Unusual Jobs That you Wouldn’t Know Pay More than 100K
Michael Yi
Are you looking for a career that will pay well, but don’t like a lot of the options for a six figure salary that are commonly suggested? Or maybe you want lots of perks, but don’t want to have to do a master’s degree.
The Australian Bureau of Labour Statistics shows that the top eight earning jobs are all in healthcare, in relation to surgery or doctoring. However, there are lots of less well known, odd jobs that don’t require more than a bachelor’s degree – and some of them not even that, just a high school diploma!
Five unusual high paying jobs you should consider:
1. Software Development
These days, anything in information technology is in high demand. Career paths are rapidly expanding for those who previously were viewed as were seen as the computer science nerds. A college degree will definitely help, on the job training and how many years of experience you have will both be a big player in getting into the software developers world.
- 90% of Software developers Work full-time
- 37 is the average age of a software developer
- Those at the top of the software development game can earn $111,000 average salary P/A, according to Payscale
- In Australia, there are 121,300 software and application programmers
2. Ethical Hacker
In recent years, understanding computer systems and their potential flaws has meant that ethical hacking has become one of those unusual jobs that has a high median salary, despite the job title only having existed for 10 or so years.
Virtual crimes leave an equally virtual crime scene, so being able to follow this crime scene’s evidence back to the source, or working with co-workers to stop the attacks happening in the first place is a high level job that’s well-paying, but well outside the realm of a boring job.
Ethical hackers in Australia earn six figure salaries of $100,000 on average P/A
Public Relations
Public relations professionals have a high average salary, as well as heaps of job perks – plus, it’s not a standard 9 to 5 office job. People working in public relations may attend a series of networking events, professional trade fairs and other fun events that have heaps of perks. Plus, with PR job openings all over the world, including in New York and London, working in PR is one of those off jobs that can have a really high salary range.
- There Are 21,800 PR professionals in Australia
- 73% of PR professionals are women
- 74% of workers are full-time
- For PR professionals, 43 is the average weekly hours worked
Diver
If you love being under the water, then doing the more than two years of training to become a professional diver can put you into a very respectable salary range.
Of course, while you’re down there you’ll need to work, whether as an abalone fisher or a welder, but if you’re looking for an extremely unusual, well-paying job, then this is it!
Water welders make $135,925 per year in Australia
Air Traffic Controller
If you love the thrill of the airport but don’t want to be a pilot or air host, then becoming an air traffic controller could be the perfect option for you.
With a salary range anywhere between 55 thousand and 178 thousand, being an air traffic controller is a seriously well-paying job. Plus, you get to work in a thrilling environment, helping make sure that tired travellers and dedicated staff get back on the ground safely.
- For an Air Traffic controller in Australia, $178,000 is the highest recorded salary
- There are 19,400 air transport professionals currently working in Australia
- For air transport professionals, 9% are women
- 78% of these workers are full-time
There are heaps of high-paying jobs outside the realm of being a doctor or lawyer, all you have to do is know where to start!
