If you have the time, please give a run down on the role. Also, were you happy?
Edit: 200k USD
Women who clear or have cleared over 200k a year, what was the job?
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1mo
Same here! I found my people! Haha
Can REALLY vary. I know several women making 400k+ a year as an EA
Heck yeah! I think that is where I’m headed.
Have you worked for the same person for 5+ years?
Nope! Worked at my first vc job for two. Second I’m still in as CoS since July
Wow that is awesome.
How did you get to this position? Was a college degree necessary?
You can work into the job without one, but it’s tricky! I hired some EAs earlier this year for my team, and we interviewed a lot of great candidates that didn’t have one. To get into the 200k+ range as an EA, you need to be polished, high energy, have excellent verbal/written communication, and social finesse.
I'm very interested in hearing about your career path. I just accepted a job as a personal assistant/house manager.
I find this so interesting! Can you share more about your day to day? I don't have any specific questions, I'm just curious. I'm imagining a woman catwalking around in heels, showing everyone who's boss.
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1mo
These are underrated roles but so incredibly important in the organization.
Diagnostic neuroradiology (physician interpreting images like MRi, CT, etc of brain & spine). >60k/month
Hot damn! Important work!
Honestly, 80% of studies are normal. The rest are shit shows lol
Even with possible shit shows you guys are ambiguous. Could be this very serious thing!! But could also be this very benign thing. Somone dropped cancer to one of my patients and he was stressed the fuck out but it was inflamed lymphnodes.
Lord I shoulda listened to my parents.
Are you a radiologist? What degree do you need ?
Yes.
Medical school 4yrs
Internship & Residency 5yr
Fellowship 1yr
My father did the same amout of schooling as you but decided to be an ER doc, like wtf…?
Don’t worry, it was a brutal slog. Gotta be top 10% of the class, gotta get good Step 1 scores, etc.
Medical school cost about $120k (not including all expenses like rent, etc). Residency earned 20-50k/year throughout year 1-5. Took a long time to actually start earning serious dough.
Apparently he was pretty shitty in school but is now a great doc. He loves being the Superman of the ER.
Then he picked the right job! Er doc is important job
ER docs are fucking hardcore though. :) The shit they see on a daily basis, the hours they work, so much pressure. :(
I grew up idolizing front line health care workers - my mum worked in emergency medicine for 25 years. These hospital workers go through hell and back and don’t receive enough credit for the dangers they may get exposed to at the front line. Contagions such as sars, mers, h1n1, covid and every single flu virus floating around every year
Yeah he pulls 48 hour shifts on the regular. I get it but the pay difference is astronomical. We are talking at least $200k difference in pay all because of the type of medicine being practiced.
I know a woman who does this, she works from home in her 3 story upperclass house doing it too.
I work for an organ procurement and always wondered who was reading the Nuc Med scans for brain death!
neuroradiology
I first read this as "neuro-adiology" and wondered what the fuck adiology was
Reporter covering finance/Wall Street. A career in media is a hit or miss though
Ooo, that sounds so fascinating. One of my close friends is an entertainment journalist, and she's definitely one of the most fascinating people I know.
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1mo
I’ve been trying to get into this but it’s hard and I don’t think I have the right credentials 😭
It’s ortho implants isn’t it ;)
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1mo
Ahh k.
All I know is ortho companies are real proud of their devices, and charge accordingly.
Man that sounds cool. Do you think it’s possible to transition into that from web development?
From these posts, I wished I liked interacting with people to the degree that sales requires 😔
Me too. There are some situations where I click so well it seems serendipitous. Mostly I fall flat because I do not have the skill to schmooze.
Skills can be taught. It’s a perpetual learning process though. Just like with how there’s always someone richer or smarter or more well-liked than you. Doesn’t mean you wouldn’t necessarily be good at it if you found your niche.
But why is it that the most highly compensated are salespeople? Because they’re the one bringing in the revenue. Everyone else is either in management, or supporting the sales people. If you bring in the money? You make the money.
