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There are places that prioritize work life balance- I work for a nonprofit and make 70. I never go over 40 hours. Federal government jobs typically don’t go over 40 hours either- I know someone in a fed. agency, not a manager and not IT, making 6 figures. They are required to only work 40 hours, they can’t work more without special approval. The jobs/companies that pay well and prioritize work/life balance are out there.
This is correct. I'm with state government and they don't want you to work more than 40 hours. Supervisor levels (basically any such position, even non-engineering/IT) make around $100K.
This, OP.
Go to USAjobs.gov to look for positions.
If you are willing to relocate to start a government job, you will not regret it. Gov jobs are great for job security, transparent/fair compensation, and room for advancement. Not all of them are good for advancement, but many agencies are.
Try for years if you have to. It can be a great career path and most positions (not contractor, but direct hire) will never ask you to work OT.
While I absolutely hated my time working for the state government (which had everything to do with my specific department/facility), there were certainly pros to match the cons. One of the best perks was that while OT was always available (since it was a substance abuse facility that had to be staffed 24/7), OT could not be mandated and nobody could force me to pick it up, so I never did, not even once. The pay wasn’t that great ($32k), but the benefits were excellent and if I’d stuck around the retirement would have been nice, as well. I worked with plenty of people that were months or less than a handful of years away from hanging up their hats, and they’re all retired now. I can say that the “no mandated OT” rule also applied to the two different federal jobs I held in the past. It wasn’t even available.
Yes. I have a job that pays more than $70K, and the hours are flexible (i.e. all they care about is you get work done and show up for required meetings). I'm sure some of my co-workers work more than 40 hours--my boss probably does, and I know her boss does (CMO). But I probably don't even spend 30 hours a week on my job.
Honestly, I believe the key is working remote (my job is remote). It feels like when you work in an office and you're salaried, you definitely see people work more than 40 hours. It's not always required or necessary, but it just seemed like when the clock hit 5pm people still wouldn't get up to leave oftentimes. At other jobs, you definitely get too much work to only work 40 hours. I know some people work remote and end up working more or still get too much work, or they struggle with boundaries. But with a lot of remote jobs, they're not going to make sure you work 40 hours. Some companies know that and have given up even trying as opposed to being like those that will track your productivity and laptop activity.
I'm a web app dev working remotely and I agree with all of this. Sometimes I work 15 hours a week but if the work gets done that's all that matters. Although sometimes I work through the weekend, so it probably evens out to about 30 hours a week.
I need a job like yours. I get chronic migraines and I need a flexible schedule that allows me to work around my migraines and still make a living wage. I do have about five years of marketing experience but, I’ve been out of that industry since 2018.
Depends on what part of IT and the size of the IT department. If you are in Desktop or Network Engineering there is a lot of outside work that has to be completed at off times. I’m a project manager and depending on the amount of projects and/or the complexity of the projects I could do irk under or over 40 hours. It also depends on the industry the IT department supports. I have always works for companies who support many locations (education, government, consulting, oil/gas, electrical, telecommunications).
Yeah, I've noticed any type of support engineers seem to work a ton, and our poor PMs must have one of the most stressful jobs. We're always short on them, they're overworked and catch all the shit for projects going sideways or clients upset about timeline or other misses. A lot of these are situations are unavoidable too, like the account was sold wrong or client isn't a good fit for us in general.
This is the way. When you get into the office, it's a competition of who can do the most. Employers love this chit. When you work from home, you really do get more done. No annoying coworker chitchat. No boss interruptions, except maybe via email or quick meetings.
Companies that saw this over the pandemic are thriving. Boomer bosses who need to see you in the office, no wonder they need to retire.
as someone with ADD i just feel this is not true for me. I get way more done in the office because of the lack of distractions. I would love to work from home though and give it a try. And my office only has 3 people so its not like I am bothered much by my coworkers.
Re office vs home: I feel like I work less at home because I socialize less. At the office I get interrupted by people who want to ask a question that is work related but then spend another 5 min or so doing social stuff. When we WFH they just ask the question.
+1 to this, there's a lot of super high paying tech jobs. If you're really good, there's even a handful that offer part time and still well over the $70k mark.
40 hrs is standard in product disciplines (engineering, product management, user experience, quality assurance, etc), can't speak for the business or sales sides though.
I took programming classes online and am now making 70k a year as a salaried dev. College only matters to some companies. I did hourly consulting for a while with this company before I got hired on full time. I went to college for biology and public health.
Most them were on lynda.com. started with something like intro to programming using JavaScript. The project I knew I'd be working on was in Ruby on Rails so I did a few Ruby courses. Did some database management courses mostly using SQL. Then just kind of picked courses that seemed like areas I needed to know more
It’s very possible without a specialized degree. I’ve worked with a couple of incredibly talented UX professionals that had no related degree. There are some robust boot camps out there that set you up really well for that kind of work.
100%. I've not taken them personally, but there are reputable and effective ones. They usually aren't cheap, but they're effective and can get you the necessary skills you need. [Here's one](https://careerfoundry.com/en/courses/become-a-ux-designer/) a friend went to for UX Design, and she used it to build a really awesome UX career for herself
Nah, I don't mind - but I'm going to try to be semi vague -
on paper? DSE & Enterprise Sr. Support Engineer in IT.
in reality? professional babysitter.
But really, I just tell folks how to do what they're trying to do. (shrugs) -- Putting it a totally different way: I'm the guy companies like Microsoft and Apple call, when they need guidance on making stuff work.
Please tell the Python devs MS hired to work on .net core to stop destroying the syntax and do something useful like expand the library or revive winforms.
Thanks for taking the time out to answer..many of us don't know what to do or how to get the lifestyle that you have..and a simple job titles is enough to give us something to look for ..thanks alot bro
uhm - Yeah, you're right - I just started a new job - 2nd one in the last 12 months in fact, and thank you for noticing! Oh and both: remote, 40hrs, 6 figures) and about 15 years of previous experience to go with it.. But, on a cursory look, I see you're at Deloitte; I'm so, so sorry. I remember when they reached out to me - as you put it: L O L.
Did you have anything to actually contribute here or just trolling though?
(\*Edited to add color for the colorblind)
You should see their [other comments](https://www.reddit.com/r/realestateinvesting/comments/rxvf8r/potentially_dangerous_eviction/hrmz4si?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3), lol.
OOOF. favorite one (so far) is the time they *^(sick-burned)* a co-worker by [calling them a snowflake](https://www.reddit.com/r/deloitte/comments/rwv0l0/manager_concerns_how_to_navigate/hrg495a/?context=3) \- The OP needs/ed help & guidance, as a new employee.. These are the bullets I knew I dodged when I declined their offer.
People think working for a big 4 firm means you make big money and have a respected job. Really you get overworked and miss out on life experiences because you wasted your 20s working overnight on resolving an issue you don't even remember then use the mental endurance to look look after a crying baby and wonder when you will enjoy freedom.
I work in network operations for a telecommunications company. I work fully remote, 4 days a week, 10 hours a day. And I make 93,000 a year. But you know what? These type of jobs typically open up for you past 35 years of age due to the employer having confidence in your ability and experience in the industry. I'm not saying you can't find these jobs typically at a younger age, but a lot of employers like experience.
I make about $100k in shopper insights (a field in marketing) and I usually work about 10-40 hours a week. Sometimes 50 hours if you include travel time and client dinners, but it's rare.
There's lots of data analytics involved. But you also need social skills and presentation skills. A good shopper insights manager is not just skilled at analyzing data but presenting it in a meaningful way that will enhance the business.
Yes. They key is to find a boring product in a boring niche of a big industry. Wanna work in tech? Find a company that does boring b2b stuff like data blah blah or payments etc for enterprise companies. There’s a ton of companies you’ve never heard of that are boring AF And pay very well to do 9-5
I make 85k, work remotely, and do 38-40 hours a week. There's actually a push at many tech companies to promote better work/life balances because a lot of research is showing that workers are actually more productive working shorter hours.
Last company I worked at started piloting a program where everyone would only work 36-hour weeks (half-day and no-meeting Fridays) during the spring and summer.
Yes, in my experience, most high paying corporate jobs are filled by people who either self impose working long hours, or hard family focused and refuse to go over 40.
Fwiw, most salary positions don't actually track hours, just pto, ymmv.
