“Cash Cow”: 20 Surprisingly Highly Paid Jobs That Are Often Overlooked

When we were young and idealistic, if someone asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up, our answers were rather highfalutin. However, with time we come to realise that our dream jobs may not actually be all that and it's probably better to just have a job that pays well no matter what the occupation, and focus your attention on more important things that matter to you.  So what kinds of jobs are out there that pay really well, that we may have dismissed or forgotten about? One Redditor, u/yonBonbonbon, got curious and asked the online community of No Stupid Questions to share "What jobs pay surprisingly high that no one knows about?” We’ve collected some of the responses received to share with you below that you can consider as a future job, just in case your current career doesn’t pan out. 

#1

Image source: aRabidGerbil, wikipedia.org Underwater welders A lot of people don't even think about the need for them, but they're really important and have a dangerous job, so they get paid pretty well

#2

Image source: Beardus_x_Maximus, Polina Tankilevitch I work for USPS in a sorting facility, been here for about 3 years and I make $25/hr, 40 hours a week to type zip codes and put mail in sacks. We’re also unionized, can wear pretty much whatever we want, and can listen to music while we work. By far the easiest job I’ve ever had. I previously worked for Walmart and was in charge of the truck unloading team of about 25 people, and I maxed out at $15/hr. Needless to say, I like USPS lol. EDIT: I’m also typing this from work, because the job demands that little.

#3

Image source: kbeaver83, Igor_Kardasov Merchant marine officer. Bank money, no expenses, half the year vacation. I travel for work to crazy places. It's hard on family and relationships.

#4

Image source: WanderWomble, haileyps Braiding horses for hunter shows. It's been a while since I did it, but at the top shows I was getting around $100-150 per horse. On a good day I could do ten horses.

#5

Image source: Aeon1508, wikipedia.org Arborists

#6

Image source: anon, SHVETS production I work in public relations, specializing in crisis management. If you need me, you REALLY need me. But most of the time you don't need me at all. So I make six figures a year to do nothing at all most days. Just rushing in to save the day maybe a couple times a year at most.

#7

Image source: DTux5249, Harrison Haines City workers. Lawn Mowers, Garbage Men, really anyone that snooty mothers look at and tell their kids "you don't wanna end up like that guy" To be completely honest, unless you have a decent paying job, they likely make more than you do.

#8

Image source: Bigfryoncampus, Edward Jenner A lot of medical technician jobs. I am a specialized ultrasound tech making 120k a year. I only have an associates degree.

#9

Image source: transfemininemystiq, Lukas Programming in COBOL. A whole bunch of banks and investment companies and insurance companies have these 50 year old databases programmed in COBOL, and if you know the language you can make bank, becuase it's much cheaper for them to pay a cobol develper 250k / year rather than spending 30 million transferring all their database info to some new spec.

#10

Image source: Tin__Foil, cottonbro studio “Ethical hacker”. Ethical hacker' or any role in computer security pays well. It's rare that you can go from no education whatsoever to earning six figures in two years of part-time self-study (eight hours a week) or three months of intense self-study (eight hours a weekday). Working in computer security is fun, interesting, and extremely lucrative. I have no idea why every high school in the US is not telling their students about this career life hack. Source: I'm the CEO of a computer security company and have been doing this professionally for 20 years

#11

Image source: PaulMckee, Oleksandr Pidvalnyi The travelling version of anything. If you have any skill that you are willing to drop everything and go do at a moment’s notice in some random place you can get paid quite well.

#12

Image source: One_Panda_Bear, wikipedia.org Panda express General Managers, we had a meeting recently and 90 percent of us make over 90k a year while 50 percent make over 100k top earner was 225k I made 125k last year. My cooks all make at least 18 an hour in AZ while my assistant and chefs make 70k a year. Regular high school associates make between 15 and 16. Full benefits at 30 hours, medical,dental,vision,short and long term disability, company paid life insurancez optional paid life insurance, 401k woth co.pany match up to 5 percent. I get 5 weeks off a year (based on time with the company I'm at the max which is 10 years)

#13

Image source: warda8825, wikipedia.org My ex-MIL put a stuffed pepper down the garbage disposal several years ago. Plumber came out. Fixed it in an hour. Fee: $600. Three days later, she puts *another* stuffed pepper down the garbage disposal. Calls same plumber and tries to claim he "didn't fix it properly the first time". B******t. It's also a holiday weekend (July 4th) this time, so plumber visit comes at a premium charge: $800. Also only took about an hour to fix. Plumber made $1,400 off *one* person in 72 hours, and for only ~2 hours of his time. For those wondering, yes, my ex-MIL was a total Karen-type.

#14

Image source: Blamdudeguy00, wikipedia.org Medical waste disposal.

#15

Image source: princessdied1997, Andrea Piacquadio I cook for resource camps (treeplanting, firefighting, have done the odd oil rig or scientific expedition in the past) and I get paid an amazing day rate.

#16

Land surveying. I should be more specific and say professional land surveyors. Due to the aging population of surveyors and no one really knowing exactly what they really do, the pay once you’re licensed is in the 90s to 100 thousands per year and you can pretty much chose what part of the country you want to work in as there is openings everywhere Image source: Spicy_weenie

#17

Image source: JulianFromReddit, Netflix.com Legal videographers. If you watched Tiger King or Making a Murderer, then deposition videos played, and there was someone behind the camera getting paid anywhere from $60–$125 an hour to film that. Filming depositions is a very common practice in the legal field, and it's a very easy field to get into.

#18

Image source: Maleficent_Deal8140, Emmanuel Ikwuegbu HVAC,plumbing,electrical are the fastest growing that I have seen. I would take a do over in a heart beat and open an all in one mechanical and probably be pretty wealthy right now.

#19

Image source: SprinklesMore8471 Not that no one knows about them, but many of the trades will blow you away in terms of pay and benefits very quickly. My brother with no experience just picked up a welding job with a payscale that'll have him up over 80k USD within a year in the US.

#20

Image source: chaosontheboard, wikipedia.org Heavy equipment mechanic, I was literally offered a job a month ago where I was told “with ot our guys are breaking $200k a year” to move to Texas