Unless you work in higher ed fundraising, where you bring in all the money, and the people who make the money are the ones who are nest at making university presidents feel special.
Well nothing in higher ed really follows normal societal rules lol
Same, and while I know smoozing is a skill you can learn, it feels gross to me so I don’t want to do it
My Ex was a born salesman and it made me so jealous. Some people just have it.
I tried sales and failed quite spectacularly. 😂
Nobody does. Not even sales people. It’s hard as nails for that reason, and probably why it pays so well.
My husband has been in sales practically his whole career. He loves it. All the tasks I could NEVER do like make the phone calls, knock on the doors, make contacts at trade shows, he does happily. He makes all the followup contacts constantly as well as networking. He believes in his product (solar) and believes he's saving the world one roof at a time. I think it works for his personality because not only is he a very social person but also he doesn't worry about being judged by people at all. If you slam a door in his face, he feels that's you and your issues and nothing he's done wrong.
I am in sales and can concur that this personality is pretty standard across the board. As long as you have confidence, low attachment and can take rejection, sales is easy breezy.
Most people don't, thats why they pay so well. I actually love social interaction and can schmooze really well. I get along with basically everyone. But I still can't sell because you also have to have a certain Machiavellian mindset while talking that I just don't have. People like me because I'm pretty transparent and people resonate with my honesty and (reasonable in context) vulnerability - basically the opposite of why people in sales are good at getting people to like them.
That's not to say all sales people are Like That All The Time - it's a very particular skill and the best sales people I've ever met can basically turn it on and off like a switch. It's fascinating to watch and further convinces me I can't do it.
Tech, product designer. I like my job; I am good at it and my current team is amazing (design managers, design peers and product managers). Whether or not I am happy generally depends on my colleagues, so I am currently happy. It isn't always the case; sometimes things are stressful when I have to work with shitty product partners.
Overall, the industry (honestly, the world) has slowly moved towards using tons of metrics to achieve late-stage capitalism goals, so I find my job a little less satisfying than it used to be. But I also think that it's impossible to escape the capitalism part of existing in our world today, so it is what it is.
I do the same thing and share all the same sentiments, 100%.
Are you in the USA? You hear of these salaries in the states but in Canada it’s seems rare. Though I still see product designers ask for that pay in interviews. It makes me wonder where these jobs are?
Yes, I'm in the US. I was in the SFBA for almost 15 years and now working remote in another VHCOL location where the pay band is the same, so I've been pretty used to high salaries to match the COL.
I do have 15 years of experience plus some management experience and I fight pretty hard during salary negotiations. My total compensation is almost double my salary.
Ditto! I’m underpaid for a Principal (~160k 🥲) and now that I’m back from mat leave I’m looking for 200k OR the right startup. It’s a great job that I really enjoy, especially now that I’m in a senior position. I get to be critical, analytical, and creative. The past 2 years I’ve been working in conversational AI specifically and it’s been… interesting. I like the subject matter but my organization simply isn’t equipped to be implementing the work I’ve been generating lol. So between that and the daycare bills it’s finally time to bounce.
Your analysis of the industry is spot on too. I kinda miss the world where no one knew what to do with us and we carved out our own spaces. Maybe that’s why I’m enjoying cxd…
Do you do a lot of math in your job?
Nope, very little. I don't code at all.
Thank you! The word “tech” scares me, it brings to mind numbers and I’m terrible at math.
So much of tech is not maths based. It's more of a category of industry. Tech companies still have the need non-math based roles like legal, HR, recruiting, business development, customer service, marketing, etc. like any company.
Another woman here who is tangential to tech (product side = no code, no “math”) more marketing a vision, accountable for outcomes and leadership! Just sharing as additional perspective. After 6 years in product I clear >200k including bonuses, and my design partners are my fav partners! It does require me to at least speak tech, and more importantly help biz understand tech.
