No Price Is Too High To Pay For The Privilege Of Owning Yourself
Friedrich Nietzsche
In this modern era of cutting edge technologies that evolve every passing moment, what they bring along with evolution are opportunities to learn and earn like never before in the history of mankind. We have proven time and again, in recent times, there has been no upper limit to what a single person can earn. In fact, there exist people who earn more than the gross domestic products of several nations combined. Well, its not impossible to grab a fractional chunk of that revenue generated globally.
Essentially, the amount of pay one receives depends on how less replaceable he is with other equally potent candidates up for the position. One’s quality of work and consistency in performance directly implies how long could he last and needless to say, his pay in the job. With the advent of technological resources including powerful computers, stunningly fast networks and connectivity, and colossal information by the virtue of the internet at hand, acquiring new and new industry required skills is not as impossible a task as it used to be a few decades ago.
Moreover, with an abundance of careers to choose from with all these resources available, it becomes really difficult to choose the right one worth your time and that generates high income over the course of a few years. With that being said, let us explore the topmost paying jobs out there, in 2021.
Top 15 High Paying Jobs
1. Data Scientist
Data scientists in general are employed by businesses to have expertise in analyzing different data that help the businesses make more money. More or less, it is a combination of computer science and data mining, where data scientists have to infer as much useful info from statistics and technical business reports as possible, in order to benefit company from it. Rise in the colossal data there is to be handled; now known as the – Big Data, the jobs on data science have grown exponentially along.
Works include structuring, organising, analysing all sorts of data related to machine learning, deep learning, modern neural networks, support vector machines etc. And this list is endless. Consequently, so are the scope and future opportunities in this field. Because it wouldn’t be wrong to say that data is the new currency. And data handlers, are the ones who direct this currency.
The average beginning salary of data scientist falls around $165K+ per annum. This number though tends to skyrocket once you have acquired expertise in the field and start applying for jobs inn the western hemisphere of the world. Top tech companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft pay unimaginable numbers once the employees start to bring that growth within the company.
2. Software Development
Also known as coders or programmers, software developers are people who create computer software, that includes processing, and operating information to tell a computer how to complete a given set of function or tasks, as per the end user requirement. There are several ways of becoming a developer, most popular of which is pursuing a computer science degree, others are participating in coding boot camps, online classes, and tech community forums.
Moreover, the best part of learning coding is that, with such an abundance of resources available you can teach it to yourself over platforms like W3Schools, FreeCodeCamp.org, Geeks For Geeks, EDX, Coursera and many more. You can read books to understand too, if you prefer learning the traditional way.
The recruiters of the tech companies are just keen to know the value proposition you bring at the company and what skills you hold that can be utilized in any problem solving environment. Average salary – $100K /year
3. Product Manager
One of the very interesting careers and real life learning opportunities out there, is product management. Where you work like an entrepreneur, but within a giant business already setup and running. Consider the example of Amazon and all the 1000s of other mini business associated with it. Like Amazon Prime, Prime Video, Amazon media, pharmacies etc.
So what these major companies need to run these smaller businesses are called product managers. Where these managers are the CEOs of that segment in business, and they study the entire market aspects that come into picture under the company. With all of this being said, the income of product managers can be in millions to say, because there is no upper limit. Required skills are research-analysis, planning and execution expertise.
4. Investment Banking Analyst
Basically, an investment banking analyst analyzes different investment criteria for the company like risk management, calculating expected returns, the entry and exit points of the investment opportunity, following the current and past investments of the firm etc. Many a times hiring companies take economics and finance major graduates for this positions, but this isn’t always the case.
Some investment banks strategize to just hire the smartest people possible. Even from maths, physics and engineering major backgrounds. In the initial stages, the working hours get quite long. But the base pay and incentive structure to work is also motivating to pull all these hours off.
Average salary – $85K+ /year.
5. Product Designer
Product designing is all about imagining, designing and creating products that are meant for mass production. So you want to make them as beautiful, aesthetic and ergonomic as possible, considering the practical purposes of the mass production and make sure it blends in perfectly in day to day life. The products range vividly from beautiful decor chairs to top terrain motor and automobile vehicles.
Almost every simple to complex structured thing that we see around are a result of creative brainstorming ideas that can be converted to tangible goods after production. Companies like Exioms, MindTickle, Xelpmoc etc offer salaries from $70000 – $75000 /year.
6. Chartered Accountant
CA’s work in every industry and provide financial expertise for managing money well. If you have strong maths skills, are analytical and aren’t intimidates by complex financial terms and concepts, this might be a good option for you. You need to complete the ICAI regulated CA course.
Once certified as a CA, you can expect a starting package of up to rupees $55k – $60k PA. On the higher side, CAs do get above $45k PA too.
