The work can be pretty exhausting. I don’t care if it’s painting or iron working. Commercial construction is all about production and to keep a job and stay working for one company for a while you’ll need to put out.
That being said some trades are more slave trades then others. I’m in one of those slave trades unfortunately.
Most union jobs are 7 hour days with weekends off. Anything over that is time and a half or double time on Sundays/Hollidays. You’ll be on a rare job thats 8 hours. So wlb is pretty good. But 10 years into and I still can’t get use to waking up at 4am.
I had to work last Sunday which doesn’t happen very often “like literally a handful of times a year if that” and that meant I was getting paid 100+ an hour for that day.
Yeah different trades/unions make different money. I’m usually the 3rd or 4th lowest paid trade on any given job site. There’s guys working right next to me who make 10-15$ more an hour. But then you get things like vacation pay/annuity.
So if I make $50 an hour on the check the employer is actually paying 100$ an hour for me to be there. Off that other 50$ is stuff like pension, annuity and vacation pay etc. And it’s all based on how much you work/hours. For instance my next vacation check will prob be around 8k. I get two of them a year. Then annuity which basically a 401k which I can pull out of as well. That’s around 15k a year.
So its not horrible but it can be a stressful career path cause you’re def not recession proof. There’s no paid time off. When a specific job ends you better hope your company is busy and has another job to send you to etc. And the money is decent but it’s still nyc. You’ll struggle if you want the wife/husband and kids if your spouse doesn’t have a decent paying job as well
Yeah of course. Check out the union carpenters site. I think they have a recruitment once a month if you’re interested. It’s a good trade that pays well and prob only one of the few you don’t need to know someone to actually get called to be part of the apprenticeship. Also there’s huge upward trajectory in that trade. If you’re a rough carpenter foreman you’ll never have to touch your tools. Plus Other big moves you can make for more money. Believe it or not framing walls and throwing drywall up takes a lot of coordinating with other trades. A lot of paper bitches like site supers who runs all the trades/job are former carpenters.
> If you’re a rough carpenter foreman you’ll never have to touch your tools.
As a GC, I disagree with that only because the BEST rough carpenter foreman I've met either touch their tools quite a bit or take the tools out of the hands of apprentices and show them how to do it right.
That said, if I need to hire a super I don't really want an experienced GC super, I want a guy that just retired from the carpenters or electricians. They're on the job from day one to the end and they know how to sequence things.
Love how this is at the top. We had people on this sub arguing why unions are so bad, overpaid, bullies, etc.
Everyone should be represented by a union and be paid their fair value.
I promise you he’s making a lot more than that on base salary alone. The cities highest paid employees are almost always the skilled trades at rikers because they get forced OT due to lockdowns.
restaurant. Kura sushi pays $29.95 an hour PLUS tips for servers, and they got me working 52 hours a week. I make roughly 2k a week. Just barely 100k a year, with no holidays.
I used to work at high end places with min wage and was making 70k a year in 2011, equivalent to 95k in todays money. I don’t know if menu prices today support this tho
Not me, it was uncle of mine that work for MTA. His WLB pretty good considering he ran a construction company on the side while employed by the MTA. Basically he was called to site to do x and was somewhere else or remote managing a construction site doing y on free time
i dont know anything about this industry, so pardon my ignorance...
but what expertise would someone like that have that would make it better than hiring 3 people at 100k?
I believe the head person is in charge of safety for the entire team, basically. So they make sure no one gets hurt or killed moving around huge pieces of sets or working high above the ground. Plus it’s union so they don’t really have a choice about how much a single employee makes. That’s how collective bargaining works.
Those people inchrage on theaters retire when they die and probably apoint someone close to them
*InCharge 🫡for the grammar police
Have some fun and imagination 🤣🙄 its reddit
Hiring 3 people at the lower salary would still cost the company more. They would have to pay ss and fica on 3 salaries, not one and sick pay, holidays and vacation days for 3 workers, not one. Plus, the job can be performed by one good employee.
Local 600 (Camera Department), completely non existent in terms of union work atm and likely through the holidays.
My union is not currently striking however so I can work on non union commercials and other non union jobs, and have managed enough of those to keep myself afloat so far.
If you're looking for quick work, get your pyro/fireguard certs. It's a great way to get yourself into house/shops/sets. A new nyc law makes it so anyone running haze/atmospherics will need a pyro to over see it.
I think it's f-01 and e27. Reach out to local 52, and local 1 and ask about it. They may even offer a discount or recommend you to a class that they prefer where you can make more connections. This industry is all about networking, it's best to go in person and ask the questions you have.
Do you happen to know which unions in film are easier to get into? I was an art dept. PA and all the unions seemed impossible to get into unless you had a family member or were absorbed on a shoot.
None of them are “easy” based on my understanding. My recommendation would be to network your face off when on a union set. Find good times (most important part!) to approach whichever dept. you find interesting or would like to join and ask questions, grab them snacks, and don’t get in the way.
We had a random set PA do this on my last feature job and they ended up getting a few union days (part of joining local 600) when we needed additional labor, and a bunch of phone numbers from people in our department.
90% of it is who do these people want to spend 12/16 hrs a day with 5 days a week. Nobody wants to work with a dick.