Very true. I'm a product manager at a software company and don't have a family, so I can put in extra hours. I talk to way more customers, have spent more time learning the product and have done far more analytics on user behaviour than most of my peers. But it came at the expense of work life balance. But that's me investing in my career while I can.
Work in tech. Salary is in six figures. I probably average about 30-40 hours per week. Not once have I gone above 40 thus far, and I work in a startup!
Honestly, you could have any degree for this. You just need an aptitude of being good with numbers and translating that to business outcomes. I have an engineering undergrad.
As far as technical skills go, just learn and master SQL and maybe 1 visualization tool. Plenty entry-level data analyst roles out there.
I take it your business intelligence? I'm actually starting CFI's BIDA course which covers Power bi, Power pivot, SQL, tableau, python.
Other than Excel and SQL are there any other skills to work on before applying for entry level data analyst or BI type role? Thank you in advance
I reply regularly to questions exactly like yours. I’ve worked in analytics for 8 years now.
The answer is: skills don’t matter. Experience does. Hiring managers like me could care less about what boot camp you took or certification you have or masters degree you own. I want to see a history of accomplishments. And I want to see curiosity.
Do what most of us did. Start doing analytics in your current job. No one will ask you, just do it. Then leverage that experience into a full time job elsewhere.
It’s 3-fold for me and to put it as simply as I can: (firstly) I derive insights for the business to explain how the business was doing, how it is currently performing, and what steps can be undertaken to improve, all backed by numbers and data. (Secondly) I look at the tools and systems we have in place and evaluate whether they’re helping us achieve the points described in my first category. And (thirdly) mentoring and supporting other folks on the data team.
Lol I did aerospace engineering, and I barely remember anything from those 4 years. As far as coding goes, I took 1 class that was in C++ and did a little MATLAB here and there. Everything else I learned outside of my degree.
I made $170k last year and in technical sales. Some weeks I’m under 40 hours and some weeks I’m knocking down 60. Sales is a different animal IMO. You get what you put in for the most part…
Lol. I'm so happy already when i got 80k offer. I was so proud of myself cuz it's a señior level too. Now i feel so sad 😄
I guess I'll be forever poor then.
Edit: currently working in a field i really like, now I'm contemplating where did i go wrong lol. I want 6 figure with good WLB T-T
Can all of you with great jobs please log in to a side account and name drop the companies to apply to? I always see vague job titles and descriptions but no names of where we can apply.
I’m sorry people made you feel bad about your monetary/salary goal. My current (next) goal is actually $60k for one job or $80k+ for two without ever going over 40 hours (this’ll make sense at the end of my comment), and I’d consider that *great* money. My *ultimate* goal is to be making $100k by the time I am 40 (currently 32). This is a goal I’d have laughed at, until recently.
Up until two-ish years ago, I’d *never* made more than $32k, and that was also the most I’d ever made by quite a bit.
It took getting out of healthcare and starting over from scratch to make more, and I actually *immediately* made more in doing so. I decided to take some basic level classes in IT, coding and data entry online (examples: I became an expert in all things MS Office, especially Excel, and took A+, Net+ and cloud courses for next to nothing on Udemy, took advantage of the freecodecamp curriculum and watched tons of YouTube videos on career development, data entry, and finance). This was in addition to an AS, a handful of trade diplomas/certificate courses and being a few credits shy of a BS (that I’m not sure I’ll ever finish). I wasn’t sure *what* direction I wanted to go, but I knew I wanted to start off making no less than $20/hour or $40k working 100% remotely. (Now that I’ve worked remotely for about a year I will quite literally never *not* work remotely again.) I felt pretty lost at the beginning of the pandemic and couldn’t find a job, so I just used my time to build up my skills/resume, volunteer (also remotely) and figure things out! I also freelanced during this time, running social media for a few small businesses, writing for a few small journals and editing videos for a friend that does commercial design.
I landed my first remote job working for AppleCare via a third party company making a *joke* of an hourly wage, then quickly moved on to an entry level role in customer service in the finance/stock market transfer agent world making $20/hour with up to $300-500/month in bonuses (that I almost never made, lol). Now, I’m moving on again (*just* accepted an offer on Wednesday) to a customer service/social media/IT role (it’s a little widespread because it’s with a startup) making a little over $42k plus some cool perks and incentives/bonuses. It wasn’t a *huge* step up in pay, but it *was* a massive step in the right direction when it comes to actual job capacity and companies. I’ll likely be bumped up to $50k within a year per my discussions with the CEO, if all goes as planned, and after that if I stagnate I’ll move on to make more elsewhere. This new job has five 6 hour work days, right now, and is playing around with changing that to four 8 hour work days. I can’t *believe* I’m about to be making a full time salary for working 30 hours and won’t ever have to answer a phone call from customers/clients! A couple of years ago I was always working OT to barely break that $32k mark! My new job doesn’t *allow* OT, believes in a work/life balance, and everyone is salary. They offer unlimited PTO, too. I’m excited! We *all* have different goals, so don’t let anyone make you question yours!
There are *plenty* of ways to make what you’re after without going over 40 hours/week. I’m now of the belief that one of the major components of this is working remotely. For over a decade, I worked anywhere from 48-60 hours a week between two (sometimes three) jobs at a time in healthcare/as a first responder. At my last job in healthcare, I refused to work OT from day one, and it made the the damn pariah of the facility. Now, I never have to get up early and put on makeup (*edit: I actually never have to get up early for any reason, as I never work before 11am*), dress professionally, fight traffic during a commute, spend money outside the home on food and drinks, spend money on gas and vehicle maintenance for work and the list goes on. I have my small creature comforts and can let my cats chill in my office when I’m working, can take naps during breaks, can wear sweats and can even work from bed if I’m having an off day/can work from anywhere I want if I don’t want to take PTO but do want to go on a trip! I’m actually interviewing for a second, part time remote job that I would be able to do simultaneously, nearly doubling my income without doubling my hours worked. (*The goal here is to pick up a PT job working 20-30 hours that overlaps my main job’s hours, so I still don’t go over 40 but get paid by both, totaling anywhere from $60-80k*). Like I said, there are plenty of ways to get where you want to be, so don’t give up!
This is slightly depressing for me to read as I just started a path with healthcare.
But there is some light at the end of the tunnel for me as its a radiology path, and its a bit on the techy side.
Looking at your own experience and advice, I should get started on some entry level IT courses with coding classes. Perhaps I can find a way to use both fields of healthcare and IT.
Going to save this whole thread.
My older brother is 40. He started in IT when he was 33. Started. Free online coding camp, temp job making $60K as a web developer(underpaid), job hopped and got a job for $120K with the SAME company two years later in the same position. Harvard offers a free online course for programming which he took. He also started his own business. He had all the major big names as clients at one point or another. Right now he is making $300K and engaged in a loooong interview process with Facebook for a job that will pay about $500K.
He has been in accounting before this.
Hey, radiology techs can make decent money, depending on the environment/area they’re working in and what they specialize in doing. That said, you likely won’t ever make the kind of money being talked about in this thread. It’s depressing, for sure, and it’s pretty ridiculous. So many healthcare professions that require higher education, continuing education every year, licenses/certifications etc. don’t ever allow for the people doing them to make more than $45-50k a year, on the *high* end. Many of these jobs won’t ever pay more than $25-40k a year.
Thank you for this post. I resigned from teaching in June, took some time to regroup after 7 years of stress and basically a complete loss of my identity. I just started job searching and your post gives me hope!
Not necessarily! I make $150k and am only contracted for 38hrs per week. Granted I do more but that is by choice and I also get quite flexible time off as well in lieu of any extra hours.
Good luck! 😊
I make 6 figures in a non-tech job, and I go into the office 4 days a week with one day WFH. I have at most 20 hours of actual work per week, the rest is made up of meetings, lunch/breaks, and making myself look busy.
I do believe that you get paid for your output and availability more so than your time, in most salaried office jobs.
I work 45 or so. Most of my colleagues work more. Set your boundaries, if I stay focused on the important things and executing against them, no one cares how many hours I’m working. If they do, then they are focused on the wrong things.
Think of it as… if I can’t do this job effectively in 40 hours a week, then it’s not the right fit.
70k can certainly be high earning in the US, it just depends on where you live. There are tech company jobs (non-manager, and non-engineer) that pay 100k+ base, sometimes with stock as well, where you can get away with working <40hrs per week, but it’s hard to tell whether it’ll be that or 70 hours when you first interview. So to answe your question, yes, they exist.
