If you earn 100k plus, what is your occupation?

[CJ2010]

I've posted this here as it is a bit U, but i am curious to know what jobs pay mega bucks.

I've just been looking on a jobs website at admin jobs, most are paying on average 20-25k (in London). With the cost of living as it it, that sort of money will not go far at all.

I've been a SAHM for a while now and have begun looking for work. I'm considering retraining, but only in something that pays well!

So members of the 100k club please spill the beans and let me know your secrets!

There are massive double standards in law (possibly in other professions but law is mine so I can only speak from what I know!) men get can much further in their careers than women irrespective of background, class, appearance or whatever. Given the continuing lack of women at the top of most law firms however that's a situation unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. Honestly why should women have to play the game when men don't? I couldn't not be true to myself, which is probably why as a 15yr PQE lawyer I'm still paid a (comparative) pittance.

Plus in my case, the minute I told my then employers I was pregnant (unmarried, father not on the scene) that was my career in the City over. As one member of staff was heard to comment (complete with catsbum face) 'We've never had a single mother working here before'...

elastamum spot on, self belief is everything!

I have 2dcs and a full on job. I chose to work 4days a week which means I can sit here mumnetting help out at school and give the dcs quality time. It's not ideal, but it works for me.

I have a mantra. Delegate as much as you can, defer what doesn't need doing today, delete what isn't needed and only do what you must. It helps me stay on top of it all.
Agree with others on routine and organisation being absolutely key to managing.

The thing I would say is that I still occassionally struggle with the guilt I feel when my ds asks "Will I see you in the morning?". He nearly always asks and he nearly always sees me in the morning.

Fascinating thread. I'm unlikely to ever reach 100K as an academic researcher but a lot of comments are very useful no matter what job someone has.

I chose years ago not to go for the top of the tree (professorship etc) because in most cases in my field, it meant abandoning the things which made it interesting (the research) and spending most time doing admin/grant applications for others do do the work. I wanted to do the interesting stuff and have been able to do this and get to a decent level. I chose this and was lucky. Luck does come into things, no matter what folk say... though you do make your own to a certain extent. I'm in a niche field. Great as long as this position exists, but if it vanishes, I'd be hard pressed to get another one in the UK.

DH nearly got to £100K earlier this year on a City IT contracting post but then the employers, after keeping him twiddling his thumbs for a few weeks, admitted that they'd employed him assuming they could finish another project first, and they hadn't... so he left. He's now earning the same as me in a permie post which at the moment is a good thing, given the economy's dodgy outlook.

He'll go back to contracting no doubt when (!) things ease off and we can afford the risk. IT Contracting's great, when you have a contract! The rest of the time it's unceasing hunting/talking to agencies/scrolling through sometimes 1000 emails a day looking for something that fits your specialities, and crawling to bed at silly hours worrying you've missed the one email which would give you your dream job. And at the moment, it's a bear pit out there.

My job isn't that stressful, I'm paid well because I'm a specialist, I don't have any management responsibility. I have the odd stressful week, but that's unusual (touch wood!!).

I disagree that project management has a good work life balance, DH and a lot of his friends are IT project managers, it isn't really a job that lends itself to part time working although some do work part time and it can be very stressful and involve long hours depending on the project.

How do I handle the stress? I'd say badly. But others might challenge that, because I never actually crack. I am an olympic level worrier though. I would get a gold medal in fretting. And I am possibly the least organised person in the history of the world (dyspraxia doesn't help here, obviously). Despite what my colleagues regard as a touching but deluded faith in the power of iPad apps to magically transform my life.

Moonbells, I know what you mean, that's why dh won't go contracting.

Going back to an earlier discussion on morals, I don't think he sold his soul either, or trampled on anyone to get where he is. He's just got the nerdy mathematical brain required for his IT specialist job, and is just very interested in it.

He's also the antithesis of the classic nerdy stereotype (scruffy, beardy, sweaty t-shirt etc). He dresses smartly for work and is very well groomed and think that does help you up the career ladder.

And yes, I do feel lucky, because when we met we were both skint scruffy students!