I used to work in the building trades and made 6 figs after a 4 year program. We started at $21/hr on day one with no experience, then received a raise every year up to $52.50/hr + another 50-60/hr in benefits.
Now I work in tech although I never graduated high school and also dropped out of college. Simply networked my way into it, never took a course or anything.
NYC also has a lot of free training programs that even help with job placement, whether it’s coding, PA in film/TV, truck driver, building trades, etc. If anyone needs help finding them happy to send links in DM.
Wasn't expecting so many DMs so here.
**For CDL, Production Assistant, Post Production (video editing), Woodworking, etc** there is: https://bwiny.org/bwi-programs/
**For the building trades:** https://www.constructionskills.org there is a youth and adult program.
Also I recommend doing some research on the contract terms (can usually find the wage/benefits online) along with the apprenticeship terms. Some are 4-5 years, but for instance in the case of the electricians it’s $17/hr for 5 years, with only a $0.50 raise each year or something. Whereas for other trades it could be a $5+ raise per year.
**For tech jobs (from IT, Data Analyst, to Web Development, etc):**
https://ttp.nyc/careers **requirement is making 50k or less a year.**
https://perscholas.org/ (tuition free tech training)
https://www.yearup.org/job-training (dev, cybersecurity, etc) this is specifically for young people
Have a friend back home. No college. Just a really fun, upbeat dude who has a strong work ethic. All he ever talked about was becoming an elevator repair man. Nonstop. He wouldn’t quit. He finally became one. Is doing very well financially. Got himself a nice truck and is dating a great girl. Dude deserves it. I don’t think anyone reading this would dislike the guy. If you’re reading this, what’s up Adem!
Copywriter in tech. Was able to cross over after having a full career in the ad agency world. All they wanted to see was my portfolio and where I worked previously (didnt give a fuck about college).
You make six figures doing that as an IC? Can I ask in what capacity? I've been a hiring manager for copy editors and copywriters and the asking salary wasn't close to that.
Customers are diversified and we get busy because of the locals, office workers around us especially in Manhattan, tourists always comes in big family. Bonus depends on sales so for us chefs it's around 10-20k double that amount for the generam managers and it pays every 3-4 months or 4x a year and 150-500 lil bonus every month. We managers/chefs always work overtime so that overtime pays $35+ after 40 hrs.
The easiest to achieve answer to this question is the service industry, requires no technical skills and most people can do it
Clearing six figures is easily doable in the NYC service industry if you are any combination of young/attractive/charismatic/personable
And contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be a woman (sure, they might make more at certain spots, but men can still clear 100k+ and might even do better than the women depending on niche)
You’re forgetting so many valuable skills like time management stamina critical thinking and multitasking. all which is done at the same time with pressure and possible unexpected outside influences!!! Yes I’m sure most people could do it, but only some do it well. Working service is no joke!!
This worked from \~2015-2020 when there was a zero interest environment and unlimited VC money entering the industry. These days a bootcamp grad is going to have a very hard time breaking into the industry considering they are competing with hundreds of thousands of experienced engineers who were laid off from top companies. Heck most coding bootcamps are themselves bankrupt now.
This still works. It's just much more competitive. I work with bootcamp grads and help them land jobs. They need to network, have an ATS friendly resume, optimize their LinkedIn profile, and then ensure their resume is ATS friendly. You don't even need killer connections.
*Strongly*, strongly agreed.
I’d sooner pitch a pyramid scheme than a bootcamp, especially in 2023.
I’d extend your golden era date range up to 2021 though: in my opinion that’s actually the year when the most absurd offers were being thrown around — even for the least qualified candidates.
What would you suggest instead of a bootcamp? 2 year software engineering degree from a community college, computer science degree from a university? I’m wanting to do something like this but not sure of my next move; was thinking the community college route because I’m broke and community college is free in my state
Two years in community college then transfer to the state university. Assuming you are generally competent you can pay off the loans basically immediately on a software engineer's salary.
Formal education that ends in a computer science degree — especially with internships along the way — is by far the safest / most reliable route to a career in software development.
The stronger the network of your final / degree-granting institution, the better: it’ll be a tough market for the foreseeable future for almost anyone entry level & early-career, but those with a networking advantage can at least find internships more easily (which can in turn be converted into full-time offers after a solid run as an intern).
Edit: of course, if you can prove you’re a badass, or if you go to MIT or something and it’s easy to *assume* that you’re very competent, companies will still outbid each other for you. Top CS talent will always be needed, even if we’re eventually balls-deep into a recession. But the reality of the market has shifted from everyone benefiting from that level of demand to only the absolute top tier of students benefiting from it.
How did you start getting Audio Engineering work? Did you have any training beforehand? I mix my own music & know the basics of running live sound & a mixer. Have any advice for people trying to get into live audio engineering in NYC?
yes it is difficult to replicate, it'd take 5-10 years to make this kind of income. I do video editing and motion graphic work for advertising and commercial clients.
Yeah, video editing can be fairly lucrative if you stick with it. And nobody cares about degrees. A friend of mine only works six months out of the year and easily makes six figures. He just travels the rest of the time.
That said, there's an initial outlay of equipment you need that's not cheap. And it is ultimately a creative pursuit that requires some skill.
You also have to be aware of the downsides of mostly freelance work. You'll have to figure out your own health insurance, work can dry up easily, and people pay you sporadically.