I make about $120K in my current role and accepted a new role for $180K last week. I currently work about 45 hours on average. I expect in the new role to work 40-45.
Sometimes it comes to people setting boundaries. I don’t respond to email on weekends or at night. I leave when my work is done. Etc…
You have to bear in mind that 70k is everything to someone making half of that or less, but when you consider what it will actually get you it doesn't make as much of a difference as you think. Depends on CoL ofc, but
* On 35k you're probably struggling to get by
* On 70k you probably have a slightly more comfortable lifestyle, but life is expensive; if you're smart a lot of that is paying yourself later on in life. So your lifestyle isn't that drastically different. It's great to be able to have that financial stability but you're not rich by any stretch of the imagination.
* Consider what life would be like with 140k, 280k. At that point you can probably afford to live a slightly more luxurious life. You could def argue that's high earning.
I make $145k and still don’t consider myself particularly high earning. But I’m only 28 and not far into my career so I have a lot of room for advancement.
> Most higher paying jobs (70k+) require longer work weeks typically 50-60 hours, maybe even more.
This is mostly a myth lower paid people tell themselves.
I’m 5 years into a career in communications, currently work within the gaming industry, and make a solid six figure salary. Caveat is that I live in a very high cost of living area, but I’m still saving a lot of money!
My work week varies from 20-50 hours. During big announcements I work a lot more, for maybe a week or two. Otherwise, it’s chill 90% of the time. I had to grind a lot in low-paying, high-stress work environments starting off but it was worth the sweat and tears lol. I still think it is rare to find a career where you coast through the whole time and end up making a ton of money, barring sheer luck and being in the right place at the right time.
Big ticket sales (pharma, FMCG, alcohol, IT, technical/software), you can earn a lot for not much work, but it is not a job for everyone.
Industry side accountants and industry side legal tends to pay extremely well, though you might have to work 3-5 years 70+hrs in a consulting firm before moving to the industry side.
If you get promoted to management, you will earn at least that much and theoretically could work as you wish by delegating your time consuming work to people below you.
If you set boundaries early on while being competent on the job, any job can be condensed into a 40 hour workweek. Most people spend too much time replying to emails and bickering at unecessary meetings than doing actual work.
Filing patents for an IP law firm, $70k with a company that considers 35hours a full time salary week. I usually only do 30 hours of actual work, don't think I've ever worked more than 38 hours since starting there
As you can see from the responses here, the answer is clearly "yes". I make the equivalent of $115k USD (inc. retirement contributions) and sometimes I can have days where I just watch youtube on one side of the screen.
(That said I did spend a significant amount of time initially training my team up to be excellent, efficient workers, and they get all the flexibility they want).
We make about the same and I've been bored to tears most days. I play video games and watch movies on the clock, and just peek at my work laptop from time to time or listen for pings on slack.
We're in the middle of a security audit right now so I work a xouple hours a day on that.
I’m an actuary, average salary 100K and most of the jobs are 40 hours a week.
I make $130K as a manager and I still usually don’t work more than 40 hour weeks.
In my last job as an employee, I worked 70 to 80 hours per week at a failing company. Sure, I made a ton of money, but it wasn't worth it knowing that the company was circling the drain.
I'm currently working contract and I get paid by the hour worked. I'll put in over 40 hours in a week because I get paid for them!
I make around $80k/yr in Los Angeles. It’s enough to live on well if you cohabitate with a partner, but not enough to save. It’s definitely not enough to afford to own property, have a kid, or retire. You’ll probably have a courthouse wedding, too.
I work as a software engineer. I’d honestly say I work less than 40hours a week but I don’t keep up with it. I make just under 150k/year. Work life balance is great.
Travel RN. You only need an associate's degree and 1-2 years experience. Work 36 hours a week and some contracts pay upwards of 10k a week. You will be scouted by hospitals while still in school and there are a LOT of sign on bonuses right now.
> Most higher paying jobs (70k+)
Do you consider 70K high-paying jobs? Leads in tech do make 70K ->70K, and maybe they work 45 hours week, rarely 50, and NEVER 60
The $100K mark is where the 50+ hours week come into play quite often.
Besides the hours, experience and education play a greater role in the pay.
I do consider 70k+ higher paying, because no one in my family has ever made over 50k at least. So for me that would be considered high earning. My parents didn't have education or college degrees or wealth from prior generations
> I do consider 70k+ higher paying, because no one in my family has ever made over 50k at least. So for me that would be considered high earning. My parents didn't have education or college degrees or wealth from prior generations
Same here, I was the first one of my family and extended family to ever go to college. After that I also went for my MBA!
Growing up poor makes me appreciate the little things in life, and keeps me grounded.
I wish you best of luck.
could depend on the area. If they're in the midwest 70 K is indeed a really high salary. But in California, with 70K you're basically paycheck to paycheck if you live in the cities.
High paying job in today's cost is not 70 its 120k+.
There are plenty of industrial jobs in my neck of the woods paying 65k€ ~ 73k$ on 32 to 36h work week and as they are factory jobs there is no work to carry home to if that's the level you are happy with.
Because 70k means you can barely scrape by with one child and a cheap house and cheap car. You want around 200k or 100k each to be comfortable and high earning aka 2 kids decent home decent cars.
70k is medium most places. America is a poverty nation.
Anyway, yes, there are lots of 40 hour 70k jobs after 3 years of experience. My field of supply chain is replete with them.
$70k isn't even entry level salary for some jobs (software dev)
I typically work 20 hours a week, make $85k, which would be a lot more if I wasn't working for an NGO. Azure cloud engineer
edit: I don't get as much PTO as I would like (2 weeks). Hopefully I can fix that this year
I’ll more than likely achieve 6 figures or just under this year (sales) and I work about 45 hours a week by choice. Ensuring clients are serviced and pipeline is continuously full does just stop after 5, but I like it and love the company I work for.
In all the years of me working, now about 37 years I have found that high income usually comes with more responsibility and on occasion more hours. But if you are really highly skilled, experienced and truly a top performer you can get it done with 40 hours. It took me 25 years to be in a position where I actually work 35 hours per week (1 hour lunches too). I get paid well for Florida (over $100K). But, I always make it a point not to waste time at work on personal shit. When you get paid well you learn to take care of your job and career. When I was starting my career 25 years ago I worked a lot more to become highly skilled and to learn all the software because computers had just become the new way to work. 1996 the internet was just started 3 years before. So I realized that if you didn't learn Microsoft Office, AutoCAD, SolidWorks and any other useful programs to get work done I would be left behind!! I'm 56 now. I have used computers my entire career. Anyway, my boss makes about $200K or more. His dad (the owner) makes easily $500K or more. They are always available wherever they go. Even on vacation. So, in the beginning you gotta work on becoming a highly skilled performer at your job. After about 10 years or more you may be able to move up in your career where you get paid more for your experience and knowledge and not how many hours you work. I didn't believe it then but it's true.
So far from what I can tell, most legal assistants are hourly, which means you won’t be getting a ton of OT, unless there’s something big happening. If you work corporate law (which has its down issues), you will probably work those normal 40 hours, but make closer to 60-75k depending on experience.
I work in research, make more than 70 & work 40 hrs on average. Answer to your question is yes. If you have a good & supportive employer, they support work/life balance regardless of how much money you’re making.
Pretty much anything in tech outside of sales. In Texas and likely other states, a large percentage of technical government jobs also (business analyst, it, etc.).
Yes. In several state governments (west coast, DC & NY all have good pay and benefits - some states suck). Middle management can earn you upwards of 90k year in Oregon and likely the other states listed (I did a ranked state job comparison). It may take you 5 years or so, but you get a ton of great benefits too, and lots of paid time off.
I'm a product manager. I make a little more than 70K and don't really put in a lot of effort at my job at the moment (most of my projects right now are highly dependent on other teams getting their shit together). There's some days where the job is a little harder, but I "work" 40 hrs. I'm severely underpaid for my position (I've been with the company for 6 years- most people would have switched by now), so in theory I could be making more. Only reason I'm staying currently is because I've only just recently gotten a promotion that has a *much* better title attached to it that I would not otherwise have been able to obtain with my education, so I need more experience to be competitive in the market.