Senior software engineer for a small startup. I mainly code, have a few meetings, and since it's fully remote, I have a very flexible schedule. I've been in this field for 25 years, have worked for this particular company for 2 1/2 years, and enjoy what I do.
Are you me? I recently transitioned into a senior software engineering role after being a scientist. I love the work but I'm super unsure of how to build a long term career...How do you keep up with the fast pace of change in tech? Is ageism something you encounter?
I think a big part of it is that you have to enjoy the problem solving/detective work aspect, because that's really what the job is - analysis. The end result of that is code.
I always tell people, I solve word problems for a living, because it's breaking down an often vaguely defined problem into a set of logical steps. If you're good at logic, enjoy things like word problems, geometry proofs, sentence diagramming, music theory, etc then SWE is just another expression of the same skills that go into those things. Add attention to detail, good communication and writing ability, and a desire to continually learn, and you can be very successful as a SWE.
I mention music theory because I have two degrees in music and was a year into a PhD in music theory (with quite a bit of CS coursework and part time jobs under my belt) when I decided to make the switch and get a second masters degree (in information systems) instead. Much more practical and probably the best decision I've ever made in my life.
There's no need to be a "ninja rockstar hacker" or even a computer science/math genius (though a reasonable aptitude for math, and a fundamental understanding of CS concepts certainly helps). In fact, I'd say those types, not having the other skills, actually make terrible SWEs and teammates.
Much of my career was spent at small companies, or small teams within larger companies. I was an independent consultant (enterprise Java/Oracle) for a long time. It started getting long in the tooth and I felt I was stagnating and just bored after over 15 years of that. So I left consulting, and took a job at a small startup with a different tech stack (Typescript/NodeJS, Mongo, AWS, Terraform). Now I'm at a different startup, my current job, with a similar tech stack, but I've also added ElasticSearch and Python.
To answer your questions - there's a balance to be found between becoming an expert/senior level IC vs chasing the latest tech buzzwords. I am picky about the jobs I take, there are a lot of crappy jobs, bad management, etc. I like small companies and startups because I've found they offer more opportunities for learning than big companies stuck in old tech and rigid architectures.
I'm 55 and so far ageism hasn't hit me - maybe some luck there. I curate what's on my resume to be relevant and current tech. I don't include graduation dates, or old jobs/tech that will date me. Also I don't allow myself to stagnate in either skillset or position. I think a lot of that has to do with my long tenure as a consultant. I feel like my resume stands out with my music degrees (I'm always asked about them) and also it's possible that being female may be an asset. Female SWEs are so rare, and almost non-existent at the senior level! Of course I'm not a token, I actually have the experience and skills. But, I won't complain if my gender gets my resume noticed. :)
Engagement manager for a tech company. I woke up every day dreading my entire existence. I would get the Sunday scaries on Thursdays. Not worth it.
I white knuckled it for nearly two years and took full advantage of the great benefits to pay off as much debt as possible and reap all of the perks to build a good nest egg.
I am now making a good 10k+ less but I am so happy with life and my new job.
10k less from a 200k job is like a single annual pay raise. 5%. That’s like almost nothing. You couldn’t do the less stressful option and still reap the perks?
My base was 150 before. With two rounds of bonuses, RSU vests, and a quarterly allowance of $500 for basically whatever I wanted, it was about that 200k. Now I’m at about 92k base where commissions get me to $141k all in, which the way the business is going I won’t be that close. It’s a private org so no RSUs, and no bonuses since I already get commission. Too small for those other perks. So it’s not just $10k overall. But it’s 10k away from base if I get full commission. Worth my mental health, though!
What do you do now?
solutions consultant. I like being more technical and not having to deal with post-sales.
Are you tied to a quota each quarter?
I also want to get out of post sales but may move to cybersecurity instead of presales
Nope no quota, but my base salary is lower before commission by quite a bit than it was before. My long term goal is to get SC experience so I can enter a larger company with higher base pay later. But I really do love my company right now so who knows!
Do you mean engagement like handling social media platforms and influencer marketing or another form of engagement?