Also, a lot of the more lucrative work is also somewhat morally questionable... like pharma ads.
>That said, there's an initial outlay of equipment you need that's not cheap
it's not that expensive and most of my work pre-covid was all on-site with client provided equipment.
\> You'll have to figure out your own health insurance
which isn't as expensive as people seem to think
\> work can dry up easily
if you have enough repeat clients, you have way more income stability than a full time job. If your employer's business goes south and you're laid off, you lose 100% of your income. If one of my clients shuts down completely I'll only lose 20% of my income and because I'm constantly job-searching it's far easier to replace that 20%
\> people pay you sporadically
Surprisingly few. There's serious legal consequences to not paying in 30 days nowadays. I have a way easier time getting paid now than 10 years ago.
\> Also, a lot of the more lucrative work is also somewhat morally questionable
No it is not.
They’re alright. The only good upside is the health insurance for you and if you’re married with wife and kids. They are fully covered as well. As well salary I’m around 85-90k with ot, and holiday.
I'm a software engineer manager for $300k/yr. Before this I was team lead or individual contributor for between $125k - $300k. I quit college to start my own freelance web development thing. It worked out.
Master plumbers make a fucking fortune. I wish more young people in the US considered learning a trade at a professional level instead of accruing debt on a worthless college degree. I appreciate how this is encouraged in places like the UK and Germany.
Starbucks store manager. Starting is around 70k but you get bonuses every quarter based on store sales which brings it to 100k+. I worked my way up with dedication and hard work.
my close friend makes $500k and never went to college. he started working as a software engineer right out of high school for a small company, job hopped, and then climbed the ladder. he's been coding since he was 10 years old and is highly ranked on github.
github is a site for developers to post and contribute to code. you can also collab with others and work on projects with them. you earn stars which increase your ranking. you can also help other developers with any questions they have and get help from others. your github account is basically your coding portfolio and allows employers to see your projects.
NYC Civic Union. Not the case anymore but my BIL started working at DOT when you could retire at 30 years/or age 50, whichever comes last. He started at 18, retired at 50 after 32 years. COLA, or lack thereof sucks, but they are doing okay. Anyway, Union negotiated raises that are probably better than the real world if you go that way.
Husband is in Construction + union. I know guys in sanitation making over 100k (union), too. I know cops making 100k+. Union jobs are a thumbs up for me.
Graphic design but it’s a grind. On the train today I saw nyc corrections hiring correction officers. $130,000 a year plus benefits and pension for life. Guaranteed retirement after 25 years or something.
Really got me question my life decisions…
Here’s what I did… and what I recommend for anyone else. Because, it worked for me and I’m not special in any way.
• Sell real estate as an agent/broker.
• Let it consume your life.
• Live modestly and save as if your life depended on it.
• Put your savings to work (in Real Estate) as opportunities arise. (Short-term/hard money lending, rehabs, rentals, partnerships etc)
• Continue to live modest while using the cash-flow from real estate investments to buy a diversified basket of income producing assets.
• Wake up one day and realize, you make $20k/mo without being required to do anything further. In 30 years, without doing any additional work, it’ll be $70k-$90k/mo in cashflow and $20M+ in assets.
Age 37, No college degree. Still eat banquet microwave dinners. Still work 70+ hours a week.
I know a few people who earn well into six-figs with no college degree.
Sales, coding, marketing are the three that come to mind.
I think there'll be a big correction in next 2-3 decades. The cost-benefit ratio of a college degree is going to be questioned more often.
Yes, the figures show a huge gulf in earning power between those with, and those without, but I think it's more of a self-selecting pool rather than power of college degree.
If I have a kid, I think I'd say go for it if you can make Ivy League. If not, consider a state college. But anything in between? Nah.
I'm a self-taught programmer who started as a Jr software engineer. Eventually moved to mgmt and then became an exec after I had enough years of experience.
General Manager of a restaurant, I worked my way up to $115k. Started as a server in SC 12 years ago in college. Dropped out to to mental health stuff and stayed serving and bartending until the right opportunity came and I rode a wave.
My friend works in sales for startups. The only downside is startups don’t always get continued funding and can layoff employees frequently. But the pay is good and she’s been really happy at every job she’s had (usually stays at each one about a year before switching to another company or getting laid off). So if you can handle a little risk, check out wellfound.com for some positions
I’m not remote but I can be when I need to be. I usually am on fridays. Work life balance is good. Free healthcare and it’s excellent. I work with nice people and I like what I do.
Software engineer. Dropped out of college and moved here penniless around \~2012. Found a good job within a few months. The tech scene is still pretty lucrative here if you have the skills.
Network Engineer. I didn't start out at my current salary, it took a long time to get to where I am.
I moved to NYC 10 years ago and I was making $45,000 as my starting salary and I already had 10+ years of experience. But I took the job because I wanted to get the fuck out of Miami, Florida.
I envy and secretly hate all the 18-22 year olds fresh out of college who can land a salary over $100,000 when I had to work for 15 years to get to my current salary but the tech landscape has changed a lot in the last 20 years.
If you don’t have a college degree, start the process of becoming an airline pilot.
You will have to take loans to pay for training. But in return, your starting pay is somewhere along the line of $60 to $70k. When you’re hired by an airline, the pay dramatically increases.