I don't "do" emoting stress even though I am probably at the most stressful stage all round as I have a baby and a toddler at home. My baby isn't a great sleeper so I am up about 3 times a night (still breastfeeding) and I sometimes go to work on 2 hours sleep. However, as others have said, I am very good at compartmentalising. When I am at work, that's what I focus on and at home, I think the kids deserve my full attention. E.g. I make sure that everyone I work with is respectful of the fact that I need to leave on time to feed the baby who doesn't give a toss what mummy does at work! At both home and work, I am super organised, delegate a lot and don't externalise any stress. No point as it just wastes energy, better just to get on with it.

I think it would be fair to say I am the antithesis of well groomed. Although (hopefully) I don't smell, and am clean. Dyspraxia is the enemy of grooming. And physically I'm all wrong anyway - very petite and thin. And ginger. :(

Yet I still earn slightly more than the figure in the OP. Could I earn double that if I wasn't a woman, or if I was tall, or not ginger, or not dyspraxic? Quite possibly. But que sera.

really interesting discussion. I dealt with the stress when working in a very high pressure legal environment by being able to switch off the moment I left work and also by actively choosing commercial work. Although it is percieved as more difficult, I actually found it easier from a stress POV because it didn't deal with people's emotions. I do think it is down to personality type though as although I am not thick, I am by no means a high flyer academically. I think that a combination of my personality type and some academic ability made it possible for me to thrive in a high pressure environment.

SLT - yes you get promoted by being able to do the job well & fitting in.... the whole idea of 'trampling over people to climb the ladder' is a bit childish & says more about the poster than anything else.

the nastiest people i have met at work have been the most lazy & incompetant because if you enjoy your job & perform well, why would you have any truck with anyone else?

oh and of course not having children at the time!

thetasig I too am ginger. Don't think that has anything to do with it. although I did read a research reticle about how because of the striking hair colour we are more easily noticed and recognisable than brown haired people. There's probably not many people who say "don't know tasig"??

OneLieIn (great username unless it's to comment on the fact that you have only ever had one lie in in which case......:( ) There is well researched prejudice against ginges. People joke about it, but it's definitely there. Blondes don't just have more fun, they look more socially acceptable. I don't really care all that, of course, because I'm old enough and ugly enough and, oh yes, clever enough, that I've succeeded anyway. :) But it is definitely a thing.

I really don't think women in business with red hair have problems with earnings and promotion. If you had no hair or were 30 stone or couldn't communicate or wore the wrong clothes you might, but not red hair. I know women inthe City of London with red hair who earn loads of money. It's beautiful hair. Mine isn't red but it's reddish brown and it doesn't seem to have stopped high earnings.

I am just like thebossof's post above in terms of switching off, organisation and compartmentalisation. I think good health and the ability to carry on evevn if you have a bit of a sniffle helps too. Woody Allen said the secret of his success was "showing up". So very very many people cannotr even get to work on time. Plumbers turn up late. People don't appear. If you can actually be there on time and always there come what may because you have fair domestic set ups and back up for back ups for back ups of child care and the other responsibilities we all have you can dio well even if you aren't quite as bright as others.

I read a book Outliers over the holiday. the author looked at successful people. Once you got to a certain educational level, IQ say 120 it didn't really matter if youw ere 120 or 130, they could all do well. In fact he said the best US universities might as well pick out of a hat who gets in once you meet a certain grade level as they will all do very much the same given the same opportunities but it's the other factors that help like family wortk ethic - are you from a family who lounge in bed, skive all you can and think you deserve a medal because you worked 9 - 5 or are you from a family who works as hard as it takes to get the job done, perhaps an immigrant family or family where everyone really does graft hard. That has a big impact on how the children then turn out.

Interesting thread. It's a subject that keeps me thinking late at night.

I'm Oxford educated, so is DH (two degrees from there, ex-top public school) and I guess once you are on that gravy train you are led to believe that the world is your oyster (it isn't, but that's another tale) and society expects you to go out and earn plenty.

