So I’m 20 and I’ve started looking at the salaries of jobs/careers, and this is the impression I’ve gotten. Like that you could spend years cramming a ton of knowledge about a very niche field, and still only get 2-3x what a run-of-the-mill job makes. Is this true? If yes then I guess this route to wealth would only make sense (due to the diminishing returns) if the topic truly spoke to you, right? Are there alternative career paths to good pay than being really good at something really specific?

  • SubArcticTundra@lemmy.mlOP
    0·
    2 days ago

    Is there a field where that red curve is flipped so that each extra aquired unit of expertise earns you exponentially more money?

    • protist@mander.xyzEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      It’s hard to overstate how much money “2-3x what a run of the mill job makes” is over the course of a lifetime. I guess to you right now it doesn’t seem like much, but someone who makes three times more money than someone else is significantly more well off. There aren’t any wage jobs that are going to net you exponential salary growth. Your only hope there is to strike gold and found PayPal or Microsoft or something.

      • SubArcticTundra@lemmy.mlOP
        2·
        12 hours ago

        I guess to you right now it doesn’t seem like much, but someone who makes three times more money than someone else is significantly more well off.

        Oh I see. Ok I’ll keep that in mind.

      • wise_pancake@lemmy.ca
        1·
        2 days ago

        This is very true

        Some people fall into the lifestyle creep trap and get accustomed to spending what they make. If you make 2x average and live relatively normally you’ll find your savings grow quick.

        Even if you do make good money, it’s best not to let that go to your head.

    • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
      1·
      2 days ago

      Trades. If you are a plumber or an auto mechanic you can make a killing. Doubly so if you own the business. If I had it to do over again I would get a business degree and then become an electrician.

    • RagnarokOnline@programming.dev
      1·
      2 days ago

      Sales. No joke — the knowledge you need has a hard cap (the product line) but sales is commonly the highest-paid entry level employee (as long as you hit commission).

      Now add a line in here for “effort” flattening out over time and that’s what I wanna see.

    • jordanlund@lemmy.world
      1·
      2 days ago

      Continuing to work for the same company will only provide +2% to +4% per year regardless of knowledge gained. You aren’t paid for how much you know.

      To get the large gains in income, you have to re-set your salary by changing jobs, at which point you get one big bump, then go back to +2% to +4% per year.