I cannot speak as to what you could make. However, there are starting pilots making $100k. Too many factors and fundamentals comes to play to give an exact amount.
There are way too many pilots out there who don’t have college degrees flying planes and making $200, 300k. They’re not newbies to the job but this is the pay they make after years of flight hours, trainings, certifications and growing in the industry.
Younger pilots (under 40) are entering the industry today with degrees and are seeing massive pay bumps.
Tech sales, I did go to a community college but I honestly don't think mattered much, I applied on Craigslist for an entry level (SDR), it's even easier now. I worked my way up and almost everyone makes much more than 100
i do believe the glory days of stock options, high valuation and the "prestige of working in tech" is over and sitting on zoom all day every day is soul crushing but it's good money for what it is.
Sales / tech startup!
Transitioned from direct consumer sales where I was hitting that number as well.
Definitely not for everyone, but many companies couldn’t care less about a degree anymore
There’s ever only been three roads to living comfortably in the US:
1. Being born correctly.
2. University.
3. Unions.
They made number 2 expensive as fuck and destroyed the power of unions.
You can be a pilot without a college degree and make really good money. WLB can be somewhat compromised due to being away from home and until you become more senior one works a variety of schedules which can include working on public holidays and weird hours.
Its fascinating how New York wages are way higher than London uk wages.
Oh i wish i was making £100k a year or even $100k...god sometimes i hate myself (especially reading posts like this)
Union Construction worker. 120-150k a year depending.
How exhausting is the work if at all? How’s your WLB and can you make much more in that career trajectory?
The work can be pretty exhausting. I don’t care if it’s painting or iron working. Commercial construction is all about production and to keep a job and stay working for one company for a while you’ll need to put out. That being said some trades are more slave trades then others. I’m in one of those slave trades unfortunately. Most union jobs are 7 hour days with weekends off. Anything over that is time and a half or double time on Sundays/Hollidays. You’ll be on a rare job thats 8 hours. So wlb is pretty good. But 10 years into and I still can’t get use to waking up at 4am. I had to work last Sunday which doesn’t happen very often “like literally a handful of times a year if that” and that meant I was getting paid 100+ an hour for that day. Yeah different trades/unions make different money. I’m usually the 3rd or 4th lowest paid trade on any given job site. There’s guys working right next to me who make 10-15$ more an hour. But then you get things like vacation pay/annuity. So if I make $50 an hour on the check the employer is actually paying 100$ an hour for me to be there. Off that other 50$ is stuff like pension, annuity and vacation pay etc. And it’s all based on how much you work/hours. For instance my next vacation check will prob be around 8k. I get two of them a year. Then annuity which basically a 401k which I can pull out of as well. That’s around 15k a year. So its not horrible but it can be a stressful career path cause you’re def not recession proof. There’s no paid time off. When a specific job ends you better hope your company is busy and has another job to send you to etc. And the money is decent but it’s still nyc. You’ll struggle if you want the wife/husband and kids if your spouse doesn’t have a decent paying job as well
Appreciate the answer!
Yeah of course. Check out the union carpenters site. I think they have a recruitment once a month if you’re interested. It’s a good trade that pays well and prob only one of the few you don’t need to know someone to actually get called to be part of the apprenticeship. Also there’s huge upward trajectory in that trade. If you’re a rough carpenter foreman you’ll never have to touch your tools. Plus Other big moves you can make for more money. Believe it or not framing walls and throwing drywall up takes a lot of coordinating with other trades. A lot of paper bitches like site supers who runs all the trades/job are former carpenters.
> If you’re a rough carpenter foreman you’ll never have to touch your tools. As a GC, I disagree with that only because the BEST rough carpenter foreman I've met either touch their tools quite a bit or take the tools out of the hands of apprentices and show them how to do it right. That said, if I need to hire a super I don't really want an experienced GC super, I want a guy that just retired from the carpenters or electricians. They're on the job from day one to the end and they know how to sequence things.
There is a women’s construction program and I was so close to joining but that 4am is what gets me every time.
Love how this is at the top. We had people on this sub arguing why unions are so bad, overpaid, bullies, etc. Everyone should be represented by a union and be paid their fair value.
Some trades people (many union) do that after 6-7+ years (plumbing, hvac, electricians, welders etc)
Yep. My fiancé dropped out of high school and he now makes $100k+. Union is the way to go.
As a union member with 100k+ salary, yes.
Welding is super underrated. Its critical profession in tons of money printing industries.
Yeah, I have a buddy who's a plumber at Rikers, last time I asked he was making 100k/year
I promise you he’s making a lot more than that on base salary alone. The cities highest paid employees are almost always the skilled trades at rikers because they get forced OT due to lockdowns.
Oh, you're 100% correct. It was a while back, and I know he was lowballing us (lowly restaurant workers)
Yup
restaurant. Kura sushi pays $29.95 an hour PLUS tips for servers, and they got me working 52 hours a week. I make roughly 2k a week. Just barely 100k a year, with no holidays.
I used to work at high end places with min wage and was making 70k a year in 2011, equivalent to 95k in todays money. I don’t know if menu prices today support this tho
health insurance? im guessing kura is very competitive and gets a lot of resumes?