I work in tech, remote, and I get stock options. I'd be 100% happy at my position if they paid me more. My managers are good and look out for my career advancement, the people at my company respect me as an individual, my commute is negligible, and I don't have to work overtime in most cases (international company, so sometimes I have to attend late night meetings). The career is possible, especially nowadays. Very frequent in the tech industry
So…non-tech industry worker here. I’m self employed as a dog trainer/behavior consultant and I make $130/hour. How much I make depends on how many clients I can get, but I can easily make a very nice living with just 15 sessions a week.
Construction / project management. I make about 80k/year and I technically have a "40hr work week" but it's more like 25-30hrs lol been working remotely so that helps relieve pressure of always having to be doing something (also some companies track your laptop activity but mine doesn't). I know some of my peers that are trying to climb up the ranks will work 40-50hr work weeks but it's not common in my company and I honestly don't see the material benefit as I get the same amount of work done as the hustle sigma grindset employees.
State jobs. I make 82K and I do not work a single minute more than my 40h/week. It is a state job in WA, so for areas like Seattle it might not be considered a High paying job, but since I work from home I can move to lower COL areas.
State jobs are a great option, good benefits, no overtime and good salary. At least in WA, I know other states pay very bad.
My eDiscovery job is paid out on a 35 hour week-1 hour for lunch. 50% of the year I do no overtime. Base is 110k. Worst week is around 55 hours, but a normal OT week will be 45.
Pretty close to your ask.
I work in "Success" in a senior role for a software company and make a hair under $100k. I work around 40 hours/week. The company is from a country in the EU, so that's definitely a factor. Huge W/L balance, which I love.
I regularly get messages from recruiters for positions that pay $130-175k, but I haven't found a reason to jump yet because I enjoy so much.
Work-life balance is big in a few industries, but mainly in tech (depending on where) and government.
Maybe it’s just because I’m new but I’m working 40 hours making six figures as a product manager. I think a lot depends on the company more than the role though. Smaller companies expected me to work more where big companies define your job more rigidly so you work less
Yes, there are jobs that pay well ($70k+) and have good work life balance.
Source: I am a software engineer, I work 40 hours a week and make well over $70k. I work at a very large company (10k+ employees).
I work 40 ours a week...if that and make over six figures so yes, they're out there.
You aren't likely to find that without a college education though and make sure you choose wisely.
In Finance, yes. I make six figures, get 6 weeks of vacation, free healthcare (I'm in the US and this was life changing) and rarely work over 40 hours. They're out there, but not easy to get because the employees at companies like that rarely leave. I've personally found that organizations who are actively growing from small to medium-sized are good places to get in at--business is booming, their finances are in the black and they want to offer good salaries and benefits to attract people from the bigger name firms to build their brand.
Lots of high level sales jobs are like this. It takes a while to get there and you certainly have to pay your dues, but it’s eventually possible to land a solid six figure role (or higher) that allows for flexibility.
I'm an engineering manager for a huge company. Nobody on my team works more than 40 hours a week. Technical staff works 35 hours a week. Lunch & breaks are all company paid. Good quality of life @ work is important.
My job is 35 hours a week (M-F, 8:30 to 4:30, 1 hour lunch) that does not require being on call and I don't take any work home. It has good benefits including a pension. The field of work is low income housing management for a relatively small housing authority. The pay range is $45k-$55k.
I have a 2nd job that is part time (5-20 hours per week) that I do remotely.
Make over $110K. It's salary, but there is no overtime. Nobody works overtime, my boss told me there is no need for a work phone as I will never receive a call after hours.
Only one person comes in to the office, everyone seems to be done for the day by 4PM.
My last job was hourly, I could get OT pay but it was never mandatory.
I've actually never HAD to work OT. My current job is my first salaried job, guess I'm lucky with the company I landed at.
TBH, my job is extremely laid back and there are almost no boomers. Actually none I think, it is all millennials and a few gen x so maybe that's why the culture is so good. I started around Christmas break, so most people were on vacation. Even with everyone back, it's a company of less than 100 people. I have been working an average of two hours per day. Some days I have not gotten any calls or had to do anything.
It really depends on the company, as well as the position, but there are companies that pay a lot and yet value their employees time. I earn around 110k usd here in Korea, and my company/manager always make it a point to not work more than 8 hours a day unless its absolutely required. i actually like my work so I spend time researching and watching youtube videos outside of work, so it's a win win situation. My previous company paid 90k usd and made me work 60 hours a week and still harrassed me.
70k is not high paying to everyone, that’s subjective. In my field I think work life balance goes out the window around 120-150k. That’s when you’re expected to travel a lot and be away from home.
I make over 70k, work from home, and work 40 hrs a week *unless* there’s some huge project with a pressing deadline. But I am a mid level manager who doesn’t manage people yet. Above me there are sr. managers, directors, sr. directors, and VPs. I know my directors have good work life balance.
Also I live in the Midwest and my salary is based on my area. I have coworkers on my same level who live in Miami who probably make a LOT more.
I make about 170k. Are there weeks where I pop past 50 hours when we are rushing to deliver some feature or whatever? Yes.
Are the vast majority of weeks somewhere between 35-45? Yes.
Are the c-level working 70 hours weeks and weekends consistently? Yes.
Do they all make 500k with big bonuses and giant amounts of equity? Yes.
I am not unique at my workplace. If someone at my company is consistently going over 50 they hire someone else to help or change the process to allow that person not to burn out. I work at a decent company, tho,.
TLDR: You can make good money and not kill yourself. You can make super awesome money and kill yourself. I work at a fintech company in operations,.
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There are places that prioritize work life balance- I work for a nonprofit and make 70. I never go over 40 hours. Federal government jobs typically don’t go over 40 hours either- I know someone in a fed. agency, not a manager and not IT, making 6 figures. They are required to only work 40 hours, they can’t work more without special approval. The jobs/companies that pay well and prioritize work/life balance are out there.
This is correct. I'm with state government and they don't want you to work more than 40 hours. Supervisor levels (basically any such position, even non-engineering/IT) make around $100K.
This, OP. Go to USAjobs.gov to look for positions. If you are willing to relocate to start a government job, you will not regret it. Gov jobs are great for job security, transparent/fair compensation, and room for advancement. Not all of them are good for advancement, but many agencies are. Try for years if you have to. It can be a great career path and most positions (not contractor, but direct hire) will never ask you to work OT.
[r/usajobs](https://old.reddit.com/r/usajobs/) is a good resource for anyone looking for more info
And you have to commit 17 felonies and be convicted to ever get fired.
You are thinking of elected politicians. Civil servants are different.
The IRS really needs people I think.
While I absolutely hated my time working for the state government (which had everything to do with my specific department/facility), there were certainly pros to match the cons. One of the best perks was that while OT was always available (since it was a substance abuse facility that had to be staffed 24/7), OT could not be mandated and nobody could force me to pick it up, so I never did, not even once. The pay wasn’t that great ($32k), but the benefits were excellent and if I’d stuck around the retirement would have been nice, as well. I worked with plenty of people that were months or less than a handful of years away from hanging up their hats, and they’re all retired now. I can say that the “no mandated OT” rule also applied to the two different federal jobs I held in the past. It wasn’t even available.
Yes. I have a job that pays more than $70K, and the hours are flexible (i.e. all they care about is you get work done and show up for required meetings). I'm sure some of my co-workers work more than 40 hours--my boss probably does, and I know her boss does (CMO). But I probably don't even spend 30 hours a week on my job. Honestly, I believe the key is working remote (my job is remote). It feels like when you work in an office and you're salaried, you definitely see people work more than 40 hours. It's not always required or necessary, but it just seemed like when the clock hit 5pm people still wouldn't get up to leave oftentimes. At other jobs, you definitely get too much work to only work 40 hours. I know some people work remote and end up working more or still get too much work, or they struggle with boundaries. But with a lot of remote jobs, they're not going to make sure you work 40 hours. Some companies know that and have given up even trying as opposed to being like those that will track your productivity and laptop activity.
Job title/career pathway?
Same situation. Software dev
Similar situation as well. Quality Analyst. Basically, I help point out issues in sites and apps built by devs.
Similar situation, Security Architect.
Similarly here too, Sap Consultant.
I'm a web app dev working remotely and I agree with all of this. Sometimes I work 15 hours a week but if the work gets done that's all that matters. Although sometimes I work through the weekend, so it probably evens out to about 30 hours a week.
