how much do certain professions pay?

HI Arnold!

You asked a very interesting question. To help with your answer, I am sending you a site that will enable you to look up the salary of 800 career areas:
https://www.careeronestop.org/Toolkit/Wages/find-salary.aspx

Best of luck! Be true to yourself. The feeling and concept of success is yours - and is very personal. Let me know if this is of help.

It would be best if you figure out what you would like to do first. Then research about the salaries.
You can make over $100k being a video game tester.

Another notable website to look is --> https://www.paysa.com

Dear Arnold,

If you are unhappy, then even the highest salary will seem like not enough. It's a tricky balance finding what you love and turning it into a lucrative career. And I think we would all be remiss and unprofessional to not point out that you can love your career choice and not necessarily enjoy the people, the company, the timing, the commute, etc, etc. I once worked for a terrific manager (I've been lucky to win the managerial lottery many times throughout my career), who likes to say that 85% of his job is great; and when that number drops, he starts reevaluating why.

That's a pretty good happiness barometer in my opinion. But back to the salary question . . . how much are you willing to invest into your own salary worthiness? Are you willing to go to school for a very long time as physicians do? Are you willing to study as if someone's life depends on it? Or, are you incredibly creative and willing to take risks to develop the next big thing and find financial hardship followed by (gulp, you hope) giant monetary reward?

Only you know how much you want to give to your future career . . . and how much you want to get to make the life you desire for yourself. Good luck deciding! While these decisions can be daunting, they also aren't permanent. I bet if you added a Career Village question about how many people are doing something different than what they went to school to do, you'd be shocked at the responses. Almost everyone I know started in something else, which makes for such a beautiful life!

Best,
Monica Young

That is a generic question, however there are websites to give you an idea of pay rates for different professions. From experience, it is important to note your strong suits and experience to "sell yourself". Make them believe you are worth the pay. A company wants to make sure they are making a good investment by hiring you, so show that to them during the interview.

Also, just from experience, I would find a profession your interested in as well. If you're strictly going for the paycheck you may end up miserable. Find something that's "up your alley" and strive to be the best. A job you enjoy, with good pay? Can't ask more than that!

Even within industries and careers, salaries can vary based on experience, skills, and certifications/degrees.

That said, certain job sites will let you know the salary range before you apply to jobs.

As you are deciding on a field, you should search jobs within those fields - it's important that these jobs seem interesting to you (not just that they have the salary range hat they are looking for).

I hope it's not too blunt, but if you're picking a job just because of it's pay rate, you're being short sided. I agree it is important to understand different market rates for different types of positions, but you will do best choosing a job that suits you and that you enjoy and are passionate about doing more than one that will just fill your bank account. If you love your job, you'll never feel like you worked a day. The money will come.

As a career worker who's getting a bit long in a tooth, I wish I chose something I was more passionate about doing than just something that came easy to me.

Try different jobs. You have time to find a good fit and if you can't find something you do like, at least you can learn what you don't like. Best of luck!

salary.com is website that will breakdown low to median to high range for professions and give you an idea of what you can expect to make.

Try the website GlassDoor.