7. Implementation Consultant
Basically in layman’s terms, let’s say a software company sells a huge project to a single hospital like some electrical software that enables certain medical practices or a tech gadgets that help in operations. The hospital at first tries it out for certain duration and test it under different circumstances. If it likes the gadget, it prefers its usage over all the other hospitals under the company name and more and more of them are demanded for these other hospitals.
Now the manufacturing company has to make sure to roll out the gadget very efficiently. Here, the roll of a implementation consultant comes into picture. Their job is to make sure the equipment is installed and setup at every daughter organisation, and no errors are observed while handling it. Their work also includes training the right people to get used to the equipment.
Average salary – $55000 /year
8. JAVA Developer
JAVA developers can be considered as the specialized type of coders who work with web developers and software engineers on implementing java into different websites and applications for startups and MSMEs even. These developers have a 10 – 20 hr/week work schedule. Learning Java might get tedious at first but eventually, the fruits of hard work do pay off. And the skill is worth devoting a considerable amount of time, with respect to the potential of future opportunities.
The attribute required for this position is the in depth technical knowledge in building the behind the scenes functioning of software applications, known as backend. And has very little to do with management and leadership roles, if you are not much of an extrovert and like being on your own. Because an average American is paid nearly around $50K a year.
9. Systems Engineer
Unlike other jobs that we get to see commonly in our neighborhood, systems engineering is something different. Simply, what system engineers do is that they take a whole system of product life cycle or a goods manufacturing assembly line and they figure out what each individual part needs to do. So they design, plan, integrate and manage complex systems over their life cycle.
Working in this field not only enhances your engineering expertise but also teach valuable project managing lessons. In the beginning tenure at this positions, the salaries range from $40k – $45k a year. But as you proceed learning and gaining experience simultaneously, the pay rises significantly.
10. UX/UI Designer
UI designer or user experience/ user interface designers clearly as the name suggests, focus on the end user interaction of websites and softwares and constantly look forward to enhance this experience, by making the interaction more customer friendly, graphically appealing and catchy to visualize. For example, you might have come across government websites or the kinds where its almost impossible to find where necessary info is. This is a bad UI developed website because of lack of seamless user experience.
This is a combined aspect of design and technology. Coming to the “Pay” part, salaries vary from region to region, depending on the country you are applying in. Although it fluctuates somewhere around $35k PA.
11. Blockchain Developer
Blockchain is a relatively new field and has the potential to redefine everything from currency transactions, supply chains, health care to even identity records. It cuts out the middle man and is highly secure. One of the top applications of blockchain is cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin and many others.
Unfortunately, there is a dearth of qualified specialist and companies. A void, that you can fill. You can expect a salary of 20k to 30k USD, depending on the company.
12. Software Engineer
Not to be confused with software developers, software engineers are the architects of an entire system of digital version of the respective companies. The job of a software engineer is to manage all classes of system requirements such as networking and telecommunications, web applications, operating systems, frameworks, database management etc.
They hold responsibilities from designing, developing, testing and maintaining all the logical components that go behind a well driven software environment. They have to consistently collaborate and work with business operations team and keep updating versions as per the changing market necessities.
13. Working For The U.S Federal Reserve
The U.S. Federal Reserve, is the country’s premier financial institution. Apart from printing currency, it is the banker to the government and the central monetary authority in the country. Landing a job here is a ticket to the future. One of the most preferred options for a fresh graduate is the grade B officer.
As prerequisites, you need to be between the ages of 21 to 30 and must have secured at least 60% while graduating. There is an online test followed by rounds of personal interviews. Selected candidates start with a monthly salary of approximately 25000USD, and you get an off for every bank holiday.
14. Management Consultant
Management consultants are the people who help companies identify and solve problems, improve performance and find ways to maximize growth. Think corporate strategy and increase efficiency. If you are good at problem solving and are not intimidated by challenges, management consultation might be your forte.
The employees at this position are paid by the hour, and the median salary is near about $15000 per annum.
15. Physical Therapy Assistant
This one lies in the healthcare sector, where prerequisites are comparatively less as compared to other tech jobs. PT assistants help doctors with mobilising patients, deconditioning them for any certain reason. For instance, they had an open heart surgery or were just sick for a long time.
On the higher side, the average annual salary for a physical therapy assistant lies at a minimum of $10000 /year.
Conclusion
Once again, thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed the article and our mission is accomplished if it helps you in any way. All the Q & A are supervised by industry experts. Reference links supporting the tips are listed in the “Reference” section below. Do visit for additional info.
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References
- https://search.proquest.com/openview/2291973be195346c1523a004cf9ae2ba/1.pdf?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=182
- https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OASP/legacy/files/Future_of_Work_Paper_Series.pdf#page=50
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Sandeep Bhandari is the founder of PrepMyCareer.com website.
I am a full-time professional blogger, a digital marketer, and a trainer. I love anything related to the Web, and I try to learn new technologies every day.
All the team management, content creation, and monetization tasks are handled by me. Together with the team at PrepMyCareer, the aim is to provide useful and engaging content to our readers.