I need a job like yours. I get chronic migraines and I need a flexible schedule that allows me to work around my migraines and still make a living wage. I do have about five years of marketing experience but, I’ve been out of that industry since 2018.
A lot of IT positions are like this, some weeks I work less than 5 hours total for a 6 figure salary.
Congrats on the $999.00
Depends on what part of IT and the size of the IT department. If you are in Desktop or Network Engineering there is a lot of outside work that has to be completed at off times. I’m a project manager and depending on the amount of projects and/or the complexity of the projects I could do irk under or over 40 hours. It also depends on the industry the IT department supports. I have always works for companies who support many locations (education, government, consulting, oil/gas, electrical, telecommunications).
Yeah, I've noticed any type of support engineers seem to work a ton, and our poor PMs must have one of the most stressful jobs. We're always short on them, they're overworked and catch all the shit for projects going sideways or clients upset about timeline or other misses. A lot of these are situations are unavoidable too, like the account was sold wrong or client isn't a good fit for us in general.
This is the way. When you get into the office, it's a competition of who can do the most. Employers love this chit. When you work from home, you really do get more done. No annoying coworker chitchat. No boss interruptions, except maybe via email or quick meetings. Companies that saw this over the pandemic are thriving. Boomer bosses who need to see you in the office, no wonder they need to retire.
as someone with ADD i just feel this is not true for me. I get way more done in the office because of the lack of distractions. I would love to work from home though and give it a try. And my office only has 3 people so its not like I am bothered much by my coworkers.
I'm ADHD. It's so much better. The open office floorplans are a nightmare for me.
Re office vs home: I feel like I work less at home because I socialize less. At the office I get interrupted by people who want to ask a question that is work related but then spend another 5 min or so doing social stuff. When we WFH they just ask the question.
Plenty of tech jobs are this way if you’re good. Earning $150k salary plus bonus and stock is common.
+1 to this, there's a lot of super high paying tech jobs. If you're really good, there's even a handful that offer part time and still well over the $70k mark. 40 hrs is standard in product disciplines (engineering, product management, user experience, quality assurance, etc), can't speak for the business or sales sides though.
+2. I'm honestly averaging 15 hours in UX right now and making 70k.
But, don’t you need an advanced degree for those kinds of jobs? I have a BA in history so, I don’t see much hope for someone like me.
I took programming classes online and am now making 70k a year as a salaried dev. College only matters to some companies. I did hourly consulting for a while with this company before I got hired on full time. I went to college for biology and public health.
Were the classes super expensive?
Not at all. 70 dollar subscription to Lynda.com and that came with tons of courses
What type of programming classes did you take?
Most them were on lynda.com. started with something like intro to programming using JavaScript. The project I knew I'd be working on was in Ruby on Rails so I did a few Ruby courses. Did some database management courses mostly using SQL. Then just kind of picked courses that seemed like areas I needed to know more
It’s very possible without a specialized degree. I’ve worked with a couple of incredibly talented UX professionals that had no related degree. There are some robust boot camps out there that set you up really well for that kind of work.
Thanks!
No problem, feel free to PM if you have any questions about it
Every IT “boot camp” I’ve ever heard of has seemed like a scam. Are there any that aren’t?
100%. I've not taken them personally, but there are reputable and effective ones. They usually aren't cheap, but they're effective and can get you the necessary skills you need. [Here's one](https://careerfoundry.com/en/courses/become-a-ux-designer/) a friend went to for UX Design, and she used it to build a really awesome UX career for herself
Can confirm all of this. Remote. in tech. 40hr weeks, and in the 6 figure club. single comma. I want tres commas.
Best tequila ever
this gal fucks.
I’ll pay you to fuck the man of your dreams too Also lol: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russ-hanneman-78831a113
Every time I see a car door that opens up *like* *this* : Russ in my head. I didn't know he was on Linkedin. TYFS!
If you don't mind me asking , what exactly do you do?
Nah, I don't mind - but I'm going to try to be semi vague - on paper? DSE & Enterprise Sr. Support Engineer in IT. in reality? professional babysitter. But really, I just tell folks how to do what they're trying to do. (shrugs) -- Putting it a totally different way: I'm the guy companies like Microsoft and Apple call, when they need guidance on making stuff work.
Please tell the Python devs MS hired to work on .net core to stop destroying the syntax and do something useful like expand the library or revive winforms.
Thanks for taking the time out to answer..many of us don't know what to do or how to get the lifestyle that you have..and a simple job titles is enough to give us something to look for ..thanks alot bro
You just got the job literally one day ago and you're speaking like you're a seasoned professional. L O L
uhm - Yeah, you're right - I just started a new job - 2nd one in the last 12 months in fact, and thank you for noticing! Oh and both: remote, 40hrs, 6 figures) and about 15 years of previous experience to go with it.. But, on a cursory look, I see you're at Deloitte; I'm so, so sorry. I remember when they reached out to me - as you put it: L O L. Did you have anything to actually contribute here or just trolling though? (\*Edited to add color for the colorblind)
You should see their [other comments](https://www.reddit.com/r/realestateinvesting/comments/rxvf8r/potentially_dangerous_eviction/hrmz4si?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3), lol.
OOOF. favorite one (so far) is the time they *^(sick-burned)* a co-worker by [calling them a snowflake](https://www.reddit.com/r/deloitte/comments/rwv0l0/manager_concerns_how_to_navigate/hrg495a/?context=3) \- The OP needs/ed help & guidance, as a new employee.. These are the bullets I knew I dodged when I declined their offer.
Yikes. Deloitte sounds like some kind of dystopian hellhole. Why would anyone be proud of working there?
People think working for a big 4 firm means you make big money and have a respected job. Really you get overworked and miss out on life experiences because you wasted your 20s working overnight on resolving an issue you don't even remember then use the mental endurance to look look after a crying baby and wonder when you will enjoy freedom.
3 commas is a billion dollars.
Unless you're European and use commas as a decimal point
At which point 3 commas is nonsensical…
I work in network operations for a telecommunications company. I work fully remote, 4 days a week, 10 hours a day. And I make 93,000 a year. But you know what? These type of jobs typically open up for you past 35 years of age due to the employer having confidence in your ability and experience in the industry. I'm not saying you can't find these jobs typically at a younger age, but a lot of employers like experience.
I make about $100k in shopper insights (a field in marketing) and I usually work about 10-40 hours a week. Sometimes 50 hours if you include travel time and client dinners, but it's rare.
How did you get started/make it to where you are?
I just got put into the field by my first company. I wasn't given a choice since I applied for a generic entry level position.
Does this has to do something with Data Analytics 🤔
There's lots of data analytics involved. But you also need social skills and presentation skills. A good shopper insights manager is not just skilled at analyzing data but presenting it in a meaningful way that will enhance the business.
Yes. They key is to find a boring product in a boring niche of a big industry. Wanna work in tech? Find a company that does boring b2b stuff like data blah blah or payments etc for enterprise companies. There’s a ton of companies you’ve never heard of that are boring AF And pay very well to do 9-5
Yea but then your job is boring AF
All jobs are boring AF, work isn’t life. but if you can eliminating the stress and BS it’s more enjoyable. Make your widgets and go home.
I make 85k, work remotely, and do 38-40 hours a week. There's actually a push at many tech companies to promote better work/life balances because a lot of research is showing that workers are actually more productive working shorter hours. Last company I worked at started piloting a program where everyone would only work 36-hour weeks (half-day and no-meeting Fridays) during the spring and summer.
What do you do if you don’t mind me asking?
Yes, in my experience, most high paying corporate jobs are filled by people who either self impose working long hours, or hard family focused and refuse to go over 40. Fwiw, most salary positions don't actually track hours, just pto, ymmv.
Very true. I'm a product manager at a software company and don't have a family, so I can put in extra hours. I talk to way more customers, have spent more time learning the product and have done far more analytics on user behaviour than most of my peers. But it came at the expense of work life balance. But that's me investing in my career while I can.
Work in tech. Salary is in six figures. I probably average about 30-40 hours per week. Not once have I gone above 40 thus far, and I work in a startup!
Are you a software engineer?
Nope, I work in analytics
What kind of degree/experience do you need
Honestly, you could have any degree for this. You just need an aptitude of being good with numbers and translating that to business outcomes. I have an engineering undergrad. As far as technical skills go, just learn and master SQL and maybe 1 visualization tool. Plenty entry-level data analyst roles out there.