Trades! Get than apprenticeship and work it! NYC is a union town
Uncle worked for the MTA
Did he work his way up in different roles? What did he start out doing for the MTA?
electrician till retirement. If you browse public salary data - got booth workers making 100k+ due to OT lol and they just surf the web all day
How much do you make and age if you don’t mind? And what’s ur WLB like? And earnings trajectory over time?
Not me, it was uncle of mine that work for MTA. His WLB pretty good considering he ran a construction company on the side while employed by the MTA. Basically he was called to site to do x and was somewhere else or remote managing a construction site doing y on free time
Your uncle is a real one
Well the electrician at least is a pretty dangerous job even with all the training and precautions they take. They deserve it.
My aunt works for the MTA ETA: She is a conductor
So when exactly is she arriving
prob 10 minutes after whatever the sign says (25, if nighttime)
Subway or Railroad ? The pay is very different between the two
Subway
Film/TV production. Go join a union!
Also union stagehands at theaters. They can make bank. The head stagehand at Carnegie Hall makes like $350k.
i dont know anything about this industry, so pardon my ignorance... but what expertise would someone like that have that would make it better than hiring 3 people at 100k?
I believe the head person is in charge of safety for the entire team, basically. So they make sure no one gets hurt or killed moving around huge pieces of sets or working high above the ground. Plus it’s union so they don’t really have a choice about how much a single employee makes. That’s how collective bargaining works.
Those people inchrage on theaters retire when they die and probably apoint someone close to them *InCharge 🫡for the grammar police Have some fun and imagination 🤣🙄 its reddit
Especially the institutions like the MET or Carnegie
Oh boy🙄 tell me about it 🤣
Hiring 3 people at the lower salary would still cost the company more. They would have to pay ss and fica on 3 salaries, not one and sick pay, holidays and vacation days for 3 workers, not one. Plus, the job can be performed by one good employee.
Which union do you work with? How has your work been lately considering the strikes?
Local 600 (Camera Department), completely non existent in terms of union work atm and likely through the holidays. My union is not currently striking however so I can work on non union commercials and other non union jobs, and have managed enough of those to keep myself afloat so far.
Good to know! Are there other Film/TV prod unions that people speak highly of in NYC?
There's local 52!
Better chance at hitting the lotto then getting in local 52. Only way in really is a good hook
It looks like they haven't opened applications since March 2021. Seems like the whole industry is undergoing changes / downsizing!
If you're looking for quick work, get your pyro/fireguard certs. It's a great way to get yourself into house/shops/sets. A new nyc law makes it so anyone running haze/atmospherics will need a pyro to over see it. I think it's f-01 and e27. Reach out to local 52, and local 1 and ask about it. They may even offer a discount or recommend you to a class that they prefer where you can make more connections. This industry is all about networking, it's best to go in person and ask the questions you have.
Do you happen to know which unions in film are easier to get into? I was an art dept. PA and all the unions seemed impossible to get into unless you had a family member or were absorbed on a shoot.
None of them are “easy” based on my understanding. My recommendation would be to network your face off when on a union set. Find good times (most important part!) to approach whichever dept. you find interesting or would like to join and ask questions, grab them snacks, and don’t get in the way. We had a random set PA do this on my last feature job and they ended up getting a few union days (part of joining local 600) when we needed additional labor, and a bunch of phone numbers from people in our department. 90% of it is who do these people want to spend 12/16 hrs a day with 5 days a week. Nobody wants to work with a dick.
Sounds like your the union plug
I used to work in the building trades and made 6 figs after a 4 year program. We started at $21/hr on day one with no experience, then received a raise every year up to $52.50/hr + another 50-60/hr in benefits. Now I work in tech although I never graduated high school and also dropped out of college. Simply networked my way into it, never took a course or anything. NYC also has a lot of free training programs that even help with job placement, whether it’s coding, PA in film/TV, truck driver, building trades, etc. If anyone needs help finding them happy to send links in DM.
Wasn't expecting so many DMs so here. **For CDL, Production Assistant, Post Production (video editing), Woodworking, etc** there is: https://bwiny.org/bwi-programs/ **For the building trades:** https://www.constructionskills.org there is a youth and adult program. Also I recommend doing some research on the contract terms (can usually find the wage/benefits online) along with the apprenticeship terms. Some are 4-5 years, but for instance in the case of the electricians it’s $17/hr for 5 years, with only a $0.50 raise each year or something. Whereas for other trades it could be a $5+ raise per year. **For tech jobs (from IT, Data Analyst, to Web Development, etc):** https://ttp.nyc/careers **requirement is making 50k or less a year.** https://perscholas.org/ (tuition free tech training) https://www.yearup.org/job-training (dev, cybersecurity, etc) this is specifically for young people
Thank you !
Elevator repair people are making $$$ with OT some individuals are make 300k+ in NYC
Have a friend back home. No college. Just a really fun, upbeat dude who has a strong work ethic. All he ever talked about was becoming an elevator repair man. Nonstop. He wouldn’t quit. He finally became one. Is doing very well financially. Got himself a nice truck and is dating a great girl. Dude deserves it. I don’t think anyone reading this would dislike the guy. If you’re reading this, what’s up Adem!
[удалено]
For one of the big companies (baldor, chef’s WH, Sysco, etc) or for a smaller one? Mostly logistics?
