said because if I was him, I would doubt everything I know. He said 'That ghost looked at me, with no expression, and even though it was only for a split second, it felt like an eternity. I knew it wasn’t just my mind playing tricks when I saw his eyes. There was no soul in them, like it had been sucked away.' "
"I find it really weird because Chandler is the most honest guy I know and he seemed really traumatized."
"I was considering if it was the effect of the coffee, but he had it the night before as well and didn't see and hallucinations. Plus he was a regular drinker and he loved the taste even though it made him stay up."
"This story shakes me to this day."
- DirtyDuckTales
"Not A Deer"
Busch Beer GIF by BuschGiphy"Alright it’s finally my time to shine!"
"The area I live in has a very active deer population. They’re constantly getting hit by cars at night in my area and people constantly have to be on the lookout for these dudes."
"So one night I’m driving home from my friends house around 1am. I’m going pretty slow because the place near my house has a pretty big deer family who loves the area (around 6-7 of them)."
"So I’m driving up a hill going around 30mph and I had to slam on my breaks cause a 'deer' runs in front of my car."
"I don’t know if it was because it was super late at night and I was tired or what. But I sh*t you not, this was not a deer."
"It kind of was, but it had one too many legs and too many eyes. I only saw it for a second cause it ran past my car. But it was the weirdest thing I’d ever seen."
"It was pretty quick when it went by my car, but the 'tail' for sure was a leg, I can say that for certain."
"I even looked it up later and there is a commonly seen cryptid called the “Not a Deer” so that’s just my fun little cryptid story."
- bobcatnat123
Jellyfish In The Air
jellyfish GIF by Monterey Bay AquariumGiphy"Walking through the woods in the southeast US for fun I walked through a field where there were tiny fluorescent jellyfish-like things floating through the air. Maybe half an inch to 2 inches in size."
"I initially thought it was some kind of plant spores or something moving in the wind but when I looked at them closer they were actually moving independently."
"That was about 2006. I spent months going through those woods and that field over and over again with a camera trying to find them but I've never seen them since."
- gettogero
My long-term readers will know I'm super sketched out by orcas and have essentially written off Argentina because their orcas hunt on land.
Alaska clearly needs to get scratched off my list, too.
Anything big enough to hunt orcas is certainly big enough to hunt Ericas and I'm not trying to be on anyone's menu.
Kthankxbye, giant spiky sea thing.
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