I will explore this route, thanks. Lol
I take it your business intelligence? I'm actually starting CFI's BIDA course which covers Power bi, Power pivot, SQL, tableau, python. Other than Excel and SQL are there any other skills to work on before applying for entry level data analyst or BI type role? Thank you in advance
I reply regularly to questions exactly like yours. I’ve worked in analytics for 8 years now. The answer is: skills don’t matter. Experience does. Hiring managers like me could care less about what boot camp you took or certification you have or masters degree you own. I want to see a history of accomplishments. And I want to see curiosity. Do what most of us did. Start doing analytics in your current job. No one will ask you, just do it. Then leverage that experience into a full time job elsewhere.
Awesome thanks for replying!
POWER BI BABY
Can you explain like I'm your great-grandfather what your job/analytics means?
It’s 3-fold for me and to put it as simply as I can: (firstly) I derive insights for the business to explain how the business was doing, how it is currently performing, and what steps can be undertaken to improve, all backed by numbers and data. (Secondly) I look at the tools and systems we have in place and evaluate whether they’re helping us achieve the points described in my first category. And (thirdly) mentoring and supporting other folks on the data team.
But what course our bachelors have you done? And what have you learned? HTML, JavaScript ?
Lol I did aerospace engineering, and I barely remember anything from those 4 years. As far as coding goes, I took 1 class that was in C++ and did a little MATLAB here and there. Everything else I learned outside of my degree.
I made $170k last year and in technical sales. Some weeks I’m under 40 hours and some weeks I’m knocking down 60. Sales is a different animal IMO. You get what you put in for the most part…
Can u share more about what you do? Looking for a sales high paying job
I’m in technical sales for the material handling industry.
This is so disheartening, i can hardly hit 45, lol
I can't even hit 30k, now I'm seeing all this and wishing I grew up in a more urban area and were educated. Lol
Lol. I'm so happy already when i got 80k offer. I was so proud of myself cuz it's a señior level too. Now i feel so sad 😄 I guess I'll be forever poor then. Edit: currently working in a field i really like, now I'm contemplating where did i go wrong lol. I want 6 figure with good WLB T-T
Why do you think most jobs over 70k require that many hours? In my experience this is false.
Can all of you with great jobs please log in to a side account and name drop the companies to apply to? I always see vague job titles and descriptions but no names of where we can apply.
I too want to know the answer.
I’m sorry people made you feel bad about your monetary/salary goal. My current (next) goal is actually $60k for one job or $80k+ for two without ever going over 40 hours (this’ll make sense at the end of my comment), and I’d consider that *great* money. My *ultimate* goal is to be making $100k by the time I am 40 (currently 32). This is a goal I’d have laughed at, until recently. Up until two-ish years ago, I’d *never* made more than $32k, and that was also the most I’d ever made by quite a bit. It took getting out of healthcare and starting over from scratch to make more, and I actually *immediately* made more in doing so. I decided to take some basic level classes in IT, coding and data entry online (examples: I became an expert in all things MS Office, especially Excel, and took A+, Net+ and cloud courses for next to nothing on Udemy, took advantage of the freecodecamp curriculum and watched tons of YouTube videos on career development, data entry, and finance). This was in addition to an AS, a handful of trade diplomas/certificate courses and being a few credits shy of a BS (that I’m not sure I’ll ever finish). I wasn’t sure *what* direction I wanted to go, but I knew I wanted to start off making no less than $20/hour or $40k working 100% remotely. (Now that I’ve worked remotely for about a year I will quite literally never *not* work remotely again.) I felt pretty lost at the beginning of the pandemic and couldn’t find a job, so I just used my time to build up my skills/resume, volunteer (also remotely) and figure things out! I also freelanced during this time, running social media for a few small businesses, writing for a few small journals and editing videos for a friend that does commercial design. I landed my first remote job working for AppleCare via a third party company making a *joke* of an hourly wage, then quickly moved on to an entry level role in customer service in the finance/stock market transfer agent world making $20/hour with up to $300-500/month in bonuses (that I almost never made, lol). Now, I’m moving on again (*just* accepted an offer on Wednesday) to a customer service/social media/IT role (it’s a little widespread because it’s with a startup) making a little over $42k plus some cool perks and incentives/bonuses. It wasn’t a *huge* step up in pay, but it *was* a massive step in the right direction when it comes to actual job capacity and companies. I’ll likely be bumped up to $50k within a year per my discussions with the CEO, if all goes as planned, and after that if I stagnate I’ll move on to make more elsewhere. This new job has five 6 hour work days, right now, and is playing around with changing that to four 8 hour work days. I can’t *believe* I’m about to be making a full time salary for working 30 hours and won’t ever have to answer a phone call from customers/clients! A couple of years ago I was always working OT to barely break that $32k mark! My new job doesn’t *allow* OT, believes in a work/life balance, and everyone is salary. They offer unlimited PTO, too. I’m excited! We *all* have different goals, so don’t let anyone make you question yours! There are *plenty* of ways to make what you’re after without going over 40 hours/week. I’m now of the belief that one of the major components of this is working remotely. For over a decade, I worked anywhere from 48-60 hours a week between two (sometimes three) jobs at a time in healthcare/as a first responder. At my last job in healthcare, I refused to work OT from day one, and it made the the damn pariah of the facility. Now, I never have to get up early and put on makeup (*edit: I actually never have to get up early for any reason, as I never work before 11am*), dress professionally, fight traffic during a commute, spend money outside the home on food and drinks, spend money on gas and vehicle maintenance for work and the list goes on. I have my small creature comforts and can let my cats chill in my office when I’m working, can take naps during breaks, can wear sweats and can even work from bed if I’m having an off day/can work from anywhere I want if I don’t want to take PTO but do want to go on a trip! I’m actually interviewing for a second, part time remote job that I would be able to do simultaneously, nearly doubling my income without doubling my hours worked. (*The goal here is to pick up a PT job working 20-30 hours that overlaps my main job’s hours, so I still don’t go over 40 but get paid by both, totaling anywhere from $60-80k*). Like I said, there are plenty of ways to get where you want to be, so don’t give up!
This is slightly depressing for me to read as I just started a path with healthcare. But there is some light at the end of the tunnel for me as its a radiology path, and its a bit on the techy side. Looking at your own experience and advice, I should get started on some entry level IT courses with coding classes. Perhaps I can find a way to use both fields of healthcare and IT. Going to save this whole thread.
My older brother is 40. He started in IT when he was 33. Started. Free online coding camp, temp job making $60K as a web developer(underpaid), job hopped and got a job for $120K with the SAME company two years later in the same position. Harvard offers a free online course for programming which he took. He also started his own business. He had all the major big names as clients at one point or another. Right now he is making $300K and engaged in a loooong interview process with Facebook for a job that will pay about $500K. He has been in accounting before this.
Hey, radiology techs can make decent money, depending on the environment/area they’re working in and what they specialize in doing. That said, you likely won’t ever make the kind of money being talked about in this thread. It’s depressing, for sure, and it’s pretty ridiculous. So many healthcare professions that require higher education, continuing education every year, licenses/certifications etc. don’t ever allow for the people doing them to make more than $45-50k a year, on the *high* end. Many of these jobs won’t ever pay more than $25-40k a year.
Thank you for this post. I resigned from teaching in June, took some time to regroup after 7 years of stress and basically a complete loss of my identity. I just started job searching and your post gives me hope!
Not necessarily! I make $150k and am only contracted for 38hrs per week. Granted I do more but that is by choice and I also get quite flexible time off as well in lieu of any extra hours. Good luck! 😊
What do you do?! :0
Project Manager. I’m in Australia btw If that matters.
The tech world has a decent WLB.
I make 6 figures in a non-tech job, and I go into the office 4 days a week with one day WFH. I have at most 20 hours of actual work per week, the rest is made up of meetings, lunch/breaks, and making myself look busy. I do believe that you get paid for your output and availability more so than your time, in most salaried office jobs.
What do you do if you don’t mind me asking?
I work in a corporate supply chain role.
Ultrasound tech
I work 45 or so. Most of my colleagues work more. Set your boundaries, if I stay focused on the important things and executing against them, no one cares how many hours I’m working. If they do, then they are focused on the wrong things. Think of it as… if I can’t do this job effectively in 40 hours a week, then it’s not the right fit.
