To ask if you’re in a highly paid job but do very little…

[Workbutba]

Do you feel uncomfortable or worried? I earn over 60k. I know this isn’t loads but it’s obviously decent. Some days I do very little. That said there are times I will work a whole weekend or very late night so perhaps it evens out. But on Wednesday for example, I sent two emails and had two calls and then had a bath and tidied the house. I used to feel anxious about it/job security and was always asking my manager for more work etc but they are relaxed and say it ebbs and flows, which it does I suppose. The company makes big profits generally.

Is this common? I now have a dc so I worry even more about job security. I have a friend in a different industry who earns similar in management and she has days she can be on the phone to me for 3 hours and it doesn’t matter. I wonder how common this really is?!

So in terms of advising kids? Where do they start?

Surely most people pick their careers with knowledge of likely salaries? I went into investment banking because it is one of the most highly paid professions. (They're also paying a lot of tax on their big salaries but that's tangential).

Demand and supply means that there's a relatively small pool of labour with the necessary skill sets for some jobs and companies have to offer salaries commensurate with that.

The public sector has a different set of drivers and constraints and people go into those jobs knowing that.

Well, it would take a few generations to remove the entrenched view that money is more important than anything else and is something in itself to strive for.

I sense that before then, the climate crisis will force an adjustment on society where we have to step back from rampant consumerism and endless ‘growth’ (profit) because the planet/ecosystem will not be able to support us. Probably in a disorganised and unequal way unfortunately, where those with the least suffer most. As usual.

Same, six figures. Peaks and troughs but honestly mostly troughs especially now I hardly travel. I think one of the considerations is the responsibility of decisions that could impact a company significantly. So while the actual time required to execute the actions might not be huge for me personally and is instead spread across lots of employees, the responsibility for getting it wrong lies with me and in a way I’m being compensated for that. In other words, more opportunity to be sacked quite quickly in the event of a very bad decision!

Oh and when that happens, I’ll be glad to know lots of medical professionals and educators as their skills will be valuable (inherently valuable!) - always have been and always will be. It’ll be really interesting to see if the COOs and CEOs can barter for their value and ‘skills’ when money is no longer the object.

No thanks

At least tell us some job titles so I can advise my children and not have them be a teacher like me!

Feel like I want to go back in time and change course, but I’ve got a disabled child I have to work around.

Why would anyone share this with someone off the internet. People want to gate keep these roles for themselves, not have to compete with a wider pool of people.

The public sector has a different set of drivers and constraints and people go into those jobs knowing that.

Basically - it’s your own fault you’re poor. Is that you Rishi?

When I left school I had a choice: start earning immediately in a low wage job or spend 4 years obtaining a degree and £££ of debt. For 4 years I had to forego nights out and new clothes as I couldn't afford them. My mates were having fun - I had my head in a mound of books dreaming of the future.

When I graduated I had a mountain of debt to pay back. These days I work in IT, earn around £60k and those student loans have long since been paid back. I worked a lot of MW jobs while studying just to keep my head above water (study and work meant I was doing a 60+ hour week). My first few IT jobs weren't for a fat salary - I got there over time. So yes, I don't have to do manual labour for long hours and yes I get paid a lot to do 'very little', but luck and privilege had nothing to do with it. Anybody who tells me I am lucky is being downright insulting.

Exactly. Keep the plebs out!

@Winterday1991 @Rinkymcdinky see my post above I’ve listed off a load of job titles 🙄…not saying these will be quiet but they are all roles that can earn £60k+ and work from home with possible quiet periods. Problem with schools career advise (at least when I was at school) is they tell you about the traditional jobs - shop worker, teacher, nurse, doctor, lawyer but there are all these other jobs in demand that I wasn’t even made aware of

You are lucky. Sorry, but you are. It doesn’t mean you didn’t work hard but it wasn’t just that which brought you to where you are and to pretend otherwise is delusional. You happen to live in a society where your work is well paid - that’s luck!

I earn this level of salary and spent my afternoon yesterday making a craft project for my office.

However it took me my whole career to get here, I am the senior decision maker for a lot of things when I am in and it's not always that quiet.

Effectively you are being paid to be available and take the difficult decisions.

Not lucky! Researching highly paid career choices then acting on that info is not luck. It's insulting that you call my decision lucky. I could have gone into a lower paid career but I made my choice after growing up in a family where both my mum and dad regularly 'borrowed' any birthday money my relatives sent. I grew up poor and decided it wasn't for me. Anybody can nowadays Google 'careers Vs salaries' and choose for themselves. What was your choice?

I am really not bashing people who earn a high salary and have high responsibilities. Good on them . I’d loathe to be bored with little to do. I also accept I chose my career. As I said I absolutely love it. I would point out though that I have also got 20+ years experience, highly qualified with a first degree and working towards my masters plus numerous extra qualifications such as non medical prescribing/ ECMO training/numerous life support courses etc etc. I would also point out I was available yesterday (and did 2 hours unpaid overtime) for helping parents make the agonising decision to turn off their child’s ventilator. It has also taken me my whole career to get to this point.

@BigTubOfLard Same here! I genuinely wanted to do my career but having grown up in a family with endless money crises, I only wanted to look at secure jobs with high salaries.

Choosing your profession solely on the amount of money you stand to make from it is a weird choice, but whatever. I grew up poor too but my takeaway from the experience wasn’t that making money should be my primary goal in life, mainly because that’s quite an empty, pointless goal in my view.

Oh and you are lucky whether you choose to accept that or not. We all are in many ways. I’m lucky I didn’t slip in the shower this morning and break something. You’d be surprised how many people that happens to. Basically if you and the people around you are mostly happy and healthy and you can keep a roof over your head and food on the table, you are already luckier than a lot of the people on the planet!

I'm well paid and sometimes do very little.
But my value is not in my time - it's in what I know, who I know and the ability to galvanise large groups of people to achieve our overall objectives.

Do I ever feel guilty?? Not a chance, took me over 20 years to add this sort of value, and part of that journey was working 80hr wks when younger.

Thank you for a non-snarky reply.

It's not necessarily obvious if you're from an 'ordinary' background and don't know anyone in these careers or even university-educated people in general. It's daunting. I didn't know most jobs that exist existed.

Oho, but I didn't make my choice 'solely' on the money: you are wrong there. I chose an IT career because it paid well AND it offered lots of fun and interesting opportunities.

I'm lucky because I didn't slip over this morning? Really. Clutching at straws there aren't you...

Wow. Imagine being so entitled that you can’t imagine there is some luck involved in your life. Well, you don’t have to imagine because you’re living it, obvs. Hope you never have to experience random life-changing misfortune. Although a comfortable income and cast-iron belief in your own agency probably helps there.

Also, a career in IT = fun - sure, maybe? Depending on your idea of fun? Not for me though, ta.

In many roles, you’re not being paid for the work you do day to day, but for work experience you bring to the table.

My employer is paying for my decade plus of specialised knowledge, gained through years of late nights and hard work and proving my abilities under intense pressure. My salary is effectively a retainer - it means they can always call on my advice and their competitors cannot.

another poster has listed many of these highly paid jobs

these threads always go the same way. Barely anyone actually wants to know how to get in these jobs, it’s lots of sniping and a healthy dose of jealousy