No. I wrote contracts for our teams. Helped scoped projects as well as staff them and handle any escalations. It’s a weird title for sure!
Gotcha! Thanks for adding the other info. Also glad you're enjoying your career much better after your switch!
Regulatory compliance at a tech company. I don't really like it, but I do like the life it affords me. My current goal is to squirrel as much money away as possible over the next ten-ish years then find a job that makes my heart sing more.
Do you have any graduate degree(s) or certifications?
I have my Bachelor's, my Master's, three professional certificates, and five professional certifications.
You are goals. 👏
Oh, thank you. I don't feel like it most days, and your comment is greatly appreciated. 🥹
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1mo
My certifications are related to compliance, but I got them after I fell into the field. The story is super unsexy. I basically got offered a lifeline during a round of layoffs because I had legal and contract experience. It was either no job or this one, and somehow I'm still here.
I’m in regulatory compliance!! I would love to pick your brain over what certifications are best! :)
I work in mostly cyber security and data privacy. I have three ISACA certs, one IAPP, and one SCCE.
Nice. I started in regulatory compliance. Underrated imo.
Attorney. Some jobs I've loved, some not as much, but it's a great career overall.
I don’t always recommend people go to law school but I agree that overall I’ve enjoyed my career as an attorney. And while I always joke that I want to quit, I’m not sure what else I would want to do that would provide the same level of security.
Can you speak to work:life balance? I’ve thought about leaving my healthcare field for law, but with two kids I’m not sure if I can handle the long weeks.
Firm work-life balance doesn't commonly exist, but in-house is great. Problem is needing 3 years of law school plus sufficient experience to qualify for in-house positions. The bigger firms (law and accounting) pay well, but your personal life will likely suffer.
Hey I’ll chime in because I’m an in house attorney who works 9-5:30 and clears well over 200k a year. And works remotely 3 days a week. The work/life balance is great for me. I will work maybe one weekend every other month and it consists of answering a simple email not actually doing hours of work That being said, unless you can get into a top 20 law school and work in big law for a few years (which are long hours), that lifestyle and paycheck is very unlikely in the US. Because in house attorneys for those jobs are hired mostly out of Biglaw. So I wouldn’t recommend the career change unless you had the stats for it- it’s a huge financial commitment to go to law school.
Edit: just as an edit, I wanted to say being an attorney can be a great job, intellectually interesting that also pays well. It is for me. But I don’t want to tell ppl on Reddit that they can all have that career path. Because unless you put in a few years in BigLaw that’s not really an option for most ppl.
Cries in family law attorney... getting paid half that for intellectually boring af work and some truly heinous clients, constant burnout
Also worth noting that the opportunity to put some time in Biglaw is not a given. At least in ny experience it's hard to get a Biglaw job if you don't have top grades, specific law journal experience, or straight up you're the son/nephew etc of one of the partners at a firm
Other barriers include parenting/caretaking responsibilities and disability. I have a couple chronic illnesses and I physically couldn't work the hours Biglaw requires, even if I did have the opportunity. It'd also be hard as a single person without a spouse or family around to help with personal stuff so I can meet high billables requirements
Law is definitely a profession built around a man having a housewife doing all his personal shit for him, imo
Exactly. A Biglaw job basically isn’t guaranteed anyone unless they graduated from a top tier law school, preferably a T14. You can be a middling student at those schools (I certainly was at my T10 law school) and still get into Biglaw but if you’re graduating from a second tier or third tier school you need to be top 2% of your class, be on Law Review or have connections. This is literally what a Biglaw recruiting partner told me.
I was single too without family or a spouse when I was in big law and my health and living situation suffered. I never had enough time for household chores, I ate terribly and never cooked fresh meals. A lot of my colleagues just hired a cleaner so they didn’t have to deal with it. It’s definitely a difficult lifestyle to manage- I can’t imagine doing it with kids unless you have a full time nanny.
As an aside is your name a callback to Oh Hello? I really loved that Mulaney/Kroll project!