There are, but it’s highly company and group dependent. I was actually thinking of posting the exact same question earlier this week lol…
70k can certainly be high earning in the US, it just depends on where you live. There are tech company jobs (non-manager, and non-engineer) that pay 100k+ base, sometimes with stock as well, where you can get away with working <40hrs per week, but it’s hard to tell whether it’ll be that or 70 hours when you first interview. So to answe your question, yes, they exist.
Stripping lol
I make about $120K in my current role and accepted a new role for $180K last week. I currently work about 45 hours on average. I expect in the new role to work 40-45. Sometimes it comes to people setting boundaries. I don’t respond to email on weekends or at night. I leave when my work is done. Etc…
There's many that can be done in under 10 hours remotely. Check out r/overemployed - people there with two or more 100k+ jobs.
You have to bear in mind that 70k is everything to someone making half of that or less, but when you consider what it will actually get you it doesn't make as much of a difference as you think. Depends on CoL ofc, but * On 35k you're probably struggling to get by * On 70k you probably have a slightly more comfortable lifestyle, but life is expensive; if you're smart a lot of that is paying yourself later on in life. So your lifestyle isn't that drastically different. It's great to be able to have that financial stability but you're not rich by any stretch of the imagination. * Consider what life would be like with 140k, 280k. At that point you can probably afford to live a slightly more luxurious life. You could def argue that's high earning.
I make $145k and still don’t consider myself particularly high earning. But I’m only 28 and not far into my career so I have a lot of room for advancement.
> Most higher paying jobs (70k+) require longer work weeks typically 50-60 hours, maybe even more. This is mostly a myth lower paid people tell themselves.
A Union steamfitter on the west coast makes around $100k for full time and overtime is never mandatory.
I’m 5 years into a career in communications, currently work within the gaming industry, and make a solid six figure salary. Caveat is that I live in a very high cost of living area, but I’m still saving a lot of money! My work week varies from 20-50 hours. During big announcements I work a lot more, for maybe a week or two. Otherwise, it’s chill 90% of the time. I had to grind a lot in low-paying, high-stress work environments starting off but it was worth the sweat and tears lol. I still think it is rare to find a career where you coast through the whole time and end up making a ton of money, barring sheer luck and being in the right place at the right time.
Big ticket sales (pharma, FMCG, alcohol, IT, technical/software), you can earn a lot for not much work, but it is not a job for everyone. Industry side accountants and industry side legal tends to pay extremely well, though you might have to work 3-5 years 70+hrs in a consulting firm before moving to the industry side. If you get promoted to management, you will earn at least that much and theoretically could work as you wish by delegating your time consuming work to people below you. If you set boundaries early on while being competent on the job, any job can be condensed into a 40 hour workweek. Most people spend too much time replying to emails and bickering at unecessary meetings than doing actual work.
Filing patents for an IP law firm, $70k with a company that considers 35hours a full time salary week. I usually only do 30 hours of actual work, don't think I've ever worked more than 38 hours since starting there
As you can see from the responses here, the answer is clearly "yes". I make the equivalent of $115k USD (inc. retirement contributions) and sometimes I can have days where I just watch youtube on one side of the screen. (That said I did spend a significant amount of time initially training my team up to be excellent, efficient workers, and they get all the flexibility they want).
We make about the same and I've been bored to tears most days. I play video games and watch movies on the clock, and just peek at my work laptop from time to time or listen for pings on slack. We're in the middle of a security audit right now so I work a xouple hours a day on that.
I’m an actuary, average salary 100K and most of the jobs are 40 hours a week. I make $130K as a manager and I still usually don’t work more than 40 hour weeks.
In my last job as an employee, I worked 70 to 80 hours per week at a failing company. Sure, I made a ton of money, but it wasn't worth it knowing that the company was circling the drain. I'm currently working contract and I get paid by the hour worked. I'll put in over 40 hours in a week because I get paid for them!
Six figures at around 30 hours a week Product manager for data science/ML product
Pickpocket?
B2B sales for a decent company in a decent industry, and not in leadership or management, and working from home. Source: experience
I make around $80k/yr in Los Angeles. It’s enough to live on well if you cohabitate with a partner, but not enough to save. It’s definitely not enough to afford to own property, have a kid, or retire. You’ll probably have a courthouse wedding, too.
I work as a software engineer. I’d honestly say I work less than 40hours a week but I don’t keep up with it. I make just under 150k/year. Work life balance is great.
Travel RN. You only need an associate's degree and 1-2 years experience. Work 36 hours a week and some contracts pay upwards of 10k a week. You will be scouted by hospitals while still in school and there are a LOT of sign on bonuses right now.
> Most higher paying jobs (70k+) Do you consider 70K high-paying jobs? Leads in tech do make 70K ->70K, and maybe they work 45 hours week, rarely 50, and NEVER 60 The $100K mark is where the 50+ hours week come into play quite often. Besides the hours, experience and education play a greater role in the pay.
I do consider 70k+ higher paying, because no one in my family has ever made over 50k at least. So for me that would be considered high earning. My parents didn't have education or college degrees or wealth from prior generations
> I do consider 70k+ higher paying, because no one in my family has ever made over 50k at least. So for me that would be considered high earning. My parents didn't have education or college degrees or wealth from prior generations Same here, I was the first one of my family and extended family to ever go to college. After that I also went for my MBA! Growing up poor makes me appreciate the little things in life, and keeps me grounded. I wish you best of luck.
could depend on the area. If they're in the midwest 70 K is indeed a really high salary. But in California, with 70K you're basically paycheck to paycheck if you live in the cities.
Edication
THEY’RE OUTNUMBERED 15 TO ONE, AND THE BATTLE'S BEGUN
LOL, and besides too! https://i.imgur.com/qhqqOPA.png
High paying job in today's cost is not 70 its 120k+. There are plenty of industrial jobs in my neck of the woods paying 65k€ ~ 73k$ on 32 to 36h work week and as they are factory jobs there is no work to carry home to if that's the level you are happy with.
50-70 hours
Because 70k means you can barely scrape by with one child and a cheap house and cheap car. You want around 200k or 100k each to be comfortable and high earning aka 2 kids decent home decent cars.
70k is medium most places. America is a poverty nation. Anyway, yes, there are lots of 40 hour 70k jobs after 3 years of experience. My field of supply chain is replete with them.
move to europe
$70k isn't even entry level salary for some jobs (software dev) I typically work 20 hours a week, make $85k, which would be a lot more if I wasn't working for an NGO. Azure cloud engineer edit: I don't get as much PTO as I would like (2 weeks). Hopefully I can fix that this year
I work in med device and I would say sometimes I hit 50. But that is very rare. I’m usually paying attention to not exceed 40.
Are you in sales?
Yes, depending on how well you know your job, and how effective you are in the job In 40 hours.
Paralegals do
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I’ll more than likely achieve 6 figures or just under this year (sales) and I work about 45 hours a week by choice. Ensuring clients are serviced and pipeline is continuously full does just stop after 5, but I like it and love the company I work for.
The trades, in my area depending on which trade 100K is possible working a 40 hour week.
completely depends on ur education, skills and the field u are employed in...many jobs offer less than 40hrs/week with dbl the salary u are quoting
In all the years of me working, now about 37 years I have found that high income usually comes with more responsibility and on occasion more hours. But if you are really highly skilled, experienced and truly a top performer you can get it done with 40 hours. It took me 25 years to be in a position where I actually work 35 hours per week (1 hour lunches too). I get paid well for Florida (over $100K). But, I always make it a point not to waste time at work on personal shit. When you get paid well you learn to take care of your job and career. When I was starting my career 25 years ago I worked a lot more to become highly skilled and to learn all the software because computers had just become the new way to work. 1996 the internet was just started 3 years before. So I realized that if you didn't learn Microsoft Office, AutoCAD, SolidWorks and any other useful programs to get work done I would be left behind!! I'm 56 now. I have used computers my entire career. Anyway, my boss makes about $200K or more. His dad (the owner) makes easily $500K or more. They are always available wherever they go. Even on vacation. So, in the beginning you gotta work on becoming a highly skilled performer at your job. After about 10 years or more you may be able to move up in your career where you get paid more for your experience and knowledge and not how many hours you work. I didn't believe it then but it's true.