Well, it was almost twenty years ago and in that time I've had poorly paying jobs, and a career in the City, and have been the longest time working as a journalist (which I love, and which is also what DH does) both at home in the UK and abroad. Ironically I've earned the highest salary as a journalist.

Strangely, before children, and when I had the most money I was the least happy. I am not destined to keep hold of it! I used to spunk it on motorbikes, shoes, drink, holidays and travel. Got myself into one or two unsavoury habits. And just being able to go into a shop and buy a Chanel handbag 'like that' felt oddly numbing and left me feeling empty. Like a character from a JG Ballard novel.

We now have two children and we both decided to halve our hours to share joint care of our children while they are small. We both find more mental stimulation, more reward, more joy and more fellowship doing this (sounds smug, I know) than one or other of us working all the hours.

It's depressing sometimes (can't generalise, of course) what hours you have to put in to earn over 100k. And to realise how little that gets you in London.

I can't speak for others but I won't go to my grave happy I spent more hours in an office dealing with colleagues and strangers for just a bit more take home pay. But I will regret not spending time with my family.

I know some of our friends (all the city ones don't really talk to us now as they live life in the City bubble -- it can be a narrow circle) think we are weird for living this life. Some men at my DH's work must think he is odd for actively choosing not to earn as much.

otchayaniye - "I know some of our friends (all the city ones don't really talk to us now as they live life in the City bubble -- it can be a narrow circle) think we are weird for living this life. Some men at my DH's work must think he is odd for actively choosing not to earn as much."

I know exactly what you mean here. My DP and I, who met through work in the kind of high-earning no-life company that makes the very concept of a family life a hollow joke, have, as a family, what we think is a great work-life balance, while living very comfortably. We have friends who wonder why we don't want more houses/fur coats/Ferraris etc when we have the qualifications and background to earn more (if we worked more). It's a choice. I really respect the choice you and your DH have made, and also feel slightly envious that you have been able to share out the earning work between you to your satisfaction - it is quite a feat to manage to do that!

This is a really interesting thread, but I'm now feeling pretty dismal about my level of earning!

I'm a very good assistant, if any of you creative types need one...

I think that parity and fairness is really important. We sought and achieved it too. It makes working life easier. It was never a model historically that man worked all the hours there were and never saw family and woman dusted at home. Men and women always worked and both parents did bed times etc. If you can achieve that so much the better. My father told my brother his bed time story and my mother did we girls. My children's father and I similarly split things.

The avoidance of sexist patterns even within the first week or two after a baby is born is oftenthe key to a nice life as parents as time goes on.

Xenia I work in the City of London. I earn > 100k. I know that being a ginger doesn't help because I am one. It doesn't stop people achieving - but it's just one more prejudice we have to fight against. Think of all the sexist jokes you ever had to grit your teeth against (although The Law is less male dominated than my field, admittedly). Then think of having to double those with a whole load of bad ginger jokes. Which the other - blonde - women sometimes join in with too (cos it makes them 'one of the lads' ). Don't tell me you don't think it happens where I work (and you don't). Thanks.

Really? I've never noticed it genuinely not. I would imagine it was much much more difficult to be black than have red hair and if it's a problem it's not hard to dye it. I love red hair on women.

How bizarre this thread is...I am ginger, I don't think it matters other than flippant comments about being fiery blah blah. Oh and that terrible Americanism of the red headed step child which I still see as an insult.

Changing my hair colour wouldn't get me ahead. Changing my sex sadly would.

I met am old workmate this evening. Both he and his wife are partners in top global law firms and must be making £500k between them. They have 2 DC under 2 and have decided to share the burden of family life. She works fairly flexible hours and he doesn't work much beyond 6pmish. I know so many top lawyers whose wives (usually lawyers) have sacrificed their careers to allow their husbands to work, and am really impressed with this couple who have worked out between them how to both have great careers and a family life.

Incidentally while he is no doubt a good lawyer, she is the real star and has won many accolades in her field. No wonder she wasn't the first to offer up her career in the circs!

oh and they don't have a nanny, just family and nursery.

Not hard to dye it?