Software engineer. Code all day. Occasionally on call. I love it!
Same. Software engineer in the SF Bay Area. Love it!
Sounds like my dream job. I’m a data scientist and I’m starting to get interested in software engineering.
Data Science is my dream job. Are you building models?
My last job I did. Now I’m doing more data engineering even though I’m a data scientist.
Nearly 2 years in Software Engineering, hope I can get to this point someday!
How old you?
I am 35yo and a junior in CS in college. Can’t wait to work in the field 😍😍😍 I will join later than most people but I am excited.
This is me too.
desperately searching for teacher in the replies
Silent tears.
Cries in social work solidarity
public librarian joins the search
I’m a teacher 👋🏽 I don’t make $200k but I’m here in the replies 😂
I made over $200k as a technical learning experience design manager... probably about as close as you'll see to teacher. It drove me crazy and I worked 60 hours a week minimum. I now make less than half that working for a university, but I love my job, and can do it on autopilot. I work probably 25 hours a week for a 40 hour a week job.
What do you do at the university?
Curriculum development
Maybe not 200k, but I know one who makes over 100k. That's not bad at all.
While $100k isn’t bad, it’s not great for the amount of higher education required and the amount of responsibility on a teacher’s plate. I’m the most educated, and least paid, out of my friend group unfortunately. I don’t make $100k at this time, but if I stick around for a bit I will. And that will be my cap. I’ll never get a significant pay raise again after that… maybe a few hundred dollars a year? Never more than $2k. Meanwhile my friends make 2x-3x my salary… their bonus is about the same as my entire salary (‘cause what is a bonus in education?!).
nurses have entered the chat room
Doing the exact same, but I'm looking for "social worker"
Lmao yeah right
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1mo
Hijack away babe. I am all about everyone winning!
Love this attitude 🥹
Attorney. Big law firm was brutal. In house counsel is much better
Pharmacist. In California. Otherwise the pay would be less.
Do you find 200k is enough to support living in CA? (I have a friend in Northern California Bay area saying even 200k feels like she’s still paycheck to paycheck on top of debt)
If you are single it is great. But depending on when you hit that milestone and how much family wealth you have access to (or you get lucky with stocks), buying a home will be hard, you need to save a while. But the path to $200k is way faster now than when I started my career.
With a family? You’ll feel poor. No question. Day care is equal to or more than typical rents. And if you prioritize public school quality your rent is gonna be quite high. And purchasing a home in a good school district area is well over $1M for a townhouse anywhere in the region. And even worse depending on what job center you need access to.
I live in a nice part of Oakland, with old buildings, and a one bedroom condo with no amenities is around $450k. You might get a patio at best. Your building will have a laundry room and you won’t have in unit laundry. A modest single family home on my block is about $1 million.
It’s not super comfortable. I am able to save each month, but not a whole lot, and any unexpected expenses can blow the month’s savings very quickly. I’m also very lucky I found a cheaper apartment. If I had to pay the market rate in my area, that would be the end of my savings. Let’s hope my luck doesn’t run out!
I’ve paid off my student loans (another luck factor- my job covered them!). If not for that, I’d be in the negatives for another several years!
Heck yeah. Ok thank you!
1) Management Consultant at a top 3 firm. Typically worked 8:30-9/10 with breaks for lunch and dinner, from M-Th, and 8:30-5 on Friday. Didn’t work weekends. Loved the brilliance of my colleagues, but didn’t love the work - felt like we were just rubber stamping decisions or making decisions so the brass had someone to blame if it didn’t work out. Also, so many slides…..
2) Professor and independent consultant. 3/5 of my salary from professoring, 2/5 from consulting, but professoring takes 90% of my time. I can command high hourly rates of $500-750/hour because of my background. Hope to do this combo forever. I enjoy research, like teaching, and love and the flexibility my jobs bring. I can turn down consulting projects if I have too much on my plate - I don’t advertise and get all my business from word of mouth. I’d like to be President of the University one day as well - I have a lot of leadership experience, which would put me closer to 400k-500k in salary.