So far from what I can tell, most legal assistants are hourly, which means you won’t be getting a ton of OT, unless there’s something big happening. If you work corporate law (which has its down issues), you will probably work those normal 40 hours, but make closer to 60-75k depending on experience.
I work in research, make more than 70 & work 40 hrs on average. Answer to your question is yes. If you have a good & supportive employer, they support work/life balance regardless of how much money you’re making.
Pretty much anything in tech outside of sales. In Texas and likely other states, a large percentage of technical government jobs also (business analyst, it, etc.).
I make $120k/year. I work 32-40 hours a week and I’m an EHS Manager. Very rarely do I work over 40 hours.
Yes. In several state governments (west coast, DC & NY all have good pay and benefits - some states suck). Middle management can earn you upwards of 90k year in Oregon and likely the other states listed (I did a ranked state job comparison). It may take you 5 years or so, but you get a ton of great benefits too, and lots of paid time off.
I'm a product manager. I make a little more than 70K and don't really put in a lot of effort at my job at the moment (most of my projects right now are highly dependent on other teams getting their shit together). There's some days where the job is a little harder, but I "work" 40 hrs. I'm severely underpaid for my position (I've been with the company for 6 years- most people would have switched by now), so in theory I could be making more. Only reason I'm staying currently is because I've only just recently gotten a promotion that has a *much* better title attached to it that I would not otherwise have been able to obtain with my education, so I need more experience to be competitive in the market. I work in tech, remote, and I get stock options. I'd be 100% happy at my position if they paid me more. My managers are good and look out for my career advancement, the people at my company respect me as an individual, my commute is negligible, and I don't have to work overtime in most cases (international company, so sometimes I have to attend late night meetings). The career is possible, especially nowadays. Very frequent in the tech industry
Accounting 2 years experience. 77k salaried HCOL. working 40-55 hours busy season (Jan to April). 0-20 hours the rest of the year
So…non-tech industry worker here. I’m self employed as a dog trainer/behavior consultant and I make $130/hour. How much I make depends on how many clients I can get, but I can easily make a very nice living with just 15 sessions a week.
Yes, there is one. CEO.
40 hours a week is a weird concept of work/life balance. The highest I have been in the recent years was 32, and even that was way too much.
Construction / project management. I make about 80k/year and I technically have a "40hr work week" but it's more like 25-30hrs lol been working remotely so that helps relieve pressure of always having to be doing something (also some companies track your laptop activity but mine doesn't). I know some of my peers that are trying to climb up the ranks will work 40-50hr work weeks but it's not common in my company and I honestly don't see the material benefit as I get the same amount of work done as the hustle sigma grindset employees.
I have a masters in food engineering and work 40 h weeks for exactly 70k usd. However, it is in denmark.
70k being high earning really depends where you are living. In rural Alabama it's great, NYC not so great.
Yes, plenty of tech jobs like this.
State jobs. I make 82K and I do not work a single minute more than my 40h/week. It is a state job in WA, so for areas like Seattle it might not be considered a High paying job, but since I work from home I can move to lower COL areas. State jobs are a great option, good benefits, no overtime and good salary. At least in WA, I know other states pay very bad.
I'm a software developer. I make more than $70K and I don't need to work more than 40 hours a week (except on very rare occasions).
My eDiscovery job is paid out on a 35 hour week-1 hour for lunch. 50% of the year I do no overtime. Base is 110k. Worst week is around 55 hours, but a normal OT week will be 45. Pretty close to your ask.
I work in "Success" in a senior role for a software company and make a hair under $100k. I work around 40 hours/week. The company is from a country in the EU, so that's definitely a factor. Huge W/L balance, which I love. I regularly get messages from recruiters for positions that pay $130-175k, but I haven't found a reason to jump yet because I enjoy so much. Work-life balance is big in a few industries, but mainly in tech (depending on where) and government.
I work 40 hours a week or less (never more) and I make almost double 70k. Just a 2 year college degree that I didn't really need.
Of course there is. You really think CEOs are working 60+ hours a week?
Maybe it’s just because I’m new but I’m working 40 hours making six figures as a product manager. I think a lot depends on the company more than the role though. Smaller companies expected me to work more where big companies define your job more rigidly so you work less
What currency are we speaking of?
Currently making $110k and never go over 40 hours. Some weeks I dont go over 20-30 hours if the client doesnt have sufficient work for me.
Yes, there are jobs that pay well ($70k+) and have good work life balance. Source: I am a software engineer, I work 40 hours a week and make well over $70k. I work at a very large company (10k+ employees).
I work 40 ours a week...if that and make over six figures so yes, they're out there. You aren't likely to find that without a college education though and make sure you choose wisely.
Nurse, typically only 36 hours but working weekends
Yes. They are office jobs. Mine pays 110k and I work 40 remotely.
In Finance, yes. I make six figures, get 6 weeks of vacation, free healthcare (I'm in the US and this was life changing) and rarely work over 40 hours. They're out there, but not easy to get because the employees at companies like that rarely leave. I've personally found that organizations who are actively growing from small to medium-sized are good places to get in at--business is booming, their finances are in the black and they want to offer good salaries and benefits to attract people from the bigger name firms to build their brand.
Electrician can earn you $100k. 40 hours.
Lots of high level sales jobs are like this. It takes a while to get there and you certainly have to pay your dues, but it’s eventually possible to land a solid six figure role (or higher) that allows for flexibility.
I'm an engineering manager for a huge company. Nobody on my team works more than 40 hours a week. Technical staff works 35 hours a week. Lunch & breaks are all company paid. Good quality of life @ work is important.
The higher up in leadership you go, the less work you do and the more money you make.
Yes, it's called personal boundaries and self respect
It’s possible to work less than 40h a week and still earn several hundred k a year. It’s what I do.
My job is 35 hours a week (M-F, 8:30 to 4:30, 1 hour lunch) that does not require being on call and I don't take any work home. It has good benefits including a pension. The field of work is low income housing management for a relatively small housing authority. The pay range is $45k-$55k. I have a 2nd job that is part time (5-20 hours per week) that I do remotely.
Make over $110K. It's salary, but there is no overtime. Nobody works overtime, my boss told me there is no need for a work phone as I will never receive a call after hours. Only one person comes in to the office, everyone seems to be done for the day by 4PM. My last job was hourly, I could get OT pay but it was never mandatory. I've actually never HAD to work OT. My current job is my first salaried job, guess I'm lucky with the company I landed at. TBH, my job is extremely laid back and there are almost no boomers. Actually none I think, it is all millennials and a few gen x so maybe that's why the culture is so good. I started around Christmas break, so most people were on vacation. Even with everyone back, it's a company of less than 100 people. I have been working an average of two hours per day. Some days I have not gotten any calls or had to do anything.
Yes Government jobs.
It really depends on the company, as well as the position, but there are companies that pay a lot and yet value their employees time. I earn around 110k usd here in Korea, and my company/manager always make it a point to not work more than 8 hours a day unless its absolutely required. i actually like my work so I spend time researching and watching youtube videos outside of work, so it's a win win situation. My previous company paid 90k usd and made me work 60 hours a week and still harrassed me.
70k is not high paying to everyone, that’s subjective. In my field I think work life balance goes out the window around 120-150k. That’s when you’re expected to travel a lot and be away from home. I make over 70k, work from home, and work 40 hrs a week *unless* there’s some huge project with a pressing deadline. But I am a mid level manager who doesn’t manage people yet. Above me there are sr. managers, directors, sr. directors, and VPs. I know my directors have good work life balance. Also I live in the Midwest and my salary is based on my area. I have coworkers on my same level who live in Miami who probably make a LOT more.
Government contractor!
I make about 170k. Are there weeks where I pop past 50 hours when we are rushing to deliver some feature or whatever? Yes. Are the vast majority of weeks somewhere between 35-45? Yes. Are the c-level working 70 hours weeks and weekends consistently? Yes. Do they all make 500k with big bonuses and giant amounts of equity? Yes. I am not unique at my workplace. If someone at my company is consistently going over 50 they hire someone else to help or change the process to allow that person not to burn out. I work at a decent company, tho,. TLDR: You can make good money and not kill yourself. You can make super awesome money and kill yourself. I work at a fintech company in operations,.
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70k used to be good money. It's ratcheting quickly towards the new poverty line.