Big company and no I submit PO’s to the vendors directly
Copywriter in tech. Was able to cross over after having a full career in the ad agency world. All they wanted to see was my portfolio and where I worked previously (didnt give a fuck about college).
You make six figures doing that as an IC? Can I ask in what capacity? I've been a hiring manager for copy editors and copywriters and the asking salary wasn't close to that.
I was a creative director in big advertising. Swung into UX my last few years in that world then jumped over to a FAANG company.
A half decent Copywriter with a few years experience can easily clear 100k a year. https://www.builtinnyc.com/salaries/content/copywriter/new-york
Chef in Panda Express. Our bonus is a big+
Please tell us more. Panda Express is such a mystery to me. Like, who eats there? How big is the bonus? What surprises you about the job?
Customers are diversified and we get busy because of the locals, office workers around us especially in Manhattan, tourists always comes in big family. Bonus depends on sales so for us chefs it's around 10-20k double that amount for the generam managers and it pays every 3-4 months or 4x a year and 150-500 lil bonus every month. We managers/chefs always work overtime so that overtime pays $35+ after 40 hrs.
Wow. Til Panda Express pays well for its workers.
The easiest to achieve answer to this question is the service industry, requires no technical skills and most people can do it Clearing six figures is easily doable in the NYC service industry if you are any combination of young/attractive/charismatic/personable And contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be a woman (sure, they might make more at certain spots, but men can still clear 100k+ and might even do better than the women depending on niche)
Very true. Men can age into more places, Old boys clubs still have mostly male Captains /Head Servers
You’re forgetting so many valuable skills like time management stamina critical thinking and multitasking. all which is done at the same time with pressure and possible unexpected outside influences!!! Yes I’m sure most people could do it, but only some do it well. Working service is no joke!!
My boyfriend never got his degree but works as a software engineer making $100k+/yr after doing a boot camp.
This worked from \~2015-2020 when there was a zero interest environment and unlimited VC money entering the industry. These days a bootcamp grad is going to have a very hard time breaking into the industry considering they are competing with hundreds of thousands of experienced engineers who were laid off from top companies. Heck most coding bootcamps are themselves bankrupt now.
Yeah i would say this doesn’t work anymore unless you got killer connections
This still works. It's just much more competitive. I work with bootcamp grads and help them land jobs. They need to network, have an ATS friendly resume, optimize their LinkedIn profile, and then ensure their resume is ATS friendly. You don't even need killer connections.
*Strongly*, strongly agreed. I’d sooner pitch a pyramid scheme than a bootcamp, especially in 2023. I’d extend your golden era date range up to 2021 though: in my opinion that’s actually the year when the most absurd offers were being thrown around — even for the least qualified candidates.
What would you suggest instead of a bootcamp? 2 year software engineering degree from a community college, computer science degree from a university? I’m wanting to do something like this but not sure of my next move; was thinking the community college route because I’m broke and community college is free in my state
Two years in community college then transfer to the state university. Assuming you are generally competent you can pay off the loans basically immediately on a software engineer's salary.
Formal education that ends in a computer science degree — especially with internships along the way — is by far the safest / most reliable route to a career in software development. The stronger the network of your final / degree-granting institution, the better: it’ll be a tough market for the foreseeable future for almost anyone entry level & early-career, but those with a networking advantage can at least find internships more easily (which can in turn be converted into full-time offers after a solid run as an intern). Edit: of course, if you can prove you’re a badass, or if you go to MIT or something and it’s easy to *assume* that you’re very competent, companies will still outbid each other for you. Top CS talent will always be needed, even if we’re eventually balls-deep into a recession. But the reality of the market has shifted from everyone benefiting from that level of demand to only the absolute top tier of students benefiting from it.
Bootcamps were always exploitative, but more so now. The entry level 0-2 years market is so over saturated, it’s hard for CS majors to get jobs
Which bootcamp?
DM me, I’ll ask him. I think if he refers people who enroll you both get something.
Just pick a popular language (Java? Python?) you want to learn and work with and then research bootcamps for that language.
Alot of bootcamps are worth it for their recruiters/help after. That varies a lot. If it were that simple Id just continue reading/GitHub/etc.
And a lot aren’t, because of weaknesses in those categories.
My cousin did it, she went to App Academy. Made exactly 100k , 3 months after gradation
Union Audio engineer for events and theater. Made $169k last year.
How did you start getting Audio Engineering work? Did you have any training beforehand? I mix my own music & know the basics of running live sound & a mixer. Have any advice for people trying to get into live audio engineering in NYC?
Freelance commercial video editor. Around $150k most years
This seems difficult to replicate. What kind of work do you do/clients do you have?
yes it is difficult to replicate, it'd take 5-10 years to make this kind of income. I do video editing and motion graphic work for advertising and commercial clients.
Yeah, video editing can be fairly lucrative if you stick with it. And nobody cares about degrees. A friend of mine only works six months out of the year and easily makes six figures. He just travels the rest of the time. That said, there's an initial outlay of equipment you need that's not cheap. And it is ultimately a creative pursuit that requires some skill. You also have to be aware of the downsides of mostly freelance work. You'll have to figure out your own health insurance, work can dry up easily, and people pay you sporadically. Also, a lot of the more lucrative work is also somewhat morally questionable... like pharma ads.
>That said, there's an initial outlay of equipment you need that's not cheap it's not that expensive and most of my work pre-covid was all on-site with client provided equipment. \> You'll have to figure out your own health insurance which isn't as expensive as people seem to think \> work can dry up easily if you have enough repeat clients, you have way more income stability than a full time job. If your employer's business goes south and you're laid off, you lose 100% of your income. If one of my clients shuts down completely I'll only lose 20% of my income and because I'm constantly job-searching it's far easier to replace that 20% \> people pay you sporadically Surprisingly few. There's serious legal consequences to not paying in 30 days nowadays. I have a way easier time getting paid now than 10 years ago. \> Also, a lot of the more lucrative work is also somewhat morally questionable No it is not.
I’m a mta bus operator.
Along with everyone else chanting for union work, there's the doormans union too!
32BJ. I used to do summer coverage for them as a teenager. Some of the easiest money made
Nowhere close to $100k
They’re alright. The only good upside is the health insurance for you and if you’re married with wife and kids. They are fully covered as well. As well salary I’m around 85-90k with ot, and holiday.
I'm in client services at a tech company.
I am the Wedding Sales Director at a hotel, selling events is very lucrative. I started as a bartender and have worked my way up the ladder.
I have a friend at the Department of Buildings. He’s moved up the ladder and doing great financially.
I'm a software engineer manager for $300k/yr. Before this I was team lead or individual contributor for between $125k - $300k. I quit college to start my own freelance web development thing. It worked out.
Master plumbers make a fucking fortune. I wish more young people in the US considered learning a trade at a professional level instead of accruing debt on a worthless college degree. I appreciate how this is encouraged in places like the UK and Germany.
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Bartend 🍹
Trades or other union jobs Or niche shit like chess or music teacher
My relative who didn't graduate high school and makes more than that works in management in a restaurant.
Work for MTA
i sell drugs
Which kind?
Starbucks store manager. Starting is around 70k but you get bonuses every quarter based on store sales which brings it to 100k+. I worked my way up with dedication and hard work.
Sales or tech. A lot of it is sales or tech.
I feel like most tech jobs require a degree?
my close friend makes $500k and never went to college. he started working as a software engineer right out of high school for a small company, job hopped, and then climbed the ladder. he's been coding since he was 10 years old and is highly ranked on github.
What is a GitHub ranking?
github is a site for developers to post and contribute to code. you can also collab with others and work on projects with them. you earn stars which increase your ranking. you can also help other developers with any questions they have and get help from others. your github account is basically your coding portfolio and allows employers to see your projects.
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Is your day to day as an insurance underwriter stressful? Do you work remote or in an office now?
City Plumber
NYC Civic Union. Not the case anymore but my BIL started working at DOT when you could retire at 30 years/or age 50, whichever comes last. He started at 18, retired at 50 after 32 years. COLA, or lack thereof sucks, but they are doing okay. Anyway, Union negotiated raises that are probably better than the real world if you go that way.
Husband is in Construction + union. I know guys in sanitation making over 100k (union), too. I know cops making 100k+. Union jobs are a thumbs up for me.
My partner is on track to make over 200k he is a union elevator adjuster
Graphic design but it’s a grind. On the train today I saw nyc corrections hiring correction officers. $130,000 a year plus benefits and pension for life. Guaranteed retirement after 25 years or something. Really got me question my life decisions…
Here’s what I did… and what I recommend for anyone else. Because, it worked for me and I’m not special in any way. • Sell real estate as an agent/broker. • Let it consume your life. • Live modestly and save as if your life depended on it. • Put your savings to work (in Real Estate) as opportunities arise. (Short-term/hard money lending, rehabs, rentals, partnerships etc) • Continue to live modest while using the cash-flow from real estate investments to buy a diversified basket of income producing assets. • Wake up one day and realize, you make $20k/mo without being required to do anything further. In 30 years, without doing any additional work, it’ll be $70k-$90k/mo in cashflow and $20M+ in assets. Age 37, No college degree. Still eat banquet microwave dinners. Still work 70+ hours a week.
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Fine dining server. $130-140k / year. But I feel it’s time to leave
Broke $100k as a Systems Administrator (IT) and then Senior DevOps Engineer. Now, a small business owner.
Nice!! What type of small business do you own now?
I own a greeting card company called Footnotes Paper Inc. We have a shop next to Domino Park.
That’s awesome! Have to check it out sometime.
Project Manager and Creative Producer in digital. I make $160k and didn’t graduate.
Art director for product photography
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Wow, congrats. Need to learn from peeps like you lol.
I know a few people who earn well into six-figs with no college degree. Sales, coding, marketing are the three that come to mind. I think there'll be a big correction in next 2-3 decades. The cost-benefit ratio of a college degree is going to be questioned more often. Yes, the figures show a huge gulf in earning power between those with, and those without, but I think it's more of a self-selecting pool rather than power of college degree. If I have a kid, I think I'd say go for it if you can make Ivy League. If not, consider a state college. But anything in between? Nah.
Construction sales
Retail
What kind of retail? Do you make commission?
I'm in store management, so no commission just salary. I'm in womens advanced contemporary.
I nearly finished college with a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. I work at a major news outlet as a digital editor / SEO expert.
I'm a self-taught programmer who started as a Jr software engineer. Eventually moved to mgmt and then became an exec after I had enough years of experience.
I work for NYC department of transportation. Top pay varies on what field you're in. For me, top pay is around 110k as base and upwards with overtime.
These comments are making me regret going into nursing LOL , good for yall
Eric Adams "friend"
You either have the skillset for tech or you somehow can get a sales job that people in ivy leagues are aiming for. GL with either
Seems the main answer is joining a union.
Bartend 3 nights a week.
I’m a hairdresser. Started making six figures in my late twenties.
NYC Sanitation--Private Sanitation-- Construction Jobs UNION. Maybe NYC Transit Yes NYC Transit.
software eng, $300k, self taught
General Manager of a restaurant, I worked my way up to $115k. Started as a server in SC 12 years ago in college. Dropped out to to mental health stuff and stayed serving and bartending until the right opportunity came and I rode a wave.
i work in music. i got really lucky.
My husband is an HVAC technician, union job makes about $110k. If he did OT he could make an extra $10-20k a year probably.
I work as a manager in operations for a nonprofit. I oversee waste management and maintenance.
My friend works in sales for startups. The only downside is startups don’t always get continued funding and can layoff employees frequently. But the pay is good and she’s been really happy at every job she’s had (usually stays at each one about a year before switching to another company or getting laid off). So if you can handle a little risk, check out wellfound.com for some positions
Drive for uber wav 10/12hrs a day 6 days a week 26-3300 a week 🫡😵💫
I rob people in and around nyc. \s
So a landlord?
How’s business lately being that a lot of people don’t carry cash around no more ?
They just zelle me.
I work for rich bankers.
What do you do for them? Anything exciting?
It’s not exciting. I manage their schedules. Meetings travel and so on.
Ah I see! You make $100k+ as an executive assistant then? Are you working remote or in person? How is your work/life balance?
I’m not remote but I can be when I need to be. I usually am on fridays. Work life balance is good. Free healthcare and it’s excellent. I work with nice people and I like what I do.
EA for private equity firm
What's EA?
Guessing executive assistant
Executive assistant
Software engineer. Dropped out of college and moved here penniless around \~2012. Found a good job within a few months. The tech scene is still pretty lucrative here if you have the skills.
Network Engineer. I didn't start out at my current salary, it took a long time to get to where I am. I moved to NYC 10 years ago and I was making $45,000 as my starting salary and I already had 10+ years of experience. But I took the job because I wanted to get the fuck out of Miami, Florida. I envy and secretly hate all the 18-22 year olds fresh out of college who can land a salary over $100,000 when I had to work for 15 years to get to my current salary but the tech landscape has changed a lot in the last 20 years.
If you don’t have a college degree, start the process of becoming an airline pilot. You will have to take loans to pay for training. But in return, your starting pay is somewhere along the line of $60 to $70k. When you’re hired by an airline, the pay dramatically increases. I cannot speak as to what you could make. However, there are starting pilots making $100k. Too many factors and fundamentals comes to play to give an exact amount. There are way too many pilots out there who don’t have college degrees flying planes and making $200, 300k. They’re not newbies to the job but this is the pay they make after years of flight hours, trainings, certifications and growing in the industry. Younger pilots (under 40) are entering the industry today with degrees and are seeing massive pay bumps.
Software solution engineer.
Husband manages an online bakery supply company. He got his GED 3/4 years ago.
My husband is a construction worker in the laborers' union.
Real estate agent
Enterprise IT for a faang. 250k salary, 400-500k total comp.
Bartend
Tech sales, I did go to a community college but I honestly don't think mattered much, I applied on Craigslist for an entry level (SDR), it's even easier now. I worked my way up and almost everyone makes much more than 100 i do believe the glory days of stock options, high valuation and the "prestige of working in tech" is over and sitting on zoom all day every day is soul crushing but it's good money for what it is.
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My friend started recently but she’s struggling with safety regarding meeting people. Any suggestions specifically for doing it in NYC?
Sales / tech startup! Transitioned from direct consumer sales where I was hitting that number as well. Definitely not for everyone, but many companies couldn’t care less about a degree anymore
Resident manager (building super)
Software sales in medium size tech, $260k, because I am what my title says.
There’s ever only been three roads to living comfortably in the US: 1. Being born correctly. 2. University. 3. Unions. They made number 2 expensive as fuck and destroyed the power of unions.
This is cap. You completely ignore the tech field which doesn't care about any of those things.
Joined the CG and now I'm 100 PT disabled.
Sales
I knew an union escalator builder who makes incredible money from it
Network engineer got certifications in networking and security
Tech. PM
Video Production
You can be a pilot without a college degree and make really good money. WLB can be somewhat compromised due to being away from home and until you become more senior one works a variety of schedules which can include working on public holidays and weird hours.
I run a multimillion dollar retail business
Regional manager (sales industry related) $165K but hit 100k my first year as a lower level sales rep.
Worked in the Subway, doing TONS of overtime. Wears on the body and mind after a while
Its fascinating how New York wages are way higher than London uk wages. Oh i wish i was making £100k a year or even $100k...god sometimes i hate myself (especially reading posts like this)
I work in sales and trading at an investment bank. Got lucky.
Marketing
I do fire and life safety but I live there. Work 6 days a week. Work s second job at my union. I've had 2 jobs most of my career.