CRNA. I give anesthesia all day and love my job. >$250k
Do you want peripheral information?
I only know of two.
The first is in healthcare. She’s a nurse but got accommodated (they created a cushy position for her with an 15 year contract) into a high level admin role because of negligence created by the hospital in which she became a victim. It was the agreement she made rather than sue. (She also demanded they pay for her masters.) She was very happy until Covid, but that applies to everyone in healthcare. However, her personal and romantic life suffered greatly because she was forced to spend all of her social energy on work politicking/functions, leaving nothing left for her friends or family. She had planned to retire, but her husband got laid off. The day to day other role changed because they literally had to find work for her, or give her funds to create her own role. If it weren’t for Covid, I think she would have been quite happy, consistently, despite the sacrifices.
The other is actually a public school drop out. She started doing beauty services for cash and became one of those ‘schools’ before it was trendy. She was clearing like 30k/month. She recently sold the school and built a house in Costa Rica. She gained a lot of weight (hundreds) from stress and pretty much hustled more in 5 years than any of us will in a lifetime. She’s back on track health wise and hair sort of flits between projects and investments now. I’d say she’s happy. Even when things were hard it was the same type of hard we all have to deal with & it enabled her to retire before she was 35.
So she won 15 years of work? That does not sound like she got the good end of the deal haha.
At 180k/ year with a banger pension and control over her projects versus 7 years waiting unemployed for a lawsuit I think she won lol. She’s not the type to not work anyway. She played the semi long game. She was like 26 when this happened too. Imagine making 180k so years ago lol
Sr Mgmt in a Fintech company. I’m a CPA and working on my masters. I love my current role in product and business development. Definitely a challenge but very rewarding.
Do you mind explaining how you pivoted to that role from an accounting background?
Bit of a long story but I started quite traditionally prepping statements and taxes for corporate clients. We were implementing new accounting and tax interface software and I was volunteered onto the team providing feedback for features and capabilities. Project was a huge success.
My company expanded and offers B2B software for fintech and is spinning off a side company. I’m in a leadership position of that helping to forge the path of what products/services to offer and build out models that do what’s needed and can be very profitable.
It’s a LOT more interesting than basic accounting, plus the salary jumped significantly. With bonuses I can do quite well for myself. When the side company opens I will be very senior. Better yet, I have equity in it and if we get bought, there’s a good chance it’ll be life changing money.
Plus, this looks amazing on a resume and they fear losing me to the competition.
head of comms & brand for a tech company! just quit to go to grad school to be a therapist 😅
I'm a brand marketing specialist right now. I get it.
CPA in tax. I work probably 6mo a year if you added up my actual hours. I’m at $225-300k if I worked fulltime. I’m a co-owner and paid based off total revenue so we can make what we want pretty much 🤷🏼♀️
Mind if I ask how old you are/years in industry?
Late 30s. CPA for almost 10 years.
Finance >> Product Management
Tech software sales. I really enjoyed the role overall. Now early retired and loving beach bum life.
How did you get into the role?
Started out as a market researcher and then got recruited into sales. So I was then selling the software that I used as a researcher. I really enjoyed it and excelled bc i could relate to my customers (I used to be them/did a similar role) and had a passion for the industry. Sales - especially tech/software is a GREAT way to make a high salary quickly.
Cloud Architect at a FAANG as an expert / industry veteran. Lots of code and writing. Love it!
I am exploring cloud computing. It is Nice to see an expert that loves their position.
Yay! I love hearing about Architects! some day.. some day I'll join you!
Glad to hear you are loving it, and congrats!
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1mo
Another in house attorney at tech company here. Love the work and WLB is good.
CRNA working 36hrs/wk (W2 employee). 1099 can make 100k+ more because benefits aren’t covered.
Worked on a rig in oil and gas.
I’m still in energy, but miss the field every so often…. And then I remember that I really just miss the money and freedom that came with it and not the working 14 hr days, 320+ days a year part of it. lol
How did you get into this? What was your educational background? Were you one of the few women?
ER doctor. Nothing like tv but sometimes kinda cool
Metforminforevery1 is an excellent choice as a Reddit name and American protocol
Director of marketing at a tech startup, specifically demand generation branch of marketing. Took a bit to get to $200K base. But generally at this level you can expect $175K and up depending on size and maturity of the company.
Litigator
Nonprofit development
How?!?! I'm currently making 65k in development....would love to know how you got to where you are now!
I don’t want to out myself too much on here. But I’ll throw out a mix of nonprofit dev jobs I and others have worked with $200k+ salaries just to give you a sense: universities, donor networks, foundations, civic engagement
Our pilots make $200k+.
Just here to say I’m so proud of these ladies just killing it.
Dentist
I’ll make over $200k this year.
I’m an HR Consultant. I run my own little HR & management consulting firm, and everyone that works with me is a mom (we offer a ton of flexibility so that they can work around their kids schedules, and work as much or as little as they want). I absolutely love what I do and the people I work with, but it’s also super heavy on sales (constantly searching for new companies in Canada/USA that need HR or management consulting support) which is the part I dislike the most.
I work from home in franchise sales.
Research and data analytics. I lead an internal market research team so I don't do too much of the analysis myself anymore, but I still have a hand in a lot of the reports we produce.
Insurance. Not an independent agent or anything. So many different avenues to explore in this broad industry - and some quite lucrative.
I work in insurance and cannot seem to find anything more than 70K. I am licensed and work for a large insurance company. Would you have any advice to offer insurance professionals?
Role: Musician/musical director/voice coach
Haven't made over 200k every year, usually mid 100k.
Very happy.
wow how do you manage that?
Idk where they are but where I am private voice lessons are $90-$100 an hour so.. that could be a contributing factor. In comparison I pay $66 an hour for piano lessons.
Head of compliance on a cybersec team. Alot of people hate this work but I love it. I find it challenging and rewarding.
Investment sales. Do you know what a pharmaceutical sales guy does? Schmoozes with doctors to try and get them to use your company's products. I do the same thing, except we market our products to financial advisors. If you're in outside sales, top earners clear between $1-2MM annually. Wall Street baby.
Kudos to you! I left the boys club but it was equally the most fun and stressed I have ever been. Also probably saved myself from alcoholism.
Equity partner in Big Law.
Operations for an education start-up.
I freaking love it, dude.
I'm the first of my title, since it's a start-up, so I get to build out a team. Since this position hasn't existed before, I get to make an outsized impact by recommending objectively stupid/easy things like "have we considered setting up an email forwarding rule so we dont have to manually check this inbox?" Lolol.
If you were wondering how I got here, i used to work at a similar education startup a few years ago. Built up a good reputation, got promoted a few times. Most importantly, I found mentors and advocates who would speak up for me in rooms I wasn't a part of. That alone has been the biggest difference. Later on, a bunch of my old coworkers ended up at this new place and they reached out to see if I wanted the job. Didn't interview. Just vibe checked with the hiring manager and some peers. The process once you're "in" in an industry is crazy. I cultivated a strong reputation totally by accident, but it's paid off in spades.
Dude, I literally wake up before my alarm clock most days of the week because I looked forward to my work day. It's wild.
I’m studying to be an EM physician so this is powerful and keeps me motivated to keep going.
I’m an ER doc, newer attending. It’s a long road but def feels worth it on the other side
I’m 32, living in Miami. I work as a chief of staff to the CEO of a private renewable energy company. My salary is $160k but total comp gets me to $220k annually… it’s a great industry to be in! We are private but offer long term points / sort of like equity… every other year you get paid out according to how well the company did.. for me that could be another $150k when payouts happen.
Sex worker and substack writer about the sex work (and other stuff). Lately my substack income has surpassed my sex work income!
Product Manager for a small financial tech company. Very fortunate that they value my skillset and experience - I’ve been with them for over a decade and have really risen in the ranks. When I first cracked $200k several years ago I almost couldn’t believe it. Work involves wearing multiple hats - working with engineering, QA, and external clients directly. Thinking through long term strategy and product vision, writing requirements, some project management, giving demos of finished features, and then giving presentations to company leadership as well as company wide. I personally love it and I’m very happy with my compensation and work/life balance.
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1mo
Lol wow I’m not doing anything with my life.
HR in tech but it’s total comp. Base is at 180, with bonus it clears 200. Then there are RSUs and other lifestyle benefits in cash.
It’s idk. I’m not a corporate girly so I’m squirrelling as much away as I can while I’m here
Public Affairs in tech, holding a regional portfolio!
I'm just under $200k at about $195k total comp and I'm an engineer in biotech. My work is with contract manufacturers that make my company's product. I'm a technical expert on the process, no direct reports. I also help with regulatory fillings and questions.
Mostly I think my salary is this high because I work in a VHCOL area.
UX Content Design in tech. I got laid off in Feb though, since my company basically got dissolved with an acquisition. Prospects not looking awesome, but I made 275k last year which is sort of insane. I work remote in NH so that's a ridiculous salary.
I have almost 6 years experience from that one job but otherwise that's my only experience in the industry. I somehow talked my way into the job with 0 experience and I worked out!
My only advice to others is to apply to jobs you're not qualified for; you never know when a reasonable hiring manager is on the other side. I LOVED my job--I miss it so much and really hope I can find something like it again. I'm 32. :)
Motivational speaker on the international corporate circuit. It was too many hours on planes and in hotels in the end so I cut back. I still do it but not as often so I don’t earn as much. But it’s a lot of fun.
I’m getting close. My total comp showed $240 last year, but my gross base salary will be closer to $190 this year (total comp probably will be around $265 this year)
I work in a HCOL city in healthcare (acute care hospital). I manage a nursing support department of 8 people. The department I work in is called “Infection Prevention & Clinical Epidemiology.” It’s mostly a desk job— but lots of emails and collaboration between healthcare disciplines and leaders.
I work M-F in office approx 9-5 and I have pretty good work-life balance. I am happy. I am busy— I have 2 young kids I have shared custody of, a boyfriend I adore, and a big dog.
Not quite there yet but will be by 35 prob. Healthcare IT mgmt. I like it.
Tech policy
Content writer
Commercial real estate agent. One of verrrry few women in my area. I bring influential females into my space in order to interact with them.
As of this year, I’m making over 200k for the first time. 30 YO. Marketing in tech. Yes, I’m happy, and the money fuels travel and adventure that makes me even happier. It gives me the security of long-term savings and living alone in a nice apartment. I busted my ass (within reason) and it’s been so worthwhile.
Physician
Anesthesiologist (subspecialty interventional pain medicine) - after college, 4 years medical school, 4 years residency, 1 year fellowship. 450k per year, but one can make much much more in this specialty. I chose lifestyle though so my weekly hours are great, lots of vacation time.
Sourcing director, head of supply chain systems, VP of CS, VP of Services, and currently COO.
Basically I help big companies buy stuff with software. Started cracking 200k and now around $400k, all in. Tech is good.
Psychiatrist
Senior product manager. Happy- most of the time, stressed- often, work life balance? Better then expected but I often times find myself prioritizing work over family.
Media sales. $309k my highest year in 2023. Not sure I can top it now because senior management is not fond of paying the people on the sales team more than they make. Hence they bumped our commission down a few percent.
Marketing.
Bachelors from a state school that cost me only $26k. I made a bunch of career pivots from roles that were dead end jobs until after ten years or so I landed experience at some top companies and once those were on my resume (and I had work experience to back up my pay) I was set.
CEO
Data Science manager in big pharma. Honestly, it's exhausting and I don't plan on doing it forever.
Executive